Re: RESULTS OF THE 5th PIECEPACK GAME DESIGN COMPETITION

["bananamuncher9" <deucenine@...>]

congratulations to the winners.  I look forward to trying out their
designs myself.  (now what do they do for an encore? >wink<)

Edward
(:8())

>
> Piece Packing Pirates by Clark Rodeffer
>
> As the name suggests this is a game of sea exploration, fighting
> and booty collecting with a degree of economic management
> thrown in for good measure. My first read of the (well-written)
> rules made me want to try the game immediately, and I wasn't
> disappointed. The game has it all: excellent integration of theme,
> good replayability, good balance of strategy versus luck and
> clever use of all of the piecepack components. I certainly
> imagined myself as a hearty pirate plundering unsuspecting
> ships, and feeling desperate when trying to out-run a larger
> vessel. This was by far the game I had the most fun playing.
>
> The game uses a couple of clever mechanics worth mentioning.
>
> 1. The sea (which is formed by placing the tiles suit-side down in
> any pattern as long as all the tiles are connected) is explored by
> moving your pirate ship onto the tile and turning it over. The suit
> marker indicates the direction of the prevailing wind and the tile
> number determines the chance of sighting an enemy ship. I
> thought this was a neat multiple use of the tiles.
>
> 2. A mechanic unique to the contest (and possibly unique in all
> the piecepack games?) is the rule for movement of enemy
> ships. The pirate ship moves first, then the enemy ships move.
> What makes the movement phase interesting is that smaller
> ships flee from the pirates whereas larger ships close in to
> attack. In one game I played I found myself in trouble by attacking
> a larger ship before my pirates were quite ready, resulting in a
> lost battle, only to have the ship attack me straight back!
>
> The game does require the use of a 1-page play mat, which is
> generally well designed. My only suggestion is that a black and
> white version would be helpful for those who do not have access
> to a color printer. The Booty track (green on yellow background)
> looks the worst in B & W. A rules summary is also included,
> which was helpful.
>
> All in all a worthy winner of the contest, congratulations, Clark!
>
> Justice Seafarth's Runners Up:
>
> Two games stood out in addition to the winner. In alphabetical
> order they are: Cardinal's Guards by Mike Schoessow and
> Galaxy Express  by Matt Worden.
>
> Cardinal's Guards is a well-presented very good themed
> abstract with interesting mechanics. The 24 tiles are placed as a
> suit-side down 5x5 square (representing chambers of the
> castle) with the center square open (a common formation for the
> tiles in the contest). The pawns are musketeers who must visit
> the chambers in a certain order. The interesting mechanic here
> is that the musketeers move as `runaway rooks', only stopping
> if they encounter guards (coins) or the center square (tunnel
> entrance leading to any of the 4 corner chambers).  The majority
> of guards start the game outside the 5x5 square of the castle ? a
> mechanic I haven't seen before ? and as the game progresses
> they can be placed inside the castle, which is essential in order
> to provide `blocks' to allow your musketeers to end their
> runaway moves on the right squares.  Points are scored for
> searching chambers as well as defeating guards. This results in
> a game where searching all the rooms is possible, but defeating
> all the guards as well is tough. Well done, Mike.
>
> Galaxy Express is a clever themed game of delivering shipments
> to 6 different planets (arms coins) placed on an wraparound 8x6
> grid formed by 12 grid-side up tiles in order of the delivery queue
> (determined by the crown coins). The rules are great and include
> a sample game at the end that has what are probably the nicest
> diagrams of all 18 entries. The heart of the game is deciding
> how to approach each of the planets with the limited thrust (sun
> coins) and brake (moon coins) resources. This clever system
> made me feel like I really was flying a ship of the `cheapskate
> operation' mentioned in the introductory blurb. Great game, Matt.
>
> Justice Knizia's Honorable Mentions:
>
> Cleverest overall concept: Epic Funhouse by Ron & Marty-Hale
> Evans. This is a series of 6 mostly abstract games that are
> played in the 6 rooms of an amusement park in a not too-distant
> dystopian future.  Also contains the only dexterity game of the
> contest.
>
> Most aesthetically appealing: Fuji-san by James Kyle.  This is a
> themed abstract that manages to evoke the feeling of a classic
> oriental game in both the play of the game as well as the
> physical shape of the playing area.
>
> Best theme: Matrix by Jeff Barrett. Jeff and I share an enjoyment
> of William Gibson's cyberpunk, and Matrix is based on the novel
> Neuromancer complete with Cyberspace, Ice, Data Forts and
> Icebreakers.  Excellent idea to adapt the genre to the piecepack,
> Jeff. This is also the game that I think has the most potential to
> be truly outstanding with some work on the rules and gameplay.
> The customizable icebreakers also made this game stand out.
>
> Thanks to everyone for submitting games and making this a
> great contest.  If you would like specific feedback for your game
> please let me know by email. As there are a lot of games, please
> be patient when waiting for a response, but I will be trying hard
to
> respond as fast as possible so that any updates can be made
> quickly in order to get the games posted at piecepack.org asap.
>
> Phillip
>
> A note from Karol:
>
> Congratulations to the winner! I am pleased to have each of
> these games added to the growing piecepack game list.
>
> I would like to get the contest games posted to the piecepack
> website as soon as possible (within 24-48 hours of permission
> or submission). To help motivate the authors we are going to 
> post only polished games onto the games page - if authors are
> satisfied with the way their games were written and submitted
> please simply send me a note to that effect and I can take it from
> there. Otherwise please make any changes you'd like and then
> send me the file again. If there are any questions please contact
> me [Karol] directly.
>
> Respectfully, we request that authors DO NOT post games
> elsewhere until they are on piecepack dot org that is designed to
> be the place for folks to go to find all the games - let's work
> together to keep it that way!
>
> I would like to remind everyone that the prize includes a 3rd
> Edition with CD-ROM rules that include the contest entries -More
> incentive to get the games or permission in to me [Karol] :
> submissions @ piecepack . org (without the spaces).
>
> Thanks,
> Karol