Piecepack Game Design Competition

[Michael Schoessow <mschoessow@...>]

ANNOUNCING THE 3rd PIECEPACK GAME DESIGN COMPETITION


Theme:  Changing Landscapes
Closes: 17 January 2003
Prize:  *Hand-made 4x4 game board, bits, case, and instructions.
        *2nd edition piecepack with rules CD-ROM from Mesomorph Games.
        *piecepack trophy cloth custody.

Sponsor: Mesomorph Games
Judge:   Michael Schoessow


DESIGN THEME:

The design theme for the 3rd piecepack game design competition is Changing
Landscapes. All game submissions must be for board games that utilize a
mutable board. In other words, the board configuration must change in some
fashion during the course of the game. There are many possibilities. Some of
them are:

*The board can grow or be added to turn by turn.
*The board can grow or shrink depending on gameplay.
*Tile relative positions can change depending on what is setting on them.
*Portions of the board can undergo sliding or some other form of shifting.
*Tile orientation or rotation angle can change.
*Tiles can change from face-up to face-down.
*Tiles can be stacked, unstacked, or leaned.
*Tiles can slide or move on top of other tiles or bridge across other tiles.
*Tile grouping can change.
*The board can be a changing array of tokens.

These are general ideas that designers may utilize in some form if they
wish, but they are not limited to them. There are numerous commercial board
games with mutable boards. Some diverse examples, selected to help stimulate
ideas are, Amazing Labyrinth, Zertz, Mississippi Queen, Agora, Carcasonne,
Carolus Magnus, Tally Ho!, Work or Golf, and Dominoes. Each of these
illustrates a different clever way to incorporate a changing board into a
game, and designers may make use of or modify these ideas for their entries
if they wish. Descriptions and pictures can be found at
www.boardgamegeek.com or at www.funagain.com or at various other game
websites.


THE PRIZE:

There are several parts to the prize. 

Mike Schoessow will build a hardwood 4x4 gridded game board, that can be
used for playing various strategy games, along with a case and appropriate
bits plus a collection of game instructions.

Mesomorph Games will contribute a 2nd Edition piecepack Game System with
CD-ROM containing instructions for a variety of games playable with the
piecepack, including those submitted and released for this competition.

The winner also receives custody of the Trophy Cloth, a card-table-sized
tablecloth with a color piecepack suit emblem embroidered on each side of
the table. This passes from the winner of one contest to the winner of the
next, with each one signing and dating the cloth before passing it on
following the closing of the next competition.


RULE DETAILS:

1) Submitted games must incorporate some non-trivial form of change to the
board configuration during at least part of the game. Non-trivial means that
the change must have a significant effect on the gameplay.

2) Shuffling the tiles and laying them out to form the board as the first
action in a game does not, by itself, constitute a non-trivial form of
change. A change in the configuration of pawns or tokens setting on the
board is also not considered a change in the board itself. 

3) The game must utilize a piecepack and preferably should make use of some
of the unique aspects of the piecepack.

4) Judging will be subjective and based largely on how enjoyable and
interesting the game is (assuming it satisfies the rules), but other factors
will be taken into consideration. A changing board aspect that fits
naturally, seamlessly, and centrally into the gameplay is desirable. Clever
use of piecepack components is desirable. Attributes of gameplay that will
be considered positively include depth, clarity, decisiveness, and elegance.
A compact, well organized rule set is also desirable but not, of course, at
the expense of good gameplay of rule clarity.

5) Games may make use of additional bits (such as money for example), or of
other game systems in addition to the piecepack, or may require the use of
two or more piecepacks.

6) Abstract games and games with well integrated themes (with or without
elements of chance) are equally welcome.

7) Solitaire games, 2-player games, and multi-player games are equally
welcome.

8) Games (rule sets) should be sent to Karol@... before 17 January
2003, 12:00 noon PST (20:00 UTC). Karol will send confirmation back to the
author, then cover the author's identity and send the game on. Between 10
January and 17 January confirmation will be within 24 hours. For earlier
submissions confirmation may occasionally take longer. Judging will be
blind; the play testers and judge will not find out the authors' identities
until after the winner has been selected.

9) Karol will also proofread the rules and send the proofed version or
corrections to the author for approval. Please note that she will not be
judging content, just adjusting grammar, punctuation, and spelling (highly
desirable before the game is added to the CD-ROM). If the proofed copy is
not acceptable to the author or Karol does not receive the go-ahead before
12:00 PST 17 January, judging will be based on the original rules as
submitted.

10) The winner of the competition will be announced on 17 February 2003. If
the quantity of game submissions is larger than anticipated this date may be
pushed back. 

11) Designers are encouraged to submit their games early. There will be no
penalty or stigma for sending in changes or updates to your game rules up to
the 17 January deadline, and entrants are encouraged to submit updates based
on their own continued play testing. Karol would appreciate it if areas of
change in rule updates were pointed out.

12) Game entries may be in PDF form, in HTML format, in MS Word files, or in
plain text with accompanying JPGs, or GIFs if required for figures.

13) The submission must be freely redistributable. Authors are free to
retain copyright.

14) The submission(s) must have a header containing the Title, Version
Number, Date, Number of Players, Approximate Length of Game, Equipment
Required, Author, Copyright, and Licensing Information.


The author of the wining game also wins the opportunity to define and judge
the next piecepack game design competition and arrange for the prize if he
or she wishes. Agreement to this is not a requirement for entry however, and
if the winner does not wish to judge the next competition he or she can
suggest another judge, or we can improvise.

Submitted games will be added to the piecepack.org site following the close
of the competition.


Questions and comments are always welcome. Preferably post them to the
piecepack discussion group (I encourage entrants to join the group if they
have not yet. Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/piecepack). Good luck and
much encouragement to all who would like to participate. I'm looking forward
to play testing some fun new games!

Mike Schoessow