Mayhem: The turn-based strategy minigame

Xith

I can't remember exactly how long ago I wrote the game script, I want to say it was November of 2012 or so.

What happened was that I learned (credit to Spraeth) how tables/arrays worked. Up until then my coding was exceedingly simple (see the roulette counter on Mudlet forums if you want a laugh). So for some reason my immediate thought was "what if each table was a soldier with traits like health and strength"? I wonder if I could make a minigame (credit to Beya) where soldiers have timers for balances.

About 14 poorly rested days later, working on the game for at least 6 hours a night after work and playtesting by myself, I had a playable version of Mayhem. The few people I shared it with were more or less addicted. To quote one: "This is the most fun I've had in Achaea in a long time."

Here is the Introduction to the game:

 Myhm: Welcome to Mayhem, the turn-based strategy game.

Myhm: NEXT to continue intro. SKIP INTRO to finish now.

 Myhm: Both players will train a combination of warriors, archers, and 

mages to combat the enemy's troops. Each type of soldier has an amount of 

damage, health, and speed, all of which can be upgraded to your preference 

during the inventory phase. Your farms will each earn you 2500 gold per turn, 

which can be used to train new soldiers and improve the ones you have.

 Myhm: Warriors are the bulk of the army. They are cheapest to train, 

and they get most of the action, hitting hard and fast. They will fight the 

enemy's warriors and mages first before advancing on the ranks of archers.

 Myhm: Archers are the last line of defense, attacking continuously 

from afar even as the enemy draws nearer to your fortress. They do use a 

collective stock of arrows that cost 50 each, and with proper research can use 

special curare-tipped arrows for 150 each that will leave enemies paralysed and 

slow them in their tracks. They are strongest against mages and by default will 

target them first in the melee fray.

 Myhm: Mages are sorcerers capable of a number of spells that can 

alter the outcome of the fight in various ways, including: stormhammer, burn, 

freeze, transfix, heal, arrowshield, aeon, celerity, and necromancy. If they 

can overwhelm the enemy's warriors, victory may be assured.

 Myhm: Each turn begins with an Upkeep phase that awards gold based on 

your number of troops, both alive and dead.

 Myhm: The next phase is the Spawn phase. Any troops that were 

purchased the previous turn will arrive in your barracks. This means that you 

will not receive income gold for them until the following Upkeep phase, being 

their second turn in existence.

 Myhm: After new troops are spawned, the Inventory phase begins. This 

is the important phase. You will be able to see your gold, stock of arrows, 

battle settings, as well as a display of your troops' stats and abilities. Here 

you may buy new troops, upgrade existing troops' damage/health/speed, as well 

as teach your mages new spells or equip a spell they already know.

 Myhm: The Battle phase is the excitement. Your soldiers do battle 

with the enemy, determining the success or failure of your strategies. If you 

have more than 12 troops alive at the end of the battle phase, you WIN THE GAME.

 Myhm: Tell me HELP and COMMANDS at any time for playing tips.

 Myhm: When both players have finished the introduction, the game will 

continue.

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So, the reason for my posting is that I need player input and just testing for game balance. There will also be a player database with win/loss stats and all that fun stuff that will help me facilitate running the game on a regular basis, like my own arena. So I have to piece that together in the near future. Writing this game was really cool for me because it was like that Neo moment where suddenly everything is code. One minute I couldn't code my way out of a wet paper bag and now I'm doing systems of function upon function, still clunky but quite functional. Credit to Achaea.

Made tweaks here and there. The latest change is one I wanted to put in for a while, building Farms to earn gold instead of each troop you buy generating the gold, so that simple troop spam isn't the best strategy. I put in the foundations for adding a couple new troop types but not ready to put them in yet.

tl;dr - Let me know in-game if you want to try a really neat game. Preferably supply your own opponent because playing as admin sucks, no matter how good I am at ignoring what's in your inventory.

Jovolo

Was this after that pseudo text game we tried to create ages ago?

Xith

This is the only game I've ever made and it runs through Achaea. What are you referring to?

Jovolo

Wasn't it you that was in on that text game from ages ago with Cherish and a couple others? You called yourself Eridshavelis or something like that, right?

Xith

Edahsrevlis, but yes. That particular project is on indefinite hiatus due to creative differences. Not that I don't still jot down ideas for it. It just requires a team that can uh... Run a MUD and/or teach me to. Achaeans are prime candidates since they'd know what I'm talking about, but "collaborative spirit" is an important phrase.

Xith

Anyway this one operates through game TELLS like Beya's did, if you ever played them.

Jovolo

It's a shame it never took off because the ideas floating around in the site were good. I forgot the domain but my user was TeaNCrumpets or TeaNScones. That's what I meant by small world in Player Pics, recognised you and it took me way back/nostalgia.

Anyway, sorry for derailing. Game sounds cool