Note: There's a bit of information to conquer here, I know, but it's an interesting game. Creation is a work in progress, so if any of this is hard to follow, or you have any ideas for additions/modifications to the game, let me know. In particular, I was never really happy with the collision system, so if anyone has alternate ideas, I'm all ears. Incidentally, if you do manage to get the hang of it and actually play a game through, I'd like to hear about it.

History

Once, a long time ago, a friend and I were stuck somewhere with nothing to do. We kinda felt like playing a game, but we didn't have a deck of cards, a basketball, or anything. So, we came up with Creation, the most adaptable and original game in the world.

Equipment

Nothing. You need absolutely nothing, save at least one functioning human brain.

Overview

Creation is a game that was designed to be able to be played completely mentally. No need for anything but your mind, although when you're starting out, keeping written track of things might help out a little. Creation can be played by any number of people, and the nature of the game makes it pretty much infinitely flexible. You can change it however you want.

The World

The game is played in a sort of virtual space, usually a square (or a cube, if you've got the hang of it and are playing with three axes). The space you're playing in has certain dimensions, for example, 5x5. A two-dimensional 5x5 game is the typical starting board. The squares within the board are referred to by using a coordinate system similar to battleship, or chess; the columns going horizontally are given letters, and the rows going vertically are given numbers. So, the lower right corner would be e1, the upper left corner would be a5, and the center would be c3. Simple. Every player has a physical presence on the board; they take up one square. There's also a sphere (or ball, or orb, whatever) on the board, which also takes up a square.

The Object

The object of the game is, of course, to win, and you can win in one of two ways. One way is to move the sphere out through your own gate, 'gate' being the name given to a special hole in the wall. The other way is by having all of your opponents run out of life, which happens when they run into things going a bit too fast.

How To Play

Beginner Game

To return to the standard beginner game, the complete setup is as follows. One player is at c0, while the other is at c6. Note that neither of the players is actually inside of the structure to start. The first player's gate is directly north of them, which is how they'll get inside the place. The second player's gate is directly south of them. The sphere is at c3, directly in the center. Each player has five points of life. There it is.

Velocity

A slightly tricky concept to understand in Creation is that of velocity. Each player and the sphere have a certain velocity, which changes as the game progresses. Velocity is given as speed in different directions. When you first start out, the players and the sphere are at a standstill. Players have the ability to move themselves, however, but only a little bit at a time. They can modify their velocity by up to one square on every axis.

Don't worry, this is pretty easy to understand. Say a person is at a1, going nowhere. They can move themselves east (e), and they'll then be travelling "one-east" (1e). On their next turn, they'll be at b1, and if they didn't tamper with their velocity anymore, they'd then be at c1, d1, e1 etc.

However, let's say that at b1, they then moved ne. Their velocity would rise to 2e1n, and their next turn would find them at d2, then f3, then h4, etc. Let's say at d2 they decide they want to cancel out that northern speed, so they move simply s. They're now moving 2e, and will be at f2 on the next turn. If this paragraph doesn't make sense, try drawing it out on graph paper. It helps. You can't play the game without having a firm grasp on the velocity system.

How The Game Progresses

It's time to tackle the main flow of the game. There are three phases to every turn: movement, action, and sphere.

Movement is the first phase, and is when players get a chance to move themselves, if they so desire. Every player figures out how they want to move, and when they're ready, they say so. After everybody's got their move figured out, they all say what their move is, and voila, they move immediately. (If you have any trust issues with the other players, have everyone write their move down on a piece of paper.) The only issue here is collisions, either between two players, or between a player and a wall.

  • If a player hits another player, they sort of bounce off of each other. Each player ends up where the other one was heading, and has the velocity that the other player had.
  • If a player hits a wall, they come to a stop, and if they're travelling too fast, they lose some life. How fast is too fast? They lose the amount of life points equal to the amount of speed they're going (speed being the biggest number in any one of their directions.) If they hit the wall going just 1n, or 1e1n, they don't lose anything; they just stop. If they hit the wall going 2w3n, however, they lose three points of life. If a player ever drops to 0 life points or below, they're toast.
Second phase. Action. Here, a player has basically four different choices. After every player signals that they're ready, they share their moves. Their options are:
  1. Create a block (hence "creation"). This is where the real trick of the game lies, if you know what you're doing. The sphere's gonna be bouncing all over the place, so strategically placed blocks can fire that ball right into your opponent or through your gate, or maybe you'll put a big wall right where your opponent is hurtling towards. A block is exactly what it sounds like; a big block occupying one full square. You can create a block up to the number of squares away from you that is less than or equal to your maximum speed on any given axis. (So if you're at a1, with no velocity, you can't make blocks anywhere. If you have a 1e4s velocity, you can make blocks anywhere on the entire board.)
  2. Destroy a block. Pretty straightforward. Destroys a block, and the operational range is again dependent on your speed.
  3. Will the sphere. This is how you get the sphere to move. You psychically "will" the thing, and the amount you can change of its velocity is exactly the same as you can change for yourself during your movement phase: up to one square on each axis. The only catch here is that you have to be at most one square away from the ball; basically, you have to be adjacent to it.
  4. Do nothing. Pass. A player doesn't have to do anything if they don't want to. What is this, chess?!
Third and final phase? Sphere. This is the stage in which the sphere moves, if it has any velocity. Basically, three things can happen.
  • If the sphere goes out a gate, the owner of said gate wins the game.
  • If the sphere hits any surface, it bounces and continues to travel. (The bouncing is slightly tricky at first, but it's not really a problem. If the sphere is at a2 heading 3w1n, it'll end up at c3 heading 3e1n after this phase is complete. If that doesn't make sense, whip out the graph paper again and draw it out.)
  • If the sphere hits someone, it stops in its tracks, the person in question loses the amount of life of the speed of the sphere, and the velocity of the sphere is tacked on to the velocity of the person.
Okay. That's enough for now. This is a meandering incomplete first draft of an explanation, and I'll try to improve it later. For now, try playing a game.


Note: I did make a simple two-dimensional internet multiplayer computer port of this game in Visual Basic, once. If anyone is interested in checking it out, let me know, and I'll post it somewhere.

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