Contributions

Introduction

The purpose of the Microgame Design Group is to provide a means for amateur designers to produce and distribute their efforts. We are fledgling company and most of our work is a labour of love thus, we cannot promise designers any financial reimbursements at present. What we can offer is a chance to give your design a graphic face lift and exposure. For this, we assume the right to sell copies of your game to recover our expenses.

Topics

The Microgame Design Group philosophy encourages uniqueness and diversity in its designs. A survey of our titles confirms this. While we try to provide an open attitude to accepting design, we have decided not to accept games topics that have been more than adequately covered by other companies. Such general topics include WWII: European front, American Civil War, and Napoleonic battles. While we aren't saying no to these topics, your design will need to be quite unique to be accepted.

Format

We encourage designers to follow the accepted format of micro designs:

11" x 17" map
280 single sided half-inch counters
Word processed rules (typically 5,000 - 10,000 words)

Extra features such as cards (printed on perforated business-card sheets) and back-printed counters (140 instead of 280) can be accomodated but donote that this means extra production costs for us and extra construction steps for potential game players and thus are discouraged.

Our rules are written in paragraph form in the following format:

1.0 TOPICS
Rules should be broken down into a dozen or so topics (movement, combat, etc.). The best style is to have the rules follow the sequence of play with each topic corresponding to a phase in the sequence. A paragraph introducing the topic in general terms is encouraged.
Topics are numbered as whole numbers followed by a ".0", i.e. 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, etc. The number and topic (the topic header) are in bold and the topic title is in upper case. There are three line feeds preceding a new topic (creating two blank lines between the rules text of the preceding topic and the new topic header). There are two line feeds following the topic header and the beginning of the rules text.
1.1 Subtopics
Unless the rules for a topic are short (two or three paragraphs), it will be necessary to break the topic down into subtopics.
Subtopics are numbered first with the topic number followed by a decimal point and the number of the subtopic, i.e. 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, etc.
Subtopics always require a title for the subtopic, which along with the number is in bold. Subtopics follow Title Case Capitalization. There is a single line feed following the subtopic header and the text such that there are no blank lines between the header and the beginning of the text.
1.1.1 Categories: often it is worthwhile discussing a list of categories, such as unit types or combat results. These categories must follow a logical list.
Category are numbered first with the topic number followed by a decimal point and the number of the subtopic followed by a second decimal point and then the category number, i.e. 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.3, etc.
Categories always require a title for the category. The category title is in bold but the number isn't. Categories follow Title Case Capitalization. There is a colon following a category and the rules text begins immediately after.
EXAMPLE: Descriptions of examples of play are encouraged. Examples are typed in italics indicating that they are not as important as the main body of rules text. Examples are shown as separate paragraphs preceded by the word EXAMPLE in upper case. Examples should fall at the end of a subtopic such that the text of the rules is not broken up. Designer's notes may be similarly included in the main body of rules text.

2.0 STYLE GUIDELINES
Microgame Design Group rules use the style of standard scientific journals.
2.1 Spelling
Being a Canadian company, we follow Canadian spelling, e.g. colour instead of color.
2.2 Excesses
Inexperienced designers and writers tend to abuse some simple rules of writing. This is often done to emphasize a certain rule or section of text. We strongly discourage this.
Please try to give the reader some credit.
2.2.1 Bold, Italics and Underlining: Bold is reserved for rules topics, subtopics and categories. Italics is reserved for examples of play and designers notes and only in stand alone paragraphs. Underlining is not used at all.
2.2.2 Capitalization: Only proper nouns are capitalized. These include place names, titles and certain abbreviations. Tables, charts and figures are capitalized as well. Phases from the sequence of play or system terms are not capitalized. For example, the Terrain Effects Chart and ZOC are capitalized, while the weather phase, infantry, movement points and combat strength are not.
2.2.3 Abbreviations: Please try to avoid excessive use of abbreviations. Commonly recognized abbreviations are acceptable (e.g. SAM, ZOC) but creating abbreviations that are unique for your game just creates confusion. After all, is it that tough to type Combat Results Table?
2.2.4 Quotation Marks: Quotation marks are generally reserved for personal quotes and for words that are being used out of context, e.g. the "beautiful" piece of modern art.

Your Responsibility

The basic responsibility of the designer is to produce a developed and playtested product. We try not to judge or change your work in any way. Remember that we are trying to publish simple, microgame kits. Anything that does not follow into the above standards (e.g. large map, stand-upcounters, hundreds of cards) will likely result in your design being rejected.

Our Responsibility

We will take your prototype and produce a professional looking, laser produced final product.

Map, counters and cover art will be drawn using CorelDRAW.
Icons and graphics will be introduced to provide sharp looking components.
Rules will be formatted to fit into an 8.5"x11" booklet

You will receive three copies of the final product, colour laser printed so that you can create your own copies with a colour photocopier.

Ownership and Sales Agreement

The designer retains full ownership and copyright on the final design.

The Microgame Design Group retains full ownership of the graphics.

The Microgame Design Group retains rights to sell copies of the final design while the original designer maintains ownership of the design.

If you have any furthur questions about the desktop publishing of microgames or have a game you would like to contribute to the Microgame Design Group, e-mail Kerry Anderson for details.