I was hoping to wait a few more weeks until I actually go through the app approval process, but AggieChemE09 forced my hand a bit. Last time I gave an update, I was just starting work on the AI after getting the main game mechanics down...I believe I was somewhere around 12-14 thousand lines of code.

Flash forward and I'm pushing 33K lines of code, completed most of the menu work, and finished the last bit of AI work I plan on touching for this release last night!

Here's a quick preview.



Here's the start up screen. You can go to options and play with your AI settings, or if you're a n00b, click on the about button to read up on the rules/etc.



Here you set the players names (and after this weekend, your own) and set the style of play you want your partner and opponents to have.

I typically play conservative and the original AI was based on this style of play. AI set to conservative will not play tiles with count if there is a chance it will lose them. It focuses on pulling out all the remaining trumps from the table if it can. It typically chooses not to push the bid, though I do allow it to make that decision with a high random number generation roll. It will not bid 84 except for extremely rare occasions.


For normal play, the AI prefers not to lead with trumps when it thinks that the other team could have the higher tiles. It will choose to punt or play a double and holds trumps for cases with count on the table (or possibly on the table...yikes, that took work). It will bid 84 on rare occasions.

Aggressive play likes to push the envelope with the bidding. It is more willing to bid marks with a good hand than the others. It will take risks with count that the others won't...either in hopes of pulling out the 4:4/6:5/6:6 or in hopes that its teammate can actually win the trick. It's more likely to trump in if it thinks the following players could be forced into playing count.

So on to the table....





Fairly self explanatory. There are a few things that bug me about it and this is the bulk of the work I have left.

1. Need to add labels for the player's names.
2. Need to tweak the position of the tiles. They look a little off centered to me.
3. Need to change the font size of the marks. They could be bigger.
4. Need to change the font style of the score. Arial is so...boring?

Beyond those 4 things, I need to add sound effects for tiles sliding across a table and for shuffling. Other than that, and anything you guys spot that annoys you, I think I'm pretty much ready to release it.


Edit: Holy crap, these retinal pictures came out big.


[This message has been edited by Philip J Fry (edited 5/24/2012 8:47p).]

Well done! This looks great, though I'm with AggieChemE09 and would love an Android version as well.

I used cocos2d for this app, and I'm pretty sure they have an java version for the android. Once I get this one up and running, I plan on moving to the android. I'm hoping that most of the code will remain in tack...but that's probably a fools hope.

how much is this gonna cost us? how about a discount for us on texags who cheered you on?

I haven't really decided to be honest. I know I'd like to get some promotional codes to pass around to some of you helpful lot.



[This message has been edited by Philip J Fry (edited 5/24/2012 9:13p).]

I'm wondering if the app store will approve it with the state of Texas on the table. Being from Texas, I don't see a problem with it but I've read that they can be pretty picky about stupid stuff like claiming that the app won't sell well in Europe. If I remember correctly, they don't like "narrowing down the audience" for your app.

Damn...33K lines of code seems like a bunch but did you add facebook/twitter/game center integration?

Good job though! Looks cool.

looks great so far...I look forward to the release and would happily pay for the app for my wife's iPad, and would pay double for my Android devices.

Nice job, I will be all over that when it gets on Android.

iPhone

Barry's just upset because it's not actually pronounced "Andwoid"

I look forward to tearing down everything you put into your AI

quote:

---

I look forward to tearing down everything you put into your AI

---

As long as you do it in public. I will welcome critism. I've gotten physically angry at the current 42 apps. They make utterly ridiculous moves.

Domino muthafuggah!!!

So glad I found this!!! I have an older 42 app on my phone that was decent, but frustrating to play. My pet peeve on game play is when it is constantly interrupted with "instructions" or you have to wait for something sound effect or something from the previous player to COMPLETELY finish before you can go. The old app was just too slow, so I chucked it. This looks promising.

What are the rules going to be with regard to the silly games like splash, plunge, 7s and nel-o? As a purist, my bias is NO to all, except nel-o as an option on a forced bid, ONLY. If those are options, at least let a setting turn them off.

I may be late to the game here, so if those suggestions have already been covered, I'll just sit quietly in the corner and watch. Can't wait to see it!

What's it named?

quote:

---

So glad I found this!!! I have an older 42 app on my phone that was decent, but frustrating to play. My pet peeve on game play is when it is constantly interrupted with "instructions" or you have to wait for something sound effect or something from the previous player to COMPLETELY finish before you can go. The old app was just too slow, so I chucked it. This looks promising.

What are the rules going to be with regard to the silly games like splash, plunge, 7s and nel-o? As a purist, my bias is NO to all, except nel-o as an option on a forced bid, ONLY. If those are options, at least let a setting turn them off.

I may be late to the game here, so if those suggestions have already been covered, I'll just sit quietly in the corner and watch. Can't wait to see it!

---

No special rules with this release. I will be updating it in the future and do plan on incorporating those as optional settings.

The speed of this app is pretty fast...so much so that I had been considering slowing it down a little. Perhaps a speed setting would be useful.

Will buy when it comes to android.

Look forward to this coming out on Android

If the iPhone 5 ever comes out and is insane, perhaps I'll jump to that and grab the 42 app :-)

I'd recommend paying attention to speed... I've played some card games that are, yes, too fast. If the other three players cards go out too fast, it can be hard to follow.

It's hard to describe what I mean by slow. But the "dealing" of the dominoes takes a while. Then the way you bid is a little cumbersome, but you get use to it. My biggest complaint, lets say your third to play. Player 1 and 2 play, and then a message comes up "please play a domino now". It's not a big delay, but I always find myself trying to play before, and that makes an error message pop up which you have to click away. Pain in the arse. It just is a quirky pace in general.

Are you familiar with that version? I think it's just called "dominos-42". I can take a screen shot of it if you haven't looked at it. The "logic" was OK, but it does occasionally do some stupid stuff. Actually, it's not OK. The AI player always plays out all trumps even if its the last one holding one. Stupid. I like that you have different styles of play programmed in. I know it's possible to program a pretty decent AI game because I used to play one on a desktop.

@Phillip,

This is great! Would you be interested in penning some sort of article on your development of this app? We'd front-page that bad boy @AggieGaming in a heartbeat.

I'd love to hear the "how it got started" as well as the "what it took to plan/execute". Hell, you could probably write a book about it Im sure.

I do have that one and loath it. I've tried to fix everything that I found wrong with that game. I hated that I couldn't see the stack on the same screen for one...or even see what the score was.

The AI from that game didn't appear to try to protect count when it knows it will lose. I've seen it lay down the 0-5 instead of a 5-1 when I laid down the 5-5. Made absolutely no sense.

Very glad you have seen that and share my opinion! Bodes well for the outcome of this one!

Bluecat, if you're talking about win42, the AI in that was pretty horrific. There was very little strategy programmed in. It was always linear and never stopped to think about which leads are "checkmate" leads. It would also completely ignore signals from the user and never try to be a team player. Finally, it never payed attention to how others played. This is the part that is nearly impossible to program, as you would have to develop a learning system.

Dominoes-42 AI is worse though.

Looking good. I know of quite a few people that will buy this quickly.

How you go about pricing this I'll never know. Are there resources out there that help you determine appropriate price?

I'm ready to buy!

quote:

---

How you go about pricing this I'll never know. Are there resources out there that help you determine appropriate price?

---

I tend to think the market standard for games is 1.99. Being that the other POS 42 game is 1.99 and has 200+ terrible reviews tells me 1.99 isn't too extreme for pricing.

Rebel, I would very much like your input when the time comes if it's alright with you. I don't expect it to be perfect, but based on what I've seen, it's light years better than dominos-42...a low bar, I know.

I'd pay 1.99 without blinking an eye.

What about an iPad size version of this?

Will be coming out too. All I should need to do is save a set of artwork to match the iPad screen size and resolution.

When exactly can I get this?

If I get some solid work done this weekend, I should have it submitted for review by the end of the month. I've heard it takes about 10 days for approval. This is my first time to jump through these hoops, so I'm hesitant to give a firm date. Much sooner rather than later though.