Game mechanic idea: robot programming with piecepack coins

[Mark Biggar <mark.a.biggar@...>]

Hi

I would like some group discussion on using piecepack coins
as program steps in a "roborally" like game.

Note that with the current piecepack design pawns are not orientable.
I know that there has been previous discussion of modifying the
piecepack definition to add a mark to each pawn so that they have
an obvious front, similar to the tick marks on the coins.  But as
the current pawns are not so marked, any roborally like game
will have to work with frontless robots.

Now on to the programming idea.  Call this a rules module (not a 
complete game but a rules subset that could be used as part of the 
complete rule set of any game.)

So I'd like to propose a strawman for group discussion:

Assume that robots are moving on a board constructed of piecepack
tile suit-side down.

Each round a player selects 3 coins to represent what the players
robot is to do for its next three actions.  The coins are selected
in hiding (probable behind your hand) and ordered in a line in the 
order to be executed.  Coins numbered-side up are program steps that
cause the robot to move the number of spaces in a straight line 
specified by the direction of the tick on the coin.  A blank specifies
the robot does some special action (determined by the game being
played).  Coins suit-side up cause the robot to fire it weapon in the
direction of the tick.  Coins are exposed and executed simultaneously
in order (the game will specify a method to resolve conflicts).

When ever a robot takes damage the owning player must select a coin
to put aside and must program subsequent round with fewer coins.  
If a robot has fewer than 3 coins available, one or more of its
actions would be to sit and do nothing for the action turn.  When
a robot's last coin is gone the robot is destroyed (whether or not
it may reenter the game depends of the game rule: in a roborally
like game "yes", in something like a battlebots game "no")

Thanks for you consideration and I hope that this leads to some
interesting discussions.

--
Mark Biggar
mark.a.biggar@...