Inspired by this comment in the Game Designer challenge thread, I hereby formally challenge DirkGently to a duel of game design.

Let's be honest, game design in communities of this type is generally very supportive--and rightfully so. But sometimes it's good to shake things up, no? That's what's so great about Game Chef, 24-hour RPG, and the like. And while GC is ostensibly competitive, (a) it's still very supportive during the design process and (b) there's something inherently different about head-to-head endeavors.

So, I think it would be both fun and informative to engage in a competitive, head-to-head game design challenge. How about it, Aaron?

Anyone willing to step up and moderate, cobble together some rules?

You'll do nicely as far as I'm concerned. Willingness to serve has to be a key component; we can't very well shanghai a moderator.

Sorry, Adam. I'd like to say that was my first bit of trash-talking, but it was just a bit of fogginess. I don't put my game face on until the game begins, you know.

Yes, let's do this thing.

[Bollocks! Double-posted. See below]

Gentlemen, please. You're expected to contain your anger long enough to agree weapons.

Mr Teapot's suggestion is an interesting one: an opportunity for you to throw challenges at each other.

Failing that, you could agree terms among yourselves, in general terms (e.g. "three ingredients, choose two" or "a geographic location" or "a genre plus two words"). Then others, perhaps myself, perhaps people in another thread, can fill in the blanks.

Graham

Posted By: Justin D. JacobsonI feel pretty strongly that we should both abide by the same rules, whatever they are. That maximizes the head-to-head element.

Agreed.

-I like Graham's suggestion. I don't want to get knee-deep in the "ingredient" thing, since we just did GC. I'm cool with, say, one theme and one mechanical directive, but open to anything.

Works for me. After the freewheeling nature of Game Chef this year, I think that more contraints are better than less. Shall we narrow it a bit and include Genre? Say: One Genre, One Theme, One Mechanical Directive?

I propose that we open the "fill in the blank" portion to anyone that has a suggestion and that our helpful moderator decides when he sees one that he thinks is appropriate.

-I think we should have a time deadline of course. I think slightly longer might make it more interesting, say, 1 month.

Shall we tentatively set the deadline as May 29th (the day after memorial day)? Oh wait, I am supposed to be enraged... *ahem* THE DEADLINE SHALL BE MAY 29!!!

-We should have an idea of how the winner will be determined. I'm cool with something simple like a new thread here and have everyone vote in public, which one they like better, period. Nice and macho.
-I don't have the foggiest idea what your design skills are, but we need to decide if the graphic package is part of the contest. I'm fine either way. (For the record, my layout-fu is quite decidedly average.)

Open and public voting is the only way to decide, unless (as is likely) you are forced to concede under the fury of my assault!

In terms of your second question, my graphical design skills are decidedly sub-par... but I will not accept any molly-coddeling! Graphics and layout should not be excluded from the voting process.Let them judge the finished product as a whole.

Bow before my hideously ugly character sheets!

Or perhaps I'm being too controlling.

Nope! So long as Justin agrees that was pretty much what I had in mind.

Any particular judging criteria? Or just which ones people like?

Hmm... well if we have constraints that should be taken into account some way too. Say split judging in half, vote once for which game is the better crafted overall (uhh... which one they like, I mean) and once for which game most fully embraced and utilized the requirements.

Any thoughts on that Justin?

Oh, one more thing that needs to be decided: How "public" should the design process be? Are you interested in posting periodic updates to a centralized site (for instance, here, if no one minds) or do you want this to be a complete surprise?

Okay, I'm back from dinner, i.e., I have no need to eat for the next 33 days. I've never needed to sleep anyway. I have a large Snapple bottle by the keyboard. I have committed to committing malpractice by shirking my day-job responsibilities. But it will all be worth it when I dine greedily on the carcass of your game.

Too much?

-Deadline of 5/29 is great.
-One genre, one mechanical element, one theme. Check. Graham, should feel free to get them however he sees fit.
-joepub's voting system. Definitely. (Whisper voting to prevent early votes from affecting later ones, revealed at the end.)
-I'm all for public design. Again, maxing the head-to-head. I can even see you posting something you're working on making me ditch or strive to do better on something I'm working on. Plus, of course, the trash-talking.

Posted By: Justin D. JacobsonIn the interim, I am going into training ... Rocky IV style. Yeah, I haven't shaved since this morning, which means I have a full beard btw. I'm lugging d20s up the Urals in my sweatpants. I will break you!

Rocky IV style... you mean a montage of other montages? Because it is totally going to take more than that to take me down. In fact I am SOOO confident that I am going to completely dominate this competition that I watched the Simpsons for two hours rather than psyching myself up.

Of course, that was after my own intense Kung-Fu style training montage (you know, reading indie games in the dark, doing push-ups over a pit of scorpions while listening to game design webcasts, practicing the 9 Firey Dragon Forms of Perfected Game Writing).

And I NEVER shave!

I look forward to crushing you, seeing you driven before me, and listening to the lamentations of your women.

Oh yeah! Well, even at my current low level of 'psyching' I designed eight chess variants (one of which involved checkers pieces, a graphing calculator, and 10 jars of jelly) and a complete roleplaying game of such staggering beauty that simply to gaze upon it is to know true and blissful happiness. I called it "Inner Peace".

And, perfect though it was, I threw it away.

I didn't like how combat was playing out.

So, fear the wave of destruction that will soon cover you! For, even the dross that I cast away would be a masterpiece by anyone else's standards!

I am definitely game for some podcast coverage... a contest of this mangnitude deserves it. Hopefully you will do at least some of it in the style of a wrestling announcer: "Oh... he is going for the folding chair! And...and... OOOOOHHHHH that has got to hurt".

Of course, Justin probably doesn't want any records chronicling his humiliation and embarrasing defeat...

For the record, I'm happy to have the process covered.