Category:Games

The Wasteland Games are a small gaming platform within Second Life, in The Wastelands estate. What started out as a small resource collection, building and first person combat game, has evolved into a Micro Multi-player Online Role Playing Game. We'll call it MiMORPG for short! It was first publicly available sometime in mid March of '07, shortly after the Wastelands estate opened up -- and was the first known resource collecting and building game on the Second Life grid.

I'd like to apologize for the sheer length of this document. It has to be this long because the games in the Wastelands are far more complex than anything on the grid at the moment. I encourage new and old players to read this document in it's entirety, I will not respond to questions that are already covered here.

Game Play Terms

Before we get too in depth with this document, I'd like to help you familiarize yourself with some game play and game mechanic terms we'll be using frequently.

• Wastelander: A player of the game, or resident of the estate.
• HUD: The scripted object you wear to participate in the Wasteland games, a Heads Up Display.
• Salvage: Any item that a player loots from a crate, or builds with the Salvager.
• Salvager: A machine used to combine salvage.
• Recipe: A successful combination of salvage that yields a reward from the salvager.
• DoT : Damage Over Time. An effect that continuously damages you for a given time period.
• HoT : Heal Over Time. An effect that continuously heals you for a given time period.
• WLv1: The previous older version of this game.
• WLv1.75: This is the technical version of the game being played right now.
• Redux: WLv1.75 is also known as Wastelands Redux, or Redux for short.
• WLv2: Version Two, as it is called has been in development for YEARS, and is not yet released.

General Game Play

The average day of the Wastelander consists of running around and collecting salvage, socializing and/or RPing, sparring with friends, slaughtering enemies, bartering or selling what you've found, experimenting with the salvage machine, and all around just having a good time.

There are no experience points, supernatural powers, or levels. It's founded on an enjoyable survivalist experience. Game play is a bit more arcade-y than realistic to make combat last for a while, but that doesn't mean the game doesn't have any depth. In fact it's quite complex, with occasional developer sponsored events, and introduction of new items and mini games. Or if you just like collecting things in your spare time, then you'll have fun too.

New Player Tips

Starting out new in any game is difficult. Other players will have better equipment, know more about the game, and have the skill to play it well. This is why it's important to make friends first, before you don your RP or player persona. If you join the game and talk a lot of shit, or attempt to kill everyone, be prepared to have every player that you attacked or slandered against you. While it doesn't make sense for random violence to happen, it does -- and it's usually returned tenfold. Having friends will help you out, they'll show you some interesting tricks and give tips as to the best fighting style for certain weapons. They might also invite you to their group/clan/guild/faction, where you can have the support of many like minded people.

When you die (and you will), it's best to just roll with the punches. There's no need for dramatics because you died. Everyone dies, it's part of the game. The more you die the better you get at NOT dying, because you learn from your mistakes. But no matter how hard you try everyone dies; even the most seasoned veterans are sometimes beaten by the scrappiest of n00bs. Experience playing the game, and practicing with friends will make you a better player. Unlike a lot of game systems in Second Life, your knowledge and skill actually matter in this game. And hey if you suck at combat, maybe fighting isn't for you. There are very long time players who are pacifists, who have become great traders. Remember the the Wasteland games aren't ALL about combat.

Please feel free to peruse the rest of this wiki. A lot of effort has gone into creating documents that answer frequently asked questions, and infrequent ones.

Starter Kit

Odds are, if you're reading this then you already have the starter kit. If you don't have the starter kit and want to start playing the game, please pick one up at the arcade cabinet located in Hambone Slash. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Hambone%20Slash/203/55/73/ Click that URL, click teleport, and follow the red arrow on your screen. Once you click the machine, you will be given a folder. In this folder you will find:

• ** READ ME** Instructions
• Wastelands Hud
• WL: (Eternal) Fist Wrap (Glove Layer)
• WL: (Eternal) Fist Wrap (R Hand)
• WL: (Eternal) Fist Wrap (L Hand)

The read me instructions should just contain a short blurb, and a URL to this wiki category.

Wastelands Hud

The "Wastelands Hud" is the interactive object that allows you to participate in any of the official games and events in The Wastelands. At a glance you can see the overall condition of your character. When you first equip the HUD, it will be someplace near the center of your screen. Please feel free to adjust it's location to a more comfortable position by right clicking it and selecting Edit. From there use the blue and green arrows to change it's position on screen. The first time you wear the HUD it will give you a URL to this wiki. (Can you tell I want people to read it? :D)

If you click the big red button it will use a medkit on you (if you have one). You may only click the medkit button once every 5 seconds. If you click anywhere else it will bring up a summary and options menu. You may only bring up the menu once every 3 seconds.

Health

Your health is represented in two ways. The first and most obvious representation is the health bar (number 4 in the image). This bar goes from left to right, red to green. When you get injured it will become black, from the right side. The more health you lose, the more black fills up the bar. The second way your health is represented is the numeric Combat Indicator (number 3 in the image). This number will be either green or red, and tell you what percentage of full health you have at any given time.

When you lose health, you obviously need to heal it back. One way you can heal back your health is with food, another is medkits; which are discussed later.

TIP: When you or your opponents life is less than 10%, you will grimace in pain; so keep looking your opponent in the eye!

Becoming Unconscious

If your health becomes zero and you become unconscious it will regenerate at an accelerated rate, but you will not be able to interact with anything. Your weapons will also un-equip.

DO NOT REMOVE YOUR HUD WHILE YOU ARE UNCONSCIOUS! I cannot stress this enough. If you remove your HUD while you are unconscious you will incur an automatic 15 minute game suspension. The next time you put the hud back on you will still be unconscious all over again.

Once your health reaches 25% you will enter a grace period. During this time it is safe to remove your hud or move around without penalty, however you will be unconscious again when you put your hud back on.

Combat Indicator

Aside from being a numerical display of your current health, the combat indicator lets you know when it is safe to remove the HUD without penalty. Anytime that the combat indicator is green it is safe to remove your HUD. If it's ever red, do not take your HUD off -- you could incur a 5 or 15 minute suspension.

DoTs

Many things in the wastelands hurt. Some things hurt you even after they initially hurt you. These are DoTs and are represented as number 1 on the image. Whenever one of those 4 lights are lit up, you are taking damage from a DoT effect. The only way to cure a DoT effect is with a medkit, or letting the DoT run it's course. There's no indication (to keep things interesting) of how bad a dot is. But know this: they stack and refresh based on the type. For instance, if Bobby gets bitten by a rattler and gets a poison DoT, he'll probably survive. But if Bobby stumbles into a nest of rattlers and aquires 20 poison DoTs, he's going to die much faster than normal, and if he doesn't the DoTs will last much longer. Here are the 4 primary DoT types right to left.:

• Radiation (low damage, long duration)
• Poison (medium damage, long duration)
• Fire (high damage, short duration)
• Bleed (medium damage, medium duration)

Armor

Armor in the Wastelands does two things. It protects you from certain damage types, and it reduces the chances of DoTs being inflicted upon you. The higher your protection ratings, the better. All armor must be crafted at the Salvager.

Food

Food represents the percentage of natural healing a player is capable of. If a player is injured, the combat indicator is green, and has a positive food percentage, the food will be metabolized very slowly into health. If a player isn't injured, or the combat indicator is red, food will be metabolized away with no benefit at a super slow rate.

Message System

The message system lets you know when people join or leave the same region your in, put on or take off huds, or when they are cowards and remove their hud mid combat. You can also manually check which players are currently playing by clicking the "Players" button from the main options menu. You may also turn off these messages with the "Messages" button from the same menu.

Items

In the Wastelands, it's all about the items and knowledge you possess. The larger the diversity of items and equipment you own, the more potential you have to discover new recipes at the salvager. All equipment, armor, weapons, food, medkits, everything; is assembled or found with natural game play. You don't have to spend a single linden to play the games in the Wastelands, but there are opportunities for people who wish to spend some cash...

Note: Before you can equip equipment, weapons, armor, or use medkits and food, you must have your HUD on and loaded.

Salvage

The salvage boxes (pictured to the right) come in four varieties, representing four different rarities. The most common box you will see is the wooden box. It spawns the lowest level, most common form of salvage and food. The grey metal box is an uncommon sight in the wastelands, and holds valuable things inside. The padlocked metal crate is rare indeed, and anything contained inside is worth quite a penny. The last unpictured and so far unseen is an ultra rare time capsule. Surely someone would give their right arm for it, or someone elses right arm.

The salvage spawn is dynamic; meaning the more people play in the Wastelands the more common salvage becomes. However the more people play the shorter the lifespan of salvage is. If not a lot of people are playing, salvage won't spawn as frequently, but it will remain out in the open much longer than usual. This ensures a nice steady stream of salvage, no matter how many people are playing.

Don't go rushing for the door just yet. Not all salvage crates are safe! Some of the contents of the crates are quite unstable and prone to exploding when anything bumps them. So be careful!

Salvage Machine Guide

Once you have three items that you think will create something, take them to the salvage machine. With your HUD on, click the on button and follow the onscreen instructions.

You might be asking, "What recipes work?!". That is up to you to find out through experimentation! People who experiment are bound to find certain recipes first, which if they keep is a secret, lets them resell the finished products before anyone else. Or better yet wield superior weapons and armor upon their foes!

Note:Not all recipes create single items. Some recipes create multiple items, so rez your completed items when done, and take them back into inventory one by one. Tip: Recipes are worth FAAAAR more than any piece of salvage, or completed item. So don't expect to trade a hunk of rubber for the recipe of a Slugthrower. Tip: Don't share recipes you know with anyone, but your utmost trusted best friend ever! If you've found something unique, you are in control of that information, and if you ever share it, consider it shared with everyone. You have no control of that recipe once it leaves your hand. Keeping secrets is good for you in this game. Tip: Learn to sort your second life inventory. All game items are prefixed with "WL:" for easy inventory searching.

Micro Economy

The Wastelands has it's own very successful micro economy based on supply and demand of game items. Simply put "Player X has item B. You want Item B. He will sell or trade it to you for XYZ". Almost all of the items in the Wastelands game have transfer permissions. This lets players form their own markets and shops specifically to sell the things they find and make in the Wastelands. All current' items with a "WL:" prefix have a Barter Value associated with them -- BV for short. This number is nothing other than the sum of an objects parts. When you make something with the salvager, the new item will have a BV equal to the parts it took to make it.

BV does not dictate the price another player will sell items for. For instance, WL: Grip is worth quite a lot right now because of several reasons.

1. It's an uncommon piece of salvage.
2. It's used in a lot of recipes.
3. Everyone wants them.

BV is just a good way to eyeball an items worth, but if you really want to know how much something is worth check out the player run markets. The Trade Post is one of the longest running, and most popular free markets to trade at. So check it out to get a good idea of a price on an item for that week.

Ammo

Some equipment requires ammo to operate. Ranged weapons for the most part all require ammo to use. What makes the Wastelands distinct is that ammo isn't free. Like everything else it must be crafted, traded, or purchased from another player who has made it. If someone shoots you dead with bullets, feel honored that they spent the time to make those bullets to put inside your vital organs, just for you.

To restock an item that is out of ammo, rez the item on the ground, then click it to enter reload mode. Check the items description to see what kind of ammo it requires. Rez that type of ammo directly on top of the item that needs restocking. Repeat until the item is full.

Medkits

Medkits allow you to heal at any time. Before a medkit heals you though it will first attempt to fix any DoT effects you might have in this order: Fire, Poison, Bleed, Radiation. Any leftover use of the medkit will be applied to your health. Depending on the severity of your DoTs, you might not receive any health from the medkit, you also might not heal away all of your DoTs. The medkit will do it's best despite your condition, and for the most part it can take care of many if not all DoT effects at once. The hud can store a maximum of 20 medkits. To see how many medkits you have, click the hud anywhere except the heal button.

Food

Food lets a player passively heal without the use of medkits. Food items have the suffix "FOOD" in the item description. Food can be found in salvage crates, made from recipes, or traded from players or the NPC the Food Trader. Food does not passively heal you when your combat timer is active. Food slowly degrades on it's own, even when not being used at about a rate of 1% every 5 minutes that the HUD is equipped. The hud can store a maximum of 100% worth of food. To see how much food you have, click the hud anywhere except the heal button.

• Food has a 5% chance to be "Delicious!", and grant you more food than normal.
• Food has a 5% chance to poison you.

RULES

Some game play rules are enforced automatically, some are not, and some things we just haven't seen yet.

I'd like to state that role play is *NOT* required to play these games. You also do not need to play the games if you choose to role play. Nor do you need to own any land in the estate to participate in either of the above.*

By participating in game play though, you agree to our Terms of Service and Rules of Conduct, which I suggest you read. Finally, if you have your HUD on you're fair game to anyone, even if you're AFK or in the middle of some RP dialog. Don't want to die, please jut take your HUD off for a while. On with the game play rules!

Automatic

There are several simple rules that the HUD keeps track of at all times, to help insure fair game play. Here are some things that will disable your HUD, and un-equip your weapons:

• Flying.
• Teleporting.
• Exceeding a normal run speed.

If your combat timer is red during any of these automatic dehuddings, you will receive an automatic 5 minute suspension. If you are unconscious during any of these automatic dehuddings, you will receive an automatic 15 minutes suspension.

In addition to those rules doing any of the following while dead will also give you a 15 minute suspension:

• Sitting on objects.
• Moving while dead.
• Removing the HUD while dead

Do not...

The automatic rules can only prevent cheating and exploits to a certain degree within the platform of second life. For the most part everyone plays fairly, but there have been instances in the past where some people still insist on testing the boundaries and patience of the game administrators. While this isn't a full comprehensive list, here are some things you should NOT do.

• Do not use any form of movement assist or gravity aid.
• Do not use any form of outside weaponry. This is against the covenant and the law of the land.
• If people are fighting, and you do not have a HUD on, move out of the way. It is both confusing and unfair to all participants. Do not be an unhudded meat shield for your friend.
• Do not take off your HUD mid combat. While there is an automatic suspension in place, if you repeatedly do it, you will find a much lengthier or permanent ban if you keep it up.
• If you are a resident of the estate, NEVER use your land powers as leverages against another player playing fairly. That is, I do not want to see people freezing people to kill them, banning them so they can shoot them from their property, or any other such shenanigans.

All of these rules carry a minimum of a two day suspension if a Dev needs to get involved. Repeating offenders will be suspended longer, and even banned from gameplay. If things get really out of hand, they will also be banned from the estate.

Douchebag

Although we cannot for see every possible scenario involving game play, or the changes Second Life might have in store; we like to think that if what you're doing is offensive to the spirit of the game, it could be a suspendable or bannable offense. This is the "Don't be a douchebag rule." Play fair and be nice, and all should be well.

Subscriptions

Currently, the subscription system of the HUD is dormant and shall remain dormant until we need to implement it. Ideally we would like to keep the game free for everyone forever. We really enjoy just watching people have fun. However, the sims are primarily there for the enjoyment of the residents. Should the impact of the amount of people playing the game affect the estates performance or keep paying residents out of the estate, we will turn the subscription system on.

People who are current paying residents will be able to renew their subscription to the game at no cost. Consider it a benefit of living in The Wastelands. Non-residents will be required to pay a small (to be determined) weekly subscription fee to play the games.

I have no intent to enable this system unless things get pretty dire in the estate. No doubt a free game in SL will attract a lot of attention. I only mention the subscription system here so you're not shocked or surprised if we ever have to enable it.

FAQ

Q: Can you script up my weapon / armor / item to work with your game?

A: No. The games in the Wastelands are a "closed system". That way we can keep it a fair playing ground for everyone.

Q: Can I use the scripts from an object in my own object?

A: Nope, they simply will not work, and will permanently damage the object you're pulling the scripts from.

Q: Why is everything no modify? This doesn't fit my avatar!

A: For game balance reasons. Most items are made to fit a humanoid avatar with average proportions.

Q: Other than bludgeoning everyone to death what else is there to do with the HUD?

A: There's plenty to do.

Credits

Modelers / Builders:

• Gutterblood Spoonhammer
• Spider Mandala
• Makaio Stygian
• Sandusky Kayvon

LSL Code:

• NeoBokrug Elytis

Special thanks:

• All the players of WLv1, residents of the wastelands, and their feedback.

Version History