Category: My Projects

Triskelion and the minimax algorithm

Computer Games, My Computer Games
Triskelion

A couple of years back I wrote about a game called Trippples.

This patented strategy game requires you to move your transparent marker from one corner of the game board to the other before your opponent. The games unique feature is that your available moves are determined by arrows under your opponent’s marker.

The patent expired long ago, so I started working on a digital version of the game at the end of last year. I thought I’d lost the data in a hard drive failure, but managed to salvage the C# classes from the Unity project and finished v1 of the game a couple of months ago.

You can play my version, called Triskelion, on newgrounds.com.

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A Christmas Adventure point-and-click for Xmas

Computer Games, Computer Puzzles, My Computer Games
A Christmas Adventure
A Christmas Adventure

A little later than intended, I’ve published this year’s Christmas game: “A Christmas Adventure” on Newgrounds.com. You can play it here.

It’s a point and click adventure game where you play a helpful Elf delivering a present for Santa.

I’ve wanted to write my own point-and-click adventure for some time, but it’s a lot of work! There are plenty of tools and game engines out there to help, but none of them did quite what I wanted.

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Xmas Matchup

Computer Games, My Computer Games
Click to play Xmas Matchup

And so this is Christmas!

Another year, another Christmas game to enjoy. For 2019 it’s “Xmas Matchup“, a Match Three Blast style game.

Click on groups of matching symbols to clear them and to collect the stars shining overhead. Collect enough stars to reveal the hidden image and unlock the next level.

The trick is that there aren’t enough stars on the screen to win the level. You have to collect large groups of stars in a single click so you get bonus stars. As the levels get harder, you’ll need to select symbols carefully to create large areas of stars. Good luck with all 9 levels!

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Real Stars Skybox

My Computer Games
Real Stars Skybox Plus

Note: Real Stars Skybox Plus is now available at the Unity Asset Store and HDRIs and full star maps are available at BlenderMarket

So, I’ve made a thing, and am very proud of that thing and am going to shout about it a bit! Actually, I’ve made two things.

The first thing I’ve made is a skybox of the celestial sphere. Skyboxes are 360 degree panoramic images used in computer games to easily create a distant background. Usually they’re pictures of pretty skies and distant mountains. I’ve made a 360 degree panorama of (almost) all the visible stars in the sky using real astronomical data.

I took a giant star catalogue, found the 5000 brightest, and used my favourite 3D modelling program (POV-Ray) to simulate their positions, colours, and brightness. With a lot of tweaking, I tried balance realism with the beauty of the stars. Finally, I added names to some of the stars and drew outlines of the constellations to help find your way around.

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The Bus Game app for Android

Computer Games, My Board Games, My Computer Games

the bus game

the Bus Game

I’m delighted to report that I’ve just released The Bus Game as an Android app to the Google Play Store.

I first developed The Bus Game back in 2016 as a prototype for my nephew. You can read about its development here: The Bus Game.

There’s also a print and play version that you can test out here: The Bus Game: Print out and Play.

And, finally, you can get all the graphics, resources and code for the app from the Unity Asset Store for $5, here: The Bus Game – Asset Store.

I hope you have as much fun playing it as I did creating it. I’d love to receive some feedback and suggestions for improvements.

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Xmas eXcavation – a game for Christmas

Computer Games, My Computer Games

game screenshot

Xmas eXcavation

A merry Christmas to all, and to all a good 2018.

In celebration, and to give everyone a fun, indoor activity away from the cold, I present Xmas eXcavation (click to play). There’s also a quick Javascript tutorial below!

The game will be familiar to any Minesweeper players, but with one key difference: you’re trying to locate and uncover presents hidden under the snow, while avoiding the dirty lumps of coal. Double click (or double tap) to uncover a patch of snow. Single click to mark a suspected piece of coal. Good luck!
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Picture Puzzle: Name the City

My Puzzles, Puzzles

puzzle

Puzzle: Name the City

A tricky little picture puzzle to test your decryption skills and a simple question: name the city.

Click on the picture for a larger version.

If that isn’t enough fun, this post includes some of the code used to generate the picture. If you understand the code, it will give you a big hint for solving the puzzle.

The image was created using the free POV-Ray raytracer. Generating raytraced images involves creating a virtual 3D world with objects and light sources and a camera. POV-Ray then calculates how light travels around the virtual world, bouncing off the objects, and creates the view that would be seen by the camera. The usual aim of raytacing calculations is to mimic real-world physics as much as possible to try to create a photo-realistic image.

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A Present of a Picross

Computer Puzzles, My Puzzles, Quick Puzzles

picross

Example Picross

A final present from me for Christmas! This time it’s a Picross puzzle.

A picross is a logic puzzle. They’re also called Nonograms, Hanjie, Griddlers or “Paint-By-Numbers”.

The goal is to blacken squares in a grid to create a picture.

Numbers around the grid are clues. From these clues you can deduce exactly where all the black squares go using logic and deduction. There is only one solution where the clues in the columns and the clues in the rows are consistent.

Each clue number signifies an unbroken line of black squares. These lines appear in the same order as the numbers, running left to right for the rows and top to bottom for the columns. Every line of black squares is separated by one or more un-blackened squares. You can mark these in with light Xs. A zero means the entire row or column is unblackened.

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Cryptic Crossword Primer for Christmas

My Puzzles, Quick Puzzles
crossword
Click for full size version

Cryptic crosswords are one of those things you either love or hate, that you either understand or can’t stand. Part of the problem is that there is a huge set of rules for solving them which you are simply supposed to know. If you don’t know the rules, you’ve got no chance.

This post is a Chritmas present to readers. It includes a short introduction on how to solve cryptic crosswords and a special Christmas themed crossword to try your hand at. It is not like some of the devious cryptic crosswords in the broadsheets. Most of the clues should be fairly easy and fun.

You can click on the image to the right to view the crossword at full size, and here is a PDF version to download and print. Answers are at the end of this post but try it for yourself first!

Puzzles are a great activity for families stuck together for extended periods trying to think up topics of conversation! So print a few of the crosswords off and work together over the holiday period to find the answers.

This crossword and the primer below were written by myself and my partner in crime at inkflamingos.com. Please take a look at her art portfolio.

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