I need everyone who cares--and in particular a Looney rep, who can speak to business advantage to them--to go to the IGDC Talk page and chime on on two polls:
Feel free to quote this message on the wiki, but I'm going to assume I can just post my thoughts on this here.
Design Restriction - By mechanic (specify), by product(s), or by word-associative theme (make suggestions).
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).
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," just as we can now say "here's a great trio of games you can play when you reach the 3 set level." I could someday imagine a series of other booklets like 3HOUSE: 1HOUSE, 2HOUSE, 4HOUSE, etc.
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.
Next Contest Timing As Andy has pointed out, Looney Labs undergoes two seasons: Origins and Christmas. It only seems natural that the IGDC span those times as well. More than any other time of year, Icehouse fans will be surrounded by gaming supplies and willing gamers. These seem like great opportunities advantageous to voter participation. Furthermore, doing so may help serve the Looneys' interests to help boost product awareness during those big sales periods. I suggest we time future contests around these critical peaks in 'gaming season', the December 15 - January 15 timeframe for the winter holiday season, and June 20 - July 20 for the summer convention season. (Good arguments against this include not wanting to compete for gamers' attention from larger distractions, and wanting contest timing to coincide with college schedules.)
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 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 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.
So those are my thoughts about that. Sorry about taking so long in speaking up.
-- Andy Looney