Welcome!
SpaceColonyH© is a non-violent psychologically-based, problem-solving leadership game set in space. It incorporates the insights of Hippocrates and it challenges you with making all day-to-day social and operational decisions. You are being sent to SpaceColonyH© as the Temporary Executive Director and if you do well, you will qualify as SpaceColonyH©'s Permanent Executive Director.
500 Colonists have created their home in the deep, cold vacuum of space... where there is no tolerance for life or wrong decisions. Living in space is extremely risky. Problems must be resolved. Space Pioneers have come from all parts of the Earth and in your encounters with those Colonists reporting situations to you, random chance determines their sex and race. All will want your leadership. They have chosen SpaceColonyH© as the place where they want to live out their lives... here they are productive and free from the limitations of others. In SpaceColonyH© they are judged on what they do, not on what they look like or where they come from. Each is an expert in their field.
Hippocrates
Two and a half thousand years ago, Hippocrates concluded, after a lifetime of being a physician and healer, that there were four Personality Types. I have 'modernized' the identities and names as a part of this game, SpaceColonyH©, and they are the: Formal Leader, Informal Leader, Planner and Peacemaker. The Colonists who appear will be one of these four Personalities Types and they will present you with their approach to solving the problem, but you do not have to select their advice. As a leader, you will often have to make independent choices regardless of any advice you receive.
Fifteen people have been photographed gesturing in four postures to represent the four Personality Types. These gestures are consistent from person to person and that will be your key to knowing which Personality Type is appearing before you on each game turn. The images are static, later game versions will permit more fluidity and complexity with full motion video. More individuals will be photographed for this game Version 1.0 and will be added to the 'randomization pool'. Some sample Personality Type images are shown below:
SpaceColonyH© Game Design
The game, SpaceColonyH©, has two parts: "Name that Personality Type" and "Make your Operational Decision". There are nine turns per game. Each of the game turns will present a new Colonist and a new game problem. You will first name the Personality Type of the Colonist (study the hand gestures of this page - that will show you how each Personality Type emphasizes their point of view) and then you will make a decision to resolve the problem presented by choosing one of four possible advice solutions. The order of advice is: First advice choice = Planner; Second advice choice = Formal Leader; Third advice choice = Informal Leader; and, Fourth advice choice = Peacemaker. Your score will be tabulated and at the end of the nine game turns, you will find out how you did. To be named Permanent Executive Director, you have to have 9 out of 9 Colonist Personality Types correctly identified. An effective leader always knows the personality of the person they are listening and talking to. But you can have two wrong answers in the Operational Decisions, 2 out of 9, and still qualify to this top position in SpaceColonyH©. If you are not voted as Permanent Executive Director, you may replay the game by downloading an entirely new scenario which will be randomly constituted with nine new Colonists and nine new operational problems.
"Ticking Clock"
The key to knowing which Operational Decision to choose depends upon the time allowed.
If a decision is needed immediately, look for the Action Personality's advice that the Formal Leader (second advice choice) and Informal Leader (third advice choice) will provide. Typically, the Formal Leader's advice is to do what they say, now, and often times they will include some form of penalty or punitive action to ensure completion of the task. The Informal Leader wants to lead a group of people who will be assembled to accomplish the task, members being drawn from the many clubs or pro-active elements within SpaceColonyH©.
If a decision allows time to study the problem, look for the Reflective Personality's advice that the Planner or Peacemaker will provide. The Planner (first advice choice) will want to analyze, study or evaluate the situation. The Peacemaker (fourth advice choice) will want the Colony's interest held first, supporting the Colonists and SpaceColonyH©'s safety and well-being over contractual obligations with Earth-based companies or organizations. The Peacemaker wants to make both sides happy, 'this group and that group'.
All game problems have been written to provide this Action Personality VS. Reflective Personality choice. Repeating, if the problem requires an immediate action, choose the second or third advice choice but if there is some time available to study the problem, choose the first or fourth advice choice. Later SpaceColonyH© game versions will be much less definitive and will incorporate a complexity of consequences since not everyone is all of one personality, but typically is a mixture of Personality Types.
New game problems are being added weekly. I include both behavioral and operational situations to provide the most realistic circumstances requiring your leadership decisions. Whether issues are of the reckless behavior of people piloting Individual Maneuvering Platforms outside SpaceColonyH© or problems such as Y2K (Year 2000 computer programming end date), incidences are being created to continually make SpaceColonyH© new, stimulating and exciting.
Enjoy!
This game is Version 1.0. As the Internet continues to develop with increasing bandwidth, SpaceColonyH© will be able to utilize full motion video and animation (without excessive cost or download times). For now, with my national and international players and with the world-wide variance of modem speeds, computational powers of an array of computers and bandwidths, this game is downloadable as a single 3.5MB transfer and is designed to be playable for slow modems and 'somewhat old' computers.
You are invited, welcomed in fact, to play as many games as you like. For now, they are free. Once I have over five thousand games being played per day, I may have to charge, or find advertisers, for the expenses necessary to support more games. But for now, the game is free.
Enjoy the game, SpaceColonyH©, and please tell your friends and help get the word out about it.
Dennis R. Archambault, Game Designer/Producer
Gameplayers Worldwide
Notice: SpaceColonyH© is fully protected under all Copyright and Intellectual Property Law. No "Appropriation" (copy/alteration), of any extent, is permitted on any aspect whatsoever of SpaceColonyH© : art, photos, game design, game problems, text or heretofore unnamed elements of this game. The Internet is known to be as "lawless as the Old West"and you should know that I have already "dropped the hammer once" and will do so again. I won in court. Prior, written permission is required for anything to be copied, altered and utilized that originates from SpaceColonyH©. Otherwise, deep pockets are advised.
Copyright© 1997 SpaceColonyH© All Rights Reserved