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   Author  Topic: Essay by Christian Freeling on inventing games  (Read 520624 times)
christianF
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Re: Essay by Christian Freeling on inventing games
« Reply #345 on: Nov 3rd, 2010, 11:44am »

on Nov 3rd, 2010, 11:34am, MarkSteere wrote:
Sorry to hear that about the bug.  Is it a bug where there are no legal moves available or is it an algorithm for first player win?  
I have no clue whatsoever, but lots of time. I'll wait in ambush till it shows up Smiley  
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Re: Essay by Christian Freeling on inventing games
« Reply #346 on: Nov 3rd, 2010, 8:50pm »

Does the guy want to antagonize you for some reason?  Why not just say what the bug is so you can deal with it?
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Re: Essay by Christian Freeling on inventing games
« Reply #347 on: Nov 4th, 2010, 2:43am »

on Nov 3rd, 2010, 8:50pm, MarkSteere wrote:
Does the guy want to antagonize you for some reason?  Why not just say what the bug is so you can deal with it?
I found the game unintentionally, and the balancing rule effortlessly (I know, you think its an orang-utan, but at least I found it effortlessly Wink). That may seem very unfair to someone who is searching intentionally and far from effortlessly.
 
Then I spam about the game, 'prematurely' and in 'unlikely places', hijacking threads at bgg such as the one that covers the 'star' theme in the first place (not started by me), the very thread about the game itself (also not started by me) and the thread that bears my name (started by Michael Howe).
 
Like you once accused me of hijacking this thread  Wink
 
Anyway, I don't want to bother anyone with a game they failed to invent.
And the bug may be located elsewhere.
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Re: Essay by Christian Freeling on inventing games
« Reply #348 on: Nov 4th, 2010, 8:01am »

Alright.  I didn't understand that, but that's ok.  I've grown surprisingly comfortable with not understanding things in life  Smiley
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Re: Essay by Christian Freeling on inventing games
« Reply #349 on: Nov 5th, 2010, 3:30pm »

Today I visited a thread started by Nick Bentley at google rec.games.abstract about a game design contest.
 
One of the suggested themes struck a chord and at 11:11 pm I posted an interest in competing, should that particular theme be chosen. At 12:43 pm I posted the rules of what had emerged in an hour or so, from combining elements of Symplex and Hexade. The Validation box above the submit button read "Whingi" and that sounded like a good name.
 
So here is Whingi. An applet will soon be available for playtesting.
 
Of course this is not invented at all according to what many would consider abstract game inventing etiquette Wink .
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Re: Essay by Christian Freeling on inventing games
« Reply #350 on: Nov 5th, 2010, 6:25pm »

on Nov 5th, 2010, 3:30pm, christianF wrote:

Of course this is not invented at all according to what many would consider abstract game inventing etiquette Wink .

It suits me fine  Smiley  It's the naming that's problematic.  Symplex is a venereal disease and whingi is the first part of whingi and whiney, something toddlers get when they have to do number two.
 
Christian, as a friend, you  must consult with an American before naming your games.
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Re: Essay by Christian Freeling on inventing games
« Reply #351 on: Nov 6th, 2010, 3:12am »

on Nov 5th, 2010, 6:25pm, MarkSteere wrote:

It suits me fine  Smiley  It's the naming that's problematic.  Symplex is a venereal disease and whingi is the first part of whingi and whiney, something toddlers get when they have to do number two.
 
Christian, as a friend, you  must consult with an American before naming your games.
There are those would would feel that to be fitting for my work, but thanks, I'll reconsider.
 
Naming can be tricky. "Flume", is in dutch perceived as "Fluim", the dutch word for  "Phlegm" Tongue .
 
Edit 1: thus far Symplex has become Symplehex.
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Re: Essay by Christian Freeling on inventing games
« Reply #352 on: Nov 6th, 2010, 8:11am »

on Nov 6th, 2010, 3:12am, christianF wrote:

Naming can be tricky. "Flume", is in dutch perceived as "Fluim", the dutch word for  "Phlegm" Tongue .

Oh great.  Now you tell me   Embarassed
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Re: Essay by Christian Freeling on inventing games
« Reply #353 on: Nov 6th, 2010, 8:39am »

on Nov 6th, 2010, 8:11am, MarkSteere wrote:

Oh great.  Now you tell me   Embarassed

It's only Dutch, I've checked German too: phlegm is "Schleim" there, and nothing like Flume means anything in German.
 
And ... I've decided on Lhexus for the latest arrival.
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Re: Essay by Christian Freeling on inventing games
« Reply #354 on: Nov 7th, 2010, 2:58pm »

on Nov 6th, 2010, 8:39am, christianF wrote:
And ... I've decided on Lhexus for the latest arrival.
Not a tweak either, here's the first game.
 
Remember, valid configurations may not overlap: any stone may only be counted in ONE configuration.
The counter just counts stones on the board: in case of a tie in the number of valid configurations, the player with the lesser number wins.
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Re: Essay by Christian Freeling on inventing games
« Reply #355 on: Nov 10th, 2010, 11:54am »

From the recently rewritten epilogue of the essay this thread is about:
Quote:
The second wave
I neither intended nor expected to invent more games, but I did. Hanniball and YvY, in 2009, were still co-inventions, giving testimony to a reluctant restart, but then Query happened, and Symple, which is not only a quintessential strategy game, but the cradle of a new meta-mechanism. Or actually, that was Symplehex, because the hexversion preceded the square one. Anyway, the 'symple mechanism' almost instantly found its way, in slightly different forms to fit their respective housing, in Lhexus, Charybdis and Charybdis Square.
Come November 2010 there was no denying: I may be able, someway sometime, to stop inventing games, but intentions and expectations to that effect don't seem to work very well. I don't hunt for games, but occasionally one gets too close, and when I smell prey I can't resist. There's no effort involved, no fumbling with pieces and boards, and no interference in my much appreciated daily routine, so who am I to intend, expect or complain?
I'm a game whisperer, nolens volens.

Here's how I invented them.
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Re: Essay by Christian Freeling on inventing games
« Reply #356 on: Nov 10th, 2010, 1:32pm »

on Nov 10th, 2010, 11:54am, christianF wrote:

I don't hunt for games

This would tend to imply that you have either more good games or a higher percentage of good games than the lowly hunter.  Are either of these verifiable assertions?  Are there no turkeys running wild on the Freeling estate?
 
on Nov 10th, 2010, 11:54am, christianF wrote:

I'm a game whisperer,

Just as long as you're not the other kind of whisperer mentioned in that other forum  Cheesy
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Re: Essay by Christian Freeling on inventing games
« Reply #357 on: Nov 10th, 2010, 2:03pm »

on Nov 10th, 2010, 1:32pm, MarkSteere wrote:

Quote:
I don't hunt for games ...

This would tend to imply that you have either more good games or a higher percentage of good games than the lowly hunter.  Are either of these verifiable assertions?  Are there no turkeys running wild on the Freeling estate?

To be fair, Lhexus and Charybdis were triggered by a contest, so it was a 'hunt' if you like.
Lhexus took an hour or so. I withdrew it from the competion because it didn't quite fit the one provisional theme it was meant to fit, and modifying the theme to fit the game seemed too much of a reverse procedure.
 
Moreover the theme had switched to "othelloish, but less crappy than othello". Charybdis took me a day and mainly shaped itself during the long daily walk in the woods with my husky and two raccoon dogs. No boards, no pieces, no turkeys Wink .
 
And not much of a hunt either because the 'symple' mechanism provided a good base.
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Re: Essay by Christian Freeling on inventing games
« Reply #358 on: Nov 10th, 2010, 2:05pm »

I only hunt in the sense of searching for new discoveries, new principles, new architectures.  I'm not greedily rubbing my hands together, striving for "the next Blokus".
 
My technique doesn't feel brutish to me, though it may seem so to Christian.  It might if my end goal were popularity.  Of course I'm happy when people like my game.  I'm not immune from that.  But popularity is not a design imperative.
 
Oddly, I end up making good games in spite of myself.  Bold, refreshing architecture can sometimes lead to bold, refreshing gameplay.  Cephalopod, case in point.  
 
Edit: Cephalopod url
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Re: Essay by Christian Freeling on inventing games
« Reply #359 on: Nov 10th, 2010, 3:07pm »

on Nov 10th, 2010, 2:05pm, MarkSteere wrote:
Oddly, I end up making good games in spite of myself.  Bold, refreshing architecture can sometimes lead to bold, refreshing gameplay. Cephalopod, case in point.
Certainly one of you best games in terms of originality and architecture, and I can see the infinite intricacies of a finite game here. I can even see players completely absorbed in them. But I'm not much of a player to begin with and the visual dexterity required might in my case easily result in catatonia Wink .
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