Talk:Sniper's Alley

Old forum comments

(The Ludocity website previously had integrated forums, but they fell into spam-covered decline and were shut down in 2015. The comments in this section have been automatically converted from that forum.)

Nice idea; I can imagine a lot of good dramatic moments as the civilians unexpectedly come under fire, and have to work together to save themselves. It sounds like an interesting challenge for the sniper, as well, with so many players on the lookout.

The game runner calling the shots sounds like something that should be streamlined as much as possible - by the time the runner has rolled the die and referenced the table, the civilian could have run another fifty feet, handed off a bag, or reached the safe zone. One solution might be for the runner to pregenerate a list of hits, and to prepare themselves to call out a particular hit location before the sniper calls. Another might be for the runner to just call out "CAT, you're hit"; that civilian has to drop to the floor immediately, and the runner walks over to them to roll up their injury and - if they're still alive - help them up and cross out a letter on their sign.

Should there be a limit on how rapidly a sniper can shoot the same target again? If they watch someone go down, and stay focused while they cross the letter out, can they take them straight down again? Or is it the job of the human shields to literally form a "human shield" and get an injured player to safety by blocking line of sight to their name sheets?

And are we trusting the sniper to play fair and call the names as soon as he sees them, rather than memorising a few of them and heading for cover before calling the shot? Or is that a fair enough tactic? --Kevan (talk) 2010-03-04 12:52:20

I like the 'CAT' / 'FAD' method of determining whether the sniper can see someone. Perhaps this can be adapted into Schniper?

(bonus: print it in quite small letters, requiring the use of binoculars that'll be impossible to use while moving, or easily against a moving target) --gwyn (talk) 2010-03-08 07:56:40

thanks for the comments guys.

i think the streamlining is important, you're right, i toyed with the idea of the civilians randomly allocating numbers to each of their six body 'parts' and the sniper calling a number when they call the name, so " BANG: CAT:5" and CAT would then have to respond to the number call out, so all the hit processing is done at the player end, but that I'm not sure that solves much. I think the game runner shouting out that the player is hit, letting them hit the ground and then allocating the hit result is probably the easiest way to do it you're right.

in terms of the sniper reload rate i think the 'human shields' will become vital. i really wanted to ramp up the use of them, as well as the frustration they'll cause the sniper so he really has to consider 'shooting' them or not and incurring the point penalty for doing this.

i think the human shields' will add some sense of strategy to the game and so even if shot i think maybe shouldn't die, but instead 'respawn' back at the starting zone perhaps, giving the civilians more chance to use them, and also giving the sniper more of an opportunity to lose more points.

i'm not really sure about the sniper hiding and 'shooting' form memory. I wonder wether there's scope for the sniper to have to declare where he's taking the shot down the phone to the game runner, so :"CAT: by the bin" this might streamline the game runner's task a bit as would give him an idea of which player he needs to tend to, and also give him the opportunity to challenge the sniper if he's taking any JFK magic bullet style shots.

i think the game could be extended to two snipers with walkie talkies chatting to the game runner instead of the single phone line, although that should probably wait till its been tested with one sniper as it all might get a bit hectic.

i am hoping it will create some pretty intense game play.

i'll have a rule tweak this week --bene (talk) 2010-03-08 11:24:00

Having the sniper give a geographical cue (like 'by the bin', as you said) is, I think, vital to make it work. In Schniper, you have to give a cue, and it makes a lot of sense with this game as well.

That aside, I really like the idea, though streamlining is everything. Perhaps the person freezing would work, like Kevan said, though it might destroy the tension and atmosphere a bit. --Peads (talk) 2010-03-17 15:08:55