EDIT: If you want to play against yourself to get an idea of gameplay, poor programming allows you to login with your account on two separate browsers(ex. IE and Chrome) as long as you use different capitalization on your username. Interesting quirk that allows you to play against yourself locally.
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I finally completed, despite a bunch of opposition, such as a very lost puppy we had to try and find out in the country-side. "Go Get Em", a great strategy game with a very lame name, is my entry. It is fairly simple to play, like go Game and Reversi, but difficult to master. You place a piece, and any occupied squares surrounding that piece become yours. Simple as that. Go back and forth, against your opponent until the field is full. The player with the most area at the end wins it.
The general strategy is to take each turn so that you give up the minimal amount of area and take the most possible.
You will need to create an account so the game can keep track of you. Once in, click the "Find Game" button and you will be joined up with another player at random.
that is a super cool game! I think the play area could be a touch smaller, as it feels like you need to hit a wall before things get super interesting. that's only after a single game though, so I guess I haven't mastered the grand strategy.
This is exactly the sort of "simple to learn but infinitely deep" game that I thin typifies properly elegant game design. I am super impressed.
that is a super cool game! I think the play area could be a touch smaller, as it feels like you need to hit a wall before things get super interesting. that's only after a single game though, so I guess I haven't mastered the grand strategy.
This is exactly the sort of "simple to learn but infinitely deep" game that I thin typifies properly elegant game design. I am super impressed.
I may be wrong, but on an odd by odd board, if I am the first player and I play the centre square, then mirror my opponent's move (rotational symmetry), don't I always win? And if either of the sides has an even number of sqaures along it, can the second player not mirror her opponent's moves (reflectional across the centre) and always win?
I'm sure you've already thought of this, I just can't immediately see why that doesn't work.
Interesting game. I thought it was Go for a sec, but was quickly proven wrong. never played Othello or Reversi before. Grats on a multiplayer implementation in a LD!
I'm Purebe - was tempted to try to go into a best of three against you CrazyGage since we tied at 1-1, but, the games take a bit of time so.. :P Super fun though, I think this is by far the most fun I've had in any of the games I've played up to this point. Probably due to the competitive nature, and I can only imagine the look on your face when you saw your final three moves in game two, I was laughing during your entire dramatic pause there :P
All in good fun! This is like the perfect game for those "social websites" or whatever, I'd really love to play some of my friends in this. Really, really, really good job! I love it :D I think you need to expand on this and get it somewhere, because seriously - this is addictive!
@john_conder9: Yeah, just went up against Xyrix, I will make a rev 2 on the website that includes chat, and a random set of dead squares. Chat would increase the amusement level exponentially, I think. @xyrix: I guess your symmetry idea helped you win 146-110 against me. I will do the dead square thing.
No opponent. I understand the need for simple registration, but a single player version, even if I play as the opponent too would provide a good glimpse into the gameplay.
@CrazyGage - I was originally intending to play symmetry against you, but I miscounted the squares. I played a lot of symmetry against you, but not the perfect strategy as it were, and I noticed a useful trick - i.e. if there are an even number of moves left from your position you should play moves to leave empty squares isolated in pairs. When your opponent then plays in one of the two in a pair, you take the other - this guarantees an equal exchange in the worst case but gains you points most often.
To be honest, I was playing on a crappy laptop, and I kept misclicking with the mouse on it, which didn't much help :-P. Playing second in the game just happened to be a huge advantage.
@xyrix: yeah, I intend to add a pass button to version 2. Once both users pass, the game is scored as is. Removes being forced to taking those double pairs. I have been using them to try to trap people I play against. lol
Also, version 2 has global and in-game chat features now.
Good playing you CrazyGage. I'm a big fan of strategy games like these. After playing, it seems I encountered the same strategy of empty pairs as xyrix. I really like seeing the natural development of strategies from systems like these. Good job.
@alts: good playing you too. Being the maker of the game, you would figure I would be better at beating you people. lol. A pass button, a pass each means game end as is, would help against those nothing to gain pairs at the end, just like in Go Game. That will go into v2 tomorrow probably.
Really amazing that you implemented multiplayer. Fun, clever game, very minimal. I wish there were a computer player to play against to get used to how it works, even if he's bad/random. Nice job.
Played against biteme, won by resignation with a lead something like 60s to 40s. I'm not sure it has quite the same depth as Go or Reversi, even though it has a similar size for its state space. It would be really nice to have a computer opponent, even a bad one (maybe one that just takes the biggest number of tiles each turn, or one which looks two or three move ahead.)
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This is exactly the sort of "simple to learn but infinitely deep" game that I thin typifies properly elegant game design. I am super impressed.
Please add a chat feature!
This is exactly the sort of "simple to learn but infinitely deep" game that I thin typifies properly elegant game design. I am super impressed.
Please add a chat feature!
I'm sure you've already thought of this, I just can't immediately see why that doesn't work.
All in good fun! This is like the perfect game for those "social websites" or whatever, I'd really love to play some of my friends in this. Really, really, really good job! I love it :D I think you need to expand on this and get it somewhere, because seriously - this is addictive!
@xyrix: I guess your symmetry idea helped you win 146-110 against me. I will do the dead square thing.
To be honest, I was playing on a crappy laptop, and I kept misclicking with the mouse on it, which didn't much help :-P. Playing second in the game just happened to be a huge advantage.
Also, version 2 has global and in-game chat features now.