Looney Labs Icehouse Mailing list Archive

RE: [Icehouse] IGDC Winter 2008 is ready for announcement tomorrow!

  • Fromkerry_and_ryan@xxxxxxx
  • DateMon, 05 Nov 2007 19:24:39 +0000
David Artman:
> Nothing about my new game's rules *actually* required black versus
> white--it could be red versus blue or any other color versus any other
> color, so long as you have two dice which are different colors and so
> long as you assign each die color to a player color.

Two things:
1. Doesn't the requirement for two TreeHouse dice make this a 2HOUSE game by the slimmest of margins?

2. Be careful about requiring identifiable TreeHouse dice.  If I understand correctly, nowadays both Rainbow and Xeno TreeHouse sets come with black dice.  I would automatically give one demerit to any game that requires two different TreeHouse dice.

> SO... truly arbitrary color assignments which try to "force" a two-set
> setup--but which do not actually require two sets, if one chooses other
> arbitrary colors--will not qualify for the "2HOUSE" requirement for the
> Winter 2008 IGDC. Color assignments which are critical to play (ex: the
> additive properties of, say, cyan and yellow) *will* qualify because one
> *must* use two sets to get *requisite* colors without which the game
> becomes unplayable.

IF you need less than six colors and at most one of each size of each color and at most one TreeHouse die, then I would consider that a 1HOUSE game, EVEN IF specific colors are specified.  I cannot think of a way to use, say, one color each from Xeno and Rainbow the actually requires specific colors.  Even if the rules were written to use only yellow and cyan, you can bet I'd just make some substitution so that game would work with the TreeHouse set I have. 

The only exception I can think of would be if you needed two different opaque colors.  THEN I could see that as a requirement for a mixed 2HOUSE set.  I might consider a game that requires 5 different transparent colors to be 2HOUSE, but that's borderline.  You can simulate a transparent color with an opaque one by moving the opaque one to see what's underneath.  It's a LOT harder to simulate an opaque color with a transparent one.

I think that situation is a perfect illustration of why the level to which any given game qualifies as 2HOUSE should be left to the judges' discretion instead of the contest administrator's.  Trust the judges to use some judgment... that's what they/we are here for.  As a judge, I wouldn't be irritated at seeing an entry that requires yellow and cyan (and no other colors of pieces and only one die).  I would just rank it quite low indeed because I don't consider it truly 2HOUSE in nature.

Ryan

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