Looney Labs Icehouse Mailing list Archive

Re: [Icehouse] Ice Game Design Competition 2007

  • FromAndy Looney <andy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • DateSat, 14 Apr 2007 10:24:12 -0400
Hi Everyone!

I'd just like to say that I think this would be great. I know the whole Icehouse community is still wondering whatever happened to the guy who was doing it before, and more importantly, what the results of the last contest were, but clearly it's time to start moving forward again without him.

Meanwhile, speaking of things that were supposed to have been done more than a year ago and are still in limbo, I'm *finally* starting to get back to 3HOUSE, albeit slowly. (My deepest apologies for the lateness of this product, BTW.) Eventually, 3HOUSE will be done, and when that happens, I'll be starting to think about a second volume in that series. I have the title all picked out: 2HOUSE: 2 Games for 2 Treehouse sets.

2HOUSE will provide the perfect in-between step for the consumer of the future, who'll be able to start with a Treehouse set, then expand it with a 2nd Treehouse set and a copy of 2HOUSE, before going on to 3HOUSE and that third Treehouse set. (And yes, obviously, there could be a 4HOUSE as well someday, but that's getting way too far ahead of things...)

And what will 2HOUSE contain? At the moment, I have no idea. Offhand there aren't any games I know of that are well suited for 2 Treehouse sets and nothing more. However, I'm thinking people will rise to the challenge if I issue it, so here we go.

Please note, however, that I haven't officially announced or promised anything in this message. These are just some thoughts I've been having. That said, Looney Labs published the first 4 games that were IGDC winners in an issue of Hypothermia, so it's reasonable to assume the company might do something similar again, if someone were to resume the Contests and actually carry them through to completion.

In any event, as I said, I encourage you to start running these contests again! But as before, we at Looney Labs prefer to leave the management of such activities up to the fan community, so as to maintain impartiality and stuff. But don't take our professional detachment as a lack of thinking it's cool! We totally think it's great and we wish they were being run by someone!

-- Andy

--On April 14, 2007 12:59:18 AM -0500 James Hazelton <jameshazelton@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hello.

It seems that there is a general call for another IGDC. Recently, there
have been complaints of a lack of procedure for getting your games
played. Game are being churned out all the time, and a lot of them really
deserve to be recognized. It's been a year and a half since the last
competition--a time before some of us got into pyramids--so why don't we
start up another one? I don't see how the fact that the last guy went
AWOL keeps the rest of us from trying again. I would like to put to the
floor a motion to start up another IGDC. Would this be feasible? I think
it would be nice to focus on game created post-Treehouse. That is, both
Treehouse games and games made with the Treehouse sales strategy in mind.
Perhaps games that use a Treehouse set, a Treehouse die, Martian
Coasters, or Volcano caps could have a better chance of getting in the
contest. (Or not; whatever, really.) If we have a lot of entries--a
definite possibility since there hasn't been a IGDC in so long--there
might be enough material for two formats: a Treehouse Competition and a
Classic Competition. We'll need a new competition organizer, but I'm sure
someone will volunteer. There could even be a small group in charge, if
no-one has time to manage the whole thing. I would throw my hat in the
ring if it came to that.

Fixing up the Wiki is great and everything, but it won't get people
playing our great new games. I missed the first five competitions, so I
would really like to see this manifest. Does anyone else agree?


James