playtesting

[gxnpt]

I had tried 3 times to look for anyone interested in playtesting I game I designed ( a revamp of a game I did back in 1978 ) as PHP/MySQL/Javascript server/browser this time around and introduced hidden information and such - a retirement project actually.

The previous attempts had links which I am willing to bet a bot (most likely) deleted without looking at actual content - the final attempt was a link to a pdf file. An email I received quoted a response that happened before the thread was deleted and yes, pretty much a beta test I am trying to arrange - or more properly a blind playtest since is game rather than scripting we would be testing. I have attached that pdf file this time instead of linking it.

We would not be playtesting the scripting itself (which is a prototype kludge that seems to function properly) but rather the game. I am mostly wondering if adding some automation to the parts of combat where you are mopping up or where there is no actual choice involved each round is worth the effort for a basic/prototype edition.

If you look over the attached condensed rules and are interested, contact me. I designed it for a 10 inch or larger screen and minimum 1280x720 resolution - tested in Explorer/Edge and Firefox (slightly better in Firefox due to better display of some HTML character codes) but not recommended for Silk and Aurora browsers.

The blurb:

3 Dimensional Space Wargame
(computer generated boardgame)
2 - 6 Players version 1.0
Basic Edition
FEATURES:
Territorial / Combat Game
with changeable alliances
and variable resources
Turn Based (vs realtime based)
using commands then actions method
Limited Sensor Info
locations etc must be detected
Balanced Playing Field
6 way symmetry in 3 dimensions
Simultaneous Movement, Combat, etc
all actions happen simultaneously
once all player orders are entered
Multi-factor combat system
Weapons, Fire Rate, Damage, Armor

TURN SEQUENCE
① Maintenance and Construction:
Collect Points, Scrap or Maintain,
Repair, Conceal, Build
② Movement
③ Combat (cycles till all resolved)
④ EcoPolitical (Terraform, Alliances)

mini-multiplayer game

And that promised pdf file.
quickrules.pdf

[gxnpt]

Planets and starting colors shown by level


The beginning game map



Gameboard including with level select buttons and summaries


Just a little game looking for players/playtesters (on the "Is it fun? Anything you especially want to gripe about? Of course you can have a copy if you want one." basis). Need 2-6 players but shifting alliances come into play with 4-6.

Why isn't it cardboard? : hidden information, "dice" with any number of sides, written orders simultaneous actions, and flipping between the 19 levels of the board pretty much needed electronics so implemented in PHP/MySQL/Javascript as server/browser -- best played in person where each player has their own laptop or tablet, can be done as pass-and-play but tedious if more than 2 players, can be played distant using a chat (Skype, etc. - the game has a basic chat/msg function tacked on but a voice chat would be better in my opinion). While movement and combat is at the ship level, the map display is fleet level where a token indicates one or more ships at a location.

Players' hardware: a 10 inch or larger screen with at least 1280x720 resolution. Tested in Firefox and Explorer/Edge browsers (I expect Safari and Chrome to be fine but not tested - Silk and Aurora browsers do not display all HTML character codes so are not recommended).

The game took over most of my cheap personal online web development space (I still have 1 database reserved for whatever) with 16 normal copies plus a demo copy, a play with the display copy, and a tacked on bbs (ok, before I added the bbs I had 2 databases reserved for me).

I have loaner copies available and open play copies also exist where the Mod password to create and delete wars is public.

I am looking for opponents myself.

If you are interested in playing or getting a copy or having a loaner copy to use contact me.

I am in USA Central Time (GMT-6), retired, can often play at odd hours myself, but my participation in a game is not required and probably better without me for a true blind playtest..................

[gxnpt]

Looks like total lack of interest in trying out a new game based on "is it fun".

I have decided to hold the domain name for another couple years (might as well have some sort of top level domain for my own stuff) and am already using cheap hosting for my personal use so it should remain findable for a couple years - I can always reduce number of online loaner copies if I need more than the single reserved database for other projects.

But, my bothering to check in here will drop from pretty much daily to whenever/ifever I get around to it, so after Feb1 you can locate the game itself by running the name together as one word and sticking a .com on the end and leave me a msg over that way if you want my attention.

This site was useful a bit - 2 replies to my installation instructions - but just a waste of effort looking for potential opponents. Such is life.....

[Woomeister]

Im afraid its just not the sort of game most would want to play, in an era where VR headsets and super powered games consoles rule. Super rich graphics etc.

Tbh honest it just looks complicated. I wish you the best of luck though.

[gxnpt]

It is not a video game. It is a boardgame that uses virtual components and has meeples for tokens.

It only plays human(s) vs human(s) and is not suited to solo play.

Wargamers, miniature battle players, semi-abstract strategy game players, possibly Diplomacy and (maybe) Risk players might like it - but if you are looking for a video game it is not here.

[Woomeister]

Originally Posted by gxnpt

It is not a video game. It is a boardgame that uses virtual components and has meeples for tokens.

It only plays human(s) vs human(s) and is not suited to solo play.

Wargamers, miniature battle players, semi-abstract strategy game players, possibly Diplomacy and (maybe) Risk players might like it - but if you are looking for a video game it is not here.

I understand that, I love Risk and play many 'alliance' based games (lords and Knights). I was just trying to give you some feedback where nobody else had. I admire what you have done and if i lived round the corner I would pop round and give you a game.

[gxnpt]

At least we have accomplished getting that info here in the thread.

So - does anyone here play multiplayer human vs human turn based asynchronous (using the submitted orders then simultaneous actions model) board games online?

This one is designed to work on almost any server that supports PHP and MySQL - it uses a small database and creates files (text and pictures) in a subfolder of the main game folder.

I have 10 loaner copies installed on my little website (and 6 designated copies and a demo copy and a mid-game display copy) -- which on a 1and1 hosted cheapest package still leaves me a spare database after I tacked on a bbs.

Point being, if you play board games and are willing to answer "Was it fun?" and "Any special gripes?" you can have your own copy. Except for being a mess of spaghetti it is all clear code.

So, if you had a few people who wanted to try it out, I would give you the Mod password for one of the copies so you can setup a game (create a war) and put-it-back-in-the-box (delete a war) after playing.

[Woomeister]

I think the other issue you have asking here is the lack of native English speakers. So understanding what you just said would be a task in itself.

I would suggest asking on other forums related to strategy gaming (apologies if this statement is somehow disallowed mods) I won't tell you which ones as it will look like I'm encouraging you to go elsewhere.

[gxnpt]

I am pretty sure you would mean BGG (on the boardgame side no interest since is digital and on the video side no interest because it's actually a boardgame) and BGDF (no interest in playtesting there) and so far a couple of chats same thing.

Local game shop is just a few Magic players and with reduced (retirement) income here I am not driving to next town over for in person gaming.

It has also been mentioned on reddit - might try that again but has over a few months been mentioned in various sudreddits.

So, figured I would see if any interest from webmasters who play games since it is designed to be "mini-multiplayer on your own server".

It might also just straddle too many categories without fully fitting into any of them to garner any interest. Or the time is simply not right.

[naira smith]

As for me , people wil die of boredom. The game looks more complicated than ever.

[gxnpt]

I would assume that you do not play many board games - especially no wargames and other non-party games.

If you like Risk or Diplomacy or war game board games or naval miniature battles then you might like this game.

If you like "Ameritrash" games in terms of conflict but have no objection to meeples as pieces in a semi-abstract setting then you might like this game.

If none of those apply - or if the only board games you like are Monopoly-ish or party games (as in you tried those others and didn't like them) - then I doubt this game would interest you.

If you play Diplomacy or Risk or hexmap wargames with chits as counters it could be well worth playing a game just to check it out.

But, let's look at it from another viewpoint. We are going to ignore some things until the very end.

Everybody starts with 1 planet - the space is color coded - and 5 points.

Planet values by color :
(5) you (4) two closest colors (3) gray (2) two colors near the far side (1) the color all the way across the board from you.

Turns have 4 sections. Each section is transmit the orders then simultaneous actions after final player transmits
(like Diplomacy uses written orders then simultaneous actions).

1 Maintain/Repair/Build

Each turn starts with collecting the points for the planets you own.
Next you spend 1 point for each ship you will keep (scrap the discards)
Next you repair damaged ships - costs 1 point to repair 1 point damage
(you can hide ships by going Dark next but we are ignoring that for now)
Finally you build new ships. Any points not spent are saved.

Your very first turn you will collect 5 points making 10 total and go directly to build.


Each ship also has a System unit
- if damaged the ship goes Dark and is out of play until repaired.
Dark ships must be maintained or scrapped.

After last build order is submitted the maps and reports are updated with the new information and the next section begins.

Every space where you have any ships gets a fleet marker.

(running out of room - continued next post)

[gxnpt]

2 Movement
When enemy ships occupy the same space, all ships in that space of both players are in an encounter and cannot move.
Ships with no (remaining) drive units cannot move.
Ships that do not move are stationary and will interrupt enemy movement if an enemy move segment ends on that space.
A ship can circle in place to be moving without changing location.

There are 3 types of movement.
Slipstream - 1, 2, or 3 spaces (range limited by drive units) in a straight line as the first move segment - all drive units remain available for warp movement
Warp - move 1 space in any direction as a move segment - uses 1 drive unit
Jump - jump to the (randomly pre-assigned for each space) jumpto location from the current location - uses 1 drive unit

If a ship encounters a stationary enemy ship at the end of any move segment it interrupts movement for that ship.



(We will ignore the up and down arrows for vertical movement until later.)



After all players have transmitted move orders the moves are processed.

[gxnpt]

3 Combat
Combat rounds cycle as long as any possible combats remain.

You attack with the combined weapons power of all your target's enemies and defend with all the weapons power of your attacker's enemies that are present in a combat.
Attacker enemies AE and target enemies TE with chance to hit as TE / (AE+TE).

The number of shots you fire depend on your ships and can be allocated among any available targets. All shots must be fired.

Each ship that has a weapon gets 1 shot.
A cruiser or basestar with undamaged multifire gets 1 shot per weapon unit (these are the only ships with more than 1 weapon unit).



Shots that hit damage armor first and after any armor is reduced to 0 damage a random remaining unit on the target ship.
All damage is applied each round. Each hit removes a unit from the target ship so the next hit removes one of the remaining units.
A drive of 2 is actually 2 drive units with weapons and armor being similar while system, sensors, and such are all single units.
1 hit = 1 point damage = 1 unit taken out

All ships have a system unit and if it is damaged the ship goes Dark and vanishes to all other players until repaired.
This is same as hiding a ship during the economic portion of the turn and is an Achilles' heel for all ships.

(If weapons and drive both reach 0 the ship is destroyed and vanishes.)

Damaged multifire limits number of shots that ship can make to 1 per round instead of 1 per weapon.

If weapons are reduced to 0 a ship becomes just another target and cannot fire any shots.

After all players have transmitted orders for all ongoing combats, combat is resolved and reports generated.

After each combat round a new combat round will begin as long as possible combats remain.

When no combats remain planet ownerships will update for the final section of the turn.

Planet ownerships change according to ship locations and weapon strengths.
A weapon strength of more than 0 is required to take over a planet. Dark ships do not count.

Unowned - goes to highest weapon total or nobody if a tie.

Owned - goes to highest enemy if not a tie, unchanged if ally or owner is highest or tied for highest, becomes unowned if enemies are tied for highest.

[gxnpt]

4 EcoPolitical

Terraforming:

Every owned planet where the owner has a stationary (did not move this turn) terraformer with an undamaged terraforming unit will change color
1 step closer to the owner's color if not already matching.

Terraforming is automatic to go from 2 to 3 points (that would be going gray) and from 4 to 5 points (your own color).
Where you have a choice of 2 colors (the 2 point and the 4 point colors) you can pick either one.

Alliance Settings:

Each player submits alliance settings as a yes/no for each other player.
If 2 players have each other set as yes they are allies for the following turn.
If either has the other set as no then they are not allies.

The alliance setting options appear with current alliances already set to yes.


This completes the turn cycle and a new turn begins.

Winning
You - or your team - must own 25 planets and hold at least 25 for 2 turns

Hidden Information
Dark ships are hidden from all other players.
Dark ships and planets are blind.
Ships can detect owner, type, and amount of current damage of all non-Dark ships in the same space.
Ships can detect "unknown fleet presence" in adjacent spaces.
Ships with a sensor unit extend that range an additional space.
Your map will show the non-Dark fleet markers for all of your allies.

Paperwork is done by the computer


In 3D
The map has 19 vertical levels displayed as 19 transparent overlays of fleet markers with a summary of each level to the side.

[gxnpt]

The old game - now released to public domain

board_and_pieces


inside_front_cover


inside_back_cover


outside_back_cover


rules




rules : advanced, combat example, paperwork