So, the ingredients...

So, let's look at these newfangled medals we get to earn this year.

Submission Deadlines:
Hopefully...

Theme:
Intrigue--Not sure how I'm going to use this. Perhaps the players will keep something hidden (other than a gradually-unveiled strategy) for most of the game.

Ingredients:
Fleur-de-lis--Symbol of royalty and the Boy Scouts. The players are competing monarchs, perhaps?

Dividers--Clearly this indicates that the board is a map. I think the dividers will be a key piece of equipment used in the game.

Seabird--No clue how to use this. Maybe I'll think of something.

Star--Again, no idea were to go with this.

Special Distinctions:
Brevity Award:
This is a board game. The rules should be short.

Dressed to Impress Award:
Well, in theory a board game should look good. I'm not that much of an artist, though. If any artists, namely cartographers, would like to lend a hand, I'd appreciate it.

The Royal Academy of Flatland Award:
Well, I'm making a board game.


So, my opening thoughts are this:

It's a fairly abstract strategy game. By the story of the game, the players are the monarchs of competing nations attempting to claim regions of various continents as colonies. The board consists of a map of the continents, painted or laid on a cork board.

Play consists of players placing pins with their flag on the board to mark settlements or claims to land. Eventually, they would connect the pins with string. There might be a go- or reversi-style capture mechanic (pins located inside closed spaces are lost). Otherwise, maybe there will be a more involved "combat" mechanic.

There won't be defined spaces where players may place pins. Instead, I think they will place pins anywhere on the board. They will be restricted by the dividers. They will have place a new pin within the current size of the dividers as a previously-placed pin. Adjusting the size of the dividers could be an action. (The question with that, though, is why would the dividers ever be shorter than the maximum length?)

The different kinds or colors of land/water could effect scoring, the number of pins needed to claim, or something else. It could alternate enough to necessitate the changing of the dividers' length.

Tagging In

Here is my official tag in.

Hopefully, this will be my first successful game design contest. I've tried and failed to compete in one before, but I really like the concepts for this round of Game Chef.

I'm making a relatively-simple board game.