Success! You’ve infiltrated the coronation ball for the new King Azimuth in order to stage a coup and install yourself as monarch. Problem is, everyone else had roughly the same idea. Suddenly, someone in the back said “Everyone, attack!” and now it turned into a ballroom blitz! You (and everybody else it seems) figure that if you can hold the center of the room the longest, you can successfully claim the throne.
Ballroom Blitz is a free for all, “King of the Hill” game. The goal is to earn as many points as possible before the game ends. Earn points through controlling the center and defeating others. There will be 4 players in a game and only one winner.
MechMania 28 will be a Swiss-system tournament.
Each turn consists of four phases in the following order:
Players can use any items they may be holding
Players may do one of the following actions:
- Move to a tile
- Teleport back to the player's spawn point
Players may do one of the following actions:
- Attack one other player of their choice who is within range
If at their spawn point, players can choose to buy an item. As a player can only hold one item at a time, buying an item will remove any item the player was holding beforehand.
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If a player is standing on their spawn point by the end of a turn, they will automatically heal to full health.
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If two players move to the same tile, they will both be in that tile.
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When a player’s health drops to zero, they die and respawn at their spawn point. A player will lose their currently held item upon death.
The place you make history is the ballroom at the royal palace. The map is a square grid of 10x10 tiles. In the middle is the control point. At the four corners are the doors (spawn points) to the banquet hall.
The control point is a 2x2 set of control tiles in the middle of the ballroom. When a player ends a turn in one of the control tiles, they earn 2 points towards their score. Multiple players are allowed on the control tiles, but do you really trust them?
Players earn points in two ways:
- 2 Points for ending a turn on the control point
- 1 Point for dealing fatal damage to another player
The game ends in 100 turns. At the end of the game, the victor is decided by whomever holds the most points. If there is a tie between 2 or more players, the one who holds the most gold wins. If there is a tie in gold, the winner shall be decided by a coin flip.
Each class plays to a different style to dominate the Ballroom. There are 4 different stats for a class.
Range uses Chebyshev distance.
DChebyshev = max( |x2 - x1|, |y2 - y1| )
While Speed uses Manhattan Distance.
DManhattan = |x2 - x1| + |y2 - y1|
- Health: The amount of damage a player can sustain
- Damage: The amount of damage a player's attack deals, 1 damage = 1 health
- Speed: The distance a player can move in a single turn
- Range: The distance a player's attack can reach
| Class | Health | Damage | Speed | Range | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knight | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 |  |
| Wizard | 6 | 5 | 3 | 2 |  |
| Archer | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 |  |
Some ballroom goers performing a waltz
Items may be purchased with gold at a player's spawn location and provides buffs and effects to assist in battle. Only one item can be held at any time. Upon dying, the player will lose any item held at the time.
- At the end of every turn, all players automatically earn 1 gold.
| Item | Attributes | Cost | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shield | When used, nullifies 1 Attack on the user for 1 turn. If there are multiple Attacks in a turn, it will nullify only the single strongest. | 8G | A sturdy glass shield said to be of Moon and Glass… Is it actually sturdy? |
| Procrustean Iron | Turns all Attack Damage dealt to the player equal to an attack from a Wizard while this item is held. Cannot be used. | 8G | A corrupted fragment of iron. It forces and twists all to be the same. |
| Rally Banner | Gain +2 Damage while this item is held. Cannot be used. | 8G | A flag bearing what you fight for. Seeing it inspires you greatly. |
| Anemoi Wings | Gain +1 Speed while this item is held. Cannot be used. | 8G | A pair of wings that always seems to flutter in a soft breeze… |
| Hunting Scope | Gain +1 Range while this item is held. Cannot be used. | 8G | The manual claims attaching it to your weapon extends your range. You never bothered to read what type of weapon, but it probably doesn’t matter. |
| Strength Potion | Gain +4 Damage for 1 turn. | 5G | A small vial holding a… questionable looking liquid. |
| Speed Potion | Gain +2 Speed for 1 turn. | 5G | A flask of blue liquid. Probably safe to consume…? |
| Dexterity Potion | Gain +2 Range for 1 turn. | 5G | A bottle filled with purple liquid. Hopefully grape flavored. |
| Knight's Heavy Broadsword | Allows the player to change to the Knight class | 10G | Peace was never an option. |
| Wizard's Magic Staff | Allows the player to change to the Wizard class | 10G | The power of the sun in the palm(?) of your hand. |
| Archer's Steel-tipped Arrows | Allows the player to change to the Archer class | 10G | Parry this. |
For the competition, you’ll need to have the following things installed:
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Python 3. This is one of the languages you can use to implement your bot.
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Java 11. This will allow you to run the game engine locally, so you can test your code before you push it.
CLI: https://www.npmjs.com/package/mm28
- Make sure you have Node.js updated to v18.0+
- Open a new command prompt and run the following:
npm install -g mm28
to install the CLI
- You should now be able to run
mm28 help
This displays all the commands you can run! Remember to put mm28 before any commands
Creating a team:
- Run mm28 register and answer the prompts to register your team
- Run mm28 login and input the name and password to log into your team
Please register only one team! If you need help, do not make another team, contact staff instead.
If you need help, please ask us in the Discord #ask-a-question-here channel. We'll be providing help throughout the competition!
For basic questions, please run mm28 help before asking.