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Project Management + CVu Journal Vol 12, #2 - Mar 2000
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Title: Iteractive Development - Prologue

Author: 

Date: 03 March 2000 13:15:35 +00:00 or Fri, 03 March 2000 13:15:35 +00:00

Summary: 

After reading Nigel Eke's series on Monopoly in Overload, it occurred to me that there might be interest in seeing the process of bringing a commercial game to market.

Body: 

After reading Nigel Eke's series on Monopoly in Overload, it occurred to me that there might be interest in seeing the process of bringing a commercial game to market. I am co-founder of a very small company, 3DE, which was put together to develop and sell computer games. My co-founder, Duncan Macdonell, is a game designer who has developed role-playing card games (some of you may recognize the X-files card game, which Duncan designed). I'm the programmer. That's the length and breadth of our company.

We have decided to move a game originally designed as a mass market boardgame onto the computer. As a programmer, I realized that development of this game would be a good teaching tool and the ACCU is the perfect venue in which to pursue that goal. Over the course of many more issues, I will be presenting the steps we are going through to program the game. I'm hoping that readers will be interested in getting involved in both the design and coding aspects and I will discuss pros and cons of design decisions as we progress. Since this is truly a work in progress, there are no right answers and we should expect to explore some dead-ends during the course of the development process.

Once the game has been fully developed in C++, it will be released (probably as shareware). I would really like to release it as a Linux game first, thus bolstering the applications available on this wonderful operating system and supporting other open source efforts. As the recent Linux developer conference concluded, a lack of games available for the operating system is holding it back. Later, the game will probably be ported to JAVA, again using this medium, and released to a broader range of machines. Since the source will be released regardless, it does not particularly matter that Linux will be the target platform as the code will be relatively easy to recompile for the platform of choice.

If the game actually generates revenue, then donations will be made with some of that revenue to a charity selected by the disabilities officer of the ACCU (a personal favorite of mine is Project Gutenberg-http://www.gutenberg.net- which produces electronic books for free). How much? Well, we can discuss that here, but it seems that this is putting the cart well before the horse. It is also worth noting that the game concept will be copyrighted by 3DE, although the programs will be available through the GNU public license.

The game itself, is called, "Swamp." Swamp is a turn-based strategy game, so we won't be developing 3D animations and shooting people. The game is non-violent (in the same sense that chess is non-violent) and encourages thinking ahead. The turn-based nature of the game means that we won't need to build a traditional game engine and that the game can be picked up and put down at will by players who don't have time to play a whole game through at one sitting. The number of players is technically unlimited so we could explore a web-based implementation with players from all over the world on a huge board. Practically, we will start with a simple board construction that is limited to between two and four players. Since a large number of players are possible, it will be necessary to build a game Artificial Intelligence (AI) for computer opponents.

So, just to get your appetite whetted, here are the rules of the game as well as the playing pieces. If you want to jump in and send ideas for data structures, please do so as that will be the starting point for the next article.

Swamp Rules

Swamp is a simple board game in which players use a survival-of-the-fittest strategy to conquer a swamp. Players control Flies, Frogs, and Snakes. On any given turn, each animal may perform one of four actions. The board is comprised of 19 hexes, each of which is divided into 3-5 areas. These areas regulate movement and if a player has captured enough areas, he or she wins the game.

At the beginning of the game, players construct the board randomly with the 19 hexes. Because the board is different each and every game, repeat play is encouraged and players must devise new strategies for the nuances of each new board representation. The board is similar to the highly successful Settlers of Catan. The 19 hex board is likely to become a trend in board gaming, as the format is extremely versatile.

Because the game has only three playing pieces per side, the game can be played at a simple level. However, players that appreciate strategic gaming will find that there are numerous strategies and superior play will be required to defeat an adept opponent.

An educational component can easily be added that will make this property an attractive property to a variety of natural or educational licensors. Factoids could be placed throughout the rules and on the back of the hexes.

Step 1 - Overview

Players start the game by building the game board. The board consists of 19 hexes. The game board represents a swamp. Each hex consists of areas of dirt, water, and/or lily pads. Each player begins the game with five Fly counters. During play, Flies may turn into Frogs. Frogs may turn into Snakes. Snakes may turn into Frogs. Frogs may turn into Flies. This will be explained in greater detail a bit later. Each animal has different movement and game abilities. To win, players must get rid of their opponent's animals or occupy 35 areas of the game board.

Step 2 - The Hexes

There are 19 hexes included in the game. Each hex has three to five areas that control movement. Each area is one of three colors; brown represents dirt, green represents lily pads, and blue represents water.

Step 3 - The Animal Counters

There are three types of animals used during the game. They are Flies, Frogs, and Snakes. Two sided counters represent all of these animals. On one side is a picture of the animal. On the other side is a different picture of the animal with the word "Moved." In addition, the animal has a color to tell which player controls each animal.

Step 4 - Setting Up the Game Board

Turn the hexes upside down and mix them. Randomly pick one person to build the board. That player then selects one hex and places it face up on the table. After the first hex is placed, the player continues to randomly select hexes and place them face up according to the diagram below.

Step 5 - Starting Animals

After the Board is complete, each player selects five Fly counters.

Step 6 - First Player Places His Counters

Randomly decide who gets to set up first. That player then selects a three-hex group to start his five Flies. The other players then select a three-hex group based on how many players are playing. The three hexes must all be touching and all be on the outside edge of the game board. After the first player selects his three starting hexes, he then places his five Flies. He places each Fly on a different area within his starting hexes.

Step 7 - Next Player Places His Counters

After each player selects his starting hexes, he then sets up his five Flies before the next player selects his three hex starting point.

Step 8 - Who Moves First?

The players move in reverse order of their setup. The player who set up last, moves first. The player that set up first, moves last.

Step 9 The Player Turn
Choosing an Action for Your Animals

On your turn, you may move your animals in any order. Each animal may choose one of four different Actions. You must select one Action for each of your animals. You must complete one animal's Action before starting another animal's Action. After completing the animal's Action, turn the counter over to the side that says Moved.

Moving

Only one animal may occupy any one area. Snakes and Frogs may not move into an area that they occupied at some point during their movement.

Eating

A Snake may eat a Frog or a Fly. A Frog may eat Flies. You may not eat one of your own animals. You may eat an opponent's animal in an area you are about to move into. To eat an animal, remove the animal counter from the board. You must now move into that area. Snakes can eat each other. If a Snake chooses to eat another Snake, remove both Snakes from the board. After eating, that animal's turn ends immediately.

Actions

Choose one for each Fly

  1. MOVE - The Fly may move into an adjacent area.

  2. EVOLVE - The Fly may move into an adjacent Green area and Evolve into a Frog.

  3. DOUBLE - This may only be chosen if your Fly starts the turn on a Brown area. You may place a new Fly counter on any adjacent Brown area.

  4. NO ACTION -Move the Fly's counter to the Moved side.

Choose one for each Frog

  1. MOVE - A Frog may Jump two areas away. The Frog may Jump over another animal. The Frog may Eat a Fly.

  2. EVOLVE - If a Frog moves or jumps two areas and ends his turn on a Blue area, the Frog may elect to Evolve into a Snake.

  3. DEVOLVE - If a Frog elects to or is forced to move only one area, they must Devolve into a Fly. The Frog may Eat a Fly.

  4. EAT - The Frog may elect to not move and simply eat any opponent Flies that are adjacent to his area. The Frog may choose this action even if no Flies are adjacent to him.

Choose one for each Snake

  1. MOVE - The Snake may choose to move three areas. The Snake may Eat a Frog or Fly.

  2. DEVOLVE - If a Snake elects to or is forced to move no more than two areas, they must Devolve into a Frog. The Snake may Eat a Frog or a Fly.

  3. DISPLACE - The Snake may move up to three areas and displace up to three Flies. Before entering an area occupied by an opponent Fly, the Snake must force the opponent Fly to move. The Fly must immediately move into an adjacent empty area. If the Fly is unable to move into an empty adjacent area, it is eliminated. After the Fly has been forced to move, turn that Fly's counter to its Moved side. The Fly must choose No Action next turn. After the Snake completes this Displacement, it must Devolve into a Frog.

  4. EXCHANGE - A Snake may move 1, 2, or 3 areas and attack an opponent's Snake. Remove both Snakes.

Ending Your Turn

Once you have moved all of your animals, tell your opponent that you have finished your turn. Turn all your animals over to their normal side. The next player may now take his turn.

Step 10 - How To Win

A game can be won in one of two ways:

  1. Only one player remains with animals on the game board.

  2. If at the end of his turn, a player occupies 35 game areas, he wins the game.

Editor's notes

You now have a couple of months to think about how you would start developing this game for a computer. The essence of this project is participation. As the months roll by Brett will be inviting your comments. This time I am setting the 'homework'.

Please write an overview of how you would plan the development of this computer game. I hope that I am swamped by your contributions (do not worry, all will be published but some will only be restricted to electronic publication). The great value is in trying to reduce your ideas to words. I hope that I will receive contributions from members with wildly different levels and areas of expertise.

Notes: 

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