“Thou art an offence to all that is decent, dog. I challenge you... to a duel!”

Pistols at 10 Blocks is an atmospheric on-chain mini-game, in which you face off against another Lord in a pistol duel to defend your honour. Do you duel with honour, or do you turn early and put them down like the wretched cue that they are?

A righteous smoulder in your eye and your smoothbore, flintlock pistol held lightly at your side, cocked and ready, you stand in the misty morning field. Holding back the gorge rising in your throat, you shake that mongrel's hand and turn, taking your first step. Your feet crunch in the crisp morning grass, one step, two steps, three. You hear the snap of a cloak, the gasp of your second, and a sharp, booming crack, then your left arm explodes into pain. That traitorous scum shot early! Gritting your teeth against the pain, and without turning around, you keep stepping foward. Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine... Ten. You turn around, slowly, a dark menace in your shoulder, and raise your pistol. The cur stands there, a defiant sneer upon his face, and throws his still smoking pistol to the ground. You take a deep breath, and whisper "May you find honour in death, you wretch!"

Blood sprays in a beautiful arc from his head, and he drops like a felled log. Silence, interrupteed only by the spattering of blood from your arm, into the morning grass.

Team

Recipromancer — Lead, Renaissance Chaos Mode
Mataleone — Engineering
Voltrevo — Engineering, Hidden information mechanism
Amaro — Art, Design & Animations
Mononoke — Logo & Art

Gameplay

The game jam version of the game is async play with hidden information moves, but we plan to introduce a synchronous (real-time, time-bound) version in the future. We also plan to introduce other features, such as the ability to duel adventurers w/ death of that adventurer upon a loss.

To issue a challenge, a duelist selects an opponent profile and sets a timeout + deposit in $LORDS for the challenge. The recipient duelist must accept within the timeout and match the deposit, or forfeit the match.

Once the match commences, there are two rounds. Duelists have two health bars and an honour score out of 10.

Round 1: Pistols

The first round is pistols at 10 paces. An honourable duel is fought at 10 paces, but a duelist - being the wretched cur that they are - may choose to turn and fire early, shooting their opponent dishonourably in the back. Moves are committed on-chain, but hidden from the opponent. Once both duelists have chosen at what distance to fire, the first round is resolved on-chain.

There are three outcomes possible for a shot. It may miss, it may be an injuring blow (half health damage), or it may kill the opponent outright. The closer a duelist fires, the higher their chance of hitting, but the lower their chance of a killing blow. Hit chance starts at 80% and drops to 20% at ten paces. Kill chance starts at 10% and increases to 100% at ten paces. So at ten paces, a duelist only has a 20% chance to hit, but has a 100% chance to kill if they do hit.

If a duelist misses and their opponent has not yet fired, they must stand, teeth gritted, and honourably contemplate their fate as they wait for the return shot. We later plan to introduce a feature allowing a duelist to fire into the ground, so that honour may be satisfied without bloodshed.

Round 2: Blades

If both duelists survive round 1 with half or full health, the match proceeds to round 2, blades. This is a rock-scissors-paper dynamic. Each duelist may select one of four options:

1. Light blade (injures, strikes first)

2. Heavy blade (kills, strikes last)

3. Block (blocks a light blade)

4. Flee ("That's right, flee, you dishonourable dog!")

Match Resolution

If the recipient of the challenge fails to show, or either duelist fails to submit their move, the match is dishonourably abandoned by the duelist who failed to show.

If both duelists live, or both lie slain upon that morning field, then the match is a draw.

If one duelist is slain, but the other lives on, then the match is a victory in favour of the living duelist.

The $LORDS deposit, minus a fee of 10% (with a minimum 10 $LORDS), is then paid to the victor and the results of the match recorded permanently on-chain. In this way, all can see the match history and overall how honourably each lord plays.