The cadavre exquis (literally "exquisite cadaver" from French) is a basic pen and paper game, where each player take turns writing parts of a sentence on a paper. You only pass the paper to the next player after folding it (to hide what has been written). At the end of a turn, we unfold the paper and read the sentence, in which everyone participated without knowing what the others wrote...
It's not really a game by itself (it was more of a "writing exercise", centuries ago), but it can be used as a way to create random challenges between friends (kind of like Truth or Dare). Usually, the first player writes a name/character, the second player writes an action, the third player writes a location, and so on... I was just wondering if the concept could be done in SC2, tell me what you think of it.
Players would take turns in a random order (defined at the beginning of the game). The first player would have to pick the name of any player currently in the game (including himself if he's ready to take the risk). Some players after him would have to pick an option among a list of possibilities (what to do, what conditions, etc...), which, in the end, would create some kind of a challenge. If the picked player succeeds in this challenge he gains 2 points, if he loses all the other players gain one point. The game would end when a player reaches 10 points (or 10+N more points than anyone else, in case of a tie).
Examples of results:
Player 1, must kill 3 ultralisks, using only psi storms.
(player 1 then spawns as a high templar, in an arena filled with ultralisks controlled by the other players)
Player 2, must not be seen by marines, without using blink.
(player 2 then spawns as a stalker without blink, and must reach a location on the other side of an arena, filled with marines controlled by the other players)
Player 1, must not be killed, in a zombie apocalypse.
(player 1 then spawns as a random unit, in an arena filled with hostile zombies, and must survive X seconds)
Player 1, must not be killed, using only psi storms.
(player 1 then spawns as a high templar, and must survive X seconds against waves of units sent by the other players)
Each parameter of the challenge has to be picked by a player currently in the game (who picks the next parameter is chosen at random). A parameter picked in a previous challenge cannot be picked twice (except the player who must succeed, obviously), to prevent players from scoring with a challenge too easy for them.
What do you think? Is it even possible to create, can it be fun to play, does it have a good replay value?
It sounds fun, but I think the variety of possibilities is what would make it succeed, and the balance for all the possible challenges. Some combinations will result in ridiculously hard challenges, while other may be won by default. But I guess that's part of the game right?
Some combinations will result in ridiculously hard challenges, while other may be won by default. But I guess that's part of the game right?
Exactly! :)
Deception becomes a part of the gameplay, everyone is involved in the creation of the challenge, without knowing if it's good or bad for them. What matters in the end is how skilled you are in this particular situation. That's why a well-thought design is mandatory, making sure every combination possible is both fun to play and well-balanced... And there must be enough parameters to choose from during an entire game, too! That's probably the hardest part, because the more options you give, the less balanced it will be.
The cadavre exquis often gives silly results to be honest (try it yourself with some friends one day, you'll end with stories about "pandas and unicorns buying condoms to a drug-dealing fireman, on the top floor of a tower made of cheese during a storm"...). Originally, I was hoping it would be possible to create some sort of library/dictionary, so that the first player to write a sentence in the chat ("player X must do THIS with/without THAT") will make the game create a challenge accordingly. But the obvious flaw to this is that players will make the challenges impossible for their opponents and too easy for themselves.
In the examples I mentioned, I used pretty simple sentences... But maybe it would be better to have parameters like "bottle of wine" or "jalapeño" (or whatever, as long as people really don't have any clue what's going to happen if they use it). They would rather show a general idea, rather than a predictable result. "Bottle of wine" could either be a hellion or a firebat, and "jalapeño" could result in either a shower of banelings or a maze of moving firewalls... Basically, playing 2 games, and using the same parameters each time, would not give the same result... You wouldn't be able to rely on that to win anymore, using the chat to create challenges could end up in silly situations... Imagine someone writing in the chat "my life sucks", which could result in a challenge where a mothership must catch enough medics in a vortex in a given period of time, or a zealot having to run away from infestors trying to catch him with neural parasite... :D
EDIT: I just thought of another way... It's possible to create some sort of dungeon master telling a short story. Each time an important character is mentioned (or an event), one of the player in the game is asked to choose who/what it is, among a list of choices. And so on until the story is finished... Then what was written is created on the map, and the "hero" must do what the story told to win points.
The cadavre exquis (literally "exquisite cadaver" from French) is a basic pen and paper game, where each player take turns writing parts of a sentence on a paper. You only pass the paper to the next player after folding it (to hide what has been written). At the end of a turn, we unfold the paper and read the sentence, in which everyone participated without knowing what the others wrote...
It's not really a game by itself (it was more of a "writing exercise", centuries ago), but it can be used as a way to create random challenges between friends (kind of like Truth or Dare). Usually, the first player writes a name/character, the second player writes an action, the third player writes a location, and so on... I was just wondering if the concept could be done in SC2, tell me what you think of it.
Players would take turns in a random order (defined at the beginning of the game). The first player would have to pick the name of any player currently in the game (including himself if he's ready to take the risk). Some players after him would have to pick an option among a list of possibilities (what to do, what conditions, etc...), which, in the end, would create some kind of a challenge. If the picked player succeeds in this challenge he gains 2 points, if he loses all the other players gain one point. The game would end when a player reaches 10 points (or 10+N more points than anyone else, in case of a tie).
Examples of results:
(player 1 then spawns as a high templar, in an arena filled with ultralisks controlled by the other players)
(player 2 then spawns as a stalker without blink, and must reach a location on the other side of an arena, filled with marines controlled by the other players)
(player 1 then spawns as a random unit, in an arena filled with hostile zombies, and must survive X seconds)
(player 1 then spawns as a high templar, and must survive X seconds against waves of units sent by the other players)
Each parameter of the challenge has to be picked by a player currently in the game (who picks the next parameter is chosen at random). A parameter picked in a previous challenge cannot be picked twice (except the player who must succeed, obviously), to prevent players from scoring with a challenge too easy for them.
What do you think? Is it even possible to create, can it be fun to play, does it have a good replay value?
It sounds fun, but I think the variety of possibilities is what would make it succeed, and the balance for all the possible challenges. Some combinations will result in ridiculously hard challenges, while other may be won by default. But I guess that's part of the game right?
Exactly! :)
Deception becomes a part of the gameplay, everyone is involved in the creation of the challenge, without knowing if it's good or bad for them. What matters in the end is how skilled you are in this particular situation. That's why a well-thought design is mandatory, making sure every combination possible is both fun to play and well-balanced... And there must be enough parameters to choose from during an entire game, too! That's probably the hardest part, because the more options you give, the less balanced it will be.
The cadavre exquis often gives silly results to be honest (try it yourself with some friends one day, you'll end with stories about "pandas and unicorns buying condoms to a drug-dealing fireman, on the top floor of a tower made of cheese during a storm"...). Originally, I was hoping it would be possible to create some sort of library/dictionary, so that the first player to write a sentence in the chat ("player X must do THIS with/without THAT") will make the game create a challenge accordingly. But the obvious flaw to this is that players will make the challenges impossible for their opponents and too easy for themselves.
In the examples I mentioned, I used pretty simple sentences... But maybe it would be better to have parameters like "bottle of wine" or "jalapeño" (or whatever, as long as people really don't have any clue what's going to happen if they use it). They would rather show a general idea, rather than a predictable result. "Bottle of wine" could either be a hellion or a firebat, and "jalapeño" could result in either a shower of banelings or a maze of moving firewalls... Basically, playing 2 games, and using the same parameters each time, would not give the same result... You wouldn't be able to rely on that to win anymore, using the chat to create challenges could end up in silly situations... Imagine someone writing in the chat "my life sucks", which could result in a challenge where a mothership must catch enough medics in a vortex in a given period of time, or a zealot having to run away from infestors trying to catch him with neural parasite... :D
EDIT: I just thought of another way... It's possible to create some sort of dungeon master telling a short story. Each time an important character is mentioned (or an event), one of the player in the game is asked to choose who/what it is, among a list of choices. And so on until the story is finished... Then what was written is created on the map, and the "hero" must do what the story told to win points.