Half-Hearted Step
TBD
| Designer(s): chaotic_iak | Match Type: DM (for 2 players) |
| Featured in: DM Colosseum | |
⚔ Half-Hearted Step ⚔
This game is new to this tournament. This game was created by chaotic_iak.
The goal of the game is to collect more points than your opponent. Points are scattered on squares and it's as easy as visiting the square to pick them up. But your opponent controls half of your move.
RULESThe game is divided into two phases, auction and play.
The game will be played on a 7x7 board filled with numbers, except for the center that is occupied by the piece. The board will only be revealed at the beginning of the auction phase. An example board is shown below, but it should not be taken as any indicator of how the actual board will look like.
During the auction, you will bid on how much of a lead you think you can get. The auction is open ascending-price auction: you will bid in real time. At any time before the auction is over, you may bid any integer larger than the latest bid (which might be your own; if you're the first bidder you may call any integer). If 1 minute passes without any more bid, the auction ends; the latest called bid wins and is called the threshold difference. The auction winner's goal is to win by at least this much difference.
The auction winner chooses which player is initially the active player, as well as whether they take horizontal or vertical axis; the opponent takes the other axis.
The play phase then begins. Each player begins with 3 lives.
Players alternate turns being the active player, but both players make a move every turn.
Submit a movement for the piece privately. The movement must be along your axis, and it has a limited distance: up to 2 if you're the active player, and up to 1 if you aren't. The movement may not bring the piece off the board.
In addition, if on the previous turn, your move was to stay in place (movement of zero), this turn you may not stay in place.
For example, suppose you are the horizontal player. Then you may move the piece 1 left, 1 right, or let it stay where it is. If you are also the active player, you may move 2 left or 2 right as well. But if the piece is on the far left column, you may not move the piece to the left, as it brings it off the board.
After both players have made their moves, the moves are revealed. The piece moves according to both submitted moves. Then one of two cases happens:
- The piece lands on a square that has not been visited previously. The active player adds the number to their score.
- The piece lands on a square that has been visited previously. The active player loses a life.
If you lose all 3 lives, you will no longer be the active player; your opponent will be the active player for the rest of the game.
The game ends when both players lose all 3 lives. The auction winner wins if their score minus their opponent's score is at least the threshold difference. Otherwise, the opponent wins.
ADMINISTRATIONDuring auction: make your bids in the public game room. State your bid clearly, in decimal.
During play: make your moves in your private channel. State how much you're moving and in what direction.
Information revealed in public game room: current board, current scores, hearts count, threshold difference.
Information revealed in private channel: nothing.
Time controls: Auction is real time; 1 minute without bid ends the auction. During play: 1 minute per round. You may change your move until the end of the round. If at deadline you haven't submitted a move or your move is illegal, you are assumed to submit no movement; if this is not a legal move, your submission is randomized among your legal choices.
For group stage: The boards are randomly-generated in the following fashion. Six of the squares are randomly chosen to receive 0, 0, 0, -1, -1, -2. The remaining (42) squares receive an integer between 1 and 5 inclusive at random.