HypeFighter Proof of Concept

so. i’ve decided that i’m just going to post this early rev/proof-of-concept thing we’re working on. (tj and ben will prolly string me up for it… erg.)

be sure to check out the caveats below.

it’s just that i’ve got a “serious” project i need to work on this week (food temperature/environment tracking start-up thing) and won’t be able to get back to work on a lot of my parts of our new game, hypefighter. and i really, really wanted to launch it last weekend.

the unfortunate thing is that my parts are always the most visible. you guys don’t see any of the crazy stored procedures or web services tj writes — just the rendered page i attach to them. and, you don’t get to see the piles of spreadsheet data or help files ben puts together as we’re balancing the systems, just that stuff displayed on the front end for you.

/sigh

ah well — here it is: http://www.hypefighter.com

the concept is pretty simple. it’s like digg for video games, but, everytime you “digg” a story, you recruit another troop into your army.

1. reviews are knights.
2. previews are scouts.
3. commentaries are conscripts.

the earlier you “digg” a story, the stronger your troop will be. for example, if you are recruit 3 out of 6 on any particular story, your guy will be average. however, if you’re 3 out of 600, you dude will rock shit.

and, as your recruits survive battles and get experience, they’ll level up and get even stronger.

it uses the same location-based play that the singular used, but for the uninitiated: you have to be in the same location as someone you are attacking. right now, we’re all hanging out in “thronehold.” come get some.

don’t attack heyt or stab. you’ll very, very much regret it. they have 9000 point armies.

beat up on my guy, m3mnoch, all you want. i’ll try to keep his army stacked for you guys to pummel.

we’re looking for feedback. stuff to improve. things that you think are working as is. stuff to add.

caveats:

1. it’s a proof-of-concept thus far.
2. it’s running on our dev server, so be nice to it. (no submitting it to digg or slashdot or joystiq or anything crazy like that.) it’s your friends only.
3. we’re actively developing on that server, so it may go down for no apparent reason. or, you may lose your session for no apparent reason. we’re prolly working on something.
4. it has no branding yet so it’s pretty boring looking. well. downright ugly, you may even say.
5. it’s missing a lot of the player feedback pieces. well. it’s just missing a lot of the pieces. however, you can recruit, travel, scout and attack. you can also message and do a bit of guild stuff.
6. none of it is necessarily final. so, terminology and interface may change.
7. we’re going to try really hard to keep your characters and stats you’ve built intact.
8. feel free to ignore/comment on the “placeholder” parts.

now, a bit on where to start:

• You should start by recruiting troops from articles.
• Use the “Submit Bookmark” for fast and easy story submissions.
• Recruiting Troops costs turns (Knight:8, Conscript:5, Scout:3) based on how strong that troop type is.
• Your troops need to be in formation to attack.
• You can only attack someone in the same location.
• Attacking or Scouting costs 3 turns.
• Traveling to a new location costs 12 turns.
• Your troops can level up as they win battles.
• The earlier you recruit from a popular story, the stronger your troop will be.
• A turn ticks by every 10 minutes.
• Turns reset at midnight GMT on the first of every month.

have fun. let us know what you think. ben, tj, please don’t kill me.

ready? go!

m3mnoch.