Looking for testers for a new game on Steemit

I’ve been developing a fun game for us to play on Steemit. I wanted something interactive that was reliant on more than just the toss of a dice or a yes/ no decision. I wanted it to be something a bit unique to me that would be about something I’m interested in.

And so here is it – the Steemit Ultra marathon.

Yes that’s right, you will be able to race in an Ultra Marathon right here on Steemit, for prize money.

But first, I need some testers. I’m looking for about five people to play the game through for the first time with the understanding that the rules and calculations may be altered as we go along. Each tester will get 5SBD for their efforts regardless of who wins.

If I get enough testers signed up today, the first race post will be tomorrow.

UPDATE:

I have enough testers now, thanks. but you can still watch how things unfold and decide if you want to sign up for the real game once testing is over.

Interested?

Here’s the concept

The ultra marathon course will be based on a real course, in this case the Wellington Urban Ultra (The WUU2k) - the course is the picture above. This is a 62km course taking in five of the biggest hills around Wellington. It is a beast of a course. I know this because I ran it in 2017. It was my very first ultra. Do you think you could beat my time? Or the time of the winner?

Here’s how it works

Each day the runners will tell me three bits of information

• What speed they intend to run (roughly equivalent to km/h)
• How long they intend to run at that speed (in hours. You can also have half an hour, or quarter of an hour)
• How many gels they will consume in that time.
  Note: the max distance covered for each turn must be less than 10km.
  So you could run at a speed of 10 for 1 hour, or 5 for 2 hours.
  I plug those numbers into a game calculator and it will return the distance actually covered. The first one to cover the 62kms is the winner.
  Simple, right?

Not so fast, there is more to it than that.

Each kilometre of the course is assigned a ‘runnable’ value based on the terrain and my experience of running that section of the track. The values range from 1 (very slow running) to 15 (flat, easy and fast running). If you run at or below the runnable value you will not get much in the way of fatigue and/ or injury scores. The more you go over that value, the higher your fatigue and injury scores will be.

These scores are cumulative, so the higher your fatigue and injury scores, the slower you will run, no matter what speed and time values you request. So it will pay to research the course (check Garmin Connect and Strava) and figure out what you think the appropriate values will be.

If you were to input something like 100 km/h for 1 hour you would actually end up covering about 6kms (due to fatigue and injury) and in each subsequent throw you would go nowhere. It’s all about balancing speed against fatigue and injury.

Each runner starts with three energy gels. Each gel will add 1km to your distance covered. But they come at a cost. Each gel also adds to your stomach being upset, which slows you down just a bit. This too is cumulative. The more gels you consume, the slower you get. You can decide not to take any gels if you wish. Again it’s all about managing the damage while trying to go as fast as possible.

There are aid stations at approximately every 10 kms. As you pass through them you pick up an extra gel. Some aid stations reduce fatigue, as if you had stopped and rested for a bit.

And if that wasn’t enough, there are Weird stuff happens on the trail cards. You draw one of these each turn. Some of these cards will be helpful, reducing fatigue, making you run faster or further. Others will slow you down and add to your woes. The rest have no impact, but might give you a giggle.

Any player not supplying their time, speed and gel details before the next round will be classed as Did Not Finish (DNF).

Each daily update will include your placing, distance covered, gels remaining and a health indicator. Green indicates low fatigue and injury etc, and red indicates you are having a really bad day on the trails.

So if you are interested in being a tester, let me know in the comments below. You will need to respond to the daily posts with your race settings until the race is over. This should be 6-8 days, depending on how hard and fast you can run.

Remember if you are signed up as a tester, things may change during the course of this game, as I tweak settings and such. So you must be prepared for things to perhaps ‘not be fair’ at some point. The main purpose of this round is to test the game calculations are working and to get feedback from players so I can refine the experience.

That way when we start to play for real, and for real money, it should be fun for everyone to play.

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Check out my stories here on Steemit

Running Deer

Running Deer - part 1
Running Deer - How legends are born

Charlie Rabbit

Meet Charlie Rabbit
Charlie tides up
Charlie Rabbit and Margery Mouse
Charlie Rabbit and Margery Mouse make music

Little Peppers Adventures

Runaway Rabbit and the hungry fox
Maybe and the land of purple rainbows – A Little Peppers adventure
How Pappa Pepper and Monster Truck the Pepper got their wild hogs - a Little Peppers Adeventure

Dark Angel Regiment of the Space Marines - Mission Files

First Squad Sniper Elite - Zaresith mission

Other stories

Stranded
The Lady Of The Lake

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Also don't forget to check out my Dad's blog

Who else can tell you stories about impersonating an officer, stealing a military aircraft to go on a booze run, or steal military aircraft and go on an unsanctioned bombing run - and that's all before he turned 18!

Check out @len.george and find out what other madness he got up to!

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Are you new to Steemit and trying to figure out what it's all about?

Head over to: https://www.steemithelp.net/. It's the best place to get a handle on what the platform is all about.

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