Novel Games Contest

Escape Velocity Games publishes a series of games called the Novel Games Series. They include Iliad: Heroes of Troy, Les Miserables: Eve of Rebellion, and Holmes & Moriarty. Our next entry, Lands of Oz will be published in the first part of 2019. After that, we’ve run out of novel games! This sounds like an opportunity.

Contest Overview

There are a lot of great classic works of literature out there and not enough game adaptations. Your job is to pick one, make a great game about it, and win a contest!

Consider the variety of public domain works you can draw from:

  • Great_Books_smallAlice in Wonderland
  • Beowulf
  • Dante
  • Shakespeare
  • Frankenstein
  • Treasure Island
  • Gulliver’s Travels
  • Don Quixote
  • The Three Musketeers
  • 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
  • Peter Pan
  • Little Women
  • Huckleberry Finn

Public domain is a requirement for the contest. In particular, the game rights should be available, not just the text rights (no John Carter, Disney still owns the game/movie/etc… rights). If there are any questions about what might qualify, please don’t hesitate to submit a question. This page will be updated with clarifications as needed.

Important Dates

  • Contest Begins – 12/1/18
  • Submissions Due – 3/1/19 – submission form located here
  • Finalists Chosen – 4/1/19 (finalists announced here)
  • Winner Announced – 5/1/19 (subject to change)

Rules & Guidelines

  1. Games must be small in size. The game should fit the Novel Games line. In particular, designs should be limited to components that can fit into the box. The inside dimensions of the box are 4″x6.5″x1″. This is enough room for a deck of cards, dozens of small tokens, some dice, and a rule sheet. There is also magnetic lid the folds over to close the game that can also be used like a board as in Holmes & Moriarty (see picture).
  2. Games must be approachable. Game rules are limited to the front and back side of a standard sheet of paper (8.5″x11″).  The game should be easy to teach and learn.
  3. Game themes must be family friendly. Games do not have to be aimed at children as the audience. Stated another way, if it were a movie, it would be rated PG.
  4. Games must be created and owned by you. Love Letter is a great small game, but please do not submit a Pride and Prejudice retheme for it. Games that you’ve had on the shelf for a while or have been submitted to other contests are fine. However, do not submit games that are currently under review by another publisher.
  5. Games will be judged on how well they play, not how good they look. Our artists and graphic designers will work on the look and feel, so don’t worry if your art needs work. That being said, Game-icons.net is a great resource for free icons that can be used for improving the clarity of a game.
  6. Games will be judged (primarily) on:
    • Fun – do players enjoy it, do they want to play it again?
    • Depth – can they play it more than a few times and still enjoy it? Just because it’s small does not mean it is shallow.
    • Theme – does the theme influence the game design, does it fit the chosen work?
    • Approachability – is the game easy to explain and easy to get people interested in trying it out?
    • Testing – has the game been tested and have most of the rough edges been smoothed out?
  7. Games must be submitted via the submission form. Since these are all small games, the entire game is due at the time of submission. All submissions will be completely electronic and must include:
    • Rules – front and back of one page only (PDF)
    • Components – standard components like dice and cubes to not need to be included, but any custom tokens, cards, etc…, should be provided as part of print and play documents (PDF)
    • Picture – at least one picture of the game being played
    • Video (optional) – a video of no more than 3 minutes that explains the game, what what makes it good, and how it fits the theme would be appreciated, but not required

Prizes

Prizes will be awarded:

  1. First Place – the first place design will receive a $100 cash (USD) prize. If an agreement to publish the game is reached, this prize money will count as a royalty advance. Publishing the winner is not guaranteed, but if an agreement is not reached, the prize will still be awarded to the first place winner.
  2. Finalists – At least 4 other finalists will be chosen. Finalists will all receive 1 copy of their choice of Iliad, Les Miserables, or Holmes & Moriarty.

It is worth nothing that for the previous contest, the winner (Iliad) and one of the finalists (Les Miserables) were both published. Escape Velocity Games does not guarantee that any games will be published as a result of the contest, but it seems quite likely.

NOTE: This is reposted on BGG and there have been a fair number of questions, so it might be worth reading the discussion.

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