Re: Piecepack Design Contest

["Leo M. Lalande" <scorpio@...>]

--- In piecepack@yahoogroups.com, "Mike Schoessow"
<mikeschoessow@c...> wrote:
   
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Regarding Leo's ideas (separate post) for a piecepack graphics design
contest or one requiring games based on re-themed tiles, I don't have
a problem with this if someone wants to organize it.
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Being a newbie in the piecepack community, I'm not very familiar with
what is involved in organizing a design contest, but I might be
willing to give it a go if it's something I can handle. 

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There are many fascinating possibilities for suits, some of which have
been posted here over the years, and if suits are customized
for a particular game, it opens up opportunities for greater theme
attachment in non-abstract games, which is good.
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Certainly, theme attachement is a definite benefit for some games; no
argument there.  Opening up the basic spec to any suit, IMHO, is
likely to provide a sense of enticement to potential piecepackers
whose attention might not be caught by the Sun/Moon/Crown/Arms suits,
but might be interested in a piecepack with suits themed to a hobby or
pastime they enjoy.

The idea of individual stacks with customized/personalized suits,
which has been discussed before, is still valid; and helps open up the
door to games with indeterminate (or unlimited) numbers of players.

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On the other hand it's also true that it moves things incrementally
further away from the basic idea behind piecepack, which is to provide
a set of generic board game bits that can be used to play many games,
as a deck of cards is to board games.
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I disagree with this statement; I don't in any way believe that
opening up the suits spec moves away from the concept of piecepack.  A
piecepack with characters from the Garfield comic strip, is no less
generic in concept, than a piecepack with the original four suits. 
That Garfield piecepack will function in the same way as an original
piecepack; the only difference is that with games where the suits are
specifically keyed to certain rules, the suits from the Garfield
piecepack need to be 'mapped' to the original suits before play.  That
mapping, however, isn't difficult to do; I'm betting that potential
piecepackers would be more than willing to do this mapping for any
such games requiring it just so they could have that Garfield
piecepack, or that NHL Hockey piecepack, or a Bob the Builder
piecepack.  Heck, even I'd love to have a Bob the Builder pp! :D  My 8
month old son is already starting to like Bob too; so it won't be much
of a stretch to turn him into a piecepacker in his early years if I
have a BtB piecepack. :)

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I suggest that this would be a good topic for more discussion. For
example, how about a piecepack set that comes with multiple sets of
peal-off / stick-on graphics so customers can choose which theme they
want? A contest and group-wide voting could be organized for deciding
which graphics sets to include. Just a thought.
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I certainly think that the topic of revising the piecepack spec is
worthy of discussion.  After so many years, I think it's warranted,
given all the ideas, comments, and developements that have happened
since its inception.

As for the idea of peel-off stickers and the like... While the idea
has merit, it's one that is of more concern for manufacturers. 
Already, even as a piecepack newcomer, I've considered ways of
creating 'customizable' piecepack components.  As a former trading
card collector, I used to have snap-together plastic card protectors;
those protectors are the perfect concept for 'customizable' piecepack.
 One would only need to redesign the card shaped protector into a tile
shape, a coin shape, a die shape, and a pawn shape.  It's something I
would love to be able to do; but sadly I just don't have the time, and
money to get involved in.

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I disgree (implying no disrespect of sshum2003's opinion) with the
sentimate implied by "...yet another game rule design contest". I, for
one, eagerly look forward to each new batch of games. I'll admit that
I also look forward to being able to enter my own designs :-).
Whatever else happens, I want the standard piecepack game design
competition to continue, and I hope many others want this too.
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I'm apologize to all if I implied that the game design competitions
should not continue; I feel quite the contrary.  In fact, I can't wait
to be able to develop and submit a game to the next design
competition.  Hoever, there have already been six (IIRC) game design
competitions?  I thought maybe a change of pace might be welcomed; in
any case, it's still a competition.

I see three types of competition being possible:

1.  Game design competition: These would be much like the competitions
that have been happenning for years now.  Design a new game.

2.  Graphics design competition:  This would be all about the fancy;
this would be competitions to design new and interesting suits and
'looks' for piecepack components.

3.  Accessories competitions:  In this type of competition, the
competitors would develop a new piecepack component (which would
always be an optional part of piecepack).

The graphics and accessories competitions could always easily be
combined with the game design competition concept.  In such cases, the
theme of the new graphic design would likely have to be
considered/integrated into the rules of hte new game somehow, or the
new accessory would have to be integrated into the rules for the games
submitted.

I would expect that Accessories competitions would be rare, perhaps
only being an annual competition.  Graphics competitions would also be
infrequent, perhaps also being annual, or perhaps being semi-annual. 
These frequencies being dependant on interest in organizing and
participating in the competitions, of course.


Summing up... I think the piecepack spec could use a little updating.
  I think unlimited suits could help the piecepack community grow.  I
think the game design competitions should continue as long as there
are people interested in organizing and participating in them.  I
would consider organizing a competition if I thought I would be
capable of taking on the responsability.

Peace,

Leo M. Lalande