Contest Entries and Piecepack Future

["Mike Schoessow" <mikeschoessow@...>]

I want to add my thanks to all who participated in the recent design contest, and my congratulations to Clark for setting a contest "theme" that promises to produce some of the most sophisticated piecepack games so far. Fifteen entries is outstanding considering the contest requirement that all games must be co-authored, and it seems to me that this result implies an increasing interest in piecepack. 

Every contest seems to bring new designers into the fold; people we haven't heard from before. I have a suggestion for Clark and for the definers of future design contests; ask all the contestants where they heard about the design competition. I suggest that this be a requirement of future competitions (just as the current competition required a listing of design contributions by author). Besides satisfying the curiosity of people like me, this will help us determine what types of venues are most appropriate for posting future contest announcements to. It also might be of some use to Mesomorph, and more piecepack sales ultimately benefit us all.

At this point I envy Clark because he can read all the exciting new rules sets, and surely some will be wonderful games. On the other hand, arranging fair play-testing of so many games is no simple task (as I well know). Once it's done though, it's very satisfying. 

The high participation level in this contest is a good omen for the future of the piecepack community, but we should keep spreading the word about piecepack and its versatility, not only because so many good games can be played with a piecepack, but also because it's a great general game design resource and tool. It should be promoted both ways. I would like to see us get up to 40-50 participants per contest within the next five years. This will put the piecepack competition on a different level that will attract more attention, perhaps including from game companies. On a related note, contests seem to be lasting longer than they used to, either due to increases in the required judging time or, as in the recent contest, in the time allotted to authors. I have no problem with this, and in fact I think it's appropriate; good games take longer to create and test; any professional designer will agree. If we want more entries and a higher percentage of good games, the contests will inevitably be longer, and this trend should not be discouraged; it is a sign of the competitions maturing. The piecepack community should be after great games rather than great numbers of games.

Good luck to all the authors who entered the recent contest!

-Mike