Pure Pazaak WIP Screenshots (16 July)

[dufflover]

OK, for the small few who are interested/keeping an eye out on the Pazaak game and looking for signs of life from the project (I've been neglecting the web pages), I've decided to post some quick WIP shots to show what I'm doing now, and where it is at in general.

Keep in mind that these shots are just visual final shots and a lot of the coding doesn't work yet (or doesn't exist). I didn't put much effort into the cropping, or not at all , so there's some VB window junk at the rims.

 

New Screenie: feel free to comment on this

Pazaak Online had the BioWare forum Avatars but were taken out of Pazaak Arcade cos there wasn't much point. I've decided put them back into Pure Pazaak with a few extra ones. All the crap looking ones are ofcourse ones I've tried to make....(you can choose to display no portraits at all)

 

 

Splash/Player Screen Finished:

 

Main Menu:

 

Options (got any suggestions, good time to suggest any):

 

Cardselect screens, K1 and K2 styles:

[ChAiNz.2da]

Wow! It's looking great!

 

I'm glad to see the project is still up & running. Even though I royally suck at the game, it is a tad bit "addicitve". Move over solitaire, I've got sumthin' better

 

I am surprised (and happy) to see you're adding network play to it.. that would be something definitley different. Not only can I lose at the game, I can publicly humiliate myself on how crappy a player I am :D

 

ChAiNz.2da = easy mark

[darth spock]

 

Love your original already. I'm going to install it on the computers at my high school secretly so I can play it there.

[Meshugger]

It's coded with VB?

 

*shivers*

[Darth_Polini]

I love the Arcade Version & i'm eager to play the Pure version, keep up the good work

[Akari]

Neat project.

 

Is your opponent AI going to cheat like the KotOR one did?

 

Just kidding. If you need any information about how the KotOR AI made its quite-fair-and-non-cheating decisions, I'd be happy to outline some of the algorithm sometime.

 

-Akari

[Calax]

Quite-fair-noncheating? you trying to plug your product Akari? Duff it looks great.

[Jericho]

Duff, it looks great.

 

When you're done, are you going to post the source code? I'd be curious to look at it.

 

Akari, I'd be interested in looking at your algorithm.

 

Thanks.

[dufflover]

It's coded with VB?

 

*shivers*

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeh, I know and agree . They've taught us C at Uni (which I've forgotten) and more recently this year Java (which I found easy because I knew basic VB from High-School) but was never taught about GUI elements of the two languages and I don't have much commitment (it works now doesn't it ) to learn it - it supposed to be a "hobby" type project after all.

Yep, I'm a programming n00b.

 

Is your opponent AI going to cheat like the KotOR one did? 

I was suprised when I read (can't remember where) that the K1 code didn't have any cheating elements...

Anyway, as the coder, I can garuntee that the AI doesn't pull cards it doesn't have, or have draws weighted or anything like that " ....no really!

In more pseudo-code terms, it's one line of code saying to generate a random number between 1 and 10. (and the random seeding thing to system clock at the start)

 

If you need any information about how the KotOR AI made its quite-fair-and-non-cheating decisions, I'd be happy to outline some of the algorithm sometime.

My AI is not really AI. It follows the basic concept of a decision tree but there is no look-ahead, probabilities or anything like that (and no, it doesn't know what cards you have, a.k.a cheating), and it seems to work quite effectively. The primary goal is to card to 20, so if it runs out of cards the AI just sucks. Usually I've already lost before that happens.

[Akari]

I was suprised when I read (can't remember where) that the K1 code didn't have any cheating elements...

 

Yeah, it doesn't cheat. But most people are convinced that it does.

 

Do you generate the 'draw' deck ahead of time or do you generate a 1 - 10 card randomly on each draw? KotOR generated the deck before , then shuffled it randomly, then had the player and computer draw from the same deck.

 

The KotOR AI doesn't calculate probabilities, but rather has some safe thresholds that it knows it can hit on or not, depending on what cards it had in its side deck.

 

After drawing its card, the AI then calculates the LowestPossibleTotal that it can come up with its current cards plus the current sidecard options.

 

It then calculates how close can it get to 20 with its current cards and its side cards, as CurrentPossibleTotal.

 

If CurrentPossibleTotal is >= 18, then its time to decide if we should play that side card, based on some other factors.

{

If CurrentPossibleTotal == 20, then play the sidecard no matter what.

 

If CurrentPossibleTotal == 19, then play the side card if our LowestPossibleTotal is 11 or less, unless the player has 20 (waste of a sidecard). Since that means we have a 10% chance of busting on the next turn, but 19 is a good enough score to be worth the risk.

 

If CurrentPossibleTotal == 18, then play the side card if our LowestPossibleTotal is 13 or less, unless the player has 19. Since that means we have a 20% chance of busting on the next turn, but that's considered acceptable risk.

}

 

After it decides what to do with its side deck, it then compares its score against the player's.

If the player has a higher score, then it won't stand.

If the player has a lower score, and the AI has a score of 18 or higher, it will stand no matter what.

 

Also, when busting, it will play the negative card to save itself, unless the player has a score of 18, 19, or 20, in which case the AI decides its a waste of a side card to play it there. /Unless/ the side card played would give it a better score than the player OR it's the deciding game for the player (the player already has 2 wins, and 1 more win will end the game).

 

That's about all the thought that goes into the NPC AI Pazaak players in KotOR. I didn't write it myself, but just modified it to work with the new cards that were added in KotOR2. Except the Tie Breaker card. The NPC AI just sees that as a +/-1 card, not a Tie Breaker, giving another small advantage to the human player that uses the card carefully.

 

So really, the only reason the NPC players seem good is because they play a mathmatically safe game, on the whole. The real difficulty just comes down to how good their side deck is. The better their side deck, the harder they are to beat, since they have more control over the risks they take when making decisions each round.

 

-Akari

[dufflover]

Do you generate the 'draw' deck ahead of time or do you generate a 1 - 10 card randomly on each draw?  KotOR generated the deck before , then shuffled it randomly, then had the player and computer draw from the same deck.

Right now it's on-the-spot random because I don't know what the deck conditions are.

 

So really, the only reason the NPC players seem good is because they play a mathmatically safe game, on the whole.

I found the K2 AI seemingly more stupid because they left themselves beatable at 18 or 19. I guess I just got the lucky draws.

[jaguars4ever]

Akari wins the thread!

 

[Akari]

Do you generate the 'draw' deck ahead of time or do you generate a 1 - 10 card randomly on each draw?  KotOR generated the deck before , then shuffled it randomly, then had the player and computer draw from the same deck.

Right now it's on-the-spot random because I don't know what the deck conditions are.

 

There's 4 of each card, 1 - 10, in the deck. So 40 cards total.

 

So really, the only reason the NPC players seem good is because they play a mathmatically safe game, on the whole.

I found the K2 AI seemingly more stupid because they left themselves beatable at 18 or 19. I guess I just got the lucky draws.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

What do you mean by leaving itself beatable at 18 and 19? Sometimes getting to 18 or 19 is the best one can do with a given set of cards. The AI works its way to 20 with its side cards, but accepts 19 and 18 as close enough to be worth using a side card for. As a player, I'd make the same decision, personally. In any case, that wasn't a change specific to KotOR2, but rather left alone from KotOR1.

 

Anyway, I think it's pretty neat you've made a standalone of the mini-game. Without access to the code for the original, you've done a really impressive job.

 

-Akari

[Mark Havel]

And it'll be more impressive since you gave a part of the algorithm used by the AI .

[dufflover]

And it'll be more impressive since you gave a part of the algorithm used by the AI .

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I probably won't end up changing te AI for a while cos it's not of a very high priority atm. At least it's not a pushover...I think.

[Petay]

Ive got 2 questions:

1) Can i play this yet-am i able to get it anywhere, and,

2)If i can, where can i get it?? :D

 

It all looks good, enjoyed it a fair bit in KotOR so would like to play it anytime!

[dufflover]

Ive got 2 questions:

1) Can i play this yet-am i able to get it anywhere, and,

2)If i can, where can i get it?? :D

The two old versions which "Pure Pazaak" is gonna replace are available from the link in my sig ("Pazaak Projects"). Mind you those versions only have the KotOR 1 look which I now find ugly because I've been spoilt by the K2 interface)

[Petay]

Thanks Duffman!!

 

That game is pretty awesome

[dufflover]

An update:

I've gotten single-player fully working, but the network thingy will be a challenge...

 

Anyway, I've added a new screenie of the Player Avatar/Portraits screen. I've decided to bring it back from Pazaak Online in the first post

 

I can't be bothered learning how to send actual files over the connection so u won't be able to use custom ones.

[Darth_Polini]

Your website is under construction so i can't get your new single-player update.

Can you provide a direct link to it please coze, i want to try your new pure pazaak with the update for single-player please .

[dufflover]

Your website is under construction so i can't get your new single-player update.

Can you provide a direct link to it please coze, i want to try your new pure pazaak with the update for single-player please .

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Whoops, sorry bout the website/file links!

 

I'm a bit confused at what you think is available. There is:

Pazaak Online v1.3.3

Pazaak Arcade v1.0.0 + 1.0.1 Update

Very early test version Pure Pazaak with a crummy K2 look

 

All GUI related things in the game, like the card screens, alignments, and stuff are finished, so that K2 look will be missing a few things.

The best thing to get atm would be Pazaak Arcade.

[Darth_Polini]

Your website is under construction so i can't get your new single-player update.

Can you provide a direct link to it please coze, i want to try your new pure pazaak with the update for single-player please .

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Whoops, sorry bout the website/file links!

 

I'm a bit confused at what you think is available. There is:

Pazaak Online v1.3.3

Pazaak Arcade v1.0.0 + 1.0.1 Update

Very early test version Pure Pazaak with a crummy K2 look

 

All GUI related things in the game, like the card screens, alignments, and stuff are finished, so that K2 look will be missing a few things.

The best thing to get atm would be Pazaak Arcade.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Oh, i see, i thought that was an update for your pure pazaak's test version, its for the arcade version 1.01 & this one, i already have it & still play it

 

Sorry, i'm just to impatient to get my hands on the finish pure pazaak version "

 

Is your website will be ready soon or i have to come here to get the latest news regarding the pure pazaak version?

 

Thanks for the fast reply dufflover :cool:

[dufflover]

Is your website will be ready soon or i have to come here to get the latest news regarding the pure pazaak version?

Wow! People actually go to the website (w00t) !

 

You'd probably hear about it first here (like in my sig and a new topic announcement), but should be on the website very soon after too. I guess it depends on when I finish cos I've only got a week left of Uni Semester holiday left .

[jaguars4ever]

I wonder who the final boss will be in career mode? Atton Rand maybe... "

[dufflover]

I'm not too fond of how there's no news on the K2 patch, and it's made me relise how important bits of news are. For those of you waiting for Pure Pazaak, it's release is close...

It's now into the final testing stage - I'm not a pro-programmer, nor do I try to be (real program testing usually takes ages). So there will no doubt be lots of bugs - hopefully not as embarassing as K2 but at least they won't be so complicated to fix.

 

I'll make a new thread when it is out and ready for download.