Simon Says: BATTLE!

Sun Tzu said: "The art of war is of vital importance to the state. It is a matter of life and death, a road to either safety or ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected." Unfortunately, Sun Tzu forgot to say "Simon Says" before saying this, so we all just ignored him.

Summary

Simon Says: Battle! is an exciting new game designed for the iPhone. SSB! combines the unit allocation elements of the board game classic Risk™ and ease of playability brought to us by the universally known Simon Says. Early design work has indicated this concept will work very well with a touch based gesture control system making it a unique iPhone experience.

The World of Simon Says: Battle!

The tone of the game will be light and irreverent. This will be accomplished by using a group of cute creatures to represent units, comical sound effects, and the style of attacks kept to a Looney Tunes level of severity. Your units are full of bravado and confidence, while simultaneously being prone to panic and emotional outbursts. Units will cheer for you when you make a successful attack and mock your opponents when they fail in an attack. Likewise when your units are attacked, the will react with comical panic, like keystone cops colliding with each other and attempting to hide. When units take damage or are destroyed, they do so in the style most appropriate to their means of destruction but always in a hilarious fashion. For example, if a unit is hit with a lightning bolt, several of the creatures may be reduced to piles of ash, complete with blinking eyeballs that roll away like tumbleweeds.

Play will take place on a game board that varies depending on the number of players involved. The board will be designed in such a way so as to not give any one player a geographic advantage. Additionally the game board will in no way resemble any real world geography; this is to keep the overall game tone light.

A Battle Deck made up of attack cards sits in the center of the game board. Each card holds a symbol that indicates the type of attack being performed. For instance, a lightning bolt would indicate a lightning strike, an anvil would cause an anvil to fall from the sky, etc.

Exciting Gameplay Modes

SSB! offers two modes of play that cater to every level of player. War Mode, for players seeking a more in-depth experience and Skirmish Mode for players who want to jump right into the action.

War Mode

In War Mode, 1-4 players in any combination of real and AI face off against each other. Wars are conducted in phases. Each player starts the game with an equal number of units to place on the game board.

1. Territory selection and unit allocation phase
2. Battle phase
3. Reinforcement phase

Territory selection

In the territory selection phase, Player 1 goes first by choosing an area of the board to claim and placing a unit to occupy that territory. Next, Player 2 chooses a location to occupy and so on until all the players have selected their territories and allocated all of their units.

Now comes the time for war. Player 1 selects a territory that contains at least two units and is adjacent to one occupied by an enemy. Upon selecting the enemy territory, the screen transitions to the battle screen and battle begins.

Battle phase

Battle takes place between two players on a field where the opposing sides face off against each other. The size of each player’s force is dependent on the number of units on the relevant territories. Between the two forces sits the Battle Deck, the attacking player draws a card from the deck. Each card has a symbol on it that indicates the type of attack the player must use. Once the card has been drawn, each player uses his or her iPhone touch screen to make a gesture representative to the attack indicated. The speed and quality of the attacking player’s gesture determines ferocity of the attack, while the speed and quality of defending player’s gesture indicates the defensive response. The player that prevails does damage to the units of the opposing force.

If the defending player survives the initial attack, he or she counterattacks by drawing a new card from the Battle Deck. Play continues back and forth until all of one player’s units are completely eliminated.  When the battle is decided, the screen transitions back to the Game Board. If the player that initiated the battle is victorious, all but one of the units from the attacking territory move to the conquered territory. If the attack is defeated, all but one of the attacker’s units is removed from the attacking territory.

Play continues until one player has defeated all others and controls all territory on the game board.

Reinforcement phase

After all players have made their attacks the reinforcement phase begins. The number of territories a player controls determines the number of reinforcements the player is awarded. Like in the territory selection phase, players assign units to their territories in turns, first player one and so on until all reinforcements have been assigned.

Skirmish Mode

Skirmish Mode removes territory selection and reinforcements and boils everything down to the core gameplay of the battle phase of War Mode. One player battles a friend or a single AI opponent. At the beginning of a skirmish, Player 1 decides the equal number of units each side will battle with and battle commences.

Compelling Rewards

Every good general deserves medals, and in the world of SSB! it is no different. When players master certain attacks or defensive moves medals are awarded. Other things like winning streaks, winning a war undefeated and routing an enemy in battle are also rewarded.

Each player has a medal case where they can admire their ribbons, and also see empty slots indicating which awards they have yet to win.

Capitalizing on the iPhone Control System

SSB! will be completely controlled with the iPhone touch screen and accelerometer. Players will control cursors on the screen by pointing on the screen. Players will select items such as buttons, territories and Battle Cards using the touch sensitive pop-up menu. Gestures in battle will be performed, depending on the card drawn by drawing on the screen or gesturing with the phone. As an example, a lightning bolt might require the player to draw a lightning bolt shape carefully on the screen, but a tornado attack might require the player to swirl their phone around.  The quicker and more accurate the drawing or gesture, the stronger the attack.