Castle Paradox

[J.A.R.S.]

I think the maker sorta gave up on it, or so he said in an earlier thread... that is, unless more people show interest I think? Maybe once a month is too quick for certain people, so once per 3 months might give more vitality to it? I don't know, I think I could afford once a month but that's just my 2 cents to make it more popular, I'm sure a lot of people are willing to discuss about these games :S

[Camdog]

Well, I tried to restart the conversation about Walthros (the last selection we did), and no one contributed to the conversation, even though the points I brought up were broad enough to be discussed even if you haven't played the game, or have only played it for a bit.

Further, no one seemed to be that interested in continuing when I asked if there was still interest. All I got were some non-commital replies about what was wrong with the system. Not one person actually said they'd participate if we held another bookclub meeting.

That said, I'd love to do another if there's still interest in the community.

[Battleblaze]

just an idea


maybe bookclub meetings could serve as a case study on games good and bad points and could be summed up as a semi review we could save as an actual document say a newbiew could check out before they make their game.

While were at it why don't we start working more on wikipedia. If memorable games at least took up some space (just like any other game movie comic book or cartoon charecter no matter how small) on the internet we'd start drawing more people in by enghlightining people on OHR mythos, yes OHR mythos. We have our heroes our villinas our big posters etc. All which detaches anyone new. I think speading out the knowledge would give us more power. I know when I get on one subject on Wiki I end up going to everything ON the subject. Think how many peopel look up games. Noow think if they stumble across aj OHR game, then they click over to another, another, they get intrested in these games and "Oh my anyone can make these great games? I have some ideas I'd like to try out." Thats how I felt when I found OHR over all the other countless engines in the world.

So yeah I know participation is a bit weak...but if we stepped up the game a notch I think it'd be good for everyone. Maybe moving to Wiki is an idea to consider for exeptional bookclub meeting eh?
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[J.A.R.S.]

there is this new mag that got released which i didnt particularly felt the need to truly look into (aside from the sneak peak's part). I think if the bookclub ended up with a sort of written conclusion out of a game (collective review as battleblaze seems to express) it could be worth the time. I personally am interested, and I thought I had expressed that in the last thread, maybe not, eitherway, I think the concept is worthy, albeit perhaps unpopular?
Walthros wasn't a game I particularly liked though, but that was long ago. Perhaps restarting with more popular, broadly known games would be interesting. Bob the hamster is a game everyone played, and everyone commented on, and perhaps it was even in the bookclub, and though it wasn't "great" i think its the kind of game everyone could comment on.
Also, rather than questions, it should be a thematic approach into design. Rather than spend one month playing the game, then talking about various aspects, why not playing for one month, and then, attending a series of weekly discussions on several themes:
Week #1 (A more general question from design pespective, possibly, a series of questions answered by the maker)
Week #2 (Theme #1) - Investigating a certain theme or interesting take on something in the game, for example, anything that is uncommon or unique about the game. The inclusion of certain systems or a new take on something. It is not only about what breaks cliches, but what is done, even if it does include cliches.
Week #3 (Theme #2) - This could be about another aspect. From systems to storyline for example. How was treated the dominant theme in the game. Also could be interested in how it passes from one subplot to the other or how it never deals with subplots.

The whole ideais to give a very critic and intellectual look at a normal product. More often than not, the results would be a study of the underlying principles of success for a good game. I think this sort of discussion, although not scholarly oriented (more opinion driven, with examples) could lead to interesting conclusions for a progressive article:
Every new case of study could add up to previous conclusions and so, edit the whole article.
For example, game "a" teaches us one thing about random battles, while game "b" teaches us another. The addition of a and b lessons on random battles is much better together than separated because it lets us fill the gaps in-between in the spectrum of design stances that could be adopted. Such a progressive article could also get its "new discoveries" in the magazine...
I'm just tryna find ideas to have this get a larger purpose to earn a larger audience. People like to be part of the big thing when its going somewhere. Many people don't like discussions if there is nothing published at the end. I was actually thinking about reading through the whole design open threads and make a summary of what ha dbeen discovered by the users of this forum in the past (before I started these small threads) but I believe the bookclub has a better approach on it. It starts with a game rather than a theme and builds from there...
Anyway, I'm willing to discuss.

[The Wobbler]

[J.A.R.S.]

it doesnt make sense to me, I was merely basing this off the current amount of replies in bookclub threads.
It may be broadly known, but bob is just so much more.

[Camdog]

Frankly, I think your suggestions would limit, rather than encourage participation. The whole idea was to make the barrier to contribution as low as possible so that anyone could participate. Your ideas would make it impossible for people to enter the conversation casually. Further, I think the casual format worked fine when there was actual participation. Just check out the sword of jade thread. There were pages and pages of discussion and we covered plenty of ideas as they came up naturally without having to rely on a constructed set of discussion rules.

Seeing as how this thread has been revived, I figure there is still some interest in this idea, so perhaps I will start up a new voting thread soon. I've been thinking one of the reasons it flopped was because, to my surprise, a month was actually too short an amount of time to get a new game on a regular basis. Walthros has about ten hours of gameplay, and that's a lot to squeeze into an otherwise busy life. Perhaps we should make it quarterly? Or at least bi-monthly?

[J.A.R.S.]

it doesnt make sense to me means i thought it made sense to someone based on the fact ... ah nvm...
And ya, bob would help us only once, but I think its just a matter of "restarting the engines" to get some fresh people interested... maybe they'd make the effort then to play the game discussed afterwards, it was just a thought. And I see where you're going with what you said, you're right, my idea sorta ignored this aspect. Well anyway, whichever comes next, I'm interested.

[Pepsi Ranger]

How about instead of enacting a time limit on your discussions, you just stick to one game until the discussion plays out? If participation fizzles, then maybe it's time to move onto another game. If it re-ignites, which the Walthros discussion did temporarily, then let it fly.

The only window of time I'd consider here would be how long you choose to wait before launching the new discussion after the old one dies. Launch it too soon and the community burns out; launch it too late and it loses interest. You might want to space the death of a discussion from the start of a new one by about three weeks, plus however long it takes the people to play the game.

Also, you have to keep in mind that most people here lose interest in what they're doing very quickly, which includes, unfortunately, participating in "Book Club" discussions. No matter what formula you introduce, participation is going to fade more and more with each passing cycle. It's just the way it works around here. Why do you think none of our magazines lasted more than a few issues? Why do you think the ratio of completed games to demos is about 1:300? If you really want to shake this up, you need to find a way to give out a bag of Cheetos to every person who participates.
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The Adventures of Powerstick Man: Extended Edition

Currently Updating: General sweep of the game world and dialogue boxes. Adding extended maps.

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Currently Updating: Chapter 2

[J.A.R.S.]

that, or reinvent itself at each issue... this can be done by basing this off the very composition its all about. I dunno about Walthros, but an horror game sure is another context... I have no other idea to revamp each formula other than making an article for some mag about it, but the idea is reivention. Why do you think RPGs survived? a lot of it is perhaps sticking to classical rules, but a lot also comes from reinvention. Bookclubs, should too, reinvent.

[Onlyoneinall]

[J.A.R.S.]

It's actually a good idea... not the cheetos per se, but giving "something" to those who participate... But I thought the idea was also to give to the community by participating... :S lol, maybe you could ask the admins for some support there. As far as I'm told, there is a thread about points or something, or using the site even... Dunno, but the reward idea might make this more attracting, but it depends if its a community focus or not I guess.

[Newbie_Power]

Cheetos?

What's the next game so I can play it and talk about it? I will definitely do it for free Cheetos. I will even PM my mailing address so you can send the Cheetos over.

[J.A.R.S.]

[Newbie_Power]