[Icehouse] Does the IGDC matter?

[Doug Orleans]

Jason Spears writes:
 > I'm terribly surprised at your comments, considering you've designed 3
 > games for the system.

Sorry, "justify" was probably not the right word.  I'm happy to have
several hundred Icehouse pyramids in my collection (in various
configurations).  But they're not something I generally think to put
into my game bag when I'm going to a party.  (Unless I'm trying to do
some playtesting, of my own designs or of IGDC entries.)  I enjoy
Gnostica, Zendo, RAMbots, Undercut, Virus Fight, and many others, but
just not quite enough to feel comfortable asking others to play them,
unless I know it's a specific crowd that will enjoy those sorts of
games.

As for my own games, while I am reasonably proud of them as design
efforts, they're more expressions of ideas I had than games I actually
enjoy playing.  Quintazone is the closest to something I would want to
play regularly, and I like it more than I like Aquarius, which was the
goal, but I think it's missing something-- I'd still rather just play
Carcassonne.

--dougorleans at gmail.com