Gameplay

Gameplay in Shartak occurs on a grid-like map of the island. Players participate as outsider and native characters and interact with one another. The island is also home to many characters controlled by the system. These non-player characters (NPCs) include helpful shamans, traders, and various animals.

Mechanics

Action Points

Characters rely on Action Points (AP) to perform almost all actions in the game, such as moving, speaking, writing, fighting, searching, and trading (see explanations below). Most actions cost 1 AP. When a character's AP reaches 0, they rest and are temporarily unable to do anything.

One AP is replenished every 20 minutes; in 24 hours, a character regains 72 AP. Most players cannot exceed 75 AP, but scouts and explorers have a maximum of 80.

Some actions use 0 AP (such as dropping an item or proposing a trade at a trading hut). Others use 0.5 AP (e.g, movement over land with the Trekking skill uses 0.5 AP, and Advanced Tracking uses 1.5 AP). Every 10 minutes, your character regains 0.5 AP.

If you run out of AP, the game will tell you how many minutes you have to wait until you get another one. Some activities cannot be performed if they would send you into negative AP (e.g., contacting a shaman). Other actions (like moving through swampy terrain or swimming) will send you into negative AP, in which case you will be unable to act until your AP becomes positive again.

Experience Points

Main article: XP

Performing certain actions earns Experience Points (XP). Players with enough XP can buy skills, which improve a character's current abilities or grant new ones. The most common way to gain experience is to attack an animal or another player.

Hit Points

Every human and animal in Shartak has a limited amount of Hit Points (HP). Damage inflicted to a character (by other players or animals, etc.) will reduce their current amount of HP. Some items, including all drinks and most fruits, will replenish a player's HP if they are consumed or used.

If a character's HP reaches 0, they die. But death is not the end; it is just another part of the game. Dead characters can play as spirits or can contact a shaman on the island who will assist them in returning to life. (Contacting the shaman in your home village costs 25 AP, while contacting the nearest wandering shaman costs 50.)

Players can be harmed and killed even while they are logged out (asleep). You may sleep, but for other players on the island, life goes on.

Generic actions

Move

Your character is located in the center block in the 5x5 map grid. You can move into any directly adjacent block that has the "Move" button by clicking on it.

Movement through jungle, beach, and grassland terrain usually costs 1 AP, but with the Trekking skill it only costs 0.5 AP (you can move two squares and only lose one AP — note that character AP display is rounded off). Other terrains (like swamp or water) are harder to traverse and consume more AP per movement. Certain terrain can be dangerous: swimming in deep water can result in a shark bite, which requires a first aid kit or healing herbs to cure.

Besides moving to adjacent areas, characters can also enter and leave huts, ship compartments, and temples found in their current location. They are also capable of climbing mountain paths and certain tunnels.

Push

Maximum density jungle terrain requires chopping down some of the growth (using a machete) before moving there. If you aren't carrying a machete, you can attempt to "push" through maximum density jungle, but you will fail most of the time.

Chop

If they have a machete or cutlass, characters can chop down the jungle in their immediate area. Passable jungle growth ranges from level 9 (dark green) down to level 0 (brown dirt). Characters can also chop impassable jungle (level 10) in adjacent areas down to level 9. All jungle (and camp) areas regrow vegetation over time.

Attack

You can attack other players and animals which are in the same area as you. Use the first pull-down menu to select the target. Use the second pull-down menu select the weapon you wish to use.

The value represents the damage (in HP, see above) you will inflict if you hit the target. The percentage is your chance to hit the target, or your accuracy. Higher accuracy means a higher chance of hitting the target.

Occasionally your melee weapon breaks and is discarded, and occasionally you inflict extra damage: "Maybe it's luck or maybe it's skill, your attack is right on target and inflicts more damage than normal. You attack the tiger for 5 damage. It dies." (See Special weapon event odds for related research.)

Search area

No matter where you are, you can attempt to search your immediate area for any items you might find useful, and on most squares you have a chance to find certain items. Your success rate in finding items and the types of items you find depend on the type of terrain you are searching. The best search success rates are found in medical huts and ammunition huts in camps, as supplies have already been stacked in them. Searching almost always costs one AP, although some difficult terrain can require more than 1 AP per search attempt.

An unsuccessful search generally does not mean that there are no items in the area, just that you didn't find any on that attempt. You can search any area multiple times and continue to find items. (See How searching works for more information.)

Speak

If another player is in the same area as you, you can communicate with them by using the textfield next to the "Speak" button and then clicking the button.

All outsiders can understand each other, and all natives understand each other. But without learning the language of the other group (see Skills), it is difficult for an outsider to comprehend the words of a native and vice versa.

Write

Main article: Writing

If you own a knife or dagger, you can leave messages on huts, trees, and in the sand. These messages are not permanent, but they provide a means of creating temporary landmarks and communicating with other players. However, without certain language skills it is difficult for outsiders and natives to understand each other's messages, as they speak different languages.

Make signpost

Main article: Signpost

With two pieces of driftwood, you can place a semi-permanent signpost in an outdoor location. Signs can be used to communicate with other characters (for example by marking directions and distances to important locations). Outsiders and natives write in different languages.

Look for tracks

Main article: Tracking

With Basic Tracking, Advanced Tracking, and Expert Tracking skills your character has the ability to examine the area for the paths of animals, shamans, and other players that have passed through the area previously.

Trade

Main article: Trading

When inside a trading hut, your character has the opportunity to trade an inventory item for those that the trader has in their inventory.

Inventory

Main article: Items

Certain items in your inventory list can be used by clicking their respective buttons. Many items can only be used once. Generally, clicking on a bottle of liquid or a fruit will heal you (for example, a banana heals 1 HP), and the item will disappear from your inventory.

Certain items (currently first aid kits and healing herbs) can be used on other characters or animals by selecting the target with the pull-down menu.

Some items like machetes, may break or become blunt naturally with use.

In order to sharpen a blunt weapon, click on the sharpening stone, not on the weapon.

Certain items are usable only by the outsiders (rifles, first aid kits, GPS units) and other items are only usable by natives (blowpipes, healing herbs). Every character can learn the appropriate knowledge skill to enable them to use foreign items.

There is an inventory limit of about 71 units of space. Some items, such as rifles and blowpipes, take more than one unit of space, and gold coins take no inventory spaces.

Items can be dropped from the inventory by using the pull-down menu and clicking the "Drop" button. Dropping an item costs 0 AP and any item that is dropped cannot be retrieved. Dropped items are immediately removed from the game, and cannot be recovered by anyone.