Awards & Contests THE 2020 SUMMER GAMES - GAME DESIGNER'S CHALLENGE EDITION

Gave a few extra days for voting and discussion! The winner will be announced tomorrow!!

 

Maybe a good time for people to put up there guesses? Before the winner might clearly hint at the identity of at least one of us?

 

I gotta say, I am surprised at how little adherence to the prompt seems to factor in to people’s voting decisions. I’ve viewed this whole thing as a challenge, as it says in the title. The images and prompts laid out by @The Jedi in the Pumas clearly wouldn’t traditionally fit together. A black and white photo of a car race combined with a sci-fi hook? Giant furry creatures and a coffee shop combined with apocalyptic employee management? It’s hard to make an OP that makes those things the focus of the game, but therein lies the challenge of it. And I think it’s been interesting, to say the least, to see GMs that have seemingly treated these prompts as afterthoughts in an effort to make a game that appeals to a broader audience get rewarded with a majority of the votes, where the games that do make an effort to adhere to the prompts in a more direct way tend to get ignored.

Keep in mind, I’m not complaining. Everyone has their own criteria for voting, and obviously none of the games in this contest have been bad. But where others have stated that they vote for the game that has the best “playability,” so to speak, it’s odd to see that adherence to the prompts doesn’t seem to factor in to their decision making. It certainly has in mine, both in how I’ve constructed my OPs and how I’ve voted for my favorites.

But, knowing one’s audience is also a big factor in a contest decided by votes, and I think the eventual winner has definitely succeeded in that regard.

 

Sounds to me a bit like you tried to impress the wrong guy, Reynar. Nobody is bound to any criteria in a contest decided by public vote. I do not think the idea that a game must be "playable" is unreasonable. Also personally I found the tasks a bit too restrictive leading to too many games alike.

But read why people truly voted for games. What does playability REALLY mean?

A question:

Has anyone not involved in the contest voted for any game they would not join?

I haven't.

 

That person whose motives and thoughts are read and commented here has no opportunity to reply right now, as he might very well know he has won and everybody else can only guess. So shall we wait discussing the winners strategy until we have him announced and he can actually reply?

 

As the winner will be announced today, I welcome any way we can make the contest better and any further discussions AFTER the announcement.

As far as the winner, as mentioned in the OP, votes AND discussion/analysis have been taken into account in determining the winner. I consciously made sure that votes were not solely the determining factor, but is the strongest factor. This is where I learned from the Summer Games-esque challenge that I_H ran before!

Until then, please focus on putting constructive helpful criticisms forward so we can make the next event even better!

 

I used this challenge as a personal exercise, Rachel. If I was trying to impress someone who’d vote for my games, they would’ve looked a lot different.

I was simply responding to others’ comments on their voting process and criteria with my own. I’m sorry to have offended anyone by offering a different opinion on things.

@The Jedi in the Pumas, you’ve done a fantastic job running this event, and the prompts have been great and really helped stretch my creative muscles and get the juices flowing. I anxiously await the unveiling of the winner!

 

Not at all, was just explaining you how I (and I think most people around here) cast their votes. Felt like you feel a little offended by the critic tbh

 

Alas....here we are...

I will begin with the final Host Evaluation

Coffee, Milk and Sugar
Originality: 3/10
Use of Image: 2/10
Use of Genre: 4/10

The Coffeeshop at the End of the World
Originality: 9/10
Use of Image: 9/10
Use of Genre: 8/10

Extinction Brothers Coffee Company
Originality: 8/10
Use of Image: 10/10 (I could perfectly view the image of the worms being a picture of an employee serving a chai latte to the worm to PREVENT THE END OF THE WORLD)
Use of Genre: 6/10

The Teddy Bear Chronicles
Originality: 9/10
Use of Image: 1/10
Use of Genre: 2/10

Next is the total voter tallies!

Voter Score
Lawbreaker - 13
Reynar - 8
Fin - 6
I_H - 5

Then the Evaluation scores!

Host Eval Score
I_H - 64
Reynar - 62
Fin - 47
Lawbreaker - 44

Now the decision-making behind the decision!

I would first like to thank our four contestants for participating. @Lawbreaker @Reynar_Tedros @DarkLordoftheFins and @Imperial_Hammer ! I appreciate the time and effort that was spent making this challenge a competitive success and you all deserve a round of applause!

​

Down to business. The voter score winner was @Lawbreaker , primarily thanks to the explosion of support he received for his game rendition of The Thing in the first prompt, which at the close of the voting window received a whopping 7 votes! The host eval score winner was @Imperial_Hammer . Who was, ironically, LAST in the voter score. This is where every aspect of the challenge mattered. The goal and spirit of this Summer Games Challenge was to provide GMs with irregularly juxtaposed images and genres and allow their creativity to explore the different pathways towards arriving at a design for a fantastic opening post and game, while still utilizing the images and genres as the primary foundation for the games.

This was where I took into account the discussions that occurred. How the voting was done and what voters prioritized. What became clear was that voters were not viewing usage of the genre and images as important factors. As one of our voters, @LordTroepfchen pointed out in the latest explanation of the way he voted:

"I gotta say, I felt the OP went far away from the prompt, more or less using all three elements only to barely fulfill the criteria, but I picked it for being the purest OP, putting all creativity not into game mechanics and design, but story building and narration. So despite the flaw of not tackling the challenge presented directly, I picked that one as my favorite."​

This is where we ran into a bit of a hiccup as what we ended up having (in kind of a funny twist of fate) was the highest vote-getter adhering the least to the parameters of the challenge; this explains the discrepancy in the scores. I, as the host, viewed utilization of the images central for success in the challenge (it was what was intended to make the Summer Games challenge a challenge), but voters did not seem to weigh that as heavily, by no fault of their own or the contestants.

Perhaps this was a problem in the design of the format of the challenge and I as the host. This, likely, was something I could've made more clear in the rules (though I do doubt how much it would have mattered to voters in the end).

With all of that being taken into consideration, I would like to congratulate @Reynar_Tedros as the winner of the 2020 Summer Games - Game Designer's Edition!!. As the runner-up in votes, runner-up in eval scores, his usage of the prompts and images as not just parts of his OPs, but foundational pieces from which he constructed his games, he embodied the spirit of the competition and succeeded in garnering support from the community!

Please join me in congratulating our Inaugural Winner and the spectacular contestants for making this event so freaking epic!

(Now let the guessing on whose games were whose begin, since the RPF wants to know so badly!)

 

Congrats to Reynar and well done to everyone who participated!

 

You should recount the votes. One is missing.

I think Lawbreaker had 14 votes. 40% of all votes and 50% for all non contestant votes. If that is not enough to win, I think we can say at this point the votes were irrelevant.

 

Lawbreaker had 14 votes. I guess The Thing (8), Shogun World (2) and Teddy Bear Chronicles (4) are his games? The numbers would otherwise make no sense. That is 42% of the votes. 14 in total. Adjusted by taking out the Competitors Votes he had 50% of the votes of all third party voters. That is every second vote.

 

Guys, this is low. Really, really low.

Seriously I am gonna say what everybody thinks right now. That is not adjusting a close vote by taking the discussions into account. That is ignoring the votes AND discussions to have your personal opinion overwrite it and cheat the guy who deserves the Award. It is cheating.

Congratulations to @Lawbreaker for those 14 votes. You clearly took this competition home. I am sorry you did not get the award you deserve.


P.S.: @DarkLordoftheFins, did I not tell you EXACTLY that this was gonna happen? Did I?

 

In THAT case, allow me to be the first to congratulate BOTH @Reynar_Tedros and @Lawbreaker ! Does this mean we’ll be getting two interviews in the Vox Populi thread? An inside look into two celebrated minds of our community for the price of Free.99??

Sign me up!



——-
When I was designing this challenge, it was born from a place of celebration, appreciation, and camaraderie. I am not ashamed to say I have an emotional attachment to this place as I’ve been a member since I was 15 years old. It warmed my heart over the summer to see that during a global pandemic, when IRL was being a Sith and a half, we came to this place and were having an explosion of creativity and excitement. I wanted to take advantage of that and give us an opportunity to harness that creativity, have a bit of fun, and celebrate each other.

I do not view I_H as a loser because he did not win. I celebrate him as I enjoyed his OPs and appreciated the time he put into this challenge.

I do not view Fin as a loser because he did not win. I celebrate him as I enjoyed his OPs and appreciated the time he put into this challenge.

I do not view Lawbreaker as a loser because I did not believe he won. I celebrate him as I enjoyed his OPs and appreciated the time he put into this challenge.

I do not view Reynar as a loser because he did not get the most votes OR get the highest eval score. I celebrate him as I enjoyed his OPs and appreciated the time he put into this challenge.

When the real world can be divisive over frivolous things like race, gender, etc, I do not wish to have something that I gave to the RPF be used as something to divide us when all I wanted was for us to come together and have a good time. This place should be relaxing, not stressful. Fun, not adversarial.

In the future, I promise to be more thorough, thoughtful, and careful in how I design.... well anything for public consumption here. I will be more formulaic and as clear as I can be, so that no one feels like I’ve cheated them or, worse yet, disrespected them. I will use this challenge as a learning experience and get better, because I only want to give positivity to EVERYONE here. This place has brought me a lot of joy in the past 13 years and I only hope I can return the favor!

So.... let’s hear it again for all of our contestants for making this, Blu’s first foray into the game hosting world, a fun one and an unforgettable one. I think we can all agree on that last one

Much love and respect to our lovely Mod Team @Sinrebirth and @Corellian_Outrider !!

 

First off, I want to give a big, hearty THANK YOU to @The Jedi in the Pumas for all of your hard work in putting this challenge together and running it over the past month, and the class you’ve shown in an unexpectedly difficult situation. As a pillar of our community as a GM and a player, you didn’t have to do this, but you wanted to bring even more fun and enjoyment to this community than you already do, saw an opportunity and jumped on it, and I’d say you’ve succeeded with flying colors. Job well done, my friend.

Secondly, I also want to extend my appreciation to our moderator duo, @Sinrebirth and @Corellian_Outrider. You both did your due diligence in a situation that certainly wasn’t easy to navigate, and handled it with the dignity befitting of a team in your position. And while I know it was impossible to come to a decision that would please everyone, I both fully understand and completely accept it.

To my fellow participants, @Lawbreaker, @DarkLordoftheFins, @Imperial_Hammer, I want to thank the three of you for giving me such joy and anticipation every week to read your games. I had such a great time getting to read your work, and I appreciate each of you for providing us with your very best. All of you are deserving of acclaim and recognition for your efforts.

To the audience and the voters, thank you for giving the four of us motivation to put forth our best efforts. I appreciate every vote I received across Agents of T.I.M.E., The Last of the Ninja, and The Coffee Shop at the End of the World, as well as the kind words extended by those who understandably voted for others. To know that I brought even a modicum of joy to someone with my writing makes it all worthwhile.

Now, I wanna talk about the word Challenge. To me, this has never been a competition. It’s been a collaboration, between myself, the host, and the other participants, to challenge and push ourselves through stepping outside our comfort zones and creating something we otherwise never would’ve thought to create. I think to strive solely for some artificial trophy or reward is missing the point. While it’s natural to seek recognition for your hard work, the point of it all, at least in my eyes, is to simply get better. As a GM, as a player, as a member of the community. And throughout this process, my goal has been to challenge not only myself, but my fellow participants as well, in how they viewed their own work as well as each other’s. To provide perspectives they never considered through challenges they never expected. Because opening yourself up to new experiences and new ways of thinking is how you evolve. To resist that is to resist growth. And I think I speak for everyone here when I say that, as awesome as this place is right now, I wanna see it get even better. I want us as a community to become closer and more open, to become better writers, better GMs, and better collaborators. Because there is always room to grow. We’re never finished learning. And I believe that challenges like this can only help in that process, as long as we maintain the right mindset, and accept it for what it is. Opportunity for betterment.

Cheers.

-Reynar

 

Alright, I guess I'll debrief next. Thanks to all for a good game. I agree with the prevalent sentiment that this has a wonderful gallery of talent to read and enjoy. Exceptionally stiff competition, and all of the winners are well deserved. Probably pretty clear which games were mine: Gold Rush: The Blue Blood Derby, Dejima - A Trading Game, and Extinction Bros Coffee Co. I really didn't opt to deviate from my house style, figured I would focus on some fun concepts and see what came out of it.

How about some director's commentary?

Gold Rush
So starting off the contest, I decided I would try to keep as close to the prompts as possible. I figured the challenge would be interesting, so why not. Once upon a time, I claimed that almost any topic can be made into an RPG and I do still believe that. Some older players might remember I used to toy around with the idea of a Miss America RPG to prove this point. So I went with the goal to lean in to the challenge. This dictated my going with a racing game for the first prompt. Luckily I had a template handy: the system I developed for my two Podracing games in 2005 and 2006. So I built the game up around that. I had to chuckle at some comments on if the system would work. To this day, the first iteration is the only game I've ever properly finished, weighing in at the end with 1722 posts. And a tip of the hat to the commenters who mentioned that the history was a little overwrought. In hindsight, that's very clear. I definitely got a little carried away with world-building on that one. Additionally, kudos to the commenters that mentioned a clunky rule-set. For this game, I went with my boilerplate rules, never stopping to even consider the notion of lengthy rules. After adjusting my rules for the Dejima and Extinction Bros, I like the suggestion! Finally props to the commenter who mentioned that this felt like a first draft. I won't lie, most of my submissions butted up right to the deadline . @The Jedi in the Pumas can vouch for that. This one was particularly rushed - I feel like I learned my lesson for the others. Despite putting in the most effort on this one, this was probably my least favorite of the three.

Dejima
This one I tried to take the most liberties with when it came to making the game. Google reverse image search made it clear the image was for the Meiji Restoration. But personally, I know next to nothing about Japanese culture and history and I didn't have the time to dive into the details. What I did have a good background on, however, was Dutch history, and so I took the colliding element in a different direction. This game was actually inspired by a short-lived trading game called "Galactic Trader: The Golden Rule" that Saintheart ran in 2007. A really innovative system that still captures my attention. I think that game was the first of its kind, maybe even the only one of its kind. Fair critiques on what the purpose of this game was. I see a lot of the games I create in terms of "game first, roleplaying second". I prefer to really lean in to the "G" in RPG. So the purpose is to make money, just as the purpose of monopoly is to buy things, the purpose of golf is to get the lowest number, and the purpose of Risk is to have the most little plastic soldiers. Is it more hollow than your average RPG? Absolutely. There are no soaring triumphs, no love or intrigue in a lot of the games I've made over the years. But what they do offer is something different, and I think there are folks out there that like an experiment. Certainly not everyone's cup of tea though - and that's A-OK by me. I had planned a storyline around the tribute mission to the Shogun, which was going to supply that roleplaying element, but I agree that was not as emphasized as well as it could have been in the opening post. Oh and @The Jedi in the Pumas was absolutely spot on in docking me for use of the image - it absolutely could have been any Japanese image in there, haha. This one is probably my most favorite of the three, but I would have liked it more if it was in an area of the world closer to my comfort zone!

Extinction Bros
A long term idea I've been kicking around in the back of my brain but never executed is the idea of a management game. A group of players get presented with a series of scenarios that they have to negotiate and dig out of. The core of the game is arriving at consensus among different people - which is such a hard thing to do. I'd prefer to run this idea on an airport or a casino, but I saw an opportunity with the third prompt to try out the idea on a coffee shop. The supernatural idea came out of necessity with that goofy monster picture. I saw the guy in the picture as delivering coffee, so I figured monsters would be the customers. And so it went. It still left the end of the world to be sorted out, so I figured the increasing difficulty would approximate for that. The idea was that eventually players would miss their mark, and the resulting disaster would be part of the "end of the world" narrative. IMO, the most interesting critique about this game was the shifts mechanic - and I think that is completely warranted. In fact, its kind of funny - that was the last thing I added to the system. What pushed me to add it was a concern about difficulty. If every player was able to address the customer's concerns, would the team never miss a challenge? If that's the case, would the game stagnate? I bet there is a better way to keep the game challenging though - I agree that not having players post could imperil the game's momentum. This game was the middle child for me. I think the scenarios end of the mechanic could be fun, but I do worry about if the game is properly calibrated for difficulty.

As I've hopefully made clear, this was a very educational and enjoyable experience. Many thanks to @The Jedi in the Pumas for putting the effort into running it, and to the various commenters who took the effort to make their views known! A tip of the hat as well to my esteemed competitors, @Lawbreaker , @Reynar_Tedros and @DarkLordoftheFins. You gentlemen are the cream of the crop, and it would be an honor to slug it out with you all again in the future.

 

Ah, so I wasn’t the only one reverse image searching!

 

So to avoid any political commentary I will say congratulations to ALL of the contestants. Actually the one thing undeniably remarkable was the overall quality of the Opening Posts. We had not one bad Opening Post in the whole contest. Constant quality here. So congratulations to @Imperial_Hammer, @DarkLordoftheFins, @Reynar_Tedros and @Lawbreaker.

Anyway, I am a bit insecure how to forward any suggestions how to improve this. I see a lot of things which I say could easily be improved. But then again it is a bit hard to criticize the proceedings without touching things like those discussed at length above (like how winners were determined and how votes were handled and all that). So shall I PM this to anyone maybe? Would the Mods probably be interested in it?

 

So my turn I guess. I am gonna keep it short.

First of all my congratulations to the winners.


My games were obviously T.A.R.C., The War of the Samurai and Coffee, Milk and Sugar.

I will spare you any insight into my creative process, as it is really not that intriguing. I write them in Word and look cool pics up using Google. Google. Right. If you do not know it, google it.

Anyway, one thing I feel important to get of my chest is my appreciation and gratitude for everyone who wrote us feedback. You guys get no title and no cool awards, but showed up to give us your thoughts anyway. If anything makes this an educative experience, it was you!

Anything else?

Yeah, thanks to @Lawbreaker, @Imperial_Hammer and @Reynar_Tedros for being such good sports. Loved what you did there.

 

It took me a while to post here. My apologies.


That being said, I gratefully reject the Award. I do not want it.

I congratulate the only winner of this challenge @Reynar_Tedros.


My games were The Thing II - Infection, Shogun World and The Teddybear Chronicles.

I don‘t think it makes a lot of sense to go into depth about how or why I have picked those. I tried to do something different and creative with my OPs, offering something special to my readers every round. Games I would like to see someone put up, if you know what I mean. That the reactions both positive and negative surprised me would be an understatement.

Please be assured I was totally unaware this might lead to such an emotional reaction by my fellow contestants and host. I intended to write good games and nothing else.

My thanks to all those who voted for me. Your votes were the only reward I was after and I feel honored I got plenty of those.

My thanks to the Mods @Sinrebirth and @Corellian_Outrider for their handling of the situation.

My special thanks to @SirakRomar.