allgeektout

Spies are stealthy, aren’t they? Then how come every single spy video game tends to contain the same elements – explosions, shooting, and generally being as un-stealthy as any human being could be? Chris Hecker is changing that around a bit with his upcoming game SpyParty, which is an advanced and interesting version of the Turing Test.

In it one player plays the Sniper, one player plays the Spy, and the rest of the people in the room are all AI (I think, I haven’t been able to figure out if some of them are players as well). The Spy has to complete several missions within a cocktail party as discreetly as possible, without letting the Sniper know who he is. The Sniper wins if they manage to shoot the spy, they win. But if they shoot the wrong person, well…

- Most memorable moment: When civilian was shot.
Ambient chatter stopped, replaced by piercing female scream, everyone ran from victim.
[Shocking. Can't remember last time I felt bad for killing someone.]

I’m going to eagerly follow development of this game. In some ways, it reminds me a bit of the game The Ship (which I never played), even though the gameplay is fairly different.