Spots

[MrTAToad]

At the moment, I'm working on a game called Spots.  This is based on a RiscOS game of the same name.

I'll be uploading a preview program on my website later, but currently a preview video can be found (UPDATED) :

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ubzUS8bdL6c

The preview program is available at : http://www.nicholaskingsley.co.uk/MiscThings/Spots.rar (Windows)
Its still got many things missing/not working/buggy, but it gives the general idea of things

[PeeJay]

Ah, I know this game well. Watching the video, I do have a concern, and that is with the speed - the menus scrolling on to the screen are too slow, and the motion of the pieces within the game is also too slow - I think without a bit of an increase in speed, the game will lose its appeal pretty quickly. Just my 2c

[MrTAToad]

Oh yes, it is a bit too slow at the moment.  It easy enough to fix...

[Kitty Hello]

Oh I don't know that game. What are the rules?

[MrTAToad]

The rules are thus :

On a board 7x7, each player (up to 4) starts off with one spot. 

This spot can be moved to an adjacent spot (if vacant), where the original spot will be duplicated.  Alternatively, the spot can be moved to a vacant spot slightly further away (the original spot is removed).

Once moved, any opponent spots in adjacent squares will be converted to your spot.

After the first go, you then have a choice of spots to move, of which only one can be done per turn.

The game is over when only one player remains or there are no more spaces to move to, in which case the person with the highest number of spots wins.

---

It is a fairly simple game to program - at least for human moves.  The pain is in the computer movements

I had orginally started to write this with BlitzMax (a year or so ago), but the framework I was using was a bit too much hard work to use, and it didn't make the AI system easy to do, so I abandoned the whole thing.
Previously, I had written a game with GSDK called BallZ that was somewhat similar.

With the purchase of GLBasic, I thought it was time to revive the whole thing.

[bigsofty]

It looks very nice, I like the presentation with the planet and the graphics are very cute... well done!

[Kitty Hello]

Thanks for the information. So, do you have a computer based turn system already?
I think it should be as simple as try all possible moves, and see which ones get the most score out for you. You don't even have to store all old moves, since you just need the currently-best move.
Maybe I'm short sighted here.

[MrTAToad]

Yes, the basics are in.

At the moment it collects all shapes for the player, works out the availiable moves and then works out the highest number of opponents for the move.

At least it will do when its fully implemented

The Linux version is availiable at http://www.nicholaskingsley.co.uk/MiscThings/Spots_Linux.zip

[MrTAToad]

Just to let you know how its going on :

The networking stuff is coming along very nicely - its all in upto the first game movement.  The passing of movement positions (and then the processing) is the next thing , and then sending the information about who is next goes will be put in after that.

At which point the coding level of multi-player and single computer will be the same :  The remaining bits (round statistics and after game information will need to be added).

I'll be uploading an updated preview program at some point tomorrow (along with the some screenies)

http://www.nicholaskingsley.co.uk/MiscThings/Spots.rar




Some things to note :

A)  As GLBasic can't find hosted games, you have to manually enter the IP address in yourself, which is no big deal really.  And dont try to run two copies on one machine (unless you can somehow assign them to different cores - its unplayably slow - as its try to use it with remote access)
B)  You can be ready for a game, but not reverse the decision.
C)  The layout of the host & client menus is a bit... strange...  I'm currently battling DDGUI about where I want the buttons and list boxes etc etc
D)  At the moment, only one client computer is taken into account - this is because the routine that makes sure all the computers are in sync after loading a level only checks for the first client ID number it comes across.  Its easy enough to sort, once the rest is up and running.
E)  Aside from the host screen, there is no notifications at all if the host leaves for any reason (clicks on the close icon, crashes, shuts down computer).

[MrTAToad]

The network part seems to be working fine, and I've uploaded another update (http://www.nicholaskingsley.co.uk/MiscThings/Spots.rar). 

Now its just a matter of making sure the program gets the winner correct - at the moment it isn't always correct...

[Hemlos]

Nice work, first game using glbasic?
Networked too 
Do you have a link to your website?

[MrTAToad]

Yes, its the first game using GLBasic. 

Its also apparently the first GLBasic networked game too - so all in all, I've taken several firsts

My websites at : www.nicholaskingsley.co.uk

It wont be out until after 6.007 is out - mainly because I want/need the use of integers (and to be able to compile for Mac). 

[MrTAToad]

The game should be nearly ready for Alpha testing.

I've had to redo the networking system for my game due to the fact that I have changed how the main game processed the shapes : Originally the players shape were originally tied into the chosen layout, which reduced flexability, especially when changing shapes.

So I have changed how the players shapes are displayed by putting them into their own array (which I should have done originally really   )

In addition, I've added the game's three logo's GLBasic (which I need to re-do), the Indie Development one and my one.

Finally, the titles menu movement has been removed - it was slowing everything down.

The remaining things left to do is get the in-game networking system working again, and add in the sound effects and music.

[Hark0]

Hi!

I have downloaded / played your Spots 0.0.0.1 

I don't know this gameplay!!

Cheers, Hark0

[MrTAToad]

Hope you liked it!

The main thing I need to get up and running again is the computer AI system.  I disabled this when the main game display system was changed.