Post Game Thoughts While Tidying Up the Kitchen

[Paka]

Bowls, wooden spoons, pans and cooking oil's everywhere.

Now its time to clean up the kitchen and let the judges do their thang.

How'd it go?

I was glad that I actually finished my game. I have no idea if what I wrote is a functional game but so be it. Its in, its done, its in terrible need of a playtest.

I had fun.

I haven't read nearly enough of the other games. I felt like I really neglected that aspect of it, only familiar with a few others.

[CodexArcanum]

I'm feeling about the same way. This week has just been so busy, that I basically wrote my entry in 24 hours. I did some writing, thinking, and working here and there, but the bulk of the work was yesterday.

Still, I'm glad that I got an entry in, and I feel like it's mostly complete, playable, and generally good. It definately could use a playtest or two and some trimming at the edges.

I also lament my non-involvement with the other entries. I feel like I just didn't post here all that much and like I made my game in secret only to throw it in at the last second. Next year, I hope that I'll have more free time so I can really put some effort into it and provide some better feedback.

Right now, I'm just waiting to hear anything about my game, see it posted, and I'm reading the other entries as they get posted.

[Clinton R. Nixon]

If they do this on Memorial Day weekend next year, I have a suggestion: games are due by Sunday at midnight, per normal, to be entered. You can, however, submit a revision by Monday at midnight. I think Memorial Day would be a perfect day to playtest.

I'm just happy to be done and moved on. I do worry that my game has some missing ingredient that it needs to fully cook, but I'm pretty happy with it. I look forward to revisiting it in a few weeks and maybe fleshing it out into a full product.

[adgboss]

I hate to sound repetitive but I feel generally the same way. J&H is done, handed in, and I think very playable. I know it needs some more structure and to be clearer? At least from my perspective.

I think once the judging is done I will decide what to do. I have a game to work on in the mean time and this experience has kicked away my writer's block.

One thing I noticed and maybe this is just me, is that many of the games were focused and Competition as Role Play, which is not bad but not the usual. Is just a trend or do you feel it was a function of the ingredients?

Sean

[JenniferS]

Tired, but enthused.

We're looking into getting Barquest actually published. We didn't playtest it yet but people were pretty enthused...I had originally started going a completely different way, but we couldn't get it to turn into an RPG. It would make a fanastic card game, though so I'm looking into making that a viable product as well.

[CodexArcanum]

I feel like Accuser and Companion as ingrediants were just attractive options because they immediately spark this idea of a Paranoia-esque game. "The players have to be companions, but people are accusing each other of things, so..."

Wine, Entymology, and Invincible seemed to be used much less, usually as the compliment to the other two, with Wine and Bugs being usesd mostly as garnishes, rather than primary ingrediants. Out of curiousity, did anyone do a game without using Accuser and Companion as ingredients, or at least not as primary ones?

What did everyone think of the limitations? Designers cards seemed like a really popular one. I expected a lot more 3-info dice mechanics, but I haven't really seen any up on the relesae list with that one yet.

Anyway, a fun contest and I'm looking forward to digging through all the entries.

[matthijs]

I think posting comments on others' games should be a requirement - each participant should post comments on at least 5 other games.

Competitive roleplaying - I dunno, for me it just clicked. I tried Universalis and Capes this year, and always thought Once upon a Time had something going for it... and it somehow seems a natural extension of several trends I've seen and thought about. Guess it's just a 2005 thang.

[jmstar]

I guess everybody was super focused and busy. I tried to comment and encourage where I could, but it still wasn't much. And when I specifically asked for feedback, I got none at all. So I'd suggest thinking about that when putting together the next Game Chef - some way to encourage interaction among chefs would be very welcome.

--Jason

[Simon W]

[quote="""]

Wine, Entymology, and Invincible seemed to be used much less...

I expected a lot more 3-info dice mechanics, but I haven't really seen any up on the relesae list with that one yet.

quote]

SAND - Wine, Entomology and Invincible - yes.
SAND - 3-Info dice mechanic - yes.

[Doug Ruff]

I got a real sense of (for want of a better word) achievement out of doing this. It was hard work, but I managed to get a game from initial design to submission in just over a week. Even if it's not the final polished product.

I feel I learned a couple of things about game design too, but I'll save that for another thread.

I wish I'd been able to support the other entrants more: I wanted to say something to everyone, but it's hard to stop and taste someone else's meal when I've got my own dish burning under the grill. Apologies to those of you I missed, I was impressed by all of the entries, and particularly by the creativity of the submissions and quality of writing throughout.

And props to Judd for starting the post-entry conversation. It's not over now that the deadline has ended; it's only just begun.

PS JenniferS, that's great news! For what it's worth, I think your game has really good "pick up and play" quality. It's the sort of thing that you can take to a friend's house (or a convention) and have everyone ready to play in a couple of minutes.