SHADER
Iteration #1
As with many ideas, my first inspiration came from things around me like the box of pencils I barely use. There are a variety of shades to any hue or color. Also my first intention was to create a simple game that can be played everywhere in any possible form, whether numbers or colors or objects,
Game is set as follows: 1) 4 shades of Blue ( or any ) on Player 1 side 2)4 shades of Yellow ( or any ) on Player 2 side 3) shades of a third color ( preferably Green to emphasize the mix of Blue and Yellow ) off the game board. Pencils are arranged from 1 to 4 based on how dark they are ( or any other basis ) Green pencils are also assigned values from 1 up. It is better to have multiples for every shade.
RULES 1. You can switch one pencil with its counterpart of equal value on the other side ( ex. Blue with shade 2 must be switched with Yellow shade 2 ) . Also Green of the same value must be brought in the center. ( ex. B2 and Y2 , leaves G2 in the middle of board )
2. You can switch two of your own pencils across with other two only if they have equal overall value. ( ex. B1 , B4 with B2 , B3 ) . they replace one another in respective order on the board. ( B2,B3 B1,B4 . Not B4,B1) . Green pencil with overall value must be placed in the middle. ( in this example G(1+4) or G(2+3) is left aboard ) 3. You can switch one of your own pencils with its unequal counterpart on the other side only if the counterpart is in the middle of two of your pencils that three of them are in a numerical order. ( ex. B4 with Y2 when it is trapped between B1 and B3 . result is Y2 | B1,B2,B3 ). This move is not followed by Green pencils.
4. You can add up Green pencils with one with sum value. ( ex. G1,G4 with G5 or G2,G3,G6 with G11 ) at any point in the game as your turn. WIN CONDITION: 1. Game is finished when one player can clear the Green pencils with one of multiple of ten value. ( Provided there are less than five Green pencils on the board ) ( ex. G2,G5,G2,G1 add up to G10 , win condition) 2. Game is finished once there are the maximum of five green pencils on the board: losing player can continue the game if he/she can use one of his/her pencils to make a 10 multiple. ( ex. G1,G3,G2,G1,G1 can be cleared if the next player has one valued 2 in his/her original side so it could add up to G10 or alternatively G20,G30,.. ) . Upon this comeback all green pencils are cleared and game continues. (last player does not win as Green pencils reached their maximum on the board.
A sample playtest with 3 different possibilities
OVERTHROW Iteration #2
A game about deception, betrayal and finally taking place of a king or completely displace his army and forcing him to be your king. Game pieces including a King and 4 soldiers are placed at both ends of 5X5 grid. King is centered by 4 soldiers including two traitors chosen secretly by Player(2). Basically Player (1) is unconscious of two traitors in his/her army until they are revealed later into the game. Mid-field or border between two sides is Reveal place where traitor can be recognized by the king and also the furthest King can go. Moreover, Spy can willingly reveal itself only in the midfield area. RULES 1. Every turn you can move any unit one square forward unless blocked by enemy in the mid-field 2. swap places with enemy in the same row unless it is positioned in mid-field. 3. Once a soldier reaches mid-field it is able to move diagonally and infiltrate the enemy’s territory
HOW TO PLAY : 1. before game starts, each player assigns two enemy soldiers as his own by secretly noting the unique markings on soldiers on a piece of paper as a proof. 2. Each player aims to take the throne or try to reveal the spies to avoid any future betrayal.
WIN CONDITION 1) Once a soldier takes an empty throne from the opposite side with more allies on that side than the enemy’s. Powerful enough to take over the crown. 2)When all the seats flanking the king are owned by the enemy
SPY-PIE Iteration #3
The third iteration of the project tried to incorporate the idea of stealth, use of for having random moves instead of having a prescribed One move per turn ( 2nd iteration ). The idea of king and throne and his soldiers developed into a final stage, heart of the enemy castle whose door needs three soldiers to break. Diagonal moves from the center line in 2nd iteration led to changing lanes based on dice throw ( even or odds ) As a result the gameplay changed from tactical decisions into a dice-based decisions which to some extent will reduce play time and add to frequency of actions. In 2nd iteration half the soldiers are traitors and marked by enemy and the game was mostly about revealing them but in final version half the soldiers are off-field cued in in certain situations and also the player can decide when to blend in and take on the role of a spy. Maybe the most Intriguing feature of SpyPie is the constant back and forth between Conquer or Destroy meaning you can go all the way to the heart and break the door or you can blend in with enemy troops and be one of them until you are able to attack them in your own castle heart.
Spy-pie is a simple yet challenging attempt at a game that makes the player feeling incompetent. Maybe the most important aspect of this mental state is being perpetually on the edge of the cliff but knowing you will fail at some point. One thing to be careful of is, frustration or inability completely taking over. As a result incompetence can be more stressed or defined by adding the repetition to state of loss or unexpected turnovers. Frequency of loss could add to sense of vulnerability or incompetence.
SpyPie can be played by 6 people using a cube with varying colors so it would be easy to change color. As long as there are enough squares for units on all the boards, the game can be played by any number of people , whether Co-Op or Last Man Standing and etc,