Hostile Takeover

A social deduction game about corporate espionage. Think Secret Hitler, but as a Jackbox-style party game, with a corporate boardroom setting.

Gameplay

Each round, players are assigned a secret role from one of two factions in one of three possible roles. The Visionary faction is trying to pass 5 growth initiatives, while the Insiders faction is trying to pass 6 hostile initiatives. Within the Insiders faction, there are 2 roles: Insiders and the Raider. The Insiders know who everyone is, and are trying to elect the Raider after 3 hostile initiatives have already been passed. If the Raider is elected CEO when there are already 3+ hostile initiatives on the board, the Insiders win. However, the Raider doesn't know who anyone is, and won't trust anyone, not even the Insiders who are trying to elect them. The Visionaries are equally left in the dark, not knowing anyone's roles.

Gameplay Loop

The initiative deck consists of 17 cards, 11 of which are hostile and 6 of which are growth. The deck decreases in size as hostile initiatives are passed, so as growth initiatives are passed the chance of getting three hostile initiatives given to the COO is increased, making it more difficult for the Visionaries to win as the game progresses.

Each round, the COO moves around the board sequentially. The COO then nominates a player to be the CEO. The CEO is then voted on.

• If the vote passes, the round continues.
• If the vote fails, the round ends and the COO moves to the next player.
  • If 3 rounds fail to elect a board in a row, the first card from the deck is is played. No action is performed, and the COO moves to the next player.

If the vote passes, the COO is then sent 3 initiatives from the deck. They then choose to discard one, and the other two are then sent to the CEO. The CEO then chooses to discard one, and the other is sent to the board.

If a hostile initiative is passed, the COO can then perform an action. There are 3 possible actions that are unlocked at different thresholds, and can only be performed when the hostile initiative is passed.

• Audit: The COO can reveal the faction (not role) of any player they choose on their device. They can then choose to reveal the truth or lie about the player's faction.
  • The Raider will be revealed as an Insider, not as the Raider to protect them from being eliminated.
  • Done after the first two hostile initiatives are passed.
• Forecast: The COO will be shown the next 3 cards from the deck. Again, they can choose to reveal the truth or lie about the cards.
  • Done after the third hostile initiative is passed.
• Downsizing: The COO can fire any player they choose. Fired players are out the rest of the game and cannot participate in voting, and their role is revealed tano all players.
  • Done after the fourth and fifth hostile initiatives are passed.
  • If the fired player is the Raider, the Visionaries win.

One this is done, there will be a discussion period where players can discuss the actions that were taken. The COO decides when to end the discussion period.

The Visionaries win when the Visionaries pass 5 growth initiatives, or the Raider is fired. Insiders win when 6 hostile initiatives are passed, or if the Raider is elected CEO after 3 hostile initiatives have already been passed (the raider must be elected after the 3rd hostile initiative, not during it).

Tech Stack

• NextJS
• shadcn/ui
• KeyDB (Redis-compatible)
• Docker Compose

TODO

• Add a "rules" modal that explains the game rules and how to play
• Prevent the board from being elected twice in a row (unless it was their turn for COO)
• Make the styling consistent across all pages
• Improve the animations
• Fix the discussion phase skipping after action phase
• Improve the landing page
• Make a demo and game video
• Fix the re-render issue on mobile (may be fixed by switching to websockets)