ANNOUNCING THE 4th PIECEPACK GAME DESIGN COMPETITION!!!

["Rob LeGood" <rflegood@...>]

ANNOUNCING THE 4th PIECEPACK GAME DESIGN COMPETITION


Theme: History Repeats Itself
Closes: 11 July 2003
Prize:

*2 sets of piecepack pyramids in a hand-painted box

*A prize from Rob LeGood, to be announced.

*Piecepack 2nd edition with rules CD-ROM from Mesomorph Games.
*Piecepack trophy cloth custody until end of next contest.

Sponsors:   www.piecepack.org "Your source for everything piecepack"

Mesomorph Games



Judge: Rob LeGood


DESIGN THEME:

The design theme for the 4th piecepack game design competition is 'History
Repeats Itself'. All game submissions are to be based on some sort of
historical event. Of course, how accurately historical your game is, is
another matter. (Was John Wilkes Booth the only person gunning for Lincoln
that night??)



Each game submission will include an appendix giving some background on the
historical event they chose.  That way, those of us without the
edu-ma-cation will have a small understanding what your game's about. Some
ideas to get the ball rolling are:



*The Beginnings of the Universe (Creation, Evolution, or other!)

*The building or destruction of the Berlin Wall

*George W. Bush attempts to get the UN to accept a resolution



As my friends know, I don't easily offended, so please feel free to design
something more on the politically incorrect side. (Di vs. The Paparazzi!)


I think there's a lot of possibilities for the contest and I can't wait to
see all the imaginative submissions I'm sure to get.

THE PRIZES:

There are several parts to the prize.



Tim Schutz will be sending off a hand painted box, containing two sets of
piecepack pyramids.


Rob LeGood will be supplying something to be announced. He almost has all
the pieces he needs, but wants to make sure he can get it before he says
anything.  Why am I referring to myself in the third person???


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 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. It's spiffy!


RULE DETAILS:

1) Submitted games must incorporate a theme based on some aspect of history.
How accurate (or not) the game is, is completely up to the designer and will
not affect the judgment.

2) The game will also include, as an appendix, a brief outline of the
historical event the game's based on. This should be no more than half a
page to a page long.

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 of this contest),
but other factors such as how well the historical theme is used with the
game will also be taken into account. Overall, it will be the completely
subjective opinion of the judge that ultimately decides the winner.

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

7) Games (rule sets) should be sent to Submissions@... with the
word "Contest" within the subject before 11 July 2003, 12:00 noon PST (20:00
UTC) (3:00pm EST). Karol will send confirmation of receipt back to the
author, then cover the author's identity and send the game on. Between 1
July and 11 July 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.  Please note that to help free up
Karol's time, the submissions WILL NOT be proofread so, what you send (minus
your name) is what I'll see. (i.e. please get someone you know to proofread
it, before you submit it)



8) Ideally, submission should be in a text that is readable by most
computers. (Arial is a fantastic choice) All submissions must include the
following header information as the first few lines of the rules.



<Title>

A game for the piecepack by <Your Name>

Version <#>, <Date>

Copyright (c) 2003, <Your Name>

<# of players>, <# of minutes>



<Equipment Needed>

Failure to include this header information will make the judge very upset
and irritable.


9) Please note that Karol will not be judging content, only removing
identifiable text. Once the contest closes and the winner is announced,
authors will have a chance to review any suggestions they have received (by
friends, etc.) and should feel free to ask for comments/suggestions from the
judge and make any changes they should submit the newest version of the game
to be included on the Games Page of www.piecepack.org and for inclusion in
the Mesomorph Games Rules CD-ROM and components thereof. Authors are
strongly encouraged to get the final version into submission@...
ASAP, if the author wishes not to make any changes then she/he should send
a note to the same email stating such and give permission to post "as is".
Authors will be notified if there are any spelling/grammar/punctuation
issues with the games at this point.

10) The winner of the competition will be announced on 25 August 2003.
Depending on the quantity of games received, this date may move.

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 11 July deadline, and entrants are encouraged to submit updates based on
their own continued play testing. Please be sure to send in a complete
version of the game if changes are made, highlighting changes will make it
easier for the judge to see the difference.

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.  If you
submit in PDF form, all identifying items MUST be removed from the rules by
you, or the entry will not be judged - please be sure to note in the
accompanying email the authors name.

13) The submission must be freely redistributable. Authors are free to
retain copyright. Specific licensing information should be indicated at the
end of the document. Entries without such notice will NOT be included with
the games on www.piecepack.org.

The author of the winning 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 on a 'preview page' then moved to the Games Page when
authors give permission or send in an updated version - see above.

Questions and comments are always welcome. If you're worried that your
question will give your game away, please send it to Karol who will send it
to me otherwise feel free to 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. Let's the Games (design) BEGIN!!

Rob LeGood