Joe Joyce wrote on Thu, Mar 27, 2008 04:23 PM UTC:
Hi, all. A garage is a place where you can dump a lot of stuff, and I plan
to do that here, covering several topics. First, my apologies for my
rather erratic move and comment timing lately; there's illness in the
family and it's disrupting things here. Everything should be resolved in
a few months, and then I expect to actually have some time [dreamer that I
am, I *never* have half the time I want!] On to the pile of stuff in the
garage.
I was waiting for someone to jump in and defend my 2 games against
George's ratings, but as no one has, let me leap into the fray. George,
you panned Great Shatranj and Chesimal Fusion I; why you pick on my good
games is beyond me. I have games posted that are terrible; SpaceWar in
particular is unplayable as is. Finally got a chance to playtest it with a
brother, and the game just doesn't work. This led me directly to the idea
of a 'Games Garage' for broken games. I floated the idea to a couple
designers, and one said he'd act as guest mechanic on occasion. The other
will drop in and comment, anyhow [and if we're real nice, maybe he'll
pick up a wrench]. So, the garage will be built in the wiki, and SpaceWar
will be moved off the CVPages and into the garage.
Apprentice mechanics welcome. The wiki is an excellent place to work
cooperatively on games. Juan has made a proposal [pairing designers and
novices] which may be too ambitious, but we can test out his idea at the
garage. Any design put into the garage is fair game for *any* one to poke
around in. Questions and discussions are also welcome. [Everyone knows
mechanics are lazy and would rather talk than work... ;-) ] And remember,
the final part of fixing a car is to test it. SO there will be a test bed.
The garage will accept broken games, old games that need a tune up, games
that hesitate or want a new engine installed. Heck, we might even do paint
jobs. The garage will also accept the curious, hangers-on, checkers
players, and anyone who wants to get their hands dirty. Rules will be
minimal, and posted.
Comments?