[Open Design] Would You Like to Help Me Create a Game?

Tuesday I made a brief post about a new project I would be undertaking on this blog. So, this is it. I want to design a new board game or card game with your help. I'm calling this project Open Design because every aspect of designing the game will be open for your input.

• Have you ever wondered what goes into designing a new game from scratch?
• Have you ever wanted to try your hand at it?
• Have you ever considered collaborating with others on a creative endeavor?

If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, you should be a part of my Open Design project. If you answered "no" to all of them, then you should spend more time playing games and hanging out with creative people. If you had any other answer for any of these questions, you should learn to answer all questions in binary values - it makes you an easier audience to write snappy project pitches for.

So here is how it will work: Each week, I'll post an article discussing the next task that needs to be done in designing our new game, asking for feedback or contributions on a specific subject. Between Open Design posts, you'll submit material, or vote on one of several options. The next week's Open Design article will review the votes and submissions and explain how they've effected the game design, before presenting the next task that needs to be done. While you are welcome to participate each week, there is no commitment required. Participate on the basis of how much time, how many ideas, and how much interest you have.

So, what do you get for participating? Well, first you get a fun time collaborating with friends on something creative. When it is all done we will have (at the very least) a working prototype of the game that you can play and enjoy. If our game is ever published (an admittedly slim possibility) you'll be credited as co-designers. But mostly, this is just for fun. ^_^

If you're interested in helping with this project, here is our first task: we need to choose a game to develop! For this purpose, I'm using three rough game ideas that I've posted to this blog in the last few weeks. They are Galactic Breakout, Phantom, and Mercenaries (all working titles). Read over my descriptions of the rough ideas, and then come back here and vote on which game you think we should work on. The poll will end on Wednesday (4/18/12) at 11:59 PM.

Which game should we design?