Hidden Movement Game

A hidden movement game a la “Letters to Whitechapel” and “Last Friday”

Requirements

Randomly generated boards. Using the website, create random graphs, number them, make them look nice.
One Paper Game. Make the game playable by writing on the map = one paper. (If possible, make a simple variant where you can literally copy the map by hand to a blank paper?)
Unique Theme. Not tracking a killer/murderer/spy through a city/town/camp again. Really something unique. Like …
- The map represents a galaxy
- It represents a modern-day city and players are trying to deliver food but avoid the food thieves.
- Or a bank was robbed and you need to catch the robbers before they get out of town => nah then it’d just be a major upgrade to “Paper Thieves”

The unique theme would, hopefully, result in more unique gameplay, rules and mechanics.

It’d also be nice if maps can stay quite small. Makes it less overwhelming, easier to see.

IDEA: Reserve one strip of the paper for the one being tracked. They can cut it off, or simply fold it, and keep track of their movement on the backside.

IDEA (follow up): A two player variant where there are two strips (on opposite sides of the paper), and you’re both moving in secret.

IDEA: Allow leaving stuff behind, like bombs or traps.

Implementation

Create some fixed locations. (Like a place where no dot may be put, a place with different terrain, etcetera.)
Place random nodes + connect randomly.
- Big and small nodes are all placed randomly through each other.
- Big nodes only connect to small nodes (not directly to another big node)
- Small nodes connect to both, but will not create a sequence of 3 or more small nodes (without a big node).
“Relax” the nodes.
- Use those predetermined things about the map to prevent it becoming too uniform.
- Write some code to slightly curve paths? (So create a Bezier with the control point just offset slightly outside the paths.)
- Create a much more precise grid in the background. As we calculate/sample points on lines, mark which cells are filled. Only allow curved paths to go through unfilled cells.
- Alternatively: represent the paths between nodes by tiny tiny nodes attached to each other. During relaxation, these are simply pulled around and try to go in various directions. When drawing the board, we create a smooth path through these tiny nodes to get organic stuff.
  - This is really interesting if we can pull it off.
Loop through them, numbering them as we go, assigning special types as we go.
Write some code to add random decorations, blobs of texture, etcetera

Feel like I just need to create this and learn from that.

A hidden movement game a la "Letters to Whitechapel" and "Last Friday" ## Requirements - **Randomly generated boards.** Using the website, create random graphs, number them, make them look nice. - **One Paper Game.** Make the game playable by writing on the map = one paper. (If possible, make a simple variant where you can literally copy the map by hand to a blank paper?) - **Unique Theme.** Not tracking a killer/murderer/spy through a city/town/camp again. Really something unique. Like ... - The map represents a galaxy - It represents a modern-day city and players are trying to deliver food but avoid the food thieves. - Or a bank was robbed and you need to catch the robbers before they get out of town => nah then it'd just be a major upgrade to "Paper Thieves" The unique theme would, hopefully, result in more unique gameplay, rules and mechanics. It'd also be nice if maps can stay *quite small*. Makes it less overwhelming, easier to see. **IDEA:** Reserve one strip of the paper for the one being tracked. They can cut it off, or simply fold it, and keep track of their movement on the backside. **IDEA (follow up):** A two player variant where there are *two strips* (on opposite sides of the paper), and you're both moving in secret. **IDEA:** Allow leaving stuff behind, like bombs or traps. ## Implementation - Create some **fixed locations**. (Like a place where *no dot* may be put, a place with different terrain, etcetera.) - Place random nodes + connect randomly. - Big and small nodes are all placed randomly through each other. - Big nodes only connect to small nodes (not directly to another big node) - Small nodes connect to both, but will not create a sequence of 3 or more small nodes (without a big node). - "Relax" the nodes. - Use those predetermined things about the map to prevent it becoming too uniform. - Write some code to slightly curve paths? (So create a Bezier with the control point just *offset* slightly outside the paths.) - Create a much more precise grid in the background. As we calculate/sample points on lines, mark which cells are filled. Only allow curved paths to go through unfilled cells. - **Alternatively:** represent the paths between nodes by *tiny tiny nodes* attached to each other. During relaxation, these are simply pulled around and try to go in various directions. When drawing the board, we create a smooth path through these tiny nodes to get organic stuff. - **This is really interesting if we can pull it off.** - Loop through them, numbering them as we go, assigning special types as we go. - Write some code to add random decorations, blobs of texture, etcetera Feel like I just need to *create* this and learn from that.