RE: [piecepack] Easy Slider (was: Design Contest Winner Announcem ent)

[Michael Schoessow <mschoessow@...>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Ron Hale-Evans [mailto:rwhe@...]
Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2003 4:44 PM
To: piecepack@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [piecepack] Easy Slider (was: Design Contest Winner Announcement)
As for your finding themed games "fun" but abstract games merely
"satisfying": wow!  I wish I had known that.  
 
 
Perhaps I gave the wrong impression. I didn't mean to imply that I liked
themed games more than abstracts. I just meant that with abstracts there
tends to be less table talk (or even none) and so in general there's less of
the social interaction fun factor (laughter, joking, suggestions for moves,
or whatever). I find *satisfaction* to be a separate feeling from fun factor
, and I find some abstract games tremendously satisfying. For example if I
was told that I could only play a single game for the rest of my life, I
would choose chess because of its great depth and replayability and because
of the satisfaction I get out of executing successful plans during a game.
Believe me, themed games did not have an easier chance of winning than
abstracts, and my personal collection of games includes many abstracts as
well as many German-style family strategy games. Which I like better at any
moment just depends on the mood I'm in and on who I'll be playing with.
 
A lot of the games submitted were pretty close to being abstract, with just
thin themes, and some others didn't have much of a theme (or any theme at
all) but did have a luck element of some kind or some hidden information,
and although that doesn't mean a game isn't abstract in the dictionary
definition sense, it does mean it isn't abstract in the game theory sense. I
was very pleased at the diversity of game types amongst the submitted games.
Tim's game, IceFloe, was an interesting combination in the sense that it has
a thin theme and a somewhat abstract feel but the very interesting voting
mechanic and the rules for table-talk contribute to a higher fun factor than
many of the games. Decay on the other hand has very little fun factor for me
but is quite satisfying to play (when I'm doing well--otherwise it's quite
frustrating :-)
 
 
 Your own Alien City is
practically a pure abstract strategy game with just a thin theme,
IMHO.    
 
 
You're right, Alien City is technically a purely abstract game; there is no
luck and no hidden information. 
 
 
 
 We had another BYOP (Bring Your Own Piecepack) game that was
heavily themed and probably a lot more "fun" in your sense, but it was
so silly that it had "Ron and Marty" fingerprints all over it.  We
figured Easy Slider was the stronger game, and if we submitted our
other game, the BYOP trail would lead back to Easy Slider.  We didn't
want to bias the judge and playtesters either way, so we just
submitted what we thought was the stronger game, and the one most
unlike our previous efforts.  (We also mislaid some of our playtesting
notes on the other game, so it may be a while before it sees the light
of day.)

Thanks again to everyone involved with the contest...

Ron H-E 
 
 
 
 
Definitely consider posting your other game! I too have some other games
(mostly abstracts) that I will be getting back to work on and then posting
now that the competition judging is over. 
 
-Mike 
 
 
 
-- 
       Ron Hale-Evans ... rwhe@... & rwhe@...
      Center for Ludic Synergy, Seattle Cosmic Game Night,
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