Sounds good to me, I'm taking all this to heart and appreciate the feedback. I have no issues holding back till April 1, I just wanted to prevent the procrastinator in me from taking over (: Incidentally, I am now thinking that being playable with 5house would be a boon to the design overall so I am brainstorming some ways to make that happen. Thanks so much! 2009/3/20 David Artman <david.artman@xxxxxxxxx>: > Sam, what about the third term? I only see High(est) and Diamond. Just > asking--it would hurt your design's competitiveness further if you only used > two terms. > > Think about Team opportunity. You want a memory component? Suppose someone > can't show anyone else what's in a vein (other than what they mine, of > course); but they can *announce* what's there. That gets you both memory (me > and my team mate) AND a potential for bluffing (i.e. if I want to draw an > opposing team member off a vein toward which she's heading, I could bluff by > announcing, "Ooo! Both High value diamonds--I'll get the medium, Bob; get > over here for the small!" and then hope that Anne or Clarise try for it > first (i.e. if closer and if it's actually not High). > > Eh. Maybe. Might really only work once. But if you only use two colors and > the High value color, you get some push-pull--do I go for my own color (2x) > or do I deny the opposing team their own color? Nah... you want all four: > one that's worth 1x to both teams (neutral), one each that's 2x for a given > team but 1x for the opposing team (matched), and one that's High value for > either (3x). > > Keep another thing in mind: if you make a "tree-nest" of (bottom to top) > large, small, medium, capped with a large opaque, then you have some > "exposed" info (the bottom fringe of the large) AND you use more large > pieces (meaning more trips to the veins) AND the loading of a large diamond > would "fully load" a miner, forcing more of the memory/bluff game (i.e. one > has TWO remaining pieces to memorize or with which to bluff). Further, maybe > you could get rid of the extra Gray stash and do it with only the five > Black/White opaques in 5HOUSE? That puts 15 pieces out to be mined by four > players, on (say) a Volcano board (25, 5x5, squares). Hmmm... I'm thinking > this too much. > > AND... here's why sometimes it's not so good to have some folks "outed" with > their designs while others are not: lots of refinement feedback for some and > not others. Kinda skews the comp. Not a big deal (the point is good games, > not "winning"), but this is why I'd like to enforce a Hush Period until > April 1st. > > Ponder the above, Sam--playtest, playtest, playtest--and other folks try to > get your basic ideas nailed down in the next two-weeks-ish, and we can have > a huge brainstorm-fest from the 1st to the 17th. > > Fair enough, folks? > > _______________________________________________ > Icehouse mailing list > Icehouse@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > http://lists.looneylabs.com/mailman/listinfo/icehouse > > -- Sam Zitin Director of Information Management Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity Office:317-876-1913 Cell: 317-710-0925