Tower Capture [BIG graphics update]

[htmlhigh5]

Video:

YouTube

Update: Big thanks to Freank from indiexpo.com who helped me completely rework the graphics! Let me know what you think! I think it makes a big difference. Also, local multiplayer was added.

Hello HTML5GameDevs! Htmlhigh5.com is back with another game after a long time! This time with a puzzle/strategy game. I recently got second place in a rather large AI programming challenge, and I decided to make a game out of the challenge! I did have to dumb down the bot so it is beatable though. Let me know what you think!

Play Here: Tower Capture

 

 

[PhasedEvolution]

I couldn't access the webpage 

[htmlhigh5]

49 minutes ago, PhasedEvolution said:

I couldn't access the webpage 

Augh this is so annoying. I think there is some DNS issue or something. I've had a couple other people have issues with this. Can I ask what your service provider / router is? For some people it works on cellular but not their home network. Sorry about this, I'm trying to find a fix.

 

Edit: I believe the problem was fixed. Let me know if this is still an issue for anyone. Thanks for your patience!

Edited August 1, 2017 by htmlhigh5
Fixed issue (hopefully)

[totor]

Hi,
i like brain teasers (what was the AI programming challenge name?). I played on easy mode and i won! (yeah!!!).
A few remarks :

The screen is not as readable as chess or checkers for my taste, maybe you should add a more "flat icon" look like your logo, the arrows on marble are hard to see and the red crosses don"t fit with the theme of the board.

The instructions are not clear, i had to figure out how to play, i even didn't know what color i was. I thought the arrows were to kill the other pawns but no, they are barriers to prevent them to move.

The goal of the game is to prevent the other pawns to move, blocking their degrees of freedom (a bit like go). Once you have locked the opponents in a smaller territory than yours, you have won the game BUT you have to make all the remaining moves until the games ends, this is tedious. Maybe you should add an auto-solver that ends the game when it's clear you have won or make a smaller board, i don't know since i have not your experience on the game

Anyway, thanks for this nice game.

[htmlhigh5]

@totor Thanks for the helpful feedback! After some consideration, I think I agree with you on the look of the arrows, marble, and crosses. I replaced the marble with a flat white and black grid, increased the number of arrows, and made sure they wound up closer to the center of the square. I also changed the look of the pawns, and now there will be a little green box around your players so it is easier to see where to move. 

You can check out the updates here: Tower Capture

Unfortunately, ending the game early when the outcome is clear would be more difficult than it first appears. There is always the possibility of one player making a mistake, and furthermore, the score is based on the number of moves. I think you will find that the endgame is shorter when you play on hard difficulty  

Thanks again for the feedback!

 

(You can see the bot contest I entered here. It says there were 416 submissions, so I was happy with 2nd)

[totor]

Thanks, for the modifications, it"s definitively easier on the eyes. Hard mode is indeed shorter ;)

I tried your link for the bot contest but it seems that you need to install some app to have access to the question so i quit.

[htmlhigh5]

@totor Oh I guess you can only see it on Desktop :/ 

[totor]

Hard mode : 492-70= 422, the last 20 moves were automated since the opponents were trapped.

I am now curious of what the AI question was, and what strategy does your AI uses?

[htmlhigh5]

@totor That's an audacious claim to make without a verified score on the leaderboards to back it up 

The AI question was basically just to make a bot that can play this game. My strategy is basically to score the board based on the players' position and the open space around them, then find the move that results in the best result. If you want, I can send you the source code for the bot I submitted. I wrote it in Java originally.

[totor]

In fact, i made 66 moves yesterday ;)

i saw that (in hard mode) the starting position is always the same and the computer always move first, why?

if you could post the code for the bot that would be awesome, i am in puzzle solvers as a hobby this summer.

[htmlhigh5]

The computer moves first in hard mode to make it a little more difficult without using the amount of processing time it takes to make the AI better. Basically it's harder without being slower. It does the same move every time because that's the move the algorithm thinks is the best

Here is the original code for the bot:

http://ianstuff.com/botBattleCurrent.java

Thanks!

-Ian

[Tymski]

How did you create the score distribution?

[htmlhigh5]

@Tymski

I made a custom API on htmlhigh5.com and I have some Javascript in my games that sends async requests to the API for saving the score, earning trophies, etc. The score distribution is just some MySQL with some GROUP BY's and ORDER BY's thrown around. In this game, I think the score distribution tells an interesting story. You can see most scores are in the 220-255 range, which is roughly the score you earn for beating easy mode. Clearly, most people play easy mode and win. It helps me as a developer and I think it's fun to look at.

Hope this helps,
-Ian

[htmlhigh5]

Update: Big thanks to Freank from indiexpo.com who helped me completely rework the graphics! Let me know what you think! I think it makes a big difference. Also, local multiplayer was added.