So luda's making a blog. Yeah.

Lately I've been doing game design for games that work well off the computer - as well as programming them on the computer. My first project was a board game called Blockade, which I made online for, and a very strong computer AI (that will be released later, about 10 people know the rules of Blockade as of late, with PY, Serprex and I being the strongest players). The basic idea is to get one piece to the other side, and pieces die if they every square they can go to is occupied. The game turned out quite interesting. With the help of serprex we're going to add an online server (thanks to firefly for the server space) for rated games. It will be a lot like internet chess (timed games and all).

Much more recently I've been thinking of a game of heavy diplomacy. A game where you have to make alliances to win. The game can be played with any number of people, best played with at least 4, playable with 2-3. The game itself is a simple number game.

You begin with 100 points. You lose if your points drop to 0.

These points are allocated into three categories:

Attack :

-Goes towards action effectiveness

Defence:

-Resists actions

Banking:

-You gain 25 percent (rounded down) on what you bank for your next turn

You do not know what the other players have, or what they have allocated. You do not know what alliances exist (apart from yours). (Spying can reveal some of this info however)

You then choose one of these actions:

Steal from <player> <amount>:

Your attack must at least equal the players Defence plus the amount you want to steal. If successful, you gain that amount and the opponent loses that amount. If the opponent falls to 0 points, you gain as much as he had. If it fails, the opponent is notified that you were trying to steal. If it succeeds, the opponent has no notification.

Spy on <player>:

Your attack must at least equal the players Defence. You gain information about everyone he has allied, how many points he has, and what he has allocated this turn. If it fails, the opponent is notified it you were trying to spy. If it succeeds, the opponent has no notification.

Defend <player>:

The player of your choice's defence is increased by your attack for the turn. The player is notified.

Give <player><amount>:

You give a player the amount you specify. There is no failure. The amount must be positive. The player is notified.

Pass

Do nothing. Used if you don't want to give out any notifications whatsoever. No one is notified.

This plays out for as many rounds are needed until someone is at 0.

Example:

An example game between two players that ends on the first turn:

Player 1:

Attack : 100

Defence: 0

Banking: 0

Action: Spy Player2

Player 2:

Attack: 100

Defence: 0

Banking: 0

Action: Steal Player1 100

Player 1 finds out what player 2 has allocated - but far too late! All of player 2's points have been stolen. Note that if Player 1 had even one defence point, he would be alive. This is because Player 2 tried to steal 100, and his attack was 100, so he was counting on 0 defence.

Alliances

All alliances are only known to the players in them and the person (or computer) refereeing the game. Alliances are decided before allocation. You may not steal from any allies you have, and they may not steal from you. You may still spy on allies if you wish. (they are not obliged to tell you the truth about their numbers, so you may want to double check.)

Ending the game

Recalling that players are eliminated at 0 points, the game can be played with either last man standing winning (good for 5 or less players), or last two standing (interesting with 6 or more players). If the game has to be suddenly ended, a simple point count can be done.