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Published: 2011-11-16 22:37:27 +0000 UTC; Views: 692; Favourites: 10; Downloads: 5
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Description
And now for a completely different game design.This one is for Life-Unlimited. It's an abstract strategy game played on Bligra (as is probably obvious from its color scheme), and it plays absolutely nothing like chess. Or any other well-known game on Earth, for that matter.
In the traditional kiblagreshu chromatic language, it literally translates as "Help Me, Lover". Traditionally, it has eight players, divided into couples, and well-played games have led to more than a few sloppy post-game makeout sessions. (Rumor has it that the game was designed by an inventor in a failing relationship, who made it as a way to teach his pod how to rely on each other again.) The game is impossible to win without a mix of teamwork and trickery, and from this, the game gets its name.
Each player starts with ten pieces under their exclusive control:
-Four pawns
-Three swords
-Two shields
-One royal (king or queen)
Players in the corners have a queen, while players at the sides have a king. Each side player has their partner sitting at the corner to their left. (You will notice that partners have pieces of opposite colors. This has its roots in the fact that pairs within a pod have opposite eye and blood colors.) The objective of the game is for each team to get their king to the square in the center of the board, which is marked with a star. However, the only way to do this is to create an (orthogonally) unbroken chain of pawns, and the other teams are working to sabotage your efforts.
There is no capturing in this game, but each piece has a different form of movement, all of which are essential to achieving victory:
-Pawns move one square orthogonally either once or twice, and cannot push or jump over other pieces. A diagonal move counts as one square in one direction and one in another, thus, if blocked to, say, the north and east, they cannot move northeast. They and queens are the only pieces which can act as a link in the chain.
-Swords move like a chess queen, pushing any pawns or other swords in their way in the same direction. They cannot act as a link in the chain. Shields and royals cannot be pushed, and will block even the longest lines of pushed pieces. If blocked, a line of pushed pieces will stop where it is, and will NOT move in another direction.
-Shields jump anywhere on their second perimeter (ie. two squares in any direction or like a chess knight). They do not act as a link in the chain, they cannot be pushed by a sword, and they are designed to disrupt other teams' chains. However, they can also disrupt one's own chain if not used effectively.
-Kings do not move. Moving one to the center square upon victory is mostly a formality.
-Queens are a combination of a pawn, a sword and a shield. They can push, they cannot be pushed, they can act as a link in the chain, and they can either move as a chess queen or jump to anywhere in their second perimeter. Naturally, each team only gets one.
Victory is achieved once an orthogonally-unbroken chain of pawns and/or queens of any color leads from a king to the center space. Note that the center square need not be occupied for this to apply: Victory is attained whether it is empty or not, or even if it is occupied by a sword or shield.
This game has achieved popularity in certain circles on several planets within the Milky Way Alliance, but within the foreseeable future, it will remain most popular on Bligra, where it originated. Currently, it is enjoyed by over a billion kiblagreshuki, a number rivalling the king of human games, chess.
Life-Unlimited and everything associated with the kiblagreshu species are (c) me. Enjoy.
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Comments: 8
Neoglitch17 [2015-03-06 16:12:52 +0000 UTC]
Have you playtested this? It sounds like a great idea for a game!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Mr86Returns In reply to Neoglitch17 [2015-03-08 01:33:42 +0000 UTC]
I don't know how to program games and I've never had the inclination to make a real version. But if you know somebody who can work in Flash, I'd love to know about it.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Neoglitch17 In reply to Mr86Returns [2015-03-14 19:11:17 +0000 UTC]
Or you could put the game on Tabletop Simulator.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Mr86Returns In reply to Neoglitch17 [2015-03-14 19:18:50 +0000 UTC]
Actually I discovered the existence of Clickteam Fusion, so I'm going to be giving it a try in that. If I get it working, you'll be the first to hear about it.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Niemamkota [2014-03-24 10:24:11 +0000 UTC]
This shit is the best shit. I mean wow, a board chess-like game with original and creative mechanics created by you from scratch. I wanna play it (not as much as Ke's adventures, but still want to). I must ask- was this whole Life Unlimited concept inspired by Homestuck? I mean it looks nothing like homestuck but the way you describe alien species and their relationships etc. it seems familiar.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Mr86Returns In reply to Niemamkota [2014-03-24 22:05:34 +0000 UTC]
Actually, Life Unlimited's prototype form, Life-5, was created between 2005 and 2007. I never even heard of Homestuck until around 2010, after Jade had already been introduced. Since then, I've taken some inspiration from it, but for the most part, Life Unlimited is based on my own attempts to make alien species that are more believable than the ones you usually see. They mainly work because, like with actual human societies, they aren't created with any kind of plot or moral in mind. The plot develops AFTER a species is created.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Niemamkota In reply to Mr86Returns [2014-03-25 04:16:51 +0000 UTC]
That's really cool. Also, please consider making this flash game a higher priority.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0