The original, free and ready to play RPG - exlusive to Steemit - IBT!

I’m very pleased to announce the V2 @wizardzap bot release.

IBT is as of today one of the most advanced and comprehensive bot driven games operating on the Steemit platform! 

_{Image above created by @spaceginger}

This development would not have been possible without our committed testers and players. Some time will now be taken to fix the few minor bugs remaining and a fresh IBT will kick off shortly.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at enrolment :)

Background:

We have been working hard on Interactive Battle Tournament (IBT) for more then 6 months. The goal - to make the very best purely Steemit based fantasy game (not off platform, no add-ons  – you may remain completely anonymous if this is important to you).  

IBT has no budget, developers don't get paid and very little Steem is made by running these contests - its just a bit of fun.

IBT is all about community and players - its great a place to reward yourself with some crypto by just playing a game and having fun...you deserve it after all your quality blogging efforts, consider it a thankyou for your ongoing love and support for Steemit! . 

I think its fair to say IBT inspired and continues to inspire many of the  growing number of brilliant on platform (and even off platform) Steem based games coming for us to play!.

..but less about IBT and instead on with some techo geek fun bot facts about our V2 @wizardzap bot: 

• 70+ responses and commands (growing)
• Dozens of items drops and random events
• Intuitive self paced play
• Elite item retention over multiple tournaments
• Advanced error capture and handling
•  there are  • 3000+ lines of code
• Plenty examples of not how to use the English language, hehe

Other IBT Features include:   

Automatic player creation and monitoring – The bot  automatically creates and follows your  IBT character as you post on the Stage posts; it uses this to benefit your adventure and track you on your ultimate IBT mission to level up and  destroy the evil end boss.

Tracking and Statistics – The bot tracks you over the entire tournament (7 Stage Posts ). In the event of network error or slow response or reboot of the bot, it never forgets! Once the network is restored you can simply try again (Edit your command reply) and the bot will pick up exactly where you left off. This is a very unique feature for an on Steemit platform game - I hope this also inspires other game designers to push the limits! if you have a game and want some help please let me know.

Quick update on the current characters and classes:   

3 Character classes

Warrior:

Play as warrior: if you prefer hack and slash style game play. As a warrior you enjoy cleaving people or jabbing them. You have some power to auto enchant your weapons, but beware sometimes spells backfire with dire consequence   

Wizard:

Play as wizard: So you like combat magic’s? Well then the wizard class is good for you. Lightening, fireball and magic balls of pain, you name it, you got i!. Be wary, sometimes difficult spells can go astray.     

Archer:

Play as archer: So you’re trained with the bow and have some good forest lore. Time you tried out the Archer class, you can fire one or many arrows, you can fire enchanted arrows, you can slip and take your own eye out so be careful! 

Fight various creatures

Once you have your characters picked and your enroled you battle your way across the map killing evil minions until you reach the evil boss wizard dude for a final show down. As you play you win Steem, it is transferred to your wallet direct - No catches!..yeah I know it's not yet another upvoting bot! it's a gamebot and it pays you!!

Creatures vary as I have struggled to get many people to contribute animated art. Most are long passed abandonware foes  (greater then 20 years old/disbanded companies). While the graphics are laughable it may have a nostalgic value for us old timer PC players.

Above image from abandonware game dragonwars

If possible we will use unique Steemain made art works like this dragon donated by @artlover 

above image made by @artlover

Sometimes the donations are a bit rough like this skiddy skid mark monster below

The stinky jocks septic creature was created and used with permission of LordRoach.

Battle your way across the tournament map

Ok so our map isn't very interactive at this point, but yeah it was originally only to be a quick link guide to the  Stage posts if you get lost. 

Here is a picture of the original concept.

Here is the resulting map provided by @spaceginger

above image by @spaceginger

Play optional stage games.

Our own Steemit game master @doughtaker provides vital on the field judging and assistance. He also creates our Stage 6 challenges moving forward.

Beat his optional quest and take home Steem!

 Source: KDE 

And don't forget our record book

Of course in the end you use your leveled up character and items to take down the random end boss

  Source 

Image provided and used with permission of LordRoach.

A few final messages before I get back to work on these bugs

Item collection and Elite item collections 

Not much has changed interms of items, there are just more and they are now starting to show as your character progresses.

As per any true RPG you plunder the bodies of your destroyed and sometimes misunderstood foes. Picking the pocket of a dead enemy is a good minimalist approach (they don’t need it any more, why waste it?) be warned you don’t know what you’ll find searching around a dead persons pocket     

A green goblin sometimes attacks players (Do you know @Gobbo?), beat him and steal his stuff. 

These items now not only improve your attack they are permanent and stay with you over multiple tournaments – can you collect them all and be the most powerful IBT player to ever traverse Steemit.   

SOME Q AND A

Q. What’s it take to play?   

A. About 5 minutes a night for 7 consecutive nights. 

Q. Prizes:  

A. The prizes are different with each new IBT and it’s completely based on the kind donations of our sponsors. To give an indication it’s not unusual for player to take away: 

• 20+ Steem
• Free Steem Basic Income Shares 
• Silver bullion, delivered to your door step.         

It costs nothing to enrol and play in IBT, IBT is built and played by the players.  The event is currently hosted by me @lordnigel, but if the game continues to evolve, stabilize and show promise the game host may change so others may shape the competition (gain greater followers and exposure in the Steemit environment). 

Q. Why play this game? the graphics are lame 

A. Well..maybe, but rather then complain about it why not do something positive :) that is, if you dont like the look and feel of the game and your a great illustrator/game designer please volunteer and contribute let me know - happy to feature your art here and of course give you reference/credit.

Q. This game is for Noobs, real Steemians play Steemmonsters.

A. Well...this maybe, but keep in context - IBT has been operating for months and while there are many cooler and longer in planning IBT is playable now. It has been played for months and is  one of the 'original' ready to play on Steemit. Why not play now? pass the time waiting for the expensive production jobs to get here :)

Q. How much does it cost to play?

A. It costs nothing to enrol and play. All players get followed and upvoted by our community bot, so there are some options for in game transfers if you want to donate, however IBT is not a pay to win game. IBT doesn't make the creators and contributors any liquid Steem of SBD; all of that is given away along with other donations as prizes by key sponsors and contributors.

Q. What does the game look like?

A. Just look back through my feed, you will see how it evolved. Most recent tests are here:

https://steemit.com/ibt/@lordnigel/ibt-testing-test-8-come-to-play-and-test-our-bot-v2-code-right-here-on-steemit

Q. How do I play?

A. In about a week an enrolment post will appear in my feed. You simply follow the instructions in the enrolment post and have fun making Steem.