Light as a Feather

In this Death Match, fulfill objectives by filling and draining buckets and basins with water.

Designer(s): e_is_cool, elara Match Type: DM (for 2 players)
Featured in: The Genius: Heaven and Hell

Death Match 11: Light as a Feather


After one dies, Anubis, god of death, weighs their heart against a feather. If the heart was light, unburdened from sin, then the soul would be allowed to enter the realm of the dead; if not, then it would be consumed by Ammit. Needless to say, don’t let your soul get consumed.


RULES

This is a real-time DM, which will happen over three separate 10 minute sessions, with short breaks in between. Because this is a real-time DM, breaks will not be allowed within each session.


There will also be a practice session lasting 5 minutes, for players to get used to the controls of the game.

The game will be processed in ticks. Each tick is 10 seconds. That means the game runs at 0.1 Hz. Any action you submit will be processed exactly when a tick happens. For example, if you submit an action 13 seconds after the game begins, it will be processed at tick 2, at 20 seconds into the game.

Each player is given a set of buckets (3 for the first session, and increasing by 1 for each subsequent session). These buckets may hold any non-negative integer amount of water, up to and including their capacity. There are also basins, which function similarly to buckets, but with no maximum capacity and are shared between players. These basins fill up automatically over time, at some variable rate.

Players have various actions they can take. You may only do one action per tick; only your most recent valid action will be parsed.

  • Fill: Select a basin and a bucket; the bucket is filled with water until either the bucket is full or the basin is empty. You then cannot use this action for the next 4 ticks.
  • Drain: Select a bucket, and optionally a basin. Drain all water from the bucket, and if a basin was selected, add the removed water into the basin.
  • Transfer: Select a bucket A, and another bucket B. Transfer as much water as possible from bucket A to bucket B. In this case, as much water is moved from bucket A to bucket B, until either bucket A is empty, or bucket B is filled, whichever happens first.
  • Complete: Select a set of buckets, as well as an objective. If those buckets satisfy the objective, those buckets are emptied and you get the rewards associated with the objective. (If both players complete the same objective on a tick, both players receive the reward.)

There will be various objectives that players can complete throughout the game. At any given time, there will be 5 objectives available to submit to, and another 5 will be in queue, unable to be submitted until another available objective is completed. Objectives may reward points and/or powerups. At the end of each session, the current 5 objectives will be removed and replaced with the 5 objectives in queue for the next session. Before each session begins, players will be given 1 minute to see the buckets, basins, and objectives for that session.


There are various powerups that can be earned and used. Each powerup gives you one use of a special action. Recall that players may only do one action per tick. These power actions are as follows:

  • Exchange: Select two buckets; exchange their contents, with excess water above capacity being removed.
  • Modify: Select a bucket and an integer from -2 to 2. Adjust the capacity of the bucket by that for this session. You cannot adjust a bucket to have a lower capacity than its current water level.
  • Sip: Select a bucket from any player; remove 1 water from it.
  • Lock: Select a bucket from your opponent. Both players cannot use it in actions for this tick and the next 2 ticks. (If your opponent attempted to use it in this tick, their submission is ignored.)
  • Accelerate: Select a basin and an integer from 1-10; it is filled as if those many additional ticks have passed.

Here is the order of action processing:

  • Lock
  • Sip
  • Complete
  • Fill
  • Drain
  • Modify, Transfer, Exchange
  • Accelerate
  • [Not an action]: Basins add more water, if applicable.

In the case of the both players filling using the same basin, the player with the ankh has their action processed first, then the ankh is transferred to the other player. Unless otherwise stated, actions can only affect your own buckets; this means Lock and Sip are the only actions that directly interact with your opponent's buckets.

At the end of all of the sessions, the player with more points wins, with tiebreaker being having higher total sum of water at the end of all sessions. If this is also a tie, the player holding the ankh at the end of the game wins. The DMO will decide who gets the ankh at the beginning of the DM.


EXAMPLE


In this simplified example, there are two buckets, two basins, and two objectives. Also, only one player's actions will be considered; pretend the other player is AFK this entire game. Formatting is not final, this is just to demonstrate how actions work.


Bucket A: Capacity 10

Bucket B: Capacity 7


Basin Y: +1 every tick, starting at Tick 0

Basin Z: +10 every 6 ticks, starting at Tick 0


Objective 1:

Have a bucket with 3 water.

Reward: 1 points, 1 use of Modify

Objective 2:

Have two buckets with an equal amount of water (at least 3).

Reward: 2 points


Tick 0:

A: 0/10 water

B: 0/7 water

Y: 1 water

Z: 10 water


Player uses Fill on Z -> A.


Tick 1:

A: 10/10 water

B: 0/7 water

Y: 2 water

Z: 0 water


Player uses Transfer on A -> B.


Tick 2:

A: 3/10 water

B: 7/7 water

Y: 3 water

Z: 0 water


Player uses Complete on A and Objective 1. Player gains 2 points and 1 use of Modify.


Tick 3:

A: 0/10 water

B: 7/7 water

Y: 4 water

Z: 0 water


Player uses Drain on B -> Y.


Tick 4:

A: 0/10 water

B: 0/7 water

Y: 12 water

Z: 0 water


Player uses Modify on B, decreasing its capacity by 2.


Tick 5:

A: 0/10 water

B: 0/5 water

Y: 13 water

Z: 0 water


Player uses Fill on Y -> A. Note that Tick 6 was the first tick that the player would be able to use Fill, since they last used it on Tick 1, so Ticks 2-5 were blocked.


Tick 6:

A: 10/10 water

B: 0/5 water

Y: 4 water

Z: 10 water


Player uses Transfer on A -> B.


Tick 7:

A: 5/10 water

B: 5/5 water

Y: 5 water

Z: 10 water


Player uses Complete on A+B, 2. Player receives 2 points.


Tick 8:

A: 0/10 water

B: 0/5 water

Y: 6 water

Z: 10 water


The game would continue as such, with new objectives being added to the list of current objectives after every objective completion.

Tags

Mathematics    (The game tests the players' mathematical abilities.)

Optimization    (The game tests the players' abilities to find optimal solutions.)

Simultaneous    (The game involves players taking their turns simultaneously.)