Edit: And here she is: http://sc.nibbits.com/maps/project/75233/swarm-walkers


So I thought of this map idea. It's like Falling Tiles, in a way, but... well just read:

1. An arena exists with preplaced Dark Swarms. Each player starts with a Corsair.
   
2. Corsairs can only move where there's a swarm cloud. Anywhere else and they die.
   
3. Players cast Disruption Webs to remove swarms from the arena.
   
4. Last person with a Corsair still over a swarm wins.
   
5. Each player that loses their Corsair becomes a Defiler.
   
6. Defilers can bet on a player to win.
   
7. Defilers then can help their player win by casting swarms around the arena to try to aid that player.
   
8. I'll add a rule either restricting defilers from cast swarms too close to any given player, or else I'll just start them off with max energy and set swarms to cost 20 or so energy each.
   
9. If a betted player loses:
   1. I'll either force players to renew their bets if at least 2 players are still alive.
      
   2. I'll transfer their bets to whoever the fallen betted player in turn bets on.
      
   3. I'll kill betters' defilers when their betted player dies.
10. All players who bet on the winning player will themselves also win.

How does that sound?

Post has been edited 5 time(s), last time on Jul 3 2010, 9:28 pm by Tuxedo-Templar.

I think this requires small arena to have a good action maintained, but the Dark Swarm are kind of big... not sure about the result. ;o

Well one thing I could tweak to counter the width of swarms is give a 1/4 second time before "falling" actually occurs. That way, if you're just on the lip of another swarm as one goes out under you, you have a minuscule chance to be safe.

I don't like 9. The good idea might be to bet on a player who has already many people "in a team", which only makes him "stronger".

EDIT:
Well, I probably shouldn't be thinking that trivial, but I don't like something about 9 anyways...

Hmm. Maybe I could just kill the defilers of anyone who bets on someone who dies?

Yeah thought of this... Maybe you can make them follow their bet... However I am also not quite satisfied with both of these.

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Jul 3 2010, 7:21 am by Wormer.

Hmm. Well here are the goals I had in mind:

1. I need want some way to generate new swarms be around the arena... at least to an extent, maybe. Without dynamic battlefield element, might as well just be playing Falling Tiles.
   
2. I also want the placement of swarms to factor meaningfully somehow in the gameplay. Same reason.
   
3. I also want it to be a factor of some kind of player decision. Should go without saying.
   

Post has been edited 3 time(s), last time on Jul 3 2010, 7:51 am by Tuxedo-Templar.

NO! I this!
Look, it's awesome! It's like you've fallen and have to sell your soul to one of the players. The "sell soul" relation is transitive then Hence the longer you live, the bigger your chances to win in the end, because you probably will have more souls "following" you. However if you died early there is also a good chance if you bet a good player... Or something. The idea haven't shaped well in my mind yet, but I feel it might something interesting...

Hmm. Well I'm going to try out the "defiler dies if your betted player dies" idea first, then.

Yeah, I think I'll give this map a shot after all.

Ahahah Luck with this!
This thread is making me want to post my ideas on a map...

http://sc.nibbits.com/maps/project/75233/swarm-walkers

Sounds cool and like something I've read in this manga called Liar Game. It had a musical chair competition where Players each had 23 medals with their names on it that were worth $1 mil each, $23 mil total, but only the medals of the final winner were worth anything. It encouraged players to try to buy out the help of the losers rather than losing players betting on the remaining players. I'm also against the #9 rule. It seems to create many possibilities for an unfair scenario where players gang up to help one person win, and in turn the winning player will be easily foreseen early on unless they make a huge mistake, which means a lot of players end up losing and feeling ungratified by your game.

The scenario from Liar Game had 20 something characters, was slower-paced and more strategy-based, but you could have an alternative mode similar to musical chairs in this map with the following specifications:
-arena will be the same as default, dark swarms over all areas, retaining the mechanic of players can only move over dark swarms
-have several of the dark swarms marked as safeswarms (i.e. chairs), the idea of this would be to have safe spots reveal themselves to players as they fly over them, maybe a ping. Something only the player would see.
-there will be rounds, equal to the total # of players, maximum of 7 rounds w/ 8 players.
-each player is given 8 medals, similar to the Liar Game example, that they can give away to any player if they so choose
-player units will be changed to a moderate speed unit transport, unload unit for the sit action, reload if used in a bad spot, create a delay to avoid players spamming the sit action
-countdown timer of random duration (unknown to players), when 0 it will signal players to land on a safe swarm (i.e. sit in their chair). A short period of overtime is used after this signal where regular play continues unless all safeswarms are taken where the round will end. However, if some safeswarms are empty, all unseated players will lose.
-before the start of every next round, check # of players that successfully seated themselves (incase more than one person fails to get seated last round)
-losing players become defilers, but have the option of working as swarm destroyers or creators and be contracted into a players' service. (basic action is to make swarms, but the swarms' effects differ between the two jobs; energy cost of swarm will need balance/tests)

• Destroyers: because safeswarms cannot be destroyed, destroyers can essentially locate safespots and inform players or destroy swarms to impede them
  
• Creators: they can create swarms normally to bridge players to safety, but if creating a swarm over the space of a safeswarm, that particular safeswarm will be randomly repositioned. this cannot be done on any safeswarm with an already seated player.
  

-have a between rounds session for players to negotiate/invest in the help of losers/strategize. Each player should have their own location to give away medals (i.e. build from 7 different rax). Players cannot know whose and how many medals other players have, but can check their own amounts. Losers are free to take any action they want, not bound to any players that try to buy their help.
-last player standing wins, their medals (whomever is in possession of them) will be redeemed for minerals or gas or some kind of currency.
-possible to use medal winnings towards initial bonuses in subsequent plays (i.e. in musical chairs, gain a high-speed or limited stimmable unit for round 1). This is if the map can be replayed in the same hosting session.

You don't have to implement all/any of this, it could even be a separate map. One thing I do like about using the Liar Game scenario is the continuous involvement of losing players, their chances to still win something in the end and the sneakier unrestricted, unforeseeable gameplay. I wanted to put my design ideas down before they elude my memory, but also I wouldn't have the time to work on this, but wanted to share it incase you or someone else wants to use or expand on this idea.

Sounds complicated. You'll need to simplify it.


I was just thinking I could just restrict each survivor to only one bet, and/or add a rule preventing swarm placement directly onto that player. That way defilers are can only expand future walkable ground, which potentially could benefit other survivors as well.


But, so far no one's commented directly on the prototype in any meaningful way. I'm going to put this on hold for a while.

Post has been edited 3 time(s), last time on Jul 5 2010, 8:59 am by Tuxedo-Templar.