WeaponPlay Draft Whitepaper Overview

Overview

WeaponPlay is a web-based online game that combines deterministic turn-based combat with persistent world exploration. Players known as Readers explore a vast, shared world called The Library and equip themselves to engage in battles against monsters where they collect items that can be unique and tradable.

Core Gameplay

The Library: A Shared, Persistent World

"Readers" explore a massive 3D coordinate system known as "The Library." The world is divided into tiers based on distance from "The Origin", with higher tiers containing more challenging content and better rewards. Each coordinate contains a unique room with its own fixed monster encounter and unchanging loot.

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WeaponPlay Features:

Deterministic Generation: Every room is consistently generated based on its coordinates, ensuring the same experience for all Readers. No penalty occurs for dying in a room; you can re-attempt the content when your inventory is stronger.

Tier-Based Progression: Difficulty and rewards scale with distance from the center. Rooms around the origin are Tier 1, while the most distant rooms are Tier 10. The damage and durability of items and of monsters is based on their tier.

Biome System: The Library contains 16 distinct Biomes, each with unique characteristics:

Swamp, Bush, River, Jungle, Woods, Plains, Desert, Hills, Caves, Glacier, Shore, Volcano, Ocean, Clouds, Core, Stars

Each biome features visually unique obstacles, special traps, and environmental effects, such as monsters from a given biome sharing an elemental damage type.

Combat System

WeaponPlay features a sophisticated turn-based combat system with the following mechanics:

Hexagonal Grid Battles: Combat takes place on hexagonal grids where positioning and movement are crucial to success. Each room has six doors which can be unlocked by defeating the surrounding rooms, giving the player the choice of entry direction. This allows for tactical starting positions on the hex grid before the first turn begins.
Deterministic Combat: All combat calculations are deterministic, meaning identical class and equipment builds produce identical results. This eliminates randomness and allows for strategic planning about how to defeat a difficult room.
Class-Based Character System: Players choose from eight character classes, each with unique restrictions and abilities:

Mercenary Trader: Relentlessly advance to weaken and disarm foes.
Mercenary Thinker: Swift strategic repositioning and defensive mastery.
Guardian of Sentinels: Assaults that immobilize and control.
Guardian to Clouds: Frequent defensive repositioning.
Shifter of Sands: Lingering effects and primordial power.
Shifter of the Void: Long tactical intervals between exertions.
Brawler Risen: Comprehensive crowd control and dominance.
Brawler Fallen: Manipulate enemy positioning through force.

All classes are permanently unlocked and available, allowing the Reader to change strategy against a given room at any time.

Equipment System: Readers equip "Weapons" and "Protection" items, each with four core attributes. Weapons have: Precision, Sharpness, Impact, and Balance. Protection items have: Cover, Thickness, Yield, and Freedom.

The attacker's four Weapon attributes are compared against the defender's four corresponding Protection attributes:
Precision → Cover
Sharpness → Thickness
Impact → Yield
Balance → Freedom

Combat Mechanics:

Hit Types: The more of these individual contests the attacker wins, the more powerful the resulting Hit Type, ranging from a Glancing blow to a Devastating strike.
Body Part Targeting: Combat uses a cyclic targeting system that focuses on specific body parts.
Status Effects: Various effects like root, disarm, elevated, burn, drench, and weak can be applied during combat.
Obstacles: Battlefields contain obstacles and traps that can affect movement and combat.

Item System

Item Collection: Readers collect items by clearing rooms. Each room contains a unique item determined by its coordinates.

True vs. Reflection Items:

A Reader who is the first to clear a room receives a "True" version of that room's item. These are unique and can be traded.
Subsequent Readers who clear the same room receive "Reflection" copies. These cannot be traded, but once unlocked can be used by that specific account indefinitely.
A True item also displays a count of how many Reflections exist of that item.

Item Modifications: Items can have modifications that enhance their stats or provide special effects. There are hundreds of different modifications available.

Tier-Based Scaling: Item power scales with the Tier of the Room where it was obtained, using a formula that results in significant power differences between Tiers.

Progression System

Tier-Based Advancement: As Readers explore further from The Origin, they encounter content of increasing Tiers with:

More powerful monsters
Better equipment rewards
Increased challenge and strategic depth

Reflection Count Prestige: True items gain prestige value through the number of times a room has been cleared. A higher count of Reflections might indicate a more sought-after item.

Persistent Progression: Players only need to clear each room once to permanently obtain its item. Progress is saved and persists across sessions.

Technical Features

Deterministic Systems: All game mechanics are deterministic, ensuring consistent experiences and fair competition.

Privacy Protection: Player usernames are removed from public displays while maintaining functionality for future trading features.

Planned Features

Marketplace Economy: Integration with the Hive blockchain for trading True items between players. Only True items can be traded, creating a unique economy where exploration and trading are both viable paths to obtaining desired items.

Community Features: Leaderboards and community features focused on player achievements and room clearing statistics.

Profit Model

Marketplace Commission: WeaponPlay will take a 5% commission on all Marketplace transactions.

Premium Features: WeaponPlay is free to play, with every aspect of the game fully accessible. For our most dedicated players, we offer optional quality-of-life improvements through a subscription called Fluency. Fluent Readers can streamline their adventure with Automated Exploration, allowing them to tackle multiple rooms even while logged out. Fluency also provides access to one-click optimal equipment builds and other automatic actions, with more cosmetic options planned for the future.

Game Balance

The game emphasizes strategic depth over randomness. All combat calculations are deterministic, and progression is based on exploration and strategic equipment choices rather than random chance.

The tier system ensures that players must progress through increasingly challenging content to obtain better equipment, while the class system encourages different playstyles and strategic approaches in building your inventory.

Conclusion

WeaponPlay offers a unique combination of strategic combat, persistent world exploration, and planned trading features. The systems ensure fair and predictable gameplay, while the tier-based progression and class system provide depth.

The game's focus on strategic inventory building, rather than random chance, creates an environment where player skill and planning are the primary factors in success.

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