I typed in a bunch of possibilities for my password, one ended up working, but I wasn't paying attention to which combination I used and now I can't seem to log back on- again. Anyways I'm going one hiatus once more. There's some things I need to do back in my timeline*. This means I need to /out any games I'm in or signed up for. (Pretty sure this is like the 3rd time I've done this to soup while were signed up for a game
). Unfortunately, this means the Riddle Game with also have to come to a close. I was going to wait for that to finish before leaving, but I don't quite have it in my as I thought I would. As much as I despise abandoning projects, it is a part of my nature that still needs working on. I would say that this farewell is permanent, but judging from my past behavior, I think we can safely predict that wont end up being the case.
Riddle Game
As the game progressed, you would have found it to become more and more
Escape-like and with an evolving story behind it. The stages were really just a forefront of the actual game in which everything hinged on getting to and solving the final riddle. Or rather, not solving the final riddle.
The game was based around the seven deadly sins: Wrath, Gluttony, Envy, Greed, Lust, Sloth, and Pride. Each stage was based around one of these sins and there were many elements of the game that were designed to bring about each sin. Furthermore, each of the 7 teams was also represented by one of the sins.
The Fighting Mongooses - Wrath
Team Twilight - Gluttony
Robot Masters - Envy
Cloud 10 - Greed
Sexy Disney Princesses - Lust
Sex Bob-omb - Sloth
Team Powerpuff - Pride
Caesar Question was the antagonist and would have gradually been shown to have qualities that revealed him to be the embodiment of Lucifer. Waifu and the contestants were the protagonists. Waifu would have gradually been shown to have qualities that revealed him to be the embodiment of Christ. As you will see, Question created a nearly impossible game to win. His ultimate goal was the entrapment of the players through sin. Waifu was to guide the players out of such entrapment, influence them towards humility, and relinquish the negativity that Question had been cultivating.
As said above, each stage was just a forefront, a way for the question to manipulate the players into his hands. For the players to escape this, they would have needed to realize (with the help of waifu's clues throughout the game) that the true way to win was counter-intuitive: to play unselfishly. Each game/stage was designed around this. If you played into the sin that the game was designed around, you were likely to lose. In contrast, the way to win each stage and the game was through the application of the sins' opposites (peace, moderation, kindness, generosity, disfranchisement, vigor, and humility). If players were to realize this aspect of the game, they had a good chance of being led to the realization that they needed to work together to beat the game.
So basically there were three ways to play this game:
1) As individual teams greedily competing for victory (Question's Goal)
2) As individual teams humbly working for victory (Intermediate)
3) As a single team working together to figure out the game for what it actually is (Waifu's Goal)
The
1st stage, Apple-to-Apple: Jeopardy was, of course, based on Gluttony. Gluttons eat too much and too many. You could basically consider each turn as if it were a meal. Attempting to claim too much of a high score in a single turn would likely result in negative results as would gaining too many cards at once. The best way to go about this game was to practice moderation. Stay low and take few. I think the best strategy would have been to do a couple of 200's and a 100 each turn. If stuck on one of those cards or upon those two piles running out of cards, a single 300 or 400 would be the next choice. You should always stay below 50% however. Never 50/50 and never greater. Despite this, question designed the game to make taking higher risks more appealing. Such as the stars flashing upon picking 600p and the first 100p card being very vague. The funny thing about chance games is that the uncertainty of positive or negative feedback causes addictive behavior which is why this design was perfect for gluttony. The first time a team receives negative points, they are very likely to keep going. And if a team were to take a risk with a high point category and turn out negative, they would very likely continue to go for the highest point categories to make up for their loss. Despite it being obvious that the glutton is only getting fatter and in worse shape, moderation doesn't appeal as it just doesn't provide a quick enough result for their brain to feel reward. And this was everything that Caesar was counting on.
Other things to note about the stage:
1. Had a player entered one of the center rooms, there would have been a cell phone conversation there between two people "waifu" and "ne-san". The conversation was about how Cookie Monster became the Veggie Monster.
2. A clicking sound would result whenever the amount of cards in a point-category reached a certain number.
100p, 1 or 5
200p, 6 or 0
300p, 4 or 2
400p, 5 or 1
500p, 0 or 6
600p, 2 or 4
If the combination of 502164 or 164502 were to be made, the stage would malfunction and every team's points would default to +700. Caesar Question would appear, aggravated, and explain how there was a malfunction in the point system and so there was no point in continuing play of the stage. He would then ask the teams to vote on whether or not they would like to continue playing for the sake of going through all the cards while receiving +/- 0 points or simply continuing on to Stage 2.
I do not (did not) expect that anyone would have realized soon enough that the clicking was related to the card amount in each pile in time to complete the combination, but if it were achieved, it would have been the earliest indicator that there was more to this Riddle Game and that teams needed to work together.
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I'll give a rough rundown of some of the other stages, but some of the others I will keep to possibly use as Escape Riddles if I inevitably happen to return to swf.
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The
2nd Stage was called "Know Your Enemy". It was a variation of the
Truth or Lie game along with some elements of
Who Wants To Be a Millionaire. The game was designed around Envy with there being obvious advantages to players who knew the players on other teams more well than others. This very much would have caused resentment in players, influencing them to keep tight hold onto the knowledge that they had or gained. The best way to win the game however would have been through the counter-instinctive of sharing knowledge. The opposite of Envy is Kindness. If players could get past their feelings of unfairness, the game could be completed with 100% accuracy.
The
4th Stage was proposed by Acrostic and based on
The Liar Game manga. It was called "Transfusion". The game was designed around Greed and was a variation of the Prisoner's Dilemma. Each team would select each of their three members to be one of Infected, Non-infected, or Immune which would be their status for the stage. Each team would then choose one of the three center rooms. After all the teams were assigned to a room, each team would then send one of their players to the room to meet the player from the other team (or two other teams in the middle room). There each player could decide to share blood or not share blood. If both (or all three) players agreed to share blood they would do so and gain or lose points based on the following (I forgot the exact numbers since all the games are written out in my inbox of my Zen account).
If both players are Immune: Nothing happens
If both players are Non-infected: Gain Medium amount of points
If both players are Infected: Lose Medium amount of points
If one player is Infected/one player Immune: Nothing happens
If one player is infected/one player non-infected: Infected Gains Large amount of points/Non-infected loses More than Medium amount of points
If one player Non-infected/one player Immune: Nothing happens
I may have some of the outcomes incorrect, but I think you get the gist. After each round, scores would be posted on the main screen for all to see, but the team names would be anonymous, labeled as Team A, Team B, etc. So players would need to figure out which Team was which.
The
5th Stage was based on Lust. It was called "The Auction". Each team would be given 1000 points to use for bidding on items during the stage. 10 Items were shown with a description, each one containing some sort of advantageous ability that could be used during the rest of the game. The 10th item, labeled as The Rose of Time, was the only item without a description. It was made to be especially mysterious and appealing. So each item would one-by-one be placed up for bidding. Each team could privately choose to bid a certain amount of points from their 1000 point starter. The team that bid the highest amount of points would obtain that item. The amount of points that were bid would be taken, combined, and then be distributed back equally among all the teams that bid on that item. If two or more teams bid the same amount on an item, they would face off in a riddle challenge for the item. If no teams bid on an item, no team would obtain it. The game was made in a way that teams would likely bid the lowest amount each round up until the 10th round in which they would bid the highest amount. Lust causes blindness. It causes such a strong desire for one thing that one tends to ignore what is strategically best in life. In this game it would be best to obtain 1 or 2 items in which you know the effect, not some completely mysterious item. Once obtaining the Rose, the team was revealed its effect. It allowed infinite time to submit answers for the rest of the game at the cost of 10 points for every hour that the rose was held. After 24 hours of holding the rose, the team could choose to Pass the rose to another team. Each time the rose was passed, the amount of points lost per hour was increased by another 10.
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At the end of each stage a clue would be given on screen that was relevant to The Final Riddle. The clue would be based on the winner of that stage (generally the team who obtained the most points).
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The Final Riddle was going to ask the player to fill in the Table of Contents. The format like below.
Title: ___________________________
1.__________ : __________
2.
__________ : __________
3.
__________ : __________
4.
__________ : __________
5.
__________ : __________
6.
__________ : __________
7.
__________ : __________
There were two possible ways for a team to win this, the way the Question intended, or by putting together the clues that waifu had left throughout the game. The Caesar Question route was nearly impossible. If the contestants were still playing the game at face value up to this point, then it is likely they would not have all the clues needed to put everything in its right place. Not only would you have to match the correct sin to the team, you would also need to know which chapter they were the title of. The only way to know that for sure would be to have seen at least 6 of the 7 clues regarding the final riddle.
The Final Riddle was designed around Pride. There were two levels of this. As I said, this game could be played as individual teams or as a single team. Waifu's goal was for players to first recognize that the way to win games was to not play towards instinct and desire (the first level), and upon realizing this be to be led to realize that playing the game with the mindset of victory for your individual team made no sense with this fact (the second level). As mentioned above, the clues for the final riddle were given at the end of each stage based on the team that won that stage, so in order to obtain all 7 of the clues needed, each team would need to win at least one of the stages. In other words players would need to give up their pride, and lose. Upon realizing this does it really make sense that only one team can win The Riddle Game? As with all the other stages, the supposed answer to The Final Riddle is just a front. The real answer:
Concede. A mechanic given at the beginning of the game that seems useless until teams realize that they cannot obtain all the clues without others winning. But it wasn't just meant to be able to obtain
clues for The Final Riddle, it is in fact the answer to The Final Riddle itself. The phrasing of the mechanic "concede" as opposed to "give up" or "forfeit" was chosen to show the team humbling themselves. Yielding. Relinquishing desire. Relinquishing sin.
Of course there would have been many clues leading up to this point by waifu. The major one being a clue leading the players to realize that waifu types in lower case and has left breadcrumbs with capital letters. This would lead players back to the intro post where Caesar Question first introduces waifu and claims that he speaks in riddles. Waifu responds with "What I No, i DONT!"
Another thing about waif is that it was being shown that he was under bondage by Caesar and being controlled somehow. Despite this, waifu would still manage to drop clues like his capital letter breadcrumbs and leaving the text messages in the center rooms. At one moment in the game a private conversation between Caesar and waifu was going to broadcast on screen. It was going to show Question talking about how the foolish the players were and show some of his true nature until he realized that he was being broadcast. Waifu had gathered enough strength against his control to hit the broadcast during Question's gloating. After that the players later on find Waifu to have been replaced with a new assistant known as "ne-san", which Caesar describes as an updated waifu. Soon that version is killed off and a "mononoke-hime" appears 3 stages later against Caesars wishes. These three forms were to represent the Holy Trinity of Christ: The Parent, the child, and the spirit.
Before The Final Riddle, mononoke-hime was to recite one final clue in the form of a poem, an epilogue to the story of the game, a parallel to
The Holy Bible. The Apple being the origin of the story and the first appearance of Zen which is used as a double entendre, paralleled with Sin. The second stage of Envy paralleled with the 2nd major biblical story of Cane and Abel. So on and so forth providing clue to the game's relation to the seven deadly sins.
With Regards To Wrath: There were a couple of games that could have been built around wrath, but I do think they could have and would have easily gotten out of hand so to establish a clue for wrath I decided to do something that I could control and would make me the enemy rather than each other. That, of course, being the attack on Robot Masters at the start of the game. From something like that, I could control the amount and duration of "rage". My initial objective was to bait Gheb since he's very easy to portray ill feelings against and because of our history of back-and-forths. I could also be pretty sure that he wouldn't be someone to leave the game after a mere spat. But Dast and B's posting styles gave me a really easy opening. I could very much imagine Zen at some point genuinely reacting in that way, especially if he didn't understand that Dastrn's earlier questions were of genuine confusion, not contempt.
I was hoping to cause more of a **** storm by inviting Laundry and Raz, but Raz has become far too level-headed within the past year and the way he handled the situation didn't allow me to go for as long as I would have liked.
For the record, I don't have bi-polar disorder (that I'm aware of
), I hadn't yet started my nighttime job at the time, and I haven't had a dog in years. I felt those were small enough lies not to be considered distasteful, yet sufficient enough to garner understanding as the situation resolved.
With Regards To Sloth: The stage for sloth I will hold onto, but the whole game would have required vigor in order to win. The game would have required players to really investigate and go beyond face value. Not to mention the short (and much needed to be) deadline hours. I am really curious to see how the game would have turned out. I think Sex Bob-omb was on a really good path and could have possibly figured out the game. Especially with Kary.
I think that's about it. Below are the clues that would have been shown on screen after each stage (again, based on the team that won that stage).
[collapse=The Fighting Mongooses]
Season 4
[/collapse][collapse=Team Twilight]
Chapter 1
"And so the lion fell in love with the lamb…"
"There were two things that I was absolutely sure of. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was part of him — and I didn’t know how potent that part might be — that thirsted for my blood..."
"When you walked past me, I could have ruined everything Carlisle has built for us, right then and there. If I hadn’t been denying my thirst for the last, well, too many years, I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself."
"I’ve had the scent of you in my head all day, and I’ve grown amazingly desensitized. If I’m away from you for any length of time, I’ll have to start over again. Not quite from scratch, though, I think."
"When we hunt, we give ourselves over to our senses… govern less with our minds. Especially our sense of smell. If you were anywhere near me when I lost control that way…"
"I’ve told you, on the one hand, the hunger — the thirst — that, deplorable creature that I am, I feel for you. And I think you can understand that, to an extent."
"Just because I’m resisting the wine doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the bouquet."[/collapse][collapse=Team Powerpuff]
Episode 5
[/collapse][collapse=Robot Masters]
Scene 3
[/collapse][collapse=Cloud 10]
Match 7
[/collapse][collapse=Sex Bob-omb]
Issue #2
[/collapse][collapse=Sexy Disney Princesses]
Act 6
MRS. POTTS:
Tale as old as time
True as it can be
Barely even friends
Then somebody bends unexpectedly.
Just a little change
Small to say the least
Both a little scared
Neither one prepared, beauty and the beast.
(BELLE and BEAST have moved into the bedroom, where they move through a perfect dance sequence. BEAST occasionally looks over at LUMIERE and COGSWORTH for their approval. MRS. POTTS and CHIP are in the bedroom on their cart.)
MRS. POTTS:
Ever just the same
Ever a surprise
Ever as before,
ever just as sure
As the sun will rise
Tale as old as time
Tune as old as song
Bittersweet and strange,
Finding you can change,
Learning you were wrong
Certain as the sun
Rising in the east
Tale as old as time,
Song as old as rhyme,
Beauty and the beast.
Tale as old as time,
Song as old as rhyme,
Beauty and the beast.
(To CHIP)
Off to the cupboard with you now, Chip. It's past your bedtime. Good night, love.
**End of Song**
(CHIP slides off the end of the cart, and hops out of the room, but comes back for one
last look.)
---
---
Ariel: No, look! He's breathing. He's so, beautiful.
What would I give
To live where you are?
What would I pay
To stay here beside you?
What would I do to see you
Smiling at me?
Just you and me
And I could be
Part of your world
(Sebastian and Flounder have washed up and are watching scene. Max and Grimsby approach. Ariel hurries away.)
Ariel: You don't even know him.
Triton: Know him? I don't have to know him. They're all the same. Spineless, savage, harpooning, fish-eaters, incapable of any feeling-
Ariel: Daddy, I love him!
Triton: No . . . Have you lost your senses completely? He's a human, you're a mermaid!
Ariel: I don't care.
Triton: So help me Ariel, I am going to get through to you. And if this is the only way, so be it.
Ariel: Daddy!. . . No . . . No, please- Daddy, stop!. . . Daddy, Nooo!!. . .
(Ariel begins crying and he leaves, ashamed.)
(Morning at castle. Ariel and Eric leave for their tour. Ariel is amazed by everything.)
Flounder: (As they pass water.) Has he kissed her yet?
Sebastian: Not yet.
Flounder: Ohh . . . (Ariel and Eric go dancing and see the town.)
Scuttle: Yo, Flounder! Any kissing?
Flounder: No, not yet.
Scuttle: Hmm. Well they - they better get crackin'. (They leave town and Ariel drives, almost crashing. They end up rowing on a still lagoon in the evening.)
Flounder: Move over - move your big feathers. I can't see a thing.
Scuttle: Nothing is happening. . . . Only one day left, and that boy ain't puckered up once. O.K. All right, this calls for a little vocal romantic stimulation. Stand back. (He flies over and sings very badly.)
Eric: Wow. Somebody should find that poor animal and put it out of its misery.
Sebastian: Jeez, man, I'm surrounded by amateurs! You want something done, you've got to do it yourself. First, we got to create the mood. Percussion. . . . Strings. . . . Winds. . . . Words. . . .
There you see her
Sitting there across the way
She don't got a lot to say
But there's something about her
And you don't know why
But you're dying to try
You wanna kiss the girl
Eric: Did you hear something?
Sebastian:
Yes, you want her
Look at her, you know you do
Possible she wants you too
There is one way to ask her
It don't take a word
Not a single word
Go on and kiss the girl
Sha la la la la la
My oh my
Look like the boy too shy
Ain't gonna kiss the girl
Sha la la la la la
Ain't that sad?
Ain't it a shame?
Too bad, he gonna miss the girl
Eric: You know, I feel really bad not knowing your name. Heh - maybe I could guess. Is it, err, Mildred? O.K., no. How 'bout - Diana? Rachel?
Sebastian: Ariel. Her name is Ariel.
Eric: Ariel? Ariel? Well, that's kinda pretty. O.K. - Ariel. . .
Sebastian:
Now's your moment
Floating in a blue lagoon
Boy you better do it soon
No time will be better
She don't say a word
And she won't say a word
Until you kiss the girl
Sha la la la la la
Don't be scared
You got the mood prepared
Go on and kiss the girl
Sha la la la la la
Don't stop now
Don't try to hide it how
You want to kiss the girl
Sha la la la la la
Float along
And listen to the song
The song say kiss the girl
Sha la la la la
The music play
Do what the music say
You got to kiss the girl
You've got to kiss the girl
You wanna kiss the girl
You've gotta kiss the girl
Go on and kiss the girl
(The boat tips over.)[/collapse]
Each number corresponds to the placing of the chapter on The Final Riddle.
[collapse=Answers to failed Apple to Apple cards]
Riddle: 99
Answer: Spoon
Apparently this isn't a common symbol for spooning. The clue that was to be added the second time the card came around was "99 not 69".
Riddle: The sequel to Ares' 20th Birthday Party.
Answer: World War 2
Ares is the God of War. Both of the largest western wars were in the 20th century.
Riddle: You might eat it for breakfast, play it for fun, and if you can read this, you probably have one.
Answer: Life
Life is both the name of a cereal and a board game. Chip wasn't accepted because you don't play poker chips or chip shots for fun. Those are just part of the game.
Riddle: It's been around since ancient empires. It can be anything you desire. And once you have it, it wont retire.
Answer: Tattoo
Statue definitely could have been accepted if it weren't up to me. But the riddle was looking for something that was known to be permanent. The ancient empire part was meant to draw focus and I think that's what tripped people up.
The first stage would have taken the longest of any of the stages as it was the only turn based games. It was also the only RNG based game. [/collapse]
Late.
