Re: Game written - what do I do now.

[Andy Kurnia <akur@gamerz.net>]

At 09:00 AM 8/11/97 BST, Ray Pearce wrote:
>I have finally finished converting Hexplode to run via PBeM.
>I have completed an alpha test of a few games under Linux 
>and I am now wondering what the next step is.
>As well as the PBeM version I have a two player face-to-face
>version that runs under Windows - available on request.

I'd like to know more about this game.

How big is the Windows version, if zipped?
**  IMPORTANT: I'm only asking the size, do NOT send it immediately...
    (I know many people who immediately sends the [big] file when I just
    ask about the size!)

>The only concerns I have about the game are board 
>representation and game duration.
>The game is played on a 'square' grid of hexagons with
>each hex needing to show hex owner and a value up to 6.
>The representation I am currently using is as follows.
>Any suggestions for improvement gratefully received.
>
>
>     A
>    ___  B
> 1 /   \___  C 
>   \___/   \___  D
> 2 /   \___/   \___  E
>   \___/x2x\___/o1o\___  F
> 3 /x3x\___/   \___/   \___
>   \___/x5x\___/o4o\___/   \
> 4 /   \___/   \___/   \___/ 1
>   \___/   \___/   \___/   \
> 5 /   \___/   \___/   \___/ 2
>   \___/   \___/   \___/   \
> 6 /   \___/   \___/   \___/ 3
>   \___/   \___/   \___/   \
>       \___/   \___/   \___/ 4
>     A     \___/   \___/   \
>         B     \___/   \___/ 5 
>             C     \___/   \
>                 D     \___/ 6
>                     E
>                         F 

Turn it 30 degrees to the left and you can save MANY bytes from the output:

    A  B  C  D  E  F
  1 .. .. .. o1 .. .. 1
   2 .. x2 .. o4 .. .. 2
    3 x3 x5 .. .. .. .. 3
     4 .. .. .. .. .. .. 4
      5 .. .. .. .. .. .. 5
       6 .. .. .. .. .. .. 6
          A  B  C  D  E  F

This shape is also used by many already-existing pbmserv games and you can
copy the code you can retrieve with fetch.2 ...

Try using both ".." and "--" for the blanks and see which is best.

Of course, whether this shape is better or not, depends on the game rules
as well! :-)

>Game duration can be over 100 moves (50 per player)
>is this too long? (I once played a game of tanbo for
>over 6 months - then the other player defaulted on
>his move! - very frustrating)

Defaulted on his move!? Explain.

This may be too long for people who do not play tanbo ;-)

Perhaps there should be an option to reduce the size of the board, like
with tanbo? Again, this depends on the game rules!