Making a Game: Wis, Part 1

Concept Origin and Introduction

A few months ago, I decided I wanted to try to make a game to boost my project portfolio and show how I work and think as a software developer. I’d write about it too. The title would be: “An Extremely Impressive Project Because I’m Bad at Interviews,” or the more professional title: “How I Work Sample and Custom Coding Challenge.”

After all, how do you boast “creativity” with minimal creative projects to show in the app department? I’m no better than a sham….

This is not that project. That’s on the backlog. However, in thinking about the project, I started thinking about games and then fell on my notes for a webcomic I had entered in a competition with an artist in the past. It was entitled, “Wis.”

It was a re-adaption of a short story I wrote when I was 14 about a villain in a side story of my “Teen Titan fanfiction” (it had little to no characters from the series, but it took place in the same universe; call it what you want). The villain was of an alien race called Wilaky that lived off emotions and had similar abilities as Danny Phantom. Other aliens hunted them as batteries, their essence extracted into an energy source. But this causes rather strange things to happen to them. They become a “black hole” of sorts, sucking in anything and everything around them, becoming personality and emotional clones of those they surround themselves with. If the people around them are destructive, they are destructive. If the people around them are happy, they are happy. They also live in pairs, so while this villain was running around in emo rage after they escaped their once-captors, their partner is trying to find a way to purify their hatred and return them to what they once were.

I liked these characters. When I severed all my pseudo-fanfiction’s connection with the DC universe, I started looking for ways to reuse them. At one point, I considered making a Doctor Who play with them in it. But that was another fanfiction. And then I came across the anime Mushishi and a reddit post of an artist looking for a writing partner for a webcomic competition.

We did not win. :( Considering the complexity of the Wis world and general last-minute, poor-time-management disorganization, I’m not surprised. I should also mention I dropped the whole alien thing. Wis are simply another type of creature found on Earth.

But I did make one final note before I shelved the project. The world of Wis is kind of like pokemon meets rock-paper-scissors. Whatever story I wrote about it would involve a very interesting strategy game between the characters.

And now I hope to allow others to play it.

So…what are Wis?

Wis are ethereal creatures who live off emotions. They get them from either their environment or other Wis. The former is preferred as their heart (i.e. core) governs their instinct. For example, a Wis with a core of “happiness” will strive to seek out places high in happiness. But powerful Wis can also be appealing.

There are thirteen types of Wis total. Each type there are certain talents and abilities they excel at more than others, and for each Wis, there are:

• Three types they can steal energy from
• Three types who can steal energy from them
• Three types where energy sharing is mutual
• Four types (including their own) which have no effect

For this reason, many Wis choose to pair up with a mutual partner with a compatible core. For example, a wonder matches well with joy. Sorrow matches well with nostalgia. They then settle in a high population territory with a high production of their preferred emotion output, which they proceed to guard against other Wis.

If necessary, Wis are able to forcibly extract emotions from humans. However, there are negative consequences, such as depression.

All Wis have an angular-fish antenna, a pair of fin-wings growing on some part of their body, and a humanoid form. Exactly why they look human remains a mystery, even to them, but some theorize it is due to their long history living beside people (their primary “food production source”) and Wis eventually resembled them as a side effect. Otherwise, they have no specific state. They are not shapeshifters, so to speak, and cannot pass through solid objects. However, they can pass through small holes, like air vents or spades under doors. They also spend most of their time in the air in a “low density” state which has the side effect of rendering them invisible. Some may choose to solidify themselves (“high density” state) and interact with people to try and influence their emotions. The cost is that their ability to fly is impaired. It can also be a warning sign they are in a weakened state, wanting to conserve energy and prevent other Wis from detecting their presence.

Wis are near-immortal as well. They can only be killed by other Wis. Most have lived for thousands of years, some cultures dubbing them air-spirits, even gods, due to their seeming influence on the wind and weather. Fights between Wis have been known to cause hurricanes.

But whether Wis qualify as intelligent creatures remains a topic of debate. They are not what science could classify as “alive” as they do not have cells; their essence is easier compared to ghosts. They have no drive to reproduce, no known ability to (i.e. biological sex/gender is absent), and don’t really know where other Wis come from either. Their personality and sense of self are an echo of their environment. They have limited memory and a warped concept of time. They also have little interest in anything beyond personal equilibrium.

Overall, little is known about Wis culture beyond the fact they generally don’t like each other and are hyper territorial. Partners are tolerated out of necessity — however, there is a severe stigma against a Wis who betrays their partner or goes behind their back to pair with another. Fear and Wis with fear-based cores are also cause for wary. Fear is perceived as toxic and self-destructive, thus Wis try to avoid contact. As a side effect, Wis have little to no concept of fear (aka, “the only thing they fear is fear itself”), which can bring their interaction with humans close to psychopathic. Wis can and have killed many without remorse, both people and each other.

Thankfully, Wis are rather passive. Just as they aren’t interested in other Wis, they are not very interested in people and doing anything to cause mass panic does not serve them any benefit.

A mild side effect is they have grave misunderstandings of human norms. For example, partners often dub each other “wife” due to a long history of assuming that is what humans call “the partner made of emotions.” A “husband” is the equivalent of a partner who left for someone else or is otherwise a traitor, which originates in misinterpretation of polygamy and pop-culture stereotypes. Many Wis are also under the impression dogs are another type of human, and humans and dogs can be each other’s “wife.”

There are other nuances about Wis and their lives, but you should have a basic idea now.

What is the game?

Wis fighting other Wis.

There are cards on which a picture of a Wis type is depicted. Round medallions (Or paper) are placed on the Wis to indicate their emotional core. Different colors indicate different emotions. Territories, I’m thinking about some sort of hexagon map, similar in appearance to Settlers of Catan.

In single-player mode, the player begins by choosing a single or pair of Wis with any emotional core (except fear-based) they want. They then choose one of many territories as a starting point, which they must drive out the existing Wis who live there. Afterwards, the player then must fend off that territory from other Wis, with the option to expand it by taking over other territories. If certain conditions are met, the Wis who reside in that territory can become allies, allowing the player to use them in territory expansion. Alternatively, the player can kill the Wis pair or the Wis escape in hopes of better prospects elsewhere. But the player must beware, for there is another pair of Wis who have the same idea — Wis with fear-based cores.

In multi-player mode, the territories are divided among the players. Gameplay proceeds with players trying to capture each others territory. Similar to single-player mode, if a player finds their Wis in a weakened state, they can continue to fight until death, give their Wis over to the winner as an ally, or leave their territory.

A player without territory does not disqualify them from the game. They remain in it until both their Wis are departed, or (multi-player only) they give their Wis to other players. It is the job of the player to ensure their Wis have a proper supply of energy. There is also no peak to how much energy a Wis can have.

The game is won when all territories are acquired.

I’m planning to build this game as an online/mobile app, but making it as a physical board game would be rather interesting. The downside is single player mode would not really be possible….

Conclusion

So what do you think? Does it sound interesting? See any potential holes or strategies to beat the game?

I’ve also considered making this more of a trading card type of scenario, where people can collect Wis and territories in the wild, or a card-elimination game where you put out Wis pairs, and the strongest pair wins the round. But let’s take things one at a time. I have a bad habit of striving for overindulgence. ><

(also…) STICK AROUND FOR PART TWO!

Kai Austin is a writer, software developer, and nerd. You can keep up with his latest projects on his Facebook page or Twitter. If you like what he makes, you can also hire him to make stuff for you.