ROLL PLAY

ROLL PLAY

Background

An old electro-mechanical rolling press requires freeing of creatures that have become trapped onto its flat Sheet. They’re shorting machine power and causing anomalous coloring.

ROLL to reveal each creature’s stake per band (also indicated through colored lightbars) then choose a creature to PLAY for. By timing a slide correctly, power may be partially restored back into the machinery for another try. Successfully ridding three unique creatures wins you a trophy (these are color-striped at top). Winning three trophies grants bonus power and moves you along to the next color-striped trophy series to collect. Progress through all stripes (14 unique colors) to win the game. A special presentation awaits.

Image 1: Typical Game Environment

Image 2: Game Elements

Image 3: [Blue figures] Player’s Base Staking Amount as seen on right (underlined).

Image 4: [Blue figures] The combined Stake you’re playing for on this Band. NB., Player’s value, as underlined, is a sum of the base and chosen creature and lightbar (here, just a dog).

ABOUT ROLL PLAY

• STATUS DISPLAY
  • ROLL
    • “Roll” dice (i.e., Joystick Trigger to send the Roller, to discover Computer’s Creature’s Lightbars for this Band). You may continuously roll to randomize the result. A roll usually has a Power cost, as defined by the Base Staking Amount (Image 3).
  • PLAY
    • “Play” a Creature. Use Joystick Right to select, then Joystick Left to select a Lightbar—the intended Stake. NB., you can skip attaching a stake if you want.
  • DONE
    • A completed Band.
• ROLLER
  • ROLLING
    • Joystick Trigger when in ROLL or PLAY mode, as shown by the Status Display.
    • Power cost: The Base Staking Amount as defined by the current selected Band (Image 3).
• STAKING
  • BASE STAKING
    • Each Band has a base Power amount required to use the roller. From lowest to highest: 0, 1, 2, 3. You’ll see this amount underlined on the display, beneath the Power Display (Image 3).
  • COMPUTER’S STAKING
    • Each Creature the Computer holds has a Stake. You’ll see this amount on the left hand side of the display (Image 3,4).
  • PLAYER’S STAKING
    • Joystick Right to enter PLAY mode, then Joystick Left to choose Green, Yellow or Red Stakes. Values are shown in blue (Image 3,4).
  • EITHER
    • DRESSED When attached of a Lightbar.
    • NAKED When not attached of a Lightbar.
    • Green, Yellow or Red.
• TROPHY
  • PARTICIPATION
    • Even if you never won a thing, everyone gets a trophy for participating, as shown at game over.
  • GETTING
    • Complete three unique Creatures across any number of Bands / Levels.
  • COMPLETING
    • A trophy is color-striped. Get three to complete a color series.
  • SERIES TO COLLECT
    • There are fourteen color-striped variants. The first is a greeny-tinged looking thing. The last is goldeny.
  • SCALING DIFFICULTY
    • The Red Slide is tied with progress of trophies. So the more colors you transit, more prevalence of a Red Slide as well worsening cost when missing the Hitzone. All due to these trophies. Thanks alot.
  • WHEN GAME OVER
    • You’ll be shown the trophies you’ve accumulated. What is, what could have been and why exactly does the Slide reverse whenever you’re going for the dog?
• WINNING
  • The game is won when every Trophy has been collected.
• LOSING
  • The game is lost whenever the last of the Power has been depleted. It’s a very obvious event really. There are dooming sounds and a frozen-terror situation with the roller.
• BATTERY
  • POWER
    • 0 to 99%. When on zero, it allows for some Power draws until finally depleted, leading to Game Over.
  • LOW LEVEL INDICATOR
    • Below 10 units the Power Display will start flashing, indicating the end is near. To underline this emergent risk, an alert is sounded. To underscore this risk, and annoy the eyes this time, the rolling plates will flash. To und- (okay okay, I’m stopping now).
  • INCREASING
    • When winning a Band or gaining the 3rd Trophy. When winning a Band, the Power units increase by the summed staked amount. When also winning your 3rd Trophy, as indicated by the Power Display, an additional 10 units is applied.
  • DECREASING
    • At a dependable rate, your battery depletes by 1 unit.
    • When losing during a Slide event, by amount staked.
    • When really losing, during a Red Slide event. Stakes are deducted, along with an additional horrible amount, as defined by current Trophy progress.
• LIGHTBARS
  • INDICATIVE
    • Green, Yellow or Red animated glyphs, indicative of current Stake for Computer, Player.
  • ABSOLUTE
    • Computer: Shown on the left hand side blue figure beneath the Power Display.
    • Player: Shown on the right hand side.
• BANDS
  • Four Bands comprise the Sheet. Each Band is selectable at any time and each is graded by Power cost, from 0 (lowest Band) to 3 (highest Band).
  • Power costs from lowest Band to highest: 0, 1, 2, 3.
    • Power cost is also the Base Staking Amount for a Band. Whatever the player adds to their Stake occurs via Creature and Lightbar selection next (Image 4).
• LEVELS
  • Completion of four Bands refreshes the display, along with a new coloring scheme.
  • As you progress, likelihood of a Red Slide appearing increases. This event is tied to transits between Bands.
• COLORS
  • Colored Creatures are aesthetic only, changing by Band and level by level.
  • Colored Lightbars are indicative of a Stake’s value for either side.
  • Power Display will show Red or Green whenever subtracted or added to. It will be a neutral off-white during draining or whenever static. It will glow white at discrete intervals when power is below 10 units.
• CREATURES
  • TARGETED
    • A Creature is targeted by first rolling dice, ROLL mode, to discover the Computer’s Lightbars. Next choose PLAY mode. On the Target Display (shown lower to Status Display) is the current Creature you need reveal on the Computer’s side. This is always the intended outcome, so long you’ve correctly halted the Wedge in the Hitzone. (Image 2).
  • ‘DO’
    • The word ‘DO’ is shown whenever a decision fork exists for either rolling dice or playing a Creature. If the Computer’s Lightbars have been revealed, ‘DO’ will be replaced by the current targeted Creature instead.
  • GOT
    • Whenever you’ve successfully PLAYed a Creature, your progress will flash here. All three means a Trophy coming your way.
  • SPOOKY
    • The Bubblegum Ghost. Lowest Staking combinations per Band.
  • BUGS
    • A pariah rabbit of the criminal underworld who has lately taken to outlier 2600 games.
  • DOG
    • Top Dog with highest Staking combinations per Band. Respect The Dog. And also hate The Dog, as it stands between you and your next Trophy.
• DISCOVERY BALLS
  • DRESSED
    • A Discovery Ball is considered dressed when it has a Lightbar attached.
  • NAKED
    • A Discovery Ball is considered naked when it has no Lightbars.
  • DISCOVERED
    • When discovered, a Creature is shown. It will match the Player’s Creature only when the Player has correctly halted their Wedge at the Hitzone.
• SLIDE
  • HITZONE
    • A small blue rectangle. Joystick Trigger whenever the Wedge beneath is at its location. NB., The Wedge has a blunt aspect which blurs boundary decisions. Judge’s decision happens to be final in this matter (Incorruptible to a fault, in fact). Attempt to middle the Hitzone.
  • CONTAINER
    • NEUTRAL Grey: Missing the Hitzone results in usual summed Stakes deducted.
    • RED: Missing the Hitzone results in summed Stakes deducted, along with an additional horrible amount, as defined by current trophy progress. Prevalence and cost of this Red Slide also depends current trophy progress.
  • DIRECTION
    • The Wedge may move left-to-right or right-to-left.
  • SPEED
    • Wedge speed is constant.
  • WEDGE
    • A blunt triangle which encourages “lineball” decisions. (I.e., the bit’sy equivalent of sfumato).
  • IN OR OUT
    • Roll with it.
• GAME
  • USUAL PLAYING
    • THE ROLL-PLAY PATTERN is as follows: First, Joystick Trigger one time to send the Roller when in ROLL mode. Next, select a Creature to PLAY by using Joystick Right. Since you’ve revealed the Computer’s Lightbars this Band, you can now play (if you want) the current Target Creature, as shown in the Target Display. Use Joystick Left to attach a Lightbar if desired. Your combined stake is shown above (Image 4). A Slide appears (Image 2 - slide / hitzone / wedge). Joystick Trigger to halt the Wedge within the Hitzone. The Roller engages and the outcome of the play is revealed.
  • UNUSUAL PLAYING
    • You can choose to never engage Target Creatures or choose Stakes, and instead continually refresh the Sheet with new Creatures. This will keep the Power going. You will not be competing for Trophies however. You  may choose this method of playing when you’re pressed for time and need to get power back into the machinery quickest.
  • GRAPHICS
    • Faux 3d, faux lightsource shading and a neon-metallic rolling flash effect at dependable interval.
  • SOUND
    • Hear that? Your Roller has squeaks and patters, issuing pneumatic noises as it trundles along. Various alerts capture Low Power as well whenever increasing or decreasing Power, usually from a ROLL or PLAY event. In the case of a Red Slide miss, it’s dramatic sounds altogether. Additionally, a whooshing sound accompanies Trophy gets whilst an overly-bright ringing notification abrupts whenever breaching a level.
  • INPUT
    • Joystick Trigger sends the roller.
    • Joystick Left, when in PLAY mode, dresses a Lightbar.
    • Joystick Right, [enters into] PLAY mode, chooses a Character.
    • Joystick Up / Down chooses a Band on the Sheet.
  • START
    • Joystick Trigger to advance beyond a fairly legit 80s 8-bit micro ‘cracking-crew’ style introduction to start the game. RIP ears.
  • RESTART
    • Joystick Trigger to refresh game on a critical halt (i.e., game over lost).
  • OVER, LOST
    • Your roller will come to a critical halt and the Power will read zero with no further depletion of visible values. NB., just before this great halting, you can still send a roller in the period between entering a zero Power reading and the next pulse down, this grace a ‘last chance’ opportunity.
  • OVER, WON
    • The screen will change to a Special Presentation and you’ll realize two things. One: is that it? And two: that’s really it then, eh? Now I can’t … even use … my joystick to ... 
    • To restart, use the hardware switch.