Tankers seems to be extremely hard, so I look forward to hours of play until I master the game. Thegraphics and gameplay are terrific.

Is it kinda like Bolo?

One day later: Okay, I misjudged it the game is terribly boring. I hate the way that one hit kills. The graphics are the only good part, and he stole those from Zelda.

See all the suggestions that people are making later in the replies list. They will really make the game much better (I think).

Yeah, they would.

It should be noted (here, i suppose) that i mistakenly put a raw data file for one of the 5 maps, and it needs to be opened with the tankers map editor and saved if you want to play it (or of course you could download "MS Maps" from the tankers levels section).

Unless I am mistaken, you have also uploaded the source code for tankers. (Sorry to get hopes up if I am!)

Tankers is an awesome, though I could never find someone else to play it against. Then you added AI and my problem was solved. :-)

yes i uploaded it yesterday along with the update. With it being a new file, however, it'll take a bit longer to get into the archives.

Just becasue thers an article about the program and all it was bumped up the list and had been added!

thanks morgan...

btw, i really need to be more thorough in checking details... this is the readme for the source:

"Tankers is a fast paced shooting game where you control a tank and shoot your enemy/enemies. There are 2 modes of play, Single Player (NEW!) where you play against 10 AI tanks. And then there is Multi-Player where you connect your 68k Calculator to another 68k calculator. This version contains the 5 map contest winners from CalcGames.org. I'm pretty sure I'm done working on Tankers, so I've uploaded the source as well (not in this zip, check the source section)"

(same as game) note "not in this zip, check the source section"

oh well...

Hmm, I think I cought the suttle hint. Fixed. :-)

I... LOVE Othello/Reversi!!!! MUST... DOWNLOAD... NOW! This is great! Is the AI really good? Hehehe... this will be GREAT for those extra-boring classes in school. You know, I don't think there was an Othello game for the TI-89 before. And if there was, I just didn't know about it. I often thought about making one, but creating a good AI would be WAY too hard for me. From the screenshots and the file information page, it looks very promising, so the first thing I'm doing when I get on the other computer (it has the link cord) is downloading this game. So, congratulations to the author for making an othello game (Yay :)) and of course, and also, to the author of Tankers. I've never tried that game out before, so that might be something else new to download.
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If I sound weird to anybody today, it's probably the result of being locked in a REALLY small room, with the area of the floor being about 20 ft^2, for a little over three hours. I was taking the AIME (II)!! Yay! I did qualify for it (because of my USAMTS score) and the only reason I didn't get to take it on the original date was because of an error on their side. Anyway, taking that test really fries your brain. When people told me that it would, I didn't believe them, but it really does. By the end, I got to the point where I couldn't add double-digit numbers anymore. Heh, and I only answered about 5 or so, but oh well. :) I got to miss a bunch of classes, and it was kinda fun.

A "difficult" AI for othello shouldn't be that hard to make. All you would have to do is llop through every open space and count the number of pieces the computer could take, then take the highest one. However, it could be better by "predicting" future moves...BTW, I was working on a Battle Ship game for the 89 in BASIC that has a similar AI to the one I just described (loops through all the open spaces and shoots at the one that is most likely to have a ship in it). If anyone is interested in this game, post and I'll see what I can do to find time to finish it. I don't really want to waste my time doing it if no one would want it...and I know not many people will just because it's in BASIC. I need to learn how to use TIGCC better...or learn ASM...

Change your name back!

Yeah!

No, actually, that would be pretty bad. The goal in reversi is to end up with the most pieces, but by taking the most in the biginning/middle of the game, it can REALLY make you lose, if the other person knows how to play.

The basic idea to actually keep as few pieces as possible (near the beginning) while mantaining control. The less pieces you have, the less places your opponent has to move. So, using that idea, you can force your opponent to give you a corner. Along with that, you also want to avoid certain move sequences and taking the pieces on the outside of the cluster; the border... there are a lot of strategies in reversi... it's a pretty complicated game. :)

I've also written a few various AIs for this game (in the qbasic version that I've made LOL), and none of them were any good. It's pretty hard to do :-\

The battleship game you were talking about sounds neat. :) Was it hard to write? Even though it seems simple, I bet it could get pretty complex.

I know what you're talking about with the AI for Othello. I dominate up to the middle/end and then get creamed by the computer. It really isn't funny. Making an AI for something like that would be very hard. Too many "if" statements... Argh...

I have a program called WZebra. It's a pretty good Reversi program [for the computer]. Its AI can be VERY strong.

As for the Othello II on the calculator, I just sent it to one of my friends (who also likes Othello) and he said the game was pretty cool, too. I think I've beaten all the levels up through "Good." Otherwise, it's VERY hard.

I've also looked into the strategies for reversi a lot. There is SO much stuff to look out for. I wouldn't even know where to begin writing an AI for it. But hey... he released the source, right? I'm a little curious.

I just wrote an Othello AI for a course at school. Ours used minimax with alpha-beta pruning for searching.

For evaluating positions, we looked at three features: current mobility, potential mobility, and edge-stability. Current mobility is the number of moves a player can make. Potential mobility is a measure of future mobility, and is calculated by looking at how many empty squares that are not legal moves but are next to an opponent's stone. Finally, edge-stability is a measure of how likely your stones on the edge are to be flipped. Basically, you want stable edges. Because this is kind of expensive (computationally), you can pre-compute everything and store it in a table.

How much of this would scale down the calculator I don't know. We wrote ours in Lisp. If you're really interested, there are some excellent papers by Rosenbloom (who wrote Iago), as well as Lee & Mahajan (who wrote Bill) in some old AI journals. You can also read some papers by Michael Buro (who wrote Logistello), although his are much more difficult to understand.

Well, beings that I hate Othello (the board game, not you program) and get insanely bored with tankers within seconds, this was not a big news item for me. Nice screenshots, though. The interface to Othello looks really neat, but I really don't like the actual game.

The graphics for tankers seem to be taken from Zelda... I'd recognize that "door" anywhere ;)

Indeed. When Tankers was released in an earlier incomplete verion, he noted that he took some tiles from Link's Awakening. You can also read the readme under the history section that he added the tiles on version 2.0.

*gasp* I can't believe you just said that! *dies*

The concept of tankers is so freaking simple that it would be impossible not to be bored. Drive around in 8 directions, shoot other tank. One shot kills. Game freaking over. I also don't like the graphics, it would be better to use original tiles rather than stealing Zelda's (and yes, I know that is noted in the readme).

Barrett (is that how it's spelled?), here are some things that would make Tankers cool:
- Damage, none of this "one shot kills" crap
- A store and/or items, I want to pick up a phase cannon or pick up some money to buy a phase cannon
- Completely rotational directions would be nice, but that may be impossible with the way your graphics work
- Well, the 6.0 AI is better, nevermind
- Unique tiles
- Learn how version numbering works, by the book, Tankers would be between version 1.0 and 2.0. Version does not mean release number, AOL and some Microsoft software (like IE) have screwed the system up horribly.

I hope this helps. Unfortunatley, I doubt it will, since you stated this will be the last release.

yesterday i changed my mind and started working on it again (for the first time in 18 months).

there will be damage for single player, but probably not multiplayer.... the only way it will happen is if i also make it so you have to get weapons (and the weapons have to be hard to get) because otherwise the kids playing the game will just get closer and closer to eachother and keep firing and it will be the same thing as one shot one kill.

right now i'm working on the map editor for all the new features, which include:
-placing the starting points
-no more "one click one tile placed". you can drag it around and it'll place the tile
-place enemies
-missile turrets

features that may or may not be in the next release:
-boat mode
-airplane mode
-more enemies (other than the tank and turret)
-more weapons
-powerups

as for the completely rotational direction.. that's possible, but from the feedback i've got from it, it wouldn't be very happy. people don't like waiting for the tank to turn.

AI will get a little better...

the actual version numbers i'm using are between 0 and 1.... michael forgot the "."

>> there will be damage for single player, but probably not multiplayer.... the only way it will happen is if i also make it so you have to get weapons (and the weapons have to be hard to get) because otherwise the kids playing the game will just get closer and closer to eachother and keep firing and it will be the same thing as one shot one kill.

Couldn't you just make a two or three second delay between shots to encourage players to dodge and not just fire nonstop?

Or a strafing control?

Tanks can't straf unless the turret is facing sideways but then the tank would only realy be moving back and forth shooting to the side.

That's what I meant.

I wasn't sure.

brilliant idea... i'll see what i can do.

btw, make an 83/+ version and perhaps i can see some of your ideas and make the 68k one better!

I think that'll be awesome. Can't wait to see it!

Boat and airplane mode seem a little redundant, although each different craft could have different moving/firing/hit points/other attributes. The one hit kills in single player really really suck. It makes the game absolutely horrible. Great idea, it just needs help. Oh, and making your own graphics wouldn't be too hard and would make the game much more original. How would missle turrets work? Would that be another player controlled vehicle thingie? If not, it would really only work in single player. Multi-directional tank turning would work, and people would have to adapt to it if you added it in. However, people would have to adapt if it wasn't added either, do my argument is slightly defeated...

But anyways, my grandiose plans and ideas are probably too much for you to take into consideration at this point, but I feel that my ideas need to get out. I think your game is a great idea, it just needs help. Sorry if I sound too critical. I'm truly trying to help.

all 3 vehicle types would be accessible during the game (if the map says so).... you'd go to a "station" or something to change to the other type of vehicle, and yes, they would have different attributes... for example, the airplane can "fly" and the boat can go over "water" but not "land". :)

but really, yes, the plane will be able to go much faster and the boat probably about the same speed, but most certainly the boat would need 360 degree rotation (as has been suggested above)

and yes, single player won't be 1 hit 1 kill and multiplayer probably won't be either.

Actually, the plane would need to be 360 degree turning to be realistic... It seems to me that a helicopter might be more appropriate and not really need to be much faster than the other vehicles. Switching vehicles in-game seems like it might be hard to play-balance or something. Personally, I would stick to choosing your vehicle before the match and then sticking with it for the entire match. It would make maps more simple. You would also need different AI to make the different vehicles work correctly. You might want to wait until a later version to implement vehicles because they will be a headache to balance and code for.

Maybe a tournament-style thing would work where you or the computer would need to kill all of the other tanks a certain number of times and then having a win screen and statistics or something instead of having the game go on infinitely. That might make the game a little more interesting or exciting.

Anyways, thanks for accepting my comments. I'm trying to help you make a better game, even though I can sound demanding. I'm trying to be fair and slightly balanced.

I also think that an helicopter would be more realistic than a plane. You could also make a hmm... I don't remember the word :-)... The vehicle with a pomp under to make it fly just over the ground, and just over the water. There are some in the last James Bond. I hope you will understand.
At the beginning of the battle, the player may choose his vehicle. Eache vehicle has got pros and cons (tanks aren't really effective against planes, but against boats…).
Good luck for programming that !!

A hovercraft? However,I went on one once and I couldn't locate the "pomp".

Yeah, that's it, a hovercraft !!
Thanks !

he he
Plop

Adding a hovercraft would be a little to complicated, and wouldn't necesarily add anything to the game... Yeah, the second paragraph is the point of having different vehicles...

Wow! That sounds really awesome. If you implement all those features as planned, your program will definetely leave in indent in my flash memory chip.