Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!ncar!gatech!prism!vapsppr
From: vapsppr@prism.gatech.EDU (Paul Raines)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds
Subject: Re: Update to H. Piper! ver 1.1 (bug fixes and enhancements)
Message-ID: <29669@hydra.gatech.EDU>
Date: 23 May 91 04:17:47 GMT
References: <29589@hydra.gatech.EDU> <16081@life.ai.mit.edu> <29635@hydra.gatech.EDU> <16101@life.ai.mit.edu>
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology
Lines: 46

In article <16101@life.ai.mit.edu> bson@rice-chex.ai.mit.edu (Jan Brittenson) writes:
>
>............ Is there a possibility of improving the graphics somewhat
>- for instance, to make the pipe bends curved? H.Piper! has the same
>qualities as Tetris: almost hypnotic in its simplicity. That's what
>makes it a great game. (I haven't visited an arcade the last, er, 7
>years I think.)

I agree that the biggest problem with the program now is just the
visual realiztion of what pipe is what once you have a random ;-)
collaboration on the board.  I don't want to increase the size of
the pipe graphics at the cost of losing dimensions on the grid, but
I have soom ideas I am looking into.

>
>   Oh, another thing. About games and random generators... My personal
>opinion (gosh, I'm starting to sound like an arcade rat!) is that they
>ought to be *banned*. The more that's under the player's control, the
>better. A Centipede, for instance, might appear on the left/right side
>depending on whether an even/odd number of shots have been fired since
>the last Centipede segment was mushroomed. The starting point of an
>H.Piper! round can be wherever the last round finished. Likewise, the
>actual pieces selected seemingly on random, but the True Arcade Rat
>knows better! :-) Choosing these "random" algorithms is probably what
>is the most difficult part of designing a game. (We all know what
>result is if you don't do it *right*!)
>
Once again, I agree.  I hate randomness in most games too.  When I
see a new board game, the first thing I do is see if it has dice.
If it does, I generally don't buy it. Understandably, by favorite
games are chess, Diplomacy, and Empire Builder (or British Rails).
I will work on this too.  I like your suggestion about where to
put the starting pipe.  The new pipe selection will take some
creativity.  Incidentally, I did a test on the fairness of CHIP's
random generator and it is pretty fair.


Paul Raines
vapsppr@prism.gatech.edu


-- 
Paul Raines
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
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