Azas
The Steppe of Being
So, to liven things up a little bit, I propose that we start another forum game. Yes, it's a direct cousin of Mindruler's Album Art Showdown, but it's not entirely the same.
We're still waiting for Vaenyr to start another round of Album Art Showdown, and in the meantime we can play this game. My main point is that I want it to be much more immediate. No heavy participation, preparation, or sending artwork to a moderator is needed. In that sense, it would be much closer to Guess the Iron Maiden Song!
I want it to be as democratic as possible. The game rules can evolve over time if there's enough interest. We can all adjust and refine them by agreeing on changes.
“Here's my ace. Come on and beat it!”
Then they post an album cover of their choice.
Any other user who wants to participate, has the time, and is quick enough can claim the challenge by posting something like:
“I accept the challenge!”
It's important to make such a post before posting your artwork, purely to claim the ongoing matchup and avoid confusion if several users happen to post rival artwork at roughly the same time.
Then, in another post — or in the same post if they were the first to claim the fight — they post the two competing covers: the one that initiated the matchup and their own chosen artwork.
Then all forum users who want to participate simply vote:
Album title +1
The artwork that gets at least +3 wins.
And then... well, this is where I don't know yet what to do. We could go with:
A) The user whose artwork won posts another artwork of their choice, and someone else challenges them.
B] The winning artwork continues into another matchup, riding into battle again.
C) Any other user can throw an ACE and start a completely new matchup from scratch.
Rinse and repeat.
Like I said, this is a demo version of the game. The whole point is to make it easy-going and fast. We can decide together what happens when one particular artwork wins. Do we immediately reset the game and let another user continue? Does the winner soldier on with the winning artwork? Or can the winner choose another artwork?
I also have some blurry ideas about making a winning artwork into a sort of matchup ace card that you could use once at any point in the game as an automatic win over another artwork. But that needs to be thought through properly. For now, I think we'll be fine with the demo version.
When you see a new matchup commence, if you're fast enough, just claim your place in the game, go to Google, find an album cover you like, and throw it into the fight.
The first artwork gets +3 — congratulations, you're the winner!
It's really that simple.
It wouldn't make much sense to put, say, Michael Jackson's Thriller against Death's Leprosy. How exactly do we define the “leagues”?
By music genre? Thrash against thrash, heavy metal against heavy metal, etc.?
Or perhaps more simply by the type and style of artwork. For example, a photo/photo-collage artwork against another photo/photo-collage artwork — Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms against Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, for example.
I mean: just use common sense.
Genre might ultimately be less confusing, but we can figure this out as we go.
Also, let's try to post covers in roughly the same resolution, so the thread doesn't look messy. When uploading an image, click on it, then click “Change size” and set the parameters to match the artwork you're competing against.
So, basically, it's a low-level card game, ha. With nice paintings on the cards.
Also, any artwork can participate, but let's be sensible and not turn this into Iron Maiden Cover Art Showdown: The Sequel. There are thousands upon thousands of album covers out there.
And once an artwork has won, it cannot be used again for at least... let's say a dozen matchups.
Like I said, let's make this a game belonging to all of us. Anyone can throw suggestions into the thread, and by majority opinion we can refine the rules and perhaps make the game more intricate later on.
For now, the whole point is to make it fast and easy-going.
If there aren't many users participating at a particular time, we could also introduce a deadline — say 8–12 hours — for an artwork to gain at least 3 points. If there are only a few players around, perhaps we could lower the requirement to +2 and declare a victory.
Yes, this post is chaotic as hell. Like I said, the idea isn't fully refined yet. But for a demo version of the game, I think it's enough.
And again, my intention isn't to make this completely identical to Mindruler's game. It's a more immediate version: instead of submitting a dozen artworks to a moderator beforehand, we simply draw from the vast resources of album covers from all eras and genres.
I'll start.
“Catch, you fools!”
DESTRUCTION 'Cracked Brain'
We're still waiting for Vaenyr to start another round of Album Art Showdown, and in the meantime we can play this game. My main point is that I want it to be much more immediate. No heavy participation, preparation, or sending artwork to a moderator is needed. In that sense, it would be much closer to Guess the Iron Maiden Song!
I want it to be as democratic as possible. The game rules can evolve over time if there's enough interest. We can all adjust and refine them by agreeing on changes.
Demo version of the game
One user comes forth and declares something along the lines of:“Here's my ace. Come on and beat it!”
Then they post an album cover of their choice.
Any other user who wants to participate, has the time, and is quick enough can claim the challenge by posting something like:
“I accept the challenge!”
It's important to make such a post before posting your artwork, purely to claim the ongoing matchup and avoid confusion if several users happen to post rival artwork at roughly the same time.
Then, in another post — or in the same post if they were the first to claim the fight — they post the two competing covers: the one that initiated the matchup and their own chosen artwork.
Then all forum users who want to participate simply vote:
Album title +1
The artwork that gets at least +3 wins.
And then... well, this is where I don't know yet what to do. We could go with:
A) The user whose artwork won posts another artwork of their choice, and someone else challenges them.
B] The winning artwork continues into another matchup, riding into battle again.
C) Any other user can throw an ACE and start a completely new matchup from scratch.
Rinse and repeat.
Like I said, this is a demo version of the game. The whole point is to make it easy-going and fast. We can decide together what happens when one particular artwork wins. Do we immediately reset the game and let another user continue? Does the winner soldier on with the winning artwork? Or can the winner choose another artwork?
I also have some blurry ideas about making a winning artwork into a sort of matchup ace card that you could use once at any point in the game as an automatic win over another artwork. But that needs to be thought through properly. For now, I think we'll be fine with the demo version.
No cards to submit beforehand
There's no need to send me — or anyone else — your “cards” (the cover artworks you want to use in the game).When you see a new matchup commence, if you're fast enough, just claim your place in the game, go to Google, find an album cover you like, and throw it into the fight.
The first artwork gets +3 — congratulations, you're the winner!
It's really that simple.
One important thing: keep the artworks in the same league
The cover artworks should be at least somewhat comparable.It wouldn't make much sense to put, say, Michael Jackson's Thriller against Death's Leprosy. How exactly do we define the “leagues”?
By music genre? Thrash against thrash, heavy metal against heavy metal, etc.?
Or perhaps more simply by the type and style of artwork. For example, a photo/photo-collage artwork against another photo/photo-collage artwork — Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms against Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, for example.
I mean: just use common sense.
Genre might ultimately be less confusing, but we can figure this out as we go.
Let's start and refine it as we play
I propose that we simply start the game and refine the rules as we go, based on everyone's opinions and the majority's agreement.Also, let's try to post covers in roughly the same resolution, so the thread doesn't look messy. When uploading an image, click on it, then click “Change size” and set the parameters to match the artwork you're competing against.
So, basically, it's a low-level card game, ha. With nice paintings on the cards.
Also, any artwork can participate, but let's be sensible and not turn this into Iron Maiden Cover Art Showdown: The Sequel. There are thousands upon thousands of album covers out there.
And once an artwork has won, it cannot be used again for at least... let's say a dozen matchups.
Like I said, let's make this a game belonging to all of us. Anyone can throw suggestions into the thread, and by majority opinion we can refine the rules and perhaps make the game more intricate later on.
For now, the whole point is to make it fast and easy-going.
If there aren't many users participating at a particular time, we could also introduce a deadline — say 8–12 hours — for an artwork to gain at least 3 points. If there are only a few players around, perhaps we could lower the requirement to +2 and declare a victory.
Yes, this post is chaotic as hell. Like I said, the idea isn't fully refined yet. But for a demo version of the game, I think it's enough.
And again, my intention isn't to make this completely identical to Mindruler's game. It's a more immediate version: instead of submitting a dozen artworks to a moderator beforehand, we simply draw from the vast resources of album covers from all eras and genres.
I'll start.
“Catch, you fools!”
DESTRUCTION 'Cracked Brain'
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