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Pixel Panic

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hotsoup
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Joined: 08/28/2009

Here's an idea I'm tossing around.

Players race to create pixelated creatures using colored cubes. The creatures designed all challenge the previously winning creature to a duel. Players vote on which of the new creatures wins the battle, (they can't vote for their own) and that creature takes the old one's place as the new champion.

Other rules include: If your creature wins, you get a point, but every one else gets to draw more cubes from the pool to add to their collections.

While creating, you can switch out your cubes with different colored ones in the pool, but you have to maintain the same number of cubes.

Once a player thinks he is done, he shouts DONE and all players must stop and be judged as they are.

First player to X points wins.

Alternately, the game could take on a storytelling form, where people race to create people, creatures, or things to fill in the next part of a story.

BlueRift
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Joined: 04/01/2012
Cool

This sounds like a fun party game. It could see it working in many incarnations. It has a distinctly Banana-grams feel.

You might end up needing players to draw more than 1 cube after a round. I dunno how many rounds you are planning on having but I would think much more than 5 could get tedious. I guess it depends on how many each player starts with as well. But I don't think 1 more "pixel" will make a huge difference in the quality of a piece.

I'm excited to hear more. Also, I thought of a lego-like version of this where players are making things in 3-D. I think that lends itself to a broader audience in some way too.

hotsoup
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Joined: 08/28/2009
Yeah, players definitely will

Yeah, players definitely will be grabbing more than 1 pixel at a time. Maybe 10.

I like this idea because it ties into tall the pixelated art that's becoming popular now. I can see a player who's good enough creating little zelda or mario creatures.

I was lucky enough to find this on amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Assessment-Services-Inc---Centimeter-030-2071/dp/B...

Which might be useful for all sorts of game designers, actually.

Ideally, I'd like to make the game so that after players make their creatures, they get randomized so that people can't tell who made which. It would make it fairer, but it's hard to do when they aren't cards.

KAndrw
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Joined: 08/20/2008
Voting to assign points,

Voting to assign points, publicly known points totals, and a points threshold to determine winner just don't work together. If players treat it as a competition, they'll avoid voting for somebody if giving that person points will mean a win.

You would definitely need some way to make the voting blind if you wanted it to feel like a game.

Matthew Rodgers
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Joined: 03/01/2012
Maybe something like the new

Maybe something like the new edition of The Big Idea (everyone has enough cards to give one card to each of the other players, once card has a medal on it, representing a vote, the other cards are blank)...

MarkKreitler
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Joined: 11/12/2008
Smashing!

Love this idea!

I agree with the others that competition and judging are hard to combine. Also, given that there's an element of artistic ability involved, the playing field will tilt toward some players.

Have you considered a more "Pictionary" or "25 Words or Less" approach? In other words, one person draws a card that names the object to be rendered, the others then try to guess the rendering. There's a time limit (e.g., 3 minutes). The first person to guess gets 2 points, as does the renderer, assuming someone correctly guesses the answer.

First player to 'n' points wins.

A format like this takes pressure of those who don't consider themselves artistic and reduces the temptation to vote for the player least likely to win, etc.

Regardless of which way you go, I'm looking forward to hearing more.

Mark

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