The Basics

Players take turns to shoot at their opponent with a gun that deals random damage. Who shoots first is decided each round by a coin toss.

Achieve 5 points or a difference of 3 to win the round. Win 3 rounds to win the tournament.

Use a medkit to replenish your hit points. The replenish effect is random, ranging from 1 to 70. Medkits are granted based on player performance, ranking and chance. Unused medkits are preserved between tournaments. A player can own up to 9 medkits.

Ranking

Ranking is assigned between tournament rounds. The idea here is similar to sports - winning or losing in an event changes the position of the player on the world leaderboard.

Ranks range from 1 to somewhere below 7000 with 1 being best.

Ranking is affected by three things:

• how far has the player progressed in the tournament
• winning a round or tournament (champion standing)
• player experience

Winning a round and/or a whole tournament provides the player with "champion standing", a temporary boost to their ranking. Winning a round is a 250 rank boost. Winning a tournament is a 2500 rank boost. Maximum value of champion standing is 5000. Champion standing deteriorates with loses.

For new players ranking is going to be in the 5000-6000 range. As they progress through the tournaments, it's going to become higher. If they win a tournament or several tournaments in a row, they might even temporarily attain the rank of "No.1".

Higher rank means higher status. Status is designated by terms like "Amateur", "Pro", "Team Captain" and the like. The higher your status, the more likely you are to be awarded medkits. However, you are guaranteed a medkit if your status is "Hopeful" and you have no medkits. You also win 3 medkits when you win a tournament.

Experience

Participation in tournaments adds to the player's experience. Winning a round adds 10, winning a tournament adds 50. A perfect win, when your opponent loses with score 0, doubles these rewards. Losing a tournament adds 1. Maximum amount of experience is 6000.

Experience influences ranking directly - the more experience you have, the higher your ranking will be on average.

When is the game won

It is important to understand that ranking is quite fluid. Becoming a "No.1" per se is not winning SAMPTIC. Rather, staying in top 10 permanently would be a win. Since the game is dominated by chance, the only real way to win SAMPTIC is by slowly attaining experience and beginning to consistently own a lot of medkits and win more tournaments.

Miscellanious

The gun tends to deal more damage in later rounds of the tournament.

Why does this game exist

As a game designer, I have always been interested in zero-player games and games of chance. Specifically, how these experiences can be deeply engaging even though the player is essentially just an observer.

SAMPTIC started as an experiment in creating a game of chance that plays itself but feels interactive. This illussion is achieved through sound, graphics and the overall flow of the game.

Of course, SAMPTIC is not a pure game of chance, since medkits provide the player with a crucial lever of control. Experience can also be argued to be an achievement controlled by the player, something that eventually wins the game.

I also wanted to recreate the ranking system that you see in many sports and that would simulate the relative stickiness of the player's performance. If an unknown tennis player suddenly wins an important tournament, even if they win no more tournaments, their ranking will be high for a little while. I am pretty happy with how SAMPTIC does it using very simple math.

The ranking system also has the positive feedback loop which exists in most areas of life. Colloquially, the principle is sometimes referred to as "the rich get richer": someone winning a top tournament is now better positioned to win the next one. This is basically a wealth inequality topic. If you would like to learn more about it, I wrote a short article on how luck arises even in skill-based competitions.

SAMPTIC is an experimental game that I am going to continue to work on from time to time. If you like the game and want to tell me about it or have thoughts and ideas on it, be sure to visit my discord, link in the footer.

Useless Trivia

• The gun dealing random damage is called EXPLIC
• The medkit providing random health is called POLVIC

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