Comments on: Let’s have some different iPhone board games!

By: eoin

eoin — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:00:57 +0000

In thinking of a game for the iPhone i was trying to think of something that could be iPhone specific, involving touch or movement etc. One of the ideas I had was a connect four ( or five etc.) type game where you moved a piece and then rotated the iPhone when handing to your opponent - this move is obligatory. Also it could be 3d. However i worked out you didnt need an iphone for this as you could force the rotate in software :-)

By: Sean

Sean — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:58:15 +0000

Jens - Thanks for the kind words about Hexy! Greg and I put a lot of time and effort into it, and it’s cool to see people liking it. :) I understand you are an ex-Apple dude - I was wondering if maybe you’d know how Apple decides when an app is “new” and should show up, say, on the front page of the Games section… :p

By: Jens Alfke

Jens Alfke — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 00:38:32 +0000

Greg — I’m actually happy that I’m able to sometimes win at Hexy! It’s a great confidence-booster, since I’m new at Hex. I find that getting crushed by the AI the first few times I play a game (as happens with Go apps) tends to keep me from wanting to play more. By comparison, my 3rd game against Hexy was epic, as I nearly established a connection, only to have the AI block me and threaten its own, until I slowly twisted past its guard and won.

Now all you have to do is add improvements to the AI over time, so as I get better the game will get better along with me ;-)

By: Greg

Greg — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 00:33:00 +0000

You’re right on about the AI thing. I implemented the AI for Hexy, which was definitely a bit of a chore… it’s pretty similar to Go in terms of the difficulty of computing a good solution (aka really, really hard). There’s been some cool research done on playing Hex well, but you have to implement it - and it’s pretty complicated stuff. It would have been much easier to adapt the code from Six (for KDE, which is one of the best Hex bots out there), but that’s GPLed and we couldn’t get in touch with the author.

It’s a valid point about how you could feasibly charge for OSS stuff on the iPhone, just because only people who’ve paid their $100 for a dev certificate can actually get programs on the phone. But it’s still a bit dicey, trying to charge for something you released the source for, and Hexy cost us a fair bit of money and time that we’d like to recoup. So instead you’re stuck with the OK-but-not-great AI that I was able to get working. Maybe in future versions that’ll improve. :-)

By: alcolfpab

alcolfpab — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:33:08 +0000

Hello Id Like to bid you this odd corroborate !

How relating to we try something a piquant deprecating this later ?

perchance something like this ?

http://www.50isadick.com

By: Kontra

Kontra — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 06:35:36 +0000

Looking to Hasbro for design sense (visual or gameplay) is like looking to Dress Barn for evening gowns or to MTV for cutting-edge music. ;-)

Point taken, as I commented in my blog. However, the upcoming First Lady says it’s OK to go with JCrew, we don’t need $150K haute couture to look fabulous. :-)

By: Jens Alfke

Jens Alfke — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 06:29:13 +0000

Kontra: Well yes, the lack of aesthetics in recent Hasbro games, as in your example, is pretty clear. Looking to Hasbro for design sense (visual or gameplay) is like looking to Dress Barn for evening gowns or to MTV for cutting-edge music. ;-) We're actually lucky enough to be in the middle of an explosion of creativity and quality in board gaming, but to find it you have to look a bit farther afield; the website BoardGameGeek is a great place to start.

By: Kontra

Kontra — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 03:36:23 +0000

Speaking of board-game design, I bemoaned the loss of aesthetics in more recent productions, with examples from 16th century on here: Daily question: Is it just a game?

By: Jens Alfke

Jens Alfke — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:14:17 +0000

A good Hex game does sound up my alley. It’s a famous game but I’ve actually never played it, somehow.

By: Jeremie Miller

Jeremie Miller — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:29:17 +0000

My good friend Sean just released Hexy, I think you'll like :)