War of jofur

I must ask you for permission. You, my rings, my separate entities. Now make a decision. Should I speak to the outside world on behalf of us all? Should we reconnect to become an Asks?
... This name - Asks - they call us when they ask to tell. All agree? In this case, Asks begins to tell ... about the events that we ourselves witnessed, and about those that others told us about. The story will be conducted by the “I”, as if our pile has gone crazy and is opposed to the world by a single consciousness.

David Breen " Brightness Reef "

The theme of the games, invented by the authors of various works of art, traditionally stirs the imagination. These games are very exotic. They create the necessary entourage and, often, serve as an important part of the plot. A lot of them! Just look at this wonderful list ! Unfortunately, we will never be able to play most of them. Usually, the authors do not bother to elaborate the rules. Games that have managed to outgrow the state of “artistic fiction” and become reality (such as Jetan or Klin Zha ) can be counted on the fingers. Almost all of them are the result of the hard work of the fans of the respective works.
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Today I want to talk about my experience in developing the concept of one of these games. The idea of ​​the game came to my mind a few days ago (almost immediately, as a single whole) during the next reading of the remarkable cycle of the Elevations of novels written by American writer David Brin. To people who are not familiar with his work, I can recommend immediately correct this error. Also, I ask them for forgiveness, in case the information from the spoilers in my article in any way spoils the impression from reading these works.


In the fourth book of the cycle (“Brightness Reef”), a board game common among members of the Jijo community was described very briefly. As usual, it was not about some strict detail of the rules. The game called “Haiphong Tower” was described with just a few sentences. Here's what it looked like:

The game consisted in moving multicolored rings over sticks stuck in the sand and located on the corners of the hexagon. The goal is to put the rings on your Home Post in the correct order, the largest at the bottom, the smallest at the top. Difficult game, where the colors and patterns of the rings mean different properties of the tracks. It is necessary to combine them correctly to get perfect tracks.

Sparse, right? At the first reading of the novel, I just did not notice this place, but this time, the eye "caught". I wondered how this game should look like? How can it be interesting? What should this gameplay look like? Allusion to the well-known " Tower of Hanoi " was obvious. I found the idea of ​​a “creative” game interesting in which figures are not consumables, but are used as constituent elements for creating new, more complex entities. I thought about it and want to talk about what happened as a result.

The foundation

As I said above, the mechanics of the " Tower of Hanoi " can serve as an excellent basis for a board game. The game will involve 5 disks of different sizes. Smaller discs are allowed to shift to larger ones, but not vice versa! Any discs can be placed from scratch. Wins the player who first built their towers. Such a goal, by the way, will help protect the game from the " no death ". It is clear that some player will always have time to build a tower before. To reduce such a game to a draw, you have to try very seriously.

It is not very interesting to build what kind of "towers" just like that. It is necessary to personalize them somehow. Let's enter into the game “command” disks (3 pieces for each player). Let it be disks of 2, 3, and 4th sizes (that is, not the base and the top of the pyramid). Any pyramid containing a command disk (even consisting of just one command disk) will be the player's jofour (I hope you read the spoiler in the previous section). When performing a move, a player can move his “Jofura” (in accordance with the rules defined below), or shift the disc located in the vicinity of one of his “Jofurs” according to the rules of the “Hanoi Towers”, thus completing his “Jofura” . Both movements will be called "action." A player's turn will be a sequence of such actions.


Gameplay begins to emerge. At the beginning of the game, the board (you can use the familiar chess board) will be filled with disks of 5 sizes randomly. Some of these disks can be stacked on top of each other (following the rule “a smaller disk on a larger one”), and some of the fields will remain empty. Team disks (6 pieces, when playing two opponents) will also be placed on the board randomly (unlike normal disks, they should not be placed in the pyramids so that players start the game in equal conditions). Two command disks, under no circumstances, can not enter into one pyramid. Players can move pyramids containing their command disks, as well as complete them using the disks on the board. The player who first assembled three five-level pyramids (necessarily containing command discs) is considered the winner.

The flesh itself

Each player's turn will consist of a sequence of actions. But exactly what number of them? Generally speaking, games in which player moves consist of a fixed set of actions are not uncommon . I even, once, made such a game myself (I, of course, did not invent it, but Tommy De Coninck in 2009). It would be interesting for me to tie the “size” of the move to the current progress of the player. The more success he achieved in the game - the easier it is for him to play further. To achieve this, quite simply.

Let each of the disks involved in the game, in addition to size, have one more characteristic - the number of points they add to the pyramid. Let it be an integer from -1 to 3 (yes, some disks will take away points, but not add them). Points of the disks making a pyramid are summarized. Now, the fun part! Jofurs are superegoistic beings, all striving for personal primacy. In their struggle for power, they are constantly competing with each other. The highest player pyramid will be considered “main” (if there are several pyramids of the same height, the one with the most points will dominate) and determine the number of actions performed by the player per turn.

This is a delicate moment! The highest pyramid will not necessarily contain more points! In the game, situations are possible in which the player will have to make a choice between completing one of the towers, fulfilling the goal of the game or providing greater “mobility” while maintaining the primacy of lower (but more “weighty”) towers. If we accept the rule that any of the team drives will give only one point, players will always start the game in equal conditions, performing one action each turn.


It is necessary to carefully consider the policy of assigning the disks to their disks. As I said above, each of the “command” disks should give one point each, and some of the “special” disks described in the next section should be reasonably assigned a zero or even negative rating. It is obvious that the number of points in the pyramid cannot exceed (4 * 3 + 1 = 13) points. Such a move size is quite adequate, if a player has a similar “monster pyramid”. However, "special" discs are able to increase the stroke size even more.

Cherry on the cake

Jofurs literally assemble themselves in parts and they would not be themselves if they did not have special disks in stock, giving the whole organism special, completely unique properties. Here everything is in the hands of our imagination. We can give "special" disks any properties, as long as they do not "break" the game mechanics. This is a good basis for developing a " collectible game " and there is a lot of work to be done. I will describe only the “starter” set of special discs that I see right now.

1st level

The largest discs that lie at the base of the pyramids. In this layer, it is reasonable to concentrate the functionality associated with the Jofurov movement mechanism. The “default” pyramid, which has no special basis, can move like a chess “ King ”. One step, in any of eight directions. Of course, such a pyramid cannot move to the occupied fields, but the Jofour can always clear its way by shifting nearby disks.

• R - the base allows the pyramid to move along orthogonal, like a chess " Boat ". Jofour loses the ability to perform diagonal moves, but can move over long distances, moving through free fields.
• B - the possibility of diagonal movements in free fields (like a chess " Elephant ").
• J - jump to any free board space. This is a strong opportunity to reasonably limit a move so that the player cannot combine the “jump” with the performance of any other actions within the same move.

2nd level

A good place to define all sorts of "modifiers" of the move, adding, for example, the ability to move the chess " Horse " or even more exotic way. In addition, this is one of the possible levels of placement of the "command" disk.

• F - flight mode through obstacles. Jofour cannot stand on a busy board field, but may fly over it. This modifier is well combined with the disks R and B , determining the direction of movement. A pyramid without a specialized base can jump in any direction, but only through one occupied field. B or R disc allows you to fly over several obstacles located close to each other. Flight is considered an independent action and is possible only in the case when the pyramid came close to the obstacle, and behind the barrier there is a free field.
• M - “rebound” from obstacles. Moving in a "zigzag", the pyramid can bounce off from several obstacles on the board, as well as from the borders of the board, in the framework of one action. Obviously, this modifier will be useful only if there is a disk B in the pyramid.
• A - crossing the border of the board in such a way as if the board was closed into a torus . Similarly, the “influence” passes through the border of the board, which I will discuss below. Being at the edge of the board, the pyramid can “influence” the fields at the other end of the board.

3rd level

The core of the pyramid. Another possible place is the placement of the “command” disk, as well as the modifiers of the properties of the jofur itself. Here are the disks defining his "character."

• I - initiative. This is a very important property. When making a move, it is reasonable to limit the player to one movement of each jofour per move. The remaining points can be “finished off” by moving individual discs or refuse to perform these actions, passing the turn to another player. Modifier I allows you to move the pyramid several times per turn.
• E - expansion of the area of ​​influence to the size of a square 5x5. Without this modifier, the player can shift only single discs located close to one of his dzhofurov. Both the source and target fields should be in one of the player’s 3x3 neighborhoods of the player (possibly in the neighborhoods of different pyramids located in relative proximity). The modifier E expands this neighborhood, and also interacts with the disk A (the spread of "influence" across the board's border).

4th level

One more (last) place for the placement of the “command” disk, as well as the territory for the placement of the “spirituality” modifiers of dzhofur (in combination).

• S - "smell." Emergency power modifier By default, jofur of different players can separate their areas of influence. Of course, a player cannot remove a disc from someone else's pyramid (except for the case described below), but the competition for “free” discs may unfold serious. The modifier S speaks of the "privacy" of the territory containing the pyramid. Enemy pyramids cannot enter this area or move disks within it. If the enemy's pyramid, in some way, is in such an area, it is “blocked”, cannot move, and also loses its area of ​​influence. If all the player’s pyramids are “blocked”, he loses the right to move until one of his pyramids is freed. Modifier S is not bad combined with E , increasing the scope.
• G - increase the area of ​​influence to the size of the entire board. This modifier is not defined at the same level with S. If some of the players managed to assemble S and G in one pyramid (which is of course impossible), the other would only have to surrender immediately.

5th level

The area of ​​higher nervous activity jofurov. At this level, the most powerful modifiers are defined. Of course, in order to use them, the player is not at all obliged to build a pyramid from all five levels. In order for the 5th level modifier to take effect, it is enough to simply place it on one of the “command” disks, but in full force it can only turn around in a complete, five-level pyramid. For example, the pyramid " J3CSV " will be a good bid to win the game.

• H - hypnosis provides the ability to perform "sabotage" manipulations against the pyramids of the enemy, fell into the area of ​​influence jofur. You can remove a disk from the pyramid, lowering it in status, or impose an unnecessary disk on it. This feature does not apply to pyramids containing more (than in the attacking pyramid) points or modifier S. The combination with the disk I (in the attacking or attacked pyramid) provides the ability to perform several actions, in relation to the same pyramid of the enemy, in the same move.
• V - vampirism (where without him), perhaps, the most interesting opportunity. Pyramids that fall within the scope of the "vampire" temporarily lose some points. Pyramid "vampire" takes the number of points not exceeding the maximum face value of the disk in the attacking pyramid. Of course, if the attacked pyramid contains only 1 point, and the attacking pyramid can pick up 3, only one point is taken (the attacked pyramid has 0 points). Points collected from several pyramids that fall within the scope of the "vampire" are summed up (of course, only the enemy pyramids are attacked). If the “vampire” is the main pyramid, the points collected by him increase the duration of the player’s turn. If the main pyramid of the enemy is attacked, the selected points reduce the duration of his turn (up to a pass, if 0 points remain)!

Of course, like any spice, "special" discs should not be abused. You should limit the number of special disks on the board and hide them in the original layout. Also, it is worth thinking about assigning zero and even negative denominations to some special drives.

A couple of words under the curtain

In this article, I talked about my experience in developing the concept of a logical board game. The game turned out to be original, different from most of the games I know. It is difficult to say how successful it is. It is necessary to make the layout of the game and debug the gameplay on it.

As for the computer implementation, everything is not easy here (and this is another reason why this game interests me). For me, it is absolutely clear that it will not be possible to implement it in ZoG or Axiom . Most likely, it will be possible to use Jocly (there may be some problems associated with the partial concealment of information and the implementation of the composite course, but I think that they can be solved). I need a very good deal with this tool. And this is exactly what I need now.