Tag Archives: Stratego

First the weird

Yes, it was something that happened on Wednesday night. It was (apparently) important and it involved Batman. It was a dream, mot likely about IP, but I cannot state whether it is based on the comic books, I do not think it was the Arkham games series. I also do not think it was the movies, but beyond that it is blank, I just cannot remember it and if I do not write it down quickly, it becomes lost. So now I have to wait for the REM stage to kick in again. Beyond all that, there is new IP. A new setting, a digital setting that comes to mind on some of the MB games, in the first it is Hotel and now we have a new stage, Yes, we can ‘just’ copy the board game, but that is such a waste of time, unless it is a mode you can unlock. A board that becomes bigger as more players come to it. The nearly same setting, but now we add a library of hotels. So the original game had the Boomerang, Fujiyama, Royal, Le Grand, Safari, Taj Mahal, Waikiki, and the President. But the fun part is that digitally we can add, we can replace keeping the game new and fresh. So we can get hotels based on famous hotels in Dubai, Las Vegas, New York, Los Angeles, London and so many other places. As we add multiplayer options where the player can select from a pool of online players, friends and game fans, this game could get a lot more attention, and history has shown that there was an interest in this game. I still haven’t given up on the notion of collectible keys (used on the Amazon Luna) to unlock elements in games that other games provide for. And Hotel could be no different. Other games unlock additional hotels and this game could unlock other elements in other games. A stage that pushes novelty and pushes the desire to play, to find and to embrace any game that streaming offers. 

I mentioned the keys before and it could be one of several enhancements that could push the Amazon Luna (beside the 50M extra consoles option). You see, the need for gaming is different on streamers, yes there is a like minded setting with other consoles, but the plus value is not merely some subscription, it is the part where the subscription leads to additional sides, it keeps the gamer invigorated. And in sandbox games there is plenty to see, but in other games after you played it once or twice you think you have seen it all, unless you add to the game, unless the game keeps on developing. There is only so many times the bulk will play Monopoly. Yet if we can localise Monopoly and unlock local editions the interest in such a game evolves from medium term to long term enjoyment. And there several MB games could find themselves in a larger stage. In earlier writings I evolved the game Stratego to a much larger online stage. Yet what happens when we do this to the game Tank Battle? What happens when we evolve the game Clue to a version based on the CCG the X files? All games with multiple options, all games with an evolved nature that offers long term appeal. And as stated on multiple times, some of the original CBM-64 games could get a whole new era of gaming enthusiasts if they put their mind to it. 

All settings that some ignored, some were forgotten and many were overlooked, or perhaps the game designers never considered the early years of gaming. Just like some of us seemingly forgot  about some of the TV shows from the 60’s and 70’s, several of them bubbling with new life if the right director comes along. The acquired IP from the old days could be the cheapest and that offers a whole new stage. Some of the makers are all about looking at the new, but to find. Truly new series with no connections to the past is so utterly rare that it is almost folly to join those crusaders, all chasing windmills. Which is still weird because the fields are covered with fix them uppers and some of them have solid housing frames. 

The fact that some are racing to remaster decent PS4 games for PS5, and they are merely looking behind them, in the rear distance there are true gems waiting to be rediscovered and I hope Amazon does so, Google too, but then they decided not to develop games, so they need to rely on the indie developers and some will be looking towards the CBM-64, Atari ST and Amiga games. As I see some development notes pass by, I can see that they are and they will have decent chances to pick up an interesting amount of coins. 

 

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Birth of IP

I have a few parts, mostly 5G. Yet a few hours ago, all whilst I was considering a few other things, whilst I was watching (again) NCIS, season 1 at present an idea for a new game came up. You see, I have nothing against shooting, I have been a well established CIA wet team operative and killed my share of people in Kabul (Delta Force: Land Warrior), yet I also saw the need for a tactical side and my mind went racing. In all I wanted a new way of tactical thinking which got my mind thinking back to Dungeon Keeper, but military style. I do not want some copy of a good game that someone else made, but the premise was good, so I took another side. Perhaps you all (the older people) remember the game Stratego by Hasbro. When I was young the issue became that the board was always the same, a setting a computer never has. Moreover, we can switch between urban and rural warfare in an instant. But the military mind is always similar per nation. So when we look at the Stratego pieces (as in the image we see the flag, the Marshall, General, colonel, major, captain and so on. But what if we change that setting. We still have a Marshall and a general, colonels, majors and so on. Yet the game had other lacks but not in a bad way, there is a difference on a board game and a computer game, and what was acceptable in 1972, might not pass water in 2022. 

So consider a board, a board that is only partially visible, and pieces that might be there and are not known to what is there. Now consider the settings. An HQ, a Forward base, and the operational stage. The Marshall (flag also) is ALWAYS in HQ, the General can be anywhere. A colonel is set to a stage (in field or in HQ), the majors are in the field and every Colonel has 2 majors, every major has 3 lieutenants. Now consider that every lieutenants has a field. There are the engineers (for bombs, hardware), supply, logistics. There are three spies, one spymaster (HQ) and two spies in the field. 

There are a few more items, but that is it. So how do you ‘beat’ pieces? First the map is one that is generated from a library, so there are dozens of maps (and more coming over time). Now the stage is that we move, but we all move in different ways. So the map is the same for both sides, but the way we move is not, and we do not see how the other side is moving, we can only see a game piece (without seeing the identity, when it is within two places). Now we see the functionality. It is partially the same. Engineers can remove mines and obstructions, a spy can identify ANY piece without the opponent seeing it, it is the only piece that can kill the Marshall. This now gives a new situation, the general MUST move to HQ. One Colonel can become Colonel plus (field general) and now the setting will influence the others. 

The HQ is a different map, the spy remains unseen, only the spymaster can see an enemy spy and when the spy acts (like killing the Marshall) his ‘invisibility’ stops. He can only capture the flag and he needs to leave HQ to win. A spy can kill a spymaster, or can be killed by one. When the spymaster is lost, all spies are lost too. In the field each lieutenant has three sergeants and each sergeant has 6 troops. A troop can be a scout, a rifleman or a third type (still mulling that over). A scout can see any adjacent piece. A rifleman can shoot any scout or a sergeant two spaces away. Yet that is the larger setting. If a Marshall is killed, and line of succession starts general goes up, so does colonel, so does major and lieutenant. Yet anything below the promoted the lieutenant is lost. If succession is not done the enemy until their Marshall is lost will only move one against the opponents two moves. So it becomes a tactical setting that changes. Bombs instantly kills any piece (regardless of rank) moving next to them except the engineer, the bomb is removed when that happens (like in the game). So the game has three maps your HQ and the battle field. The HQ has a few pieces, but there is one catch, the computer moves one piece in any direction every turn, so you cannot create a static setting there. 

I am still working out a few parts, but feel free to use this idea, It is free (a public domain idea) for Sony, Apple and Amazon systems. I came up with this setting in one hour, so if you are wondering why some game creators have a hard time coming up with ‘original’ ideas, I share your concern. 

That’s al I have to offer at 3:30 perhaps there is more to this game soon enough, but I gave the larger lines, time for game creators to get clever programming. 

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