Home sapiens were the first humanoids to make music with primitive instruments. This art form was a privileged method for communicating with the spirits. In
Sapiens, the tribe has invented a ritual called the
musical duel where 2 members of the tribe must confront each other under supervision of the shaman. Their only weapon is a hollow tree trunk with stretched animal skins on it. This method is used to help settle disputes without spilling blood, but also to help the victor gain the favour of the spirits by earning some
spiritual points, while the loser will be humiliated in front of the spirits and lose some
spiritual points.
The initiator of the
duel must have in their possession at least 1
offering for the shaman before being able to choose an adversary. This adversary must be within the
duel zone, which is a rocky peninsula delimited by 2 large vertical stones. To select an adversary, start by clicking on the contextual button
(table 3.1), then click on the person you wish to duel with the left mouse button. A person that finds himself in the
duel zone cannot refuse a duel invitation.
Image 3.9 : The musical duel
The person that got challenged to the duel will always start the duel. The person must play the musical notes while respecting the dance rhythm of the shaman. 4 notes must be produced with the hollow tree trunk: 2 hard sounds obtained by hitting with a bone on the bark of the trunk and 2 softer sounds by hitting the skins on the instrument. The notes played correspond to the following keys: A-S-D-W or 4,2,6,8 on the keyboard, or even all 4 of the arrow keys.
A rhythm bar will appear at the bottom of the screen and 4 circles shall scroll by one after another. In order to follow the rhythm of the shaman’s dance, you must “hit” a note each time that a circle passes in the middle of the rhythm bar.
Once the first participant has entered his first 4 notes, it’s time for the person that initiated the duel to play. He must first reproduce the notes entered by his adversary, and then add another 4 more. The rhythm bar will indicate which note must be reproduced via an icon that represents the key of the note.
If one of the participants makes an error, either by playing a wrong note, or by not playing one in time, they will lose some temporary energy points called fatigue points. Since these are only fatigue points, the energy points lost shall be returned once the duel ends. However the player who loses all of their fatigue points first shall lose the duel.
Once each participant has played their first round, the first player gets to play again. The duel then enters into the second phase (more difficult) and the shaman will accelerate the rhythm of his dance. The faster the rhythm, the greater the fatigue point penalties become. A player can commit several errors in the first phase and not lose the duel, however a single mistake in a later phase can make you lose all of your fatigue points.
Finally, as the duel progresses phases, more the stakes increase when it comes to spiritual point bonuses and penalties. Points are awarded or removed with these formulas (current phase*10) for the victor, and (current phase *5) for the loser.
