oh yeah and you got to make a Telescope.

Hi guys, so picking up on this from Mike, but focussing on my area of expertise :

Mike de Sousa wrote:
Toys

Blow up moon
Kids Moon Globe
Lego LM1 Lander Model
Lego LM1 Moon with miniature lander
LM1 Moon Jigsaw Puzzles
Moon Frisbee - how does that work?!
Moon marbles for kids
Moon strategic Games (yet to be designed)
Stuffed Moon

Moon strategic game - yay! It made it to here! I have been thinking about this in the background, but I'm more of a player than a designer, and game design is HARD. My thoughts were: co-operative or competitive. AND all of moon history, all of man going to the moon history, LM1 10 year plan specific or LM 1 mission specific. I think a co-operative LM1 10 year plan would be good, especially if we can make it play realistically. Split into 3 phases to match the programme. Balancing the 4 main areas of science/engineering, commercial, PR/public interst and education sounds like a good framework to me.So you have limited resources/time and you have to put effort into the 4 areas and each one therefore has an opportunity cost, but can - after a time and under cetain conditions - improve your performance in its own area and the other (except for eduction). The final scoring could be based on how much education you manage to do to get people into STEM subjects, thus making you have to balance the opportunity cost of encouraging STEM but the education not directly benefitting your LM1 BUT you have to get to the moon first. The board could look like the moon for scoring with an earth map to record the game as it plays out. This would mean you could embed benefits from global participation. is anyone interested in or capable of fleshing this out? Or helping?

I also suggested a kids game - an earth to the moon bowl, with ping pong balls blown through a tube to try and get from the earth to the moon ( think a 3-d pinball/bagatelle). I made a prototype of this, was quite fun to play, but aiming is hard . So if taken forward should be aimed at kids or party games! Will try to take a photo and upload, i think videos are beyond me!

Many app possibilities associated with STEM, e.g. programming flight paths, programming LM1 spaceships with code blocks, design-your-own-spaceship and contols and see how it goes ... There are lots of tools out there already to encourage kids and teens to develop programming skills but still Depends how much money and resources LM1 can put in.

Oh, and to make money for LM1, any serious game would have to at least be nominated for a recognised game award e.g. Spiel Des Jahres (Game of the Year) - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiel_des_Jahres . From the wiki page "A Spiel des Jahres nomination can increase the typical sales of a game from 500-3000 copies to around 10,000; and the winner can usually expect to sell 300,000 to 500,000 copies." The strategy game I'm outlining would only be a candidate for the Kennerspiel award (Connoisseur-Enthusiast) which would be fewer sales than the above. Matt Leacock is a respected designer of co-operative games (e.g. pandemic at boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/30549/pandemic ).

Mike de Sousa wrote: Hi Abi, perhaps the moon map could be a theme that applies to many wearable things Maps lend themselves well to conventional clothing and accessories (belts, ties, socks, T shirts, bags etc.), but there are also more unconventional avenues which you've alluded to. I'm not sure how many would choose to wear a linen jacket or dress with a map of the moon, but with the right designer, it might work for a higher end market. I can see "Quirky L" taking off as a brand

Perhaps the collaborative area might be the place where anyone (including you Abi!) could suggest designs, and those designs could then be the subject of voting on the forum. You might even see your moon map dress in the space store... I hope the project considers innovation as an area equal in importance to maintaining great quality.

So this made me think of a game present I made for a friend. It was a map of the world with lots of pockets sewn on it and lots of small toys that fit in the pockets. You played it like Granny's Garden (Person 1: In my Granny's garden I found ... a LM1 landing module. Person 2: In my Granny's garden I found a LM1 landing module and ... a stamp commemorating the moon landing etc.) but instead of thinking of the items, you drew them out of a bag. If it does turn out that there are lots of small things, this could tie them together and be a handy place to keep them all!

Kerry, thanks for all the suggestions! I have mentally made a note to include you in the "games devising" list! I like the way the "Grannys Garden" could also, potentially be re-usable from Dec 1st to Dec 25th....? But instead of Granny's Garden of course it would be "Katey's Crater" or similar as of course we'd have the moon instead of the earth!

This is potentially an area for the collaboration platform - I like the way you've thought it through to games awards etc. I'm a member of BAFTA, so familiar with software games awards but not so familiar with awards available for traditional games.

Let's see who volunteers to help you and take it from there. Meanwhile, we're working on some app ideas, do you want us to keep you posted about contribution opportunities there?

Dylan - would love a Lunar Missions telescope!

Angela, I can tell just by reading Kerry's posts that she's a very intelligent lady who I have no doubt could design a very clever yet playable game.

btw a BAFTA member!!! i am impressed, it's a little strange too as only a few months ago I purchased an EE British Academy Film Awards 2015 Programme (from a well known auction site) as they were not available to the public and was curious (it featured a lot of specialized Ads but also some real nice artworks) it also came with a nominee ticket. holder and menu...wow you folks get treated real nice
Ticket was for Elaine Constantine who made 'Northern Soul'...she didn't win but if this had been mine I'd have held onto it, how often do you get nominated for a Film BAFTA Award?

I do hope Dylan (I'm assuming that's your son?) gets that nice LM-1 Telescope this Christmas, come on Santa make it happen and perhaps one with an electrical tracking capability? I always had trouble keeping the objects in field of view (even the Moon) with mine.