Piecepack

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====== About this site ======

This website is a starting point for anyone new to piecepacks.

The [[http://web.archive.org/web/20191221223329/http://www.piecepack.org/|old piecepack website]] has not been updated since 2004 and has been taken offline in 2020. That is why many people think that the piecepack itself is old and obsolete. The [[http://www.ludism.org/ppwiki/|Ludism piecepack wiki]] has a lot of relevant, up-to-date and detailed information but the information is not easy to find and can be overwhelming for people new to piecepacks.

This website gives a high level overview of all important information and has a couple of recommended games.

All games have been rewritten to have

  * clear and simple English
  * consistent language
  * consistent structure
  * consistent graphics

===== How to contribute =====

This site is a wiki built with [[wiki:DokuWiki]]. To contribute you need to register. Then you can edit and create pages and use the [[wiki:syntax|syntax]]. By contributing you agree to contribute under the same [[licenses|licenses]].

When you add a new game, add its original text first and do not tick the "recommended: yes" checkbox yet. Then rewrite the rules. When you are happy with them, tick the "recommended: yes" checkbox, that will make the game appear on the [[games]] page.

To use consistent graphics, use [[https://www.draw.io/?splash=0&clibs=Uhttps%3A%2F%2Fraw.githubusercontent.com%2Fselfthinker%2Fpiecepack-shape-library%2Fmaster%2FPiecepack.xml|this Draw.io library]] to create them. That library and this website uses images from the brilliant [[https://game-icons.net/|game-icons.net]]. Both are licensed under the CC BY license.

Unfortunately, games can only be added if their license allows modification. That means Public Domain, GNU Free Document License and any Creative Commons license which does not include the ND (no derivatives) clause are fine. Most others are not.

There are no other clear rules (yet) about which games can be added. Ideally the selection should be "only the best", not more than 25 games overall and as diverse as possible. A good selection should cover different number of players, different types of pieces used, different types of games, different mechanics, different difficulty levels, etc.

==== Writing Styleguide ====

To make the content easier to read, check game rules against [[http://www.hemingwayapp.com/|Hemingway]]. Most of its suggestions make sense, but some of them can be ignored.

Spell out any numbers up to twelve, except when you are referring to the number of a tile, coin or die.
For example,

> Shuffle all 24 tiles. Remove the four 5 tiles.

Spell out contractions. For example, write "do not" and not "don't", etc.

Use words as defined in [[piecepack]]:

  * It's "suits" and "ranks" (not "values" or "numbers").
  * Tiles are either "face up" or "grid-side up".
  * Coins are either "rank-side up" or "suit-side up".

Always use the standard suits and colours. Use green for crowns. If a game requires a second piecepack with different suits, use a four-colour playing card variant. If the game needs 8 different colours, use a season variant. (In the future, there might be an extension which "translates" all piecepack suits and colours into other variations that a user can choose.)