Re: Killer App?

[jdroscha@...]

--- In piecepack@y..., "Jim/Diane Doherty" <dianejim@m...> wrote:
>
> something like "The piecepack is a revolutionary generic boardgame.
> Play great wargames like Attack of the Clones and solitaire 
> games like One Man Thrag.  And many more!"

   I want to see those rule sets, Jim.  One Man Thrag especially.  
(And no, I'm not serious; I know Jim well enough to know he's just 
spewing creative titles off the top of his head.)  And whoever 
started with the "Attack of the Clones" gets a demerit; none of that 
Star Wars Nouveau in here, dang it.
   Oh, and for the record, I do not personally regard the piecepack 
as revolutionary.  It's just a "deck" of boardgame components.  (Of 
course if you really do feel it's extraordinary, who am I to 
disillusion you?)

> What do you see when you look at a deck of cards?  I see Cribbage.  

   Honestly, I see a deck of cards; I see potential.  No particular 
game comes to mind for me.  But perhaps for most people, it is their 
favorite card game that leaps to mind.

> I'm not saying the piecepack needs "a" killer app to be marketed
> at the exclusion of all else, only that it would benefit greatly 
> from its "first" killer app to help make it famous.

   That seems reasonable.

> >Second, I don't see why the piecepack can't be successful 
> >given the current formula.
> 
> It certainly can.  It's just a question of what gets the word
> out fastest.

   This reminds me of one of the reasons I designed the piecepack.  
Boardgames these days seem to come and go with such rapidity that the 
popularity of each sometimes feels like a fad.  Maureen Hiron 
(designer of Continuo) crystalized this for me in a conversation I 
had with her at Essen last year.  She remarked that (and I'm 
paraphrasing here) German games are designed for a quick sell through 
while her own designs are intended for steady, year-after-year sales.
   I do not know what all to expect for the piecepack, but I had 
assumed that it would take perhaps 50 or 100 years to reach its full 
potential.  I learned card games from my parents, so I wonder if it 
will take a generation or two before we find out which piecepack 
games will stand the test of time.

> It's generally easier to market a good game than a good 
> abstract concept.

   Very true.  At Essen, people kept asking me how to "play 
Piecepack".  It was difficult to express the concept of the piecepack 
(though the fact that my German is nearly non-existant didn't 
help) .  Basically, I had to resort to setting up a quick game of 
Matches, then disassembling it and setting up Soccer, all the while 
trying to explain that there would eventually be as many different 
games for the set as there are for playing cards.  Some of them 
understood and some of them did not.

> I think if I were selling piecepacks, I'd draw attention to the best
> games in each genre.  I'd go to wargame cons and run Attack of the
> Clones.  I'd go to fantasy cons and run The Wand of Odin.  I'd go to
> summer camps and run Hunt the Wocket for kids.  All the while
> mentioning that this is only part of what the piecepack offers.

   I'm holding you to those, Jim.
[scribble, scribble]
The Wand of Odin, unhuh,
[scribble]
Hunt the Wocket
[giggle at Dr. Seuss reference]
got it

   Seriously, though, I wonder if that would cause problems.  Since 
the piecepack components are (out of necessity) abstract, trying to 
drum up interest in Wand of Odin could be difficult at a fantasy 
con.  And so on.

> I believe all Greg was saying is that a truly great and 
> well-promoted game or two would spread the word even faster.

   Hmmm, well, I will not try to speak for Greg one way or the other, 
but I will provide the quote that started the conversation (since I 
failed to do so when I began the thread):
"I think the success of the venture depends very much on whether or 
not a 'killer app' can be developed. That is, a game good enough that 
people are willing to buy the sets simply to play it."
--Greg Aleknevicus

   I guess, personally, I could be swayed either way on this.  But 
I'm not sure it matters.  I do not know if one could just set out to 
design a smash hit or "killer app".  It seems like things just 
sometimes take on a life of their own and become popular.  At least I 
can't seem to predict what will and won't catch on, though sometimes 
I can see the signs in retrospect.  I dunno.  I guess I invite 
everyone who has ever wanted to design a game (or has already done 
so, of course) to try their hand at designing for piecepack.  Some of 
them will rock, and some of them will suck, and most will be 
somewhere between.  How many games out of the entire Hoyle's book do 
you play?

Game On,
James