Thanks for your input, both "officially" as LL voice and personally. A few notes in reply, inline below: > From: Andy Looney <andy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> > Feel free to quote this message on the wiki, but I'm going to assume I can Yep, and I have copied the kernal to the IGDC Talk page. > The restriction I'm most interested in seeing is games for a > single-Treehouse set. From a biz standpoint, we're very keen on being able > to rattle off a list of other games the new purchaser can play with a > Treehouse set and nothing else (except commonly-owned materials). FWIW, this is a breakdown of (most of the) one-set games: http://icehousegames.org/wiki/index.php?title=What_Can_I_Play%3F#One_Set ...I think we've sort of been hammering on them for some time, now, outside of the competition. There's a total of 36; in fact, there's more: I don't list games on that page until I am out of playtesting, some others also comply with that general request (see Games Under Development page), and so there's bound to be a handful more to come once their rules are nailed down. BUT... compare that to two-set games: http://icehousegames.org/wiki/index.php?title=What_Can_I_Play%3F#Two_Sets ...Nine games total, with about four of them only "limited" variations (fewer players or fewer play options). So given that you went on to say the following: > My second choice would be games that use 2 Treehouse sets (or parts > thereof). As we pitch people on the system, we look forward to being able > to say "here are some games you can play when you get your second set," ...Unless there's a strong, last-minute quorum and consensus otherwise--and given that "xHOUSE" is the current leader, with three votes (counting yours) out of 6/7 votes so far--2HOUSE will probably be the restriction for Winter 2008. > > Designer Ballots - Never rank your own game, assumed to be ranked first, > > or free to self-rank however. > > I don't have a strong opinion here. I guess I'd say never rank your own > game. So-noted, breaking the 3-3 tie. If anyone else has an opinion, now's the time to get it voiced! Mere days remain to build consensus. > It's true our calendar year is dominated by Origins/GenCon and the winter > holidays. As such, we're awfully busy at those times (and for awhile > afterwards, recovering) so these to me aren't the ideal times to be setting Interesting... but what about the potential for using various cons to actually run judging? I can think of few better ways to highlight the community and the system's versatility than with a round of games and some judging. It's all well and good to tell someone about the "hundreds" of Icehouse games... but showing them a solid set, along with those in PWP or 3H, seems perfect, to me. Also, don't forget that many other cons occur around that time of year, too, not just the Big Three (of which you listed only the smaller two :P ). Maybe the Looney booth at GC/Or is hopping too much for contest management, but surely that's not the case for Demo Rabbits throughout the world who may or may not attend any of the Big Three. > these events. I'd rather see them offset by 3 months, to our quiet(er) > times of the year, when I'd have more time/willingess to actually test out Another tough nut: that puts them square at Spring and Fall... dead in the middle of exam and holiday periods, typically, for schools and unis. Winter and Summer, true, are break times... but they're not dominated by breaks (few schools are still on break as late as Jan 21st, though June-July 21st IS a problem for game groups built at non-year-round school). Believe me... it's a tough call. Winter/Summer means it should be easier for family gatherings and such to test, during time that's generally leisure time. Spring/Fall maximizes school-related timings, but with the conflict of exams and shorter breaks (e.g. less likely to find time during Spring Break at Daytona, to play pyramid games, as compared to a week at Grandma's during Christmas). > the entries. But that's more of a personal opinion... I don't care that > much about this. Really what matters is the times of year when the largest > number of people would be most likely to be able to fully participate in > the judging. I *think* that's going to generally be Winter/Summer. YMMV. Also, consider that such a shift will mean no IGDC for another, oh, five months. That's a long time to wait; we might risk losing some of the momentum we've gotten with the Summer resurgence of the contest. Perhaps some of the teachers and folks with gaming families could chime in on this timing issue? Being neither, I am largely speculating (though, FWIW, I personally have the most time available Win/Sum than in the middle of generally "hot" development periods First and Third Quarter--so I can speak for a lot of the professionals in the group, I think). David