The PIM (Personal Intercommunication Modulator)

This is one of the most important things in the game and should be catalogued as to how it will work and is interacted with. It will resemble a glove worn on either arm (player can choose left or right) and should be seen in the views stated before in this doc. A person should have the option to choose the arm every time after changing a skin. Four icons will be present at all times, each having their own functions and submenus.

The PIM itself will send out a type of sonar ping to see if there are any NISMs (or other players) relatively close to them. 25 KM for a player and depending on speed of travel, it should be relatively close. Faster traveling NISMs will have a wider berth. Once a ping hits, it will alert you on the screen with a simple circle with a crosshair icon, that signifies something or someone has been detected. Once they tap that icon, it will say whether it is a player or NISM (or in future updates – a special location). Future updates will include ways to improve accuracy and distance of your pings.

• Player – if it pings a player, once the icon is tapped, it should say something relative to (and an AI should rotate various responses) “Another player/ a friend/ an enemy has been located, do you wish to challenge or trade with them?” Select yes or no. If it is someone you have encountered before, it should say, “This is [usernameofknownplayer],” and whether you usually win or lose to the player, do you still want to engage in a battle? If it is a friend, it should recognize that it is a friend, “This is your friend [usernameoffriend]” and then again ask if you wish to challenge or trade. If it is an enemy, it should also warn and say, “this is a known enemy, [usernameofenemy], do you wish to still challenge them?” and a yes or no should appear to continue. You cannot trade with enemies. Though, you can trade with a friend at any time outside of a battle through the PIM.
• NISM – if it is a NISM, a garbled message should be heard and there should be a pointer/navigator to safely lead you in the direction of the NISM that was pinged. As you get closer (and close enough) options to start a dialogue or physically engage the wild NISM will ensue.
• NPC – until a player reaches a certain level, battling with grunt level NPCs will be unavoidable as they will charge you once you ping them. Encounter rates should be once every 30+/- minutes and this can be modified with a few special items or in higher traffic areas and during events. Higher level Malicious Faction NPCs like captains and sergeants should ask (and if declining a battle with one, laugh and taunt you before they leave) and you cannot find a Malicious Faction leader or boss except through a questline.

On Screen

While a character is NOT actually inside of the PIM, there should always be a little glove in the top right corner so a player can activate the PIM. If they have any unread notifications like messages or any announcements or anything, the glove should pulse with an aura of various colors until the notifications are cleared. On top of that, it would be crazy cool if we could make the phone or tablet vibrate for new messages if the device has that capability. (Except the VR down the road!) The skin chosen should be visible on all views but with a few tweaks.

3rd Person/Bird’s Eye

• Exploring/Traveling – while a person is in this view, aside from the glove in the corner, they should be able to see the PIM on their chosen wrist while moving.
• Battling – while a person is battling (all battles should be 1st person regardless what view they have while traveling – can be modified later – less it can be done now), the menu screen should resemble the top part of the glove with whatever skin is chosen and have the available options described in the mechanics doc.

1st Person

• Exploring/Traveling – while in this view, aside from the glove in the top corner, it should be seen as they hands come up while they are walking. If they are traveling beyond walking speed, it should be idle, as if it is resting on their lap.
• Battling – while a person is battling, the menu screen should resemble the top part of the glove with whatever skin is chosen and have the available options described in the mechanics doc.

Inside the PIM

This is where a lot of detail is going to be involved. There will be menus and submenus of those menus and so and so forth. I would go out on a limb and say some people will spend 80% of their time in here just customizing and interacting with friends on the virtual level. Once inside, there will be 6 primary icons. They are ANNOUNCEMENTS, TRADE CENTER, HOME, and SETTINGS.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Any time there is an unread notification, be it a player message or game announcement, the PIM announcement icon on the glove will pulse with an aura of various colors until the notifications are cleared. One can always tap the alerts button to reread them. If a new message comes in while they are playing (but not during any battles) the PIM should automatically be ‘looked at’ in the game – like it brings the glove up so you can see it on screen that there is something new for you to see. This can be ignored, but the icon in the corner will flash/pulsate until it is cleared/read. The announcements icon will be something like a megaphone or loudspeaker.
• This is also how ads will appear – by bringing up the PIM and having them watch the ad – ideally with the PIM skin still around the ad. Ads will be mandatory unless a high enough level subscription has been purchased or any ‘SkipBits’ have been used.
• One ‘channel’ on the PIM will be called TNN. This will be used to announce any tournaments, pageants, updates or what have you from our end to the players and will come through on the alerts icon. So anytime we have an announcement or offer or something, the player should be notified in ANNOUNCEMENTS first. It should simply say announcements, and they will act as our personal/company ads and notifications from within the TNN. Delivery of seasonal changes, new NISMs spotted in various regions, anything we want to convey to our players. Once they are seen in announcements, they will be moved to the TNN tab in channels for people to view later (until/unless they expire like offers and such).
• This should also be where new messages from the system or friends appear first. If you sell an item in the Trade Center or somebody accepts a proposed static trade, this is where it should pop to notify the player. Once they see it here, then it can be moved to a more appropriate menu.

HOME

This will be where they can customize and interact with several different parts of the game. The primary submenus here will be HOME, WALLET, INVENTORY & FRIENDS. A simple head & shoulders icon should be sufficient. Once inside, there will be 3 primary interface sections

• This will be where they find their ‘home’. Clicking home will take them to their house, which will be a fully customizable area where their PIMs rest. There will be tons of cosmetics available (hopefully) to customize a person’s home. You can see how long a PIM needs to rest here (also displayed on the NISM list in hours/mins if they are fatigued). They can place X amount of PIMs in there just for cosmetic purposes, furniture, you name it, I want it in there. The primary feature here is ‘rest NISM’(s). A recharging station of sorts will be located directly in front of you in the initial room where you can access NISMs. As the game grows, we will progress to full on digital houses and the like that other players can visit to offer trades, show off their decorations or what have you, instead of just sending in game messages. The basic layout will be on the left as you enter - a table with a solitaire minigame, friends/inbox. On the right - achievement board and currencies available. In the center - NISM codex/swap/rest and incubator and an item/consumable storage/inventory interface.

Available

• Befriended, captured, traded, bought, or won NISMs should have a scrolling list and will have additional data. Region, city, and country they were acquired, how they were acquired (befriended, captured, traded, bought or won), their sex if applicable (M/F), when they were acquired (timestamp + date + season) and how they were acquired. Also, any previous owners will be listed. Once traded, sold, or set free after owning, they will not be seen on this list. Ones that are available that are currently being traveled with should have a little foot icon beside their name. All the available NISMs Attributes and Stats will be located beneath the image. If the Attribute or Stat is boosted by an item/cosmetic, a +X should appear by the number. Below the numbers, should be a list of slots for any gear that they are currently equipped with for the NISM. Clothing, Accessories and Hairstyles are the three for now. By tapping on the line with the slot, it will allow you to change, add or remove any possible cosmetic available for that NISM.
• If a player wants to swap out their NISM, they need to tap/click on the name or image, and it will have a submenu come up that should have various options. Travel, sell, free or trade. Choosing travel will allow them to swap out their current traveling companion and once done, the NISM(s) will say something. The one coming out can say, “Alright, let’s gooooo!” Or something similar. Will be based on the NISM and the bond levels.
• If they wish to set it free, they need to tap/click on the name or image, and it will have a submenu come up that should have various options. Selecting free will set the NISM back to the wild for someone else to catch in the future – remember – all NISMs are alive in the game and once created/befriended/captured or won, exist. (A burning mechanism might be introduced later.) A freed NISM can be caught again by anyone that finds it. It will retain only the maturity level it has achieved. Bonds must be made, and it will start at level 0 for the new player. Caught by the same person, it will have all the same attributes as when it was released.
• If a person wishes to trade their NISM, they need to select that option and then another submenu will pop up, depending on their level. Some buildings and options will only be accessible once a certain level and criteria are reached. Level 1 – friends only. Level 10 – Trade Center. Level 20 – Personal Kiosk.
• If a person wishes to sell their NISM, they can click on that option once they reach level 10 and sell it at the Trade Center, or when they reach level twenty (20) and build one – their own personal Kiosk.

Seen

NISMs seen or encountered but not befriended, captured, traded, bought, or won will be added to the list with a graphic of them and text saying where they were seen (region only) what time of day and what season of the year (summer, spring, etc.).

Codex

• This is a complete list of all the NISMs that are currently known to exist. The only information on them will be a shadow with a puzzle piece in the middle (as you don’t know what they look like yet) and the region they can be found in if you have not yet discovered them.

Inventory

• This is where a player’s items/boosts/cosmetic inventory (submenu) available to use will be shown. From here, they can equip/unequip items from any cosmetic location. There should be submenus that take them to items (inclusive of power-ups and boosts) and cosmetics for the player, PIM and background. Simple taps and clicks to equip/use things.
• This will be where they can change factions if they so choose. A person may only change factions once every 6 months. This will be simple interface below their avatar where it says the faction name. Factions will later be player created, but for now, we will have a handful of them you can join in game for the pools from the pit fights. If they are available for a faction change, it should say so by tapping on the faction name. If not, it should just say you are currently a member of BLABLABLAYADDAYADDA. Factions will be explained in more detail further down.

Friends

• here, you may send friend requests and send messages to your friends and offer/accept trades for NISMs, items etc. You may also search for usernames and send them a friend request. Like I could search for ‘nismtrader’ and if it exists, ‘send friend request’. If accepted, then we become friends and can send messages and trade and the like. Online friends should appear on the top of your full list of friends.

Wallet

• this should be obvious, but I explain it. DigiBits will be pegged to one (1) HBD minus Google transaction fees and a 1% rake for the game. Rake will be used to pay whatever expenses that arise like hosting etc. and also used to sponsor tournaments, events and ultimately reward players for all kinds of things. There will be some things in-game that will be very nominal affording it to all players that will usually be listed in Bits. 1000 Bits equal one DigiBit. Things like tournament or pageant entry fees or maybe hospital recovery services, things like that. There will be no discounted sale on Digibits, they are worth what HBD is worth (minus said fees and our rake).

TRADE CENTER

This is where a player can interact with the various other ‘buildings’ within the game. A full list of them that are currently planned will be in a different section to detail the beauty of it. This icon should look something like a skyscraper or tall building.

SETTINGS

This will be where the player can learn more about us and customize their game experience for them. The main goal here, is to route them to the website where we explain the game in more detail and all that jazz. Organic onboarding. The icon should likely be a little gear.

Inside the PIM, will also be like a radio of sorts. I aim to have actual radio stations available, but more of a podcast type interface. To begin with, only certain ones will be available and as they level up, they will have the option to customize it, (the goal is) with any podcast or XFM or Pandora or whatever station they want. This is where some business people need to jump in and start the partnerships. The icon should be a radio or something.

TNN

• as explained prior, for our communication with players. This should have various submenus listed, EVENTS with current being listed first, followed by upcoming and then by completed, SPECIAL OFFERS (these will be limited packages that are also accessible through the Trade Center, but since they are limited, here as well), NISM NEWS (where we notify them of any planned/scheduled/completed updates or patches), TOURNAMENTS & PAGEANTS.

Music

• Surge – the default station for the PIM. We will play whatever we want here, probably some feed to a local radio station or something.
• Fully customizable stations and/or podcasts – once the proper criteria have been met, people will be able to add their own stations on the PIM (makes sense since it is using frequencies!)

Gameplay

• This will be used to fine tune the user experience with sound fx, music volume (music will be our own by default, unless they change the station to Blind Skeleton or something) and ambience controls or any other thing relative to gameplay. Notifications on or off etc.

Help

• this will route them to our website with faqs and a way to contact us if needed. On the website itself, we will have an onboarding feature for Hive and explanations as to why we chose blockchain tech to build on etc.

FAQ

• this will be a few – maybe 5 or 6 – questions that will get asked often or we feel get asked often.

Website

• will take them to the website – NISMs.online.

LOGIN/LOGOUT

• the final option in a long list of PIM interaction. A player will remain logged in unless they choose to logout, even on game exit.

I’m sure as we play the game and it progresses, this will be re-evaluated and modified as with all things, but for now, is a tentative vision of how I want the PIM to function.