Neat concept, but has some mechanical issues to address:

First, what is the purpose of flipping the tile to night side?

Do you have to use all stars on a given tile? It is possible to chain 6 stars (or more, per the dragon) and NOT use all of the stars on a given tile. If the requirement is to use all stars on a given tile, that's not stated.

When flipping a tile, it's presumed that the flip side has the same stars in the same pattern, assuming you flip it the right way. Unless there is an implied 'north' (which would limit replayability), you'll need to state that that's a requirement when flipping.

Can constellations be made using stars on flipped tiles?

Player voting - if this is a competitive game (which it is, there are points involved), what is to stop everyone from always rejecting everyone else's proposed constellations (notably, because they themselves wanted to use the tile on their next turn).

If only one tile is drawn per turn, and it takes 6 stars to make a constellation, and you cannot reuse stars in 'midnight' side, then...

Player 1: plays a tile - not enough stars to link yet.
Player 2: plays a tile and makes a constellation, flips tiles
Player 1: plays a tile - not enough stars to link yet.
Player 2: plays a tile and makes a constellation, flips tiles.
... repeat

So that everyone is aware that the stars are mapped and cannot be used again in a constellation.


Yes


The dark side mirrors the light side so yes the tile would have to be flipped the same and laid the same direction as it was played.


No. Once a constellation has been committed the flipped tiles cannot be used again.


Nothing rule-wise would stop everyone from rejecting every proposal. Mechanic-wise, players tend to be more democratic and fair when they know they will be in the same position on their turn.


Well, the numerical matrix doesn't really work that way. Tiles are populated with 0 - 4 stars so there is enough chance that the next player can not just lay down the next tile to a total of 6+ stars. Also, void tiles, flipped tiles, and arrows limit tile placement. Not to mention that every constellation needs at least one of your own END stars to create it.

I'm sure there are still some hang-ups for testing to iron-out, but I figured the idea was enough to try it out. Thanks for the suggestions Brian!

Simpson

This is a very interesting and unique idea, and the graphics are beautiful in their simplicity. I'd probably buy something like this if it ever went into production. Seems like there needs to be just a bit more breadth to the gameplay, though... meaning something else to do or some other considerations for forming constellations or earning points. The "majority vote" mechanic rubs me the wrong way in other games, too, as it always seems a little arbitrary / counter-intuitive.

Maybe there could be some kind of cards with "suggested" constellations (maybe represented by pictures, rather than explicitly by star-charts?) that people could be given a hand of at the beginning of the game. Then at least there would be some kind of objective guideline for judging the constellations that people made. You'd have to show how the constellation you created could be fit to the card you're claiming it represents, rather than to your own drawing (which could, feasibly, be almost anything). You might have certain appendages or elements of each card that were "required" and others that were optional (e.g. Orion's sword hanging off his belt) but would earn you extra points. I dunno. Just a thought. It would kind of screw-up the lovely simplicity of gameplay that you've got going now (which really is elegant and creative), but might make for a more competitive game that would suit the market of hard-core gamers here at BGG. Who knows.

That was a stupid idea. Here's a better one.

Instead of telling everybody what your constellation is and then having them vote on whether to accept it, have everyone guess what your declared constellation is (you'd write down your idea first, and then everyone else would write theirs down; everything would be revealed simultaneously; maybe you could get some nifty mini dry-erase boards [like in Wits & Wagers]).

You'd only receive points if at least one person was able to guess what the constellation was, so you'd still have the aspect of "approving" a constellation. This would also have the added bonus of giving players an incentive to create good constellations and not just make crazy stuff up. You could make this incentive even more interesting by possibly giving an additional amount of bonus points (in addition to actually getting the points for your constellation) dependent upon how many people guess what the constellation is.

To provide incentives to the other players to make good guesses, you'd have to provide some kind of bonus points or shared points for all players that correctly guessed the constellation. One option would be simply to allow players to receive the same base points (less any bonuses you give to the drawing player for the number of correct guesses they receive) as the player who drew the constellation. Some might abuse that and just make stupid guesses for whoever's in the lead. Maybe you could even give more points for a correct guess than for the player who drew the constellation. Who knows.

You'd probably have to provide some kind of rods in varying lengths so that players could connect up their constellations providing a framework for others to guess from, since they obviously couldn't just draw a picture of what their constellation represents. What would happen is they'd say "Ok! I've got a constellation!", then they'd lay down sticks between the stars that make up their constellation (both to verify it's a legal construction and to provide the basic star-chart layout for other players to guess from), they'd write down secretly what they're claiming the constellation represents, the other players would then write down their guesses, and finally you'd reveal everything and assign points based on the value of the constellation and whatever bonuses and such you came up with.

-Nate

First, this is one of the coolest and most original ideas I have seen come down the pipe.

Some random thoughts:

1. Why not use wooden pieces, like the roads from "Settlers" to connect the constellations? This would give players a greater sense of accomplishement to see the pieces on the board, IMO. In the end you have a "full" night sky. This would also allow some stars from different tiles to appear in multiple players' constellations.

2. It might be a good idea to include a book with representative images so that new players have an idea of what they can create. This could be a collection of existing constellations.

3. Also, for new players, or as an "advanced" rules set, consider having each player start the game with a hand of cards that have a word (and possibly an image) and they need to create X number of those in their hands.

4. Why not "glow in the dark" stars and/or pieces. Expensive, yes, but they would match your theme brilliantly [pun intended].

Best of luck
and I hope any of this helps.

Great idea. Graphics are very classy!
The only thing I would be concerned with is trying to play with someone that is not that "creative".
There were a few suggestions stated here that I think could be combined to make for some interesting play.
You could make a large deck of cards with titles of constelations. Some are wild and crazy and some are really simple. Some of the those titles could even have multiple meanings. Perhaps a certain number of the cards are turned over (maybe 8 - 12). Those cards are laid face up where everyone can see them. Everybody can see those titles so after you create and privately draw your constellation they all bet on which one they think you created. They would have a wooden marker with their color on it and they place it on the one they think you made. This could even be a fun time to mess with them... "I don't see that in there". You could try to mess with them to make them change their choice. Everyone decides if they feel you did the title justice. All positive votes give you +2 points each and all negative votes give you -1 point each. All players that guessed the correct card get 1 point for each positive vote also. This will cause anyone that picked the right card to probably vote positively though...
This could be worked out.
Something like that would give you a few more things to do while playing and everyone is doing something at the same time.

This is pretty slick. While i was reading the posts i was thinking very much along the lines of what Runehardt wrote. How much meat you want to give it depends on how/where you want to sell it, but i think this is a very good start. I am *so* tired of seeing games that aren't all that much different than what's already out there.

Great concept. I think people who worry about the competitive aspect are missing the point of such a game. The grand thing about the game would be the sketchbook that gets created as you play it multiple times, not who won or lost.

I don't think that representative images are necessary, but historical constellation imagery would be good for reference material. I also wouldn't want any Apples to Apples canned cards to prompt people into finding only certain images. I like the free-form concept as it is here.

My biggest concern would be that alternate players would have very little to do. Player 1 comes up with a constellation using pretty much all the exposed tiles. Then player two turns a tile up but can't do anything. Player 3 turns up a tile and claims a constellation. Next player just turns up a tile. Seems that alternate players just turn up tiles.

I'd buy such a game.

I'm going to try out some of these new ideas this weekend and see what sticks. Two other ideas I was thinking about trying out:

1. Teamplay. Constellation-drawing would play similar to pictionary. Not totally sold on it, but I'm a big fan of the buddy system.

2. Career Handicap. Since the game is about fledgling Luminaries going through the ropes of their first job (mapping the stars), why not have higher job positions that players can hold that incur point handicap as well prestige? The staggering could happen with age groupings (allowing adults to play with kids) or on past game sessions (allowing novice players to play on a more even keel with expert players).

Think of the sense of accomplishment you would have going from a Junior Assistant Luminary Second Class to a Junior Assistant Luminary First Class.

Simpson

Given that people put prototypes into the database willy nilly (see Modern Society), I think you should enter this as a game in the database as well. This is just as close to production as Modern Society is.

I'll probably put it in there when I put out the Print & Play version of it so that any exposure it gets might encourage a player to try it out.

Someone also asked what a Luminary is exactly and since every game needs backstory...

The Field Guide of Stellar Cartography and Relative Lunar Advocacy Towards the Expansion of Truth states,
"The Royal Order of The Most Illustrious House of Luminary in Her Majesty's Service is an all together corporate body of knights and their junior assistants charged with the duty of name-bearing and here-unto name-calling of celestial bodies or other flashes in the night sky that might not be terrestrial in nature or bearing and rather threatening".

To the common layman, Luminaries fly around in a multitude of zeppelins at night pointing at stars trying wholeheartedly to convince each other of their own brilliance whilst their Jr. Assistants scribble in their journals trying to make sense of it all. Not true, as Luminaries also occupy Observatories, Astrolaboratories, and the occasional holiday to the moon* to prevent space madness**.




* Factual Sidenote: There is air on the surface of the Moon which Luminaries enjoy as they oft picnic*** on the surface in order to get away from the hustle-bustle of their nightly encounters and courageous ventures. Moon-men attacks are thankfully few.

**Space madness is the leading cause of death among Luminaries, as well as the leading cause in the increase of new Jr. Assistants. Space madness is also referred to as "Lord Windsor of New Nottinghappenshire Disease". However, due to its rather specifically-orginated nature, the non-general ficticious ailment is still suffers from the non-descript nomenclature.

***Sidenote to the Factual Sidenote: Jr. Assistants with culinary skills, specifically those of the finger sandwich & biscuit varieties, are highly prized as well any general knowledge of tea-making to be sure. We are civilised here after all.

DISCLAIMER: THIS BACK STORY IS UNTRUE AND NOT REAL.

This statement pretty much killed it for me. All that fantasy/space/career "luminary" trash is a huge turnoff for me. A game about identifying star patterns and naming constellations (e.g. you're an ancient civilization ON EARTH and you are coming up with the constellation names) is fine. But all this crap about aliens on the moon and flying around in zeppelins is just horrible backstory. Horrible theme.

Keep the game, ditch the back story. Really. It's worse than the backstory for Illuminati.

The back story is a joke. Luminaries is just a party game. While I'm glad you have such a strong opinion, if I felt the game needed a back story, I would have included it in the images I posted.

Whoo! A big for Mr Negative. Labelling some fairly harmlesss, and quite light-hearted commentary, as "trash" is way too harsh. The author is, I think, looking for constructive ideas and comments.

And for the record, I think an alternative to Yet Another Ancient Civilisation backstory is quite a relief.

game seems interesting. i'm looking forward to what you can do with it.

I could see the game coming with cool metal badges that you wear to show your rank.
The game could have a really cool DaVinci, Jules Verne, Rocketeer sort of 1930's futuristic look and feel. At least on the box and rules pages. The tiles look really cool like you mocked up. The sketch book should be faux leather. Maybe even worn and torn looking. Classy!

I wholeheartedly agree with that Jules Verne-esque feel. I've already made Luminary membership badges for my nieces and nephew as rewards for playtesting and I'm thinking of adding them in the print & play version (the membership cards, not my relatives).

This weekend, I'm seriously going to consider making a prototype with glow in the dark paint just to see how cool it would look.

Simpson

I see your initial rules say that all of tiles will stack in one pile. With 72 tiles I think it might be too tall. I think it might be better to have three randomly stacked tile piles to choose from.
I also noticed each player has 12 end stars and with 72 tiles that means every three tiles you can place an end star. I wonder if 12 is too many. If there are a lot of void tiles then you might end up with extras. It might be better to have fewer and make it so you have to decide when to play them. Just a couple of thoughts.

When you have all of the tiles figured out I would be happy to print up the game and help play test it.

Can End Stars be placed on *any* Minor Star, or any Minor Star on the tile that was just placed? I think you should add a line about the Void tiles being flipped as they are surounded. Runehardt- You need a decent amount of End Stars since they can be "stolen", or are they assumed to be given back to the people when a constellation is completed?

I also am not a fan of the group vote. But for an 'experience' game like this where the journey/experience of creating the starfield sky may be more the point of the game than actually winning, it probably doesn't matter.

On the other hand, if truely going for the win, how about this:

Player A puts down the tile. If he/she sees there are six unclaimed stars around (I like the previous idea of connecting them with wood sticks), then Player A can play their End Star marker. Each other player has 60 seconds to pick at least six stars that include that end marker (but not previously used stars or unused end markers) and make up a symbol with associated mythos background. Player A can then either: a) chose his/her favorite choice and Player A gets three points for playing the end marker and the chosen player gets four points for coming up with the symbol or b) Player A rejects all and gets one point for using one of his/her limited number of End markers. If the number of points is hidden (like polyp cubes in Reef Encounter), it might prevent players from just chosing the symbol of the least threatening (e.g. furthest behind) player.

You could also vary the scoring based on type of stars or number of stars(e.g. 6 planets end marker gets 2 and symbol selected gets 3 pts, 7 planets end marker gets 3 and symbol selected gets 4, etc....)

Just some random thoughts.

Wonderful idea for a game. I'm very intrigued.

The biggest issue I had with the rules as presented above was the problems associated with the voting on the constellation. I think johnnyi's idea could go a long way to solving that.

Here's a thought. Each player is assigned/gets to choose a mythos (or perhaps two) that they must stick with throughout the game. For instance, if my mythos is dragons, I'm always creating constellations that relate to dragons. Each player also gets a set of numbered cards, say 1-12.

Player A plays a tile. If he's able to make a valid constellation, he maps it out on the board with the yellow sticks. All other players take a minute or two to draw their mythos creature and/or create a name and backstory. Each player also plays a card face-down.

Player A looks at the notepads and chooses his favorite constellation. The card is then revealed. The player whose constellation was chosen receives that many points. Player A gets half as many points, as well as the star points, as outlined above. All other players must discard their cards (losing the potential to receive those points). Discarded cards are NOT revealed.

So, if you've got the perfect constellation for that configuration of stars, you'll want to play your 12. If you can't think of something that works to save your life, you'll want to play your 1. Player A is rewarded for choosing the strongest constellations, using the best stars and developing star patterns that work well with everyone's mythos.

I like this card idea. This is also a very interactive version of the game.
Everybody is playing all the time.

I don't think I noticed anything about a scoring track. Is the scoring taking place in the book?
If you went with the "sticks" idea, you could have different colored sticks for each of the four players. They could be clear and colored like the Nexus Ops creatures. They could be made to glow under a black light.

Seems like Gary could just throw a few extra components in the box and add a few extra sections to the rule and make this more of a game system than an individual game, what with all the ideas that we've been throwing out there. The basic system is so open-ended that people could even expand from, say, three basic sets of rules included with the game to add their own special house rules for playing the game without having to add any extra components if things like the sticks and cards were included. Very interesting.