Play the Bob-stones video game!

[mistercynical]

So, Chipster-roo discovered that some time in the 70s, someone made a PC version of bob-stones; it was very primitive and pretty much had nothing to do with Watership Down. Additionally, it was a MS-DOS program that would require an emulator like DOSbox to get working, which is a huge hassle for such a small game.

Here's the thread:
http://fhc.soopergrape.com/index.php?topic=1085.0

So I said that I was going to write up my own version, and I did: here it is.

Download V
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B25I6LevoLXCWEo0aG8zRXpYanc/view?usp=sharing
Download 1.3, current stable

As the age-old internet proverb goes, "no pics, no clicks"
Pics V
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B25I6LevoLXCOEo0S0pSc21ENVU&usp=sharing

It's a console-based game yes, but it has menu that you navigate with using the arrow keys, and allows you to play 3 different rabbits: Bigwig , Hawkbit   and Hazel , each with unique lines. It more closely follows the rules from the actual source material, mostly from the TV series, because it's the only one where gameplay is actually shown.

If you don't want to download the executable for security reasons (I don't blame you), then you can scan it with an antivirus or virustotal.com or whatever. If you still don't trust me (I'm not offended), then I'll provide the source code and you can compile it yourself.

Have fun, and I need feedback!

[Claws]

I tip my hat before you, my friend. Well done

(Expect a more interesting review when I have actually downloaded the thing).

[mistercynical]

Updated to 1.1:

- New Icon; high resolution and comes in all standardized sizes, also supports XP themes
- Cleaned up the code a bit, not noticeable though
- A few aesthetic improvements
- Optimized for compactness - without the icon inside the exe, the total file size is only 20KB

Any woes, please comment. I can't improve it if I don't know what to improve.

[Chipster-roo]

Wow, this is a major improvement over the BASIC version.

Overall, this is a really good program and fun to play.  The ability to play against some WD characters is really nice, Hawkbit is especially funny The icon is a major improvement in version 1.1, in 1.0 I couldn't figure out just what it was.  The only problem I've found is that when I select the exit option, I get left with a blank terminal window.

[mistercynical]

The only problem I've found is that when I select the exit option, I get left with a blank terminal window.

thanks for the kind words;

this issue isn't something immediately my fault; it works on my computer(s), and the code for the exit is literally return 0; in int main(), which leads me to think that either your version of windows is acting differently or the compiler's optimization sorta misfired with your CPU architecture in this instance.

What hardware are you running (windows version, CPU)?

[Hammy]

Ditto on the exit issue here. I'm running 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, and an AMD FX-6300 six core clocked at 3.5 GHz.

Not really a problem as far as I'm concerned. It's a great little time waster and I've been enjoying it between sessions of other games, despite my general annoyance with purely luck-based games. Good work, man.

[Myrkin]

This is fun little game. Good work, mistercynical. I bet it's even more fun to come up with unique lines for each character.

[Chipster-roo]

What hardware are you running (windows version, CPU)?

My CPU is an Intel Core i5 quad-core CPU M 450 @ 2.40GHz.  The game was played on Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit.

[mistercynical]

Ditto on the exit issue here. I'm running 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, and an AMD FX-6300 six core clocked at 3.5 GHz.

Not really a problem as far as I'm concerned. It's a great little time waster and I've been enjoying it between sessions of other games, despite my general annoyance with purely luck-based games. Good work, man.

Hmmm... that's fairly similar to my rig. I'll look into it.

Funny you should mention randomness, the AI's guesses aren't entirely random. Well, except Hawkbit's playstyle; he's totally random. Bigwig is consistent and will guess guaranteed right 1/6 of the time, whereas Hazel will guess right 2/6 of the time, but wrong 1/6 of the time. All the rest are random guesses. I'm considering adding in some sort of AI pattern seeking so they'll pick up on your play style (ie hide one everytime, they'll start to guess), but I can't promise anything.

Myrkin: well, it's fun at first but then the length of the code gets really long and unmanageable. Code first, write dialog later I suppose.

[Hammy]

Really now? Huh. Kinda suspected there might be some quirks there. Bigwig has definitely given me more trouble than Hawkbit. I should see about playing against Hazel more. But it's just so much fun beating Hawkbit's snarky little face into the ground. Figuratively.

I'd definitely like to see expansion of the AI, should you be so inclined. I kinda had a thought that maybe one character could do a Clever Hans style thing where depending on the words they choose, there's a higher chance of them having a particular number. Not sure exactly how that would work or how fun that would be, but it's an idea.

[mistercynical]

Well, I had some more spare time so I made 1.2. No, there won't be updates ever day like this, I was just on a roll.

So, 1.2:
- Code is less cancerous
- More crash-proof (prevented overflows, underflows, negatives)
- Big thing: The AI will learn your what you do: If you play the same thing several times, they'll catch on (and they'll let you know!)
- Bigwig and Hazel will guess the pattern in a safe manner, but Hawkbit will jump the gun and guess early. You might be able to fool him!
- Hazel and Hawkbit give tips/hints and react differently depending on the score. Bigwig's steadfast, though.
- Hawkbit may or may not be a liar in his hints
- May or may not exit properly. I didn't spend to much time tracking down this bug.

....and some other things I can't remember. This will probably be the final version for a while, I have obligations in real life that I need to see to.

[Hammy]

Just downloaded the new version and I managed to break it a little within two minutes. Accidentally put in a letter with my number guess and it got producing this message over and over. Figured I should put that out there.

[mistercynical]

Just downloaded the new version and I managed to break it a little within two minutes. Accidentally put in a letter with my number guess and it got producing this message over and over. Figured I should put that out there.

Oh dear. My conditional loop is looking for the right number, and the keyboard buffer doesn't update between cycles. Easy fix, clear the buffer in the loop, but not today. Expect a fix (also fixing a scoring off-by-one error) tomorrow or the next day. In the meantime, don't put letters in the number box. Lemme know about the AI's thinking, pattern guessing and hinting, that's what I took care with.

Thanks people for the feedback! makes development a lot easier.

[Hammy]

So I've been playing with the new AI for the past couple of days and I can definitely say it's a good bit smarter than it used to be.

Started simple by repeating the same number over and over on my turns and it picked up on that really well. I tried to use the mechanic to fool the AI into guessing wrong as well by changing up after the third use of one number. It worked reasonably well on Bigwig and Hazel, though, Hawkbit was a bit more fussy and didn't always play along. Not to mention that they all had a chance of guessing the right number before they figured the pattern out, which made it a less than ideal road to victory.

Then I went and did a pattern of 1, 2, 1, 2 repeated. Not a great strategy for winning, turns out, but no one seemed to pick up on it and I doubt it was meant to. Though, Bigwig did say "I second guessed myself" a lot while I was trying it on him. Not sure if that phrase indicates anything in particular, but it did make me feel smart. Or, at least, smart compared to the game. I also tried a pattern of 123 repeated, which had much the same results and equal success. Most recently I tried to see if they could pick up my guessing pattern by guessing the same over and over, but nothing doing there. Some ideas there.

Hawkbit actually managed to fool me once with his hint, despite your warning. Didn't let him do it twice, but I think it's a great little surprise for an unsuspecting player. And I quite enjoy making him feel shame and humiliation when he does it now. I like that Hazel tries to help me out, but I feel like there should be some logic to when he hints. Like, if you're failing pretty miserably, he's more likely to give you a hint.

Overall, definitely liking the AI and would love to see it get a bit more complex. I hope any of what I've said has been helpful.

[mistercynical]

I like that Hazel tries to help me out, but I feel like there should be some logic to when he hints. Like, if you're failing pretty miserably, he's more likely to give you a hint.

Overall, definitely liking the AI and would love to see it get a bit more complex. I hope any of what I've said has been helpful.

^ This is actually currently implemented, Hazel helps you if he's winning by more than two points, though as I posted before, the scoring system is bugged (a really stupid and simple bug too, I said this was a hasty project) and the AI's points seem to add up a lot quicker than your own. This is why you may lose what should have been a tie. I've working on this...

AI is among the more fun things to program because you really have to break down the  human thought process into mathematical & logical procedures, which is practically the literal manifestation of fun for most nerds like me.

Anyways, thanks for the good feedback. I dare say you're falling victim to placebo, a lot of the guesses are random and the pattern seeking isn't advanced enough to seek out complex patterns like 123.