Arithbequick

Showcase
#1

Now available as an applet http://www.dreamofsleeping.co.uk/games/arithbequick/index.html

latest download version http://dl.dropbox.com/u/74401653/Arithbequick%20v4.jar

Hello. I have made games before like tetris and snake, but this is my first game I have designed myself, and I’m determined to get it into pretty good shape. There is still plenty that needs to be done. But I would be very grateful if you could test it and give me some feedback. This will be made into an applet but I need to learn how to put an applet on a website.

A big thanks to anyone who tests it and everyone who has replied to my forum posts over the past few weeks.

One of the reasons I want to test it now is my friend said the clicking sound the tile makes is inconsistent. Sometimes it doesn’t play. I have now altered my sound class so I would love to know if the sound plays ok.

How to play

You can move the tiles! Sorry to emphasise that but people were downloading it and not realising that you could move the tiles into any position.

Move the tiles, make correct equations and make them disappear to stop the grid filling up.

At the top of the screen there is a mathmatical equation containing question marks. You have to fill in the question marks with numbers and make it equal the correct answer. You do this by dragging the mouse over the tiles. You can highlight tiles up down diagonally just like a wordsearch. When you release the mouse button if there are numbers after the = sign this will count as your answer. If not then it will just be disregarded.

Controls

As you move the mouse over the grid you will notice a highlighted column and row which have arrows pointing to them. By moving arrow keys on your keyboard (or aswd keys) you can move the highlighted row or column.

If you get 3 answers wrong you lose. If the grid fills up and tries to add another tile when there isn’t room you lose. If you think there is no solution available then click the no solution button to get a bonus. But click when there is a solution you will get an X;

Things I definitely need to do

Add the actual title to the title screen.
Add highscore page.
Write the how to play section.
Change the “ready” font into something less rubbish.
Make it into an applet
Lower menu music volume. I think it’s a little loud compared the sound effects.

#2

Great game! :wink:
Runs fine. Its hard though :stuck_out_tongue:

#3

Thanks for playing!

Yeah the 3 people who have played it so far found it way too hard. Getting the difficulty just right for these games is crucial. No one was more rubbish at mental arithmatic than me, but it’s amazing how much faster I have become playing this game. Plus you learn all the cheats like multilpying by zeros. when ever there is two zeros. lol

For those interested. The speed of how fast the tiles are added to the grid increases as the game goes on. I have an array like this

 private int[] levels =  {4000, 3750, 3500, 3250,
        3000, 2750, 2500, 2250, 2100, 2050, 2000};

The numbers are the time inteval of the next tile being added. I increment the index every 25 points. You get a point per number tile you make disappear. If you get to the final level, it just keeps going. I figure if you can do it that fast, go for it, keep going. I don’t even know if it’s possible. lol

It’s something I expect I will have to tweak due to feedback. I never want it to become impossible, but I only want the best of the best to be able to play indefinitely.

#4

I really like the idea and it runs fine here but it is WAY TOO HARD.

Do you think to port it to a mobile device? I would love to play it on my android phone.

#5

Thanks. Well 5 out of 5 people who have played it have said it’s too hard. lol Think I might have to make it easier. Maybe I could make it start by adding a tile only every 5 seconds. I could give people bonus points if they clear the grid, and also the option to add another number to the grid if it’s going too slow for them.

It’s tricky though because If you keep playing it you will get so fast and then the games can seem to go on way too long. If you keep playing it, it would be cool if you let me know if you still feel it’s too hard after several goes.

And yes my goal is to get it on an android. I’ll have to learn how to do that first though.

Thanks again for taking the time to play and give feedback.

#6

Also my friend said how about if I start with simple problems like just adding and subtracting, and gradually increase the difficulty of the problems. I admit I hate the idea and like things consitent, but I want other people to enjoy the game rather than just me.

#7

[s]Woah, is the game actually just difficult or in fact impossible at times?

Are the numbers that appear gradually random and their placements random as well? If so this game is most of the time completely impossible.

I mean addition/subtraction with a 2 digit number is most of the time impossible to find a perfect LONG line of numbers to fit.

The first challenge I got was a “[][]-[]-[]=?”

Needless to say I failed miserable waiting for more numbers to pop up that would fit. That’s a minimum of 5 numbers in correct sequence.

“Cheating” in multiplication with 0’s is probably the only leeway there is in the game.

Are the numbers that pop up random and in random order? Or is there actually a winning sequence in every challenge?[/s]

#8

Thanks for playing. I can see how that challenge would be overwhelming on your first go. And it confirms in my mind that I need to start with simple problems. Put that was not impossible. I just altered my game so it generated the example problem you gave every single time. I got to a score of 40 and I still could have kept going but that was enough to see that it probably wasn’t impossible and that it was more of a case you just weren’t seeing the solutions. There are usually loads of solutions for each one. When I play I just start picking the numbers at random and see what it equals and usually the correct answer is there.

It starts off with 16 numbers on the grid. The numbers are totally random and I guess it’s possible that you could be extremely unlucky and get all 9s or something but so far out of all the times I’ve played it the only time where it’s been impossible is when I’m down to very few numbers, and you don’t have to wait long for more to pop up.

I suppose because I programmed it I’ve just became super billiant at it. lol I was absolutely terrible at mental arrithmetic before making this game. Now I’m like rain man or something.

So yes it wasn’t impossible, but I will start simpler. Thanks for the feedback, I really appreicate it.

#9

Wait a second. Were you not aware that you can move the numbers to any position you want with the arrow keys? If everyone has been missing that then maybe I don’t need to alter the difficulty level at all.

#10

I’m having trouble playing this thing!

I mean, I’ve only gotten a single X in like ten minutes of playing with it. I think I’m missing some step in trying to get this to trigger, because I can’t seem to cause anything to happen (Except one time). It only lets me select a numbers equal to the first equation or if it’s a two digit number that number. Like say, if I attempt to select 3 x 1 = 3, it won’t let me get to the second ‘three’ no matter how I do it. Is there another operation (Besides click and drag) that’s required for it?

#11

Are you trying to highlight tiles that are not right next to each other? Either diagonally horizontally or vertically, but they have to be next to each other. And you have to move the tiles with the arrow keys or aswd. You can move them into any position.

I’m going to really emphasize that you can move the tiles in the first post.

#12

Haha, I did not notice that :P. Must v read the “how to play” super duper fast
Its a bit easier now :stuck_out_tongue: (Still pretty hard though :D)

#13

Never mind. I failed at understanding that your equation has to be a line.

#14

Thanks for giving it another go. I think I may keep the tough difficulty level. If I can do it it can’t be that hard. There was a maths game posted here a few weeks ago and that was way way way way way too hard for me.

#15

Ok no worries. I’d love to know how you got on with it now you know how to play.

#16

Difficult. It seems like certain combinations should be worth ‘more’ points. Like… ?? * ? = ?? is 5. (? + ? - ?) * ? = ? is worth five as well. It seems like there should be some consideration that results in more ‘complicated’ arrangements being more difficult (Subjective, I know) should result in more points. Perhaps with some measure of the ‘time’ and ‘cyclic adjustments’ between getting the equation and solving it helping.

#17

I agree you should get more points for the more difficult problems. But as you say it’s subjective. All I do is the more tiles you make disappear, the more points you get.

I don’t really know what you mean in your last sentence. If you mean the more moves you make the more points you get that would be easy way to cheat by moving randomly about. Sorry I can’t figure out what you mean.

I’m surprised by how diffucult people are finding it. I thought of the idea originally when playing one of the jewel match games, and how you could get loads or matches by accident, and how brain dead it was, and I wanted to make the thinking man’s match game. But if computer programmers, are telling me it’s too hard, then maybe I should make it easier. mmh i’m not sure what to do. When I watch the apprentice and the contestents ignore market research it’s always the wrong decision. I suppose the harder it is the more people it will alienate but there will be others who will take pride in how fast they can do it.

If I make the problems easier at the start, like ? + ?. Then the grid will empty incredibly fast and the game will become tedious. As I say I got better at it very quickly and now I feel like I can really take my time at the start.

Anyway thanks for the feedback.

#18

Before I read that you can move tiles using the wasd keys or the arrow keys I found it extremely hard if not difficult. Afterwards, the difficulty loosened up a bit. I just finished playing it for the second time now and ended up with a score of 57. I agree with UprightPath that the harder the problem the more points it should be worth. I would love to see this made into an iPhone or Android game (I’m assuming if you do port this to a mobile game it’ll be Android, as iOS uses a completely different language), because it seems perfect for playing when on the go.

Maybe for some future features you could use points to add or remove a specific tile to the grid, or after 5-10 consecutive correct answers without mistakes the board clears up to avoid frustration after a long streak of winning.

Good luck in the future with this game, and it’s amazing for your first game you designed yourself! :slight_smile:

#19

Well, I mean that if your might use the number of times a player ‘undoes’ an action, or returns the board to it’s prior state while attempting a problem to gauge its difficulty.

Like, say the player’s thinking, scrambling, and they move a row left twice, then right twice, then do something else. They basically just undid an operation, perhaps after figuring out that it wouldn’t work like they thought it would. This might work as an indication of how complex they feel the question is, at least compared to the current game board. Especially if they do it a lot. I mean, it can be abused, but if the player is actually playing the game, without trying to abuse features, it could be a good indication of relative difficulty.

#20

Thank you. I have to have a think how I would control the android game. Maybe the user could just move the rows and columns of tiles with their finger and there be a button at the bottom the screen that they hold down when they want to select the tiles, kind of like dragging the mouse.

Thanks for the suggestions and for playing. You do currently get more points the longer the problem is as you get a point per tile , I’m not sure how else to rate how hard a problem is. Maybe it could be two points per tile so it’s more obvious that the longer problems get more points.

Thanks for posting your score. I was thinking of making the tiles slower to be added to the grid at the start, but I think 57 is a good score for a second go.
I don’t want the games to go on too long because I agree it’s a good game for playing on the go. I’m still tweaking the speed at which the tiles wll be added later in the game. I think the rate it speeds up will have to slow down.