A lengthy history of The Singularity Trap, a cheap little "niche" game you are probably not interested in and almost certainly have never heard of. PART 5

Spaghetti and Meatballs (with sauce)

The Pasta (spaghetti code) Just gets a brief mention since it popped up a bit earlier, but among the code patches I actually have a PHP variable named $kazoom and a javascript shazam and look at this snippet $stillweird=time();$weird='?weird='.$stillweird;

The Sauce (sauce goes with everything) You can use it localhost or LAN or web on your own server. For Windows it comes bundled with a server that can run from a thumb drive. It does not require an external chat to play long distance. Following in the tradition of the old microgame boardgames the simple graphics and basic construction make it $1.99 retail – I will sell it for that myself if you email me. This price for this edition of the game. Players do not have to download anything or have a particular platform or Flash installed, just a web browser and a 1280x720 or better display. In the interest of spreading it around it is free for school groups and nonprofits and will remain that way. Built so it can run even on free web hosts (but beware the ones that limit hits instead of bandwidth) and economy web hosts. Easy setup.

The Meatballs (meaty bits of goodness) Made with genuine natural old boardgame spices carefully blended for flavor but with a new microwave computer preparation method and liberally sprinkled with flakes of Parmesan hidden information cheese. On a more mechanical note: Ingredients: A wargame (combat resolves in-game encounters) with elements of miniature battles (shots are fired at individual targets and those targets receive detailed damage). Written orders then simultaneous actions bring in both a miniature battles and a Diplomacy feel (but those move vectors just need mouse clicks to make them). The space theme brings in a 3 dimensional board, limited information (sensor ranges), and limits “zones of control” to the space being occupied. The movement system makes a blockade virtually impossible (but a well placed ship could intercept some likely routes as a surprise). Hidden information and revealed information blend with the Dark ships and the combat and alliance rules and introduces a new level of misdirection and deception into what started as a simple wargame. Spacing of planets on the board directly relates to the move capabilities of the ships. Terraformers usually get built in place, but then what do you do with them once the terraforming is done? Recipe Notes: The game has a natural expansion phase where scouts and/or explorers dominate – and you had better expand quickly – moving rapidly into limited encounter stage and then into full encounter/conflict stage where warships and basestars are common. Hyperspace jumps are not normally important in gameplay but they might surprise you. (If you have nothing better to do with an odd terraformer or explorer at the time) Since it's all about where the ships are the game is very dynamic and trying to build much in the way of fortress planets is not really a viable strategy according to playtesting. The game is completely different with 2 or 3 players than it is with 4, but 5 or 6 players really bring those alliances into play. Alliances can be left as none for a more pure wargame or left permanent for team play. Win conditions can be agreed upon by players ahead of time or play until there is an obvious domination – play to the bitter end seems a bit silly and probably will result in weight gain. Get up and move around when there is an obvious winner. Like any boardgame it has an owner, and while players have to bring their own device (laptop/tablet/pc) or borrow somebody else's we are approaching the point where that is equivalent to having your own bag of dice. As long as they can use a web browser they can play, but cellphone screens are rather tiny.

It was planned for in person play just like any other boardgame (ok, 6 laptops around a table does look kinda like 3 games of Battleship going on or maybe like everybody has a DM screen – tablets look like a bunch of people studying or something) with breaks for snacks and such. But it works fine as online distant live play. It can be used as PBEM but that could get boring for non-combat players during combats. Enough of the noodly goodness. The evolution of the name ran from Hyperwars (it was taken nowadays) to Singularity (also was taken), flirted briefly with Hyperwars-Singularity but was talked out of that since the whole Hyper part (hyperspace jump) had become so unimportant, and after sleeping with the theme it became The Singularity Trap. Once I had the game itself as a working playable prototype I tried to find a publisher who might be interested – it's just a little game but a fancied up version seemed like it might sell in the $5 range at least. I was unable to locate anyone interested in it. It is also very difficult to get any feedback on this game in various online forums – possibly because while there are a lot of things it is, there are many categories of things it is not and expectations get turned off quickly. It's a boardgame but uses computer – just lost a slew of boardgamers there. Lost some more with hidden information. Being a wargame dropped a bunch. I don't think anyone really got far enough to dislike the combat rules or the other game mechanics. Lost many computer gamers with the lack of fancy graphics or actual onscreen motion and more when they were scared off by seeing paperwork and numbers. Just hearing it is played in a browser sent many gamers away with visions of angry birds dancing in their heads. Nevertheless, it looks like a fun game. But the only way to spread it about is going to be pure word of mouth from whoever actually does play it. The current configuration of the game's website is purely informational but has an open box demo copy just for looking it over and also links where a couple of open play (public Mod passwords) copies on free hosts are located to actually play a game if you can dig up some opponents, plus I have an invitational/loaner copy on the website's own economy paid host where I can tell someone the Mod password and my personal online copy and a third unlinked spare copy. While I still think a fancier version could be made (and cost the gaming community more money) it is a playable game now – and a fancier version had best be worth the extra money when the basic version is running around loose. Since it does not involve any cultural bias it should be suitable anywhere in the world (for those who like such games) if translated. And with no obfuscation or compilation or other copy protection methods in place – spaghetti doesn't count – it is fairly easy to tweak. This is where the progress of the game sits. So now a bit of blatant selfpromotion. Please look at my game. If you like miniature battles or wargames or even Diplomacy you might like it. http://thesingularitytrap.com If you belong to a school club let's work on getting the club a free copy. If you have some other players and want to play without using an open play copy, contact me. The email link on the website forwards to my gmail account. We have reached the end of the blog. If there is interest a play by play of a game can be done next. But no more promotion or history.