Operation Zero

A very simple cipher, as is required for realtime play. Not much meat to the game, but it inspires me.

I kinda wanna use this as a base for something bigger. Maybe shift modes into being a boardgame, make a simple board consisting of connected & named nodes, and involve a third player. The commander and the third player, the antagonist, can see the board, while the spy cannot.

The antagonist's goal is to capture the spy by correctly predicting where they will move to, (can't predict the same place twice), the commander + spy want to get the spy in the enemy base without being detected. The antagonist also has a number of units, each of which can move between distinct sets of three nodes, which they are obliged to move every turn. If the spy moves into a unit, they also lose the game, but they're fine if a unit moves onto them.

When the commander gives the sheet to the spy, he also gives a copy, without the polynomial, to the antagonist. The antagonist must put down the paper when the spy declares they're ready, and then declare their move right after the spy passes in their move, recording in plain on paper.

The spy then has the chance, which may be turned down, to send a code back to the commander. Similarly, they pass the key to the commander but not to the antagonist, but both get a copy of the ciphertext. And the antagonist must put down the paper when the commander announces they are done reading.

Of course, the cipher can swapped for other ciphers, either for challenge, tripping up the antagonist, or simply to teach more ciphers.