Indie RPG Awards: Theme Feedback

[Andy Kitkowski]

Around October I proposed the Indie RPG Awards:
http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3774
(please direct any comments or questions on the methodology of awarding people, how the award nomination/giving process will run, etc to that thread)

Everything is coming together, and I plan to have the site and process ready to begin with nominations by early/mid February.

Thing is, I'm about to embark on the page, and I'm a little stuck on a theme.  Right now, I've got a couple ideas. If anyone else has any ideas for cool themes, please drop me a line on this thread or by email/PM.

In ANY case, each "theme" will influence the shape of the award itself, and the webpage.  Finally, the website will have both LOW and HIGH graphics options, so comments about "keep it light/I want to be able to see it on my palm pilot/I only use LYNX" aren't necissery, as I plan on making 2 versions of the page.

And the award will be ONE award only (Best Game of 2002), with a number of smaller "mini-awards", that aren't so much awards as points of recognition: Best design, most creative idea, etc.

1) IDEA ONE: No Theme, other than "Indie RPG Awards"
Make the page an excellent tribute to those who busted their balls to print their games. No gimmick, no "tie-in theme", just straight and to the point.

2) IDEA TWO: TIBETAN BUDDHIST STYLE
...huh?
Well, this was actually the first theme-based idea I had. Writing and publishing I see kind of a spiritual journey. I was thinking an award in the shape of some icon of Tibetan Buddhism (graphics or "logo" would include people sitting in the lotus position). Points of recognition would correspond to various mantra: Aum, etc.

3) IDEA THREE: NINJAS!
This is an idea I had today. This theme is a little more out-there, and has only tangential meaning to the indie design process (the producers being the Unseen Ones who lurk in the background but are damn cool in their own right, etc). The award would be something like a hand-designed tsuba- A hilt-guard of a sword.
The coolest thing about this idea is that there are the Kuji-In, the nine symbols of Ninja Power (the mantra/kanji Rin Pyo To Sha Kai Jin Retsu Zai Zen), each with their own meaning. It would be simple to tie each of the meanings to a different award: Pyo, "direction of energy", could be the recognition for best design/layout; Jin, "knowing the thoughts of others", could be an award for best d20-based product and the like.
Plus, I mean, c'mon, who doesn't like ninjas?

Currently, my preference is leaning towards THREE, closely followed by ONE, with TWO trailing.

In the end, it's going to be entirely my choice, but I was wondering if any creative folks had any ideas out there that i may be missing.

Thanks!
-Andy

[Henry Fitch]

Everything is better with ninjas, Andy.

[J B Bell]

Personally I prefer to see less use of religious iconography for commercial reasons.  Or at least have the courtesy to raid a religion that is safely dead.

I guess all awards are basically silly (I recall the trophies my granddad had on top of his TV for insurance sales performance--there was a little gold guy with a suitcase and a fedora), but one of the things I like about the Forge is that it has a certain weightiness to it.  It nudges the line over towards "this is an artistic medium," without being too overt or precious about it.

If it were up to me, I'd probably combine literal forge imagery (not too much; not all indie games spring from this place, cornucopia though it may be) with some tongue-in-cheek social realism a la ActiveState's site.

I guess I could live with ninjas though.  And tsubos are not silly-looking.

One other thing:  as long as you bring up Lynx compatibility (and I do thank you, even though I have Mozilla with all the trimmings up to Flash 6), I'd highly, highly recommend learning CSS so you only have to write one set of pages, just with markup apporpriate to different browsers.  It is far easier than maintaining two whole different sets of pages.

--JB

[Eric J.]

I would want a theme that really summarized the indie "scene."  It could be something like a bunch of boots with a dozen books that some unhappy guy in the booth wants to sell.  That's just my prefference though.

Ninjas are cool,  but I don't see how they apply here.

[ethan_greer]

Option one gets my vote.  I don't like the idea of an Indie Games website having an overt "theme."  I feel a theme could potentially put people off ("oh, crap, another stupid ninja site" or "what's with the monks?"), and also a theme could draw attention away from the games themselves.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi there,

You guys probably guessed this already, but I favor the #1 option as well. But as I like to say (and not intended to derail Andy's request for opinions), it's all up to Andy in the end. What you decide is OK by me.

Best,
Ron

[Paul Czege]

Hey Andy,

Just so I'm clear, when you say "an award in the shape of," you're not talking about an actual physical trophy, but an image/logo that the award winner would put somewhere on their website and/or on the winning game itself, right?

My vote is for idea #1. How about an award image that looks like heavily back-lit dice with the shadows spilling forward into the foreground?

Paul

[Andy Kitkowski]

Hey Andy,

Just so I'm clear, when you say "an award in the shape of," you're not talking about an actual physical trophy, but an image/logo that the award winner would put somewhere on their website and/or on the winning game itself, right?

Well, the awards page and the "image" of the award would effectively be a logo which the winner could, if they wanted to (heh), put on future releases of their game.

The award itself, though, would be an actual physical trophy.  Right now, if I go with the ninja theme (and I'm thinking "laid back" theme here, not in-your-face "RealUltimatePower" style stuff) I'd petition for a handmade steel (or wooden) "tsuba"- the engraved hand-guard of a katana or ninja-to. I've started contacting designers... It's a lot more expensice than I thought for a steel one (like, more expensive than your knock-off full katanas that a lot of folks have), and it would be all out-of-pocket, but damn, it would be a very cool, and very fitting award.

-Andy

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Andy,

I may be going over the line with this post ... but maybe you should consider that not everyone is as heavily into Japanese stuff as you are. Ninjas carry a pretty low-grade connotation in cinema, for example, and they're often mentioned as evidence of something's cheesy or shallow nature. Sort of a junk-food of pop culture, which is why Ninja Burger is so funny.

But! Dammit, I keep telling myself, it's up to you. And that if something is, itself, classy, then the gimmick can be made classy too - so yeah, if you're onto some people who can make a really cool trophy, then that makes a difference.

Best,
Ron

[Andy Kitkowski]

>>>>
I may be going over the line with this post ... but maybe you should consider that not everyone is as heavily into Japanese stuff as you are.
>>>
Heh. No problem :)
I recognize that I'm more into Japanese stuff than most folks- *sigh*

I'm still waffling back and forth on the issue. Right now my wife and I are designing two pages to compare the feel of them.

Hmmm. I guess it's a matter of sense vs style.  I'll see what I can think of.

I guess, in the meantime, a good substitute question to ask is, "What would make a good grand prize for such an award?", were I to go for Idea One (the basic, to the point approach). I'm a big fan of a physical object over a plain certificate.

Paul's idea works, too.  Looking for other feedback on this- I'm not sure a die would be the best thing... Hmmm maybe something to symbolize the creation, blood/sweat/tears process... Any ideas?

Thanks!

[Steve Dustin]

I guess, in the meantime, a good substitute question to ask is, "What would make a good grand prize for such an award?", were I to go for Idea One (the basic, to the point approach). I'm a big fan of a physical object over a plain certificate.

Paul's idea works, too.  Looking for other feedback on this- I'm not sure a die would be the best thing... Hmmm maybe something to symbolize the creation, blood/sweat/tears process... Any ideas?

Personally, I think a simple logo, like a small "i" would work best. Let's see, you could use a fedora hat ("Indy" games). Maybe you can get Ron's permission to use the Forge's hammer and anvil. And personally, I think a  cash prize would be better than a trophy, for a small-time "starving" indie game designer. You could start a "indie game society" whose whole function is to collect dues from members and then hand a cash prize to a yearly winner, with permission to put "Best Indie Game of the Year" on their backcover (using the money given to them to reprint their game).

Of course, I'm in no danger of actually ever winning a prize like that, and like Ron said, it's your award.

Take care,
Steve Dustin

[bluegargantua]

May I suggest:

  A tableu of the classical fantasy adventuring group.  A gruff dwarven fighter, a human thief and cleric and an elven mage.

  Why?  Is there anything less Indy than a standard D&D group -- no, and that's why you use it.

Of course, my taste for the ironic may outweigh common sense...
Tom

[GreatWolf]

>>>>
Heh. No problem :)
I recognize that I'm more into Japanese stuff than most folks- *sigh*

Okay.  I am of two opinions.  From a professional, serious perspective, I think that option #1 is best.

But, darn it all, ninja *are*  cool, and I am totally into Japanese stuff, so if you were giving an award to me, I'd think that getting a hand-carved tsuba would absolutely rock.

But that's just me.  Email me some time, and we'll be weird together.  :-)

Seth Ben-Ezra
Great Wolf

[Andy Kitkowski]

And personally, I think a  cash prize would be better than a trophy, for a small-time "starving" indie game designer.

This, too, is a great idea.  It reminds me of Christmas presents: My wife and I always favor something useful over something flashy. Maybe a simple certificate/award with a cash "development bonus" of $100 or more would be a better use for money.

-Andy

[Steve Dustin]

This, too, is a great idea. It reminds me of Christmas presents: My wife and I always favor something useful over something flashy. Maybe a simple certificate/award with a cash "development bonus" of $100 or more would be a better use for money.

Of course, if you could get enough people to pony up $20-$50 a year, the prize could be much better than that, $500 to $1000 bucks, which would  be really really nice. Plus, it would make the prize very prestigous almost instantaneously. Even mainstream designers would do a double take. Money talks.

Of course, you'd have to come up with a reason for people to part with their money. All I can think of is, "You'd be supporting a worthy cause and have voting rights." Might not be enough for some people.

I guess I'll now have to put my money where my mouth is a proclaim I'll pony up the first $50 bucks. By February, right?

If you want to, of course. I'll vote you in as the first president of the"Indie Gamers Society."

Take care,
Steve Dustin