Arithbequick

Showcase
#21

Gonna wait for applet :slight_smile:

#22

Maybe check for which operations are in the problems and for parenthesis. For example, ? + ? - ? would be worth less than ? * ? / ? because addition and subtraction are easier than multiplication and division. If it was (? + ?) - ? then maybe it would be worth equal or more points than ? * ? / ? due to the parenthesis.

Hope this helps. :slight_smile:

EDIT: As for the speed tiles are added, maybe add different difficulties which change the speed of the tiles being added. That way users can play the game at whatever speed is comfortable for them, and the issue of it being too easy or too hard for different people vanishes.

#23

I have thought about different difficulty levels, and such. The only reason I scrapt it was lazyness, and trying to keep things simple so I actually finished it. Iā€™ll definitely add it to future versions. Especially if I do an android version. I thought it would be cool if the user could design and save custom games giving them complete control over everything.

Thanks for all your feedback.

#24

Ok I tried it again ā€¦ now with wasd and yes itā€™s easier but still very demanding.
I think a little ingame tutorial would help. The first time when you start the program a little help is shown (with the ā€œwasdā€-information).

I liek the idea with the different difficulties.
The easy difficulty starts with only 2 ? like ? + ? = ā€¦ and adds every 5 formulas a new ?. And the time should decrease very slowly etc.

#25

Latest version. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/74401653/Arithbequick%20v2.jar

I have now added difficulty levels. I didnā€™t like the idea of starting off with easier problems because people who are fast would find that frustrating. But I do like the idea of just having the option of playing easy, medium, or hard. Iā€™m sure there will be plently more tweeking to do, as Iā€™ve just done this pretty quickly. But my mum can get a score in the 60s now on easy and she is useless at games. lol.

So the easier version is slighly slower than the harder version and here is a list of problems so you can see what is in each level. The higher levels have all the problems from the easier levels. _ is where the question mark would be and ā€˜dā€™ is divide.

  private String[] problems  = {
      
        // easy problems
        "_+_=",
        "_-_=", 
        "_x_=",
      
        // medium problems
        "__+_=",
        "__+__=",
        "_d_=",
        "__-_=",
        "__-__=",
        "_+_-_=",
        "_+_+_=",
        
        // hard problems
        "(_+_)x_=",
        "(_+_-_)x_=",
        "(_x_)-(_x_)=",
        "__-_-_=",
        "_x_x_=",
        "__x_=",
        "__d_=",
      };

As there are times when the tiles run low that it is impossible, I am considering adding a ā€œNo Solutionā€ button. The player hits this button, and it checks to see if there is in fact a solution. If there is no solution all the ties are dropped from the grid and the player gets a big fat bonus. Then more tiles are added. The same amount that is at the start of the game. If the user presses the no solution button and there is a solution, they get an X and lose points. Itā€™s just a thought. The thing I donā€™t like about that idea is the player no longer has to be careful to use all the numbers. In fact it could benefit them to let the tile fill up with all of the same number.

#26

I was not aware of that fact! Now I got 173 points, fun game!

#27

Good game!

I failed horribly the first two rounds, but got the hang of it by round three, and then it became pretty addicting!

On my final try I got 91 points on hard before I succumbed to the temptation of dividing by zero :frowning:

One thing I would consider is to rethink the mechanic where you lose the game after three errors. Some times I felt like I lost only because I dragged my mouse too far after having done two errors before, even though my board was pretty clean. The first thing that came to mind was adding 1 or 2 penalty blocks when you make a mistake, or something that has more to do with the rest of the game idea.

A final point of critisism is the animation were the button falls down when you click it. It just makes the menus go slower without having a purpose.

I gotta say I got impressed as I was playing the game by how ā€œinto itā€ I got with such a simple and clean design. It also felt like playing the game for 5 minutes switched my brain from ā€œsluggish forum modeā€ to ā€œfocused thinking modeā€, haha.

I did not notice any audio issues. I liked the block movement sound :slight_smile:

#28

Hi thanks for playing, and for the very detailed feedback! I could always make the buttons zoom out at the same time as it falls to speed things up. I was just trying to make things look a bit more professional. Iā€™ve also been buzzed for not dragging the mouse far enough. It was the reason I added a little pause after getting it wrong so you could see where you went wrong. I do like the 3 strikes and your out rule, so I probably wonā€™t change it.

Thanks again.

#29

Thanks for giving it another go.

#30

It didinā€™t crash when you did that did it? It doesnā€™t on mine, but I never thought that it maybe different on other systems.

#31

Nope, didnā€™t crash, I just got an X :wink:

#32

Just in case any of you think I am the worldā€™s slowest programmer, Iā€™ve not been feeling very well recently so I can only do bits every now and then. So this might be quite a long term project at the rate Iā€™m going.

However there is a new version available. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/74401653/Arithbequick%20v3.jar

Now there is a no solution button. You click this button when you are convinced that there is no solution available. You will get 25 points and 1 point per tile still left on the board, which is a great way to increase your score without increasing the speed of the game. You really donā€™t want to push that button if there is still a solution though.

#33

Your game doesnā€™t guarantee solution right? because I always stuck and canā€™t get more than 10 points on easy level.

#34
#35

Damn it 8)

#36

It seems that without being told people just assume the grid can not be moved. So Iā€™m going to make it so if the user hasnā€™t moved for 30 seconds, a little speech bubble will pop up telling them they can move the grid.

I am going to add a how to play section, where the gameplay will be automated, if thatā€™s the right word. And the user will be able to see how to play.

#37

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

This should now save your highscore in your home directory. But Iā€™ve only tested it on my computer.

Now if the player does not move within 30 seconds there is a little pop up telling them that they can move the tiles. So no one will ever tell me the game is impossible again.

There is now a Tutorial, which I hope is clear.

Iā€™ve now added a Timed Game mode.

#38

Iā€™ve not done much to the game, as Iā€™ve been busy learning html, css and javascript. But Iā€™ve made it into an applet. I doesnā€™t save your highscores yet though.
Also I noticed that sometimes it loses focus and the only way to get it back is to close the browser and reopen it. Anyone know what I can do about that?

Here is the link to play the applet. http://www.dreamofsleeping.co.uk/games/arithbequick/