Skip to Content
 

a flexible ai to help liitle monkeys

2 replies [Last post]
wob
Offline
Joined: 06/09/2017

MONKEY VS MOVER. in this game a mover (adult) is trying to arrange 16 boxes (tiles, 4 rooms in 4 colours) by swapping a pair of adjacent tiles each turn. the more matching types in a row the more points.
any broken boxes can be fixed if they are put into a line of matching tiles.

the mover is trying to beat the monkeys score.

the monkey is a very simple ai. parts of the ai can be taken over by a young child so the monkey and child are trying to beat the adult.
in a solo game the monkey has 2 sets of cards (actions and swaps) and a set score to try and beat.

monkey action cards. they each contain a copy of a box and two choices. the choices will be on either end of the action card. the action at the top of a drawn card is the monkeys choice. they will have funny names like monkey rides a bike or monkey has a poo. (instead of random choices they can both be offered to a very young child to choose instead of the monkey)
if the choice tells you to break a box turn that tile over.
if it tells you to swap a box take a card from the monkey swap pile.these are just copies of each box, and tells you which 2 boxes to swap.( this can be done by a young child,instead of making the action choice.)

older children can take over from the monkey completely. they will still have an advantage against the "cleverer" adult.

i want this game to be heavily weighted in the monkeys favor so the child wins more often than the adult.

i hope i have explained this well enough.

does anyone have any suggestions for monkey actions. nothing to rude. but bodily functions are always funny to a kid.

also i would be interested to hear from parents. do you think this is worth exploring? how old do you think i should recommend for each part of the monkey?

Lowenhigh
Lowenhigh's picture
Offline
Joined: 03/20/2018
Seems easy enough to

Seems easy enough to understand, but I think the theme is off. This is an abstract game and would probably fit better with some beautiful illustration in similar fashion to Azul or Carcassonne.

If you’re trying to be silly, you have to appeal to me in a way that would entertain two adults playing. If the humor is all intended for 5-year-olds, it won’t sell that well.

If you want to keep that theme, it needs a heavy dose of millennial humor (Such as calling a card “Monkey See” or “Monkey Do” or “Monkey Throws Poo At You” with a comical but well made art piece to go with it. See no evil, hear no evil, etc could be played off of this theme as well.

The AI seems to work well, but it seems it might get boring after like 1-2 plays. What is in there that can spice it up? Can you lose the game is you don’t dodge 3 poop flings? Is it a race against the clock? It needs something to add tension.

Just my 2 cents.

wob
Offline
Joined: 06/09/2017
thanks for the input, i see

thanks for the input, i see what you mean about the humor. the idea of the game was to even the playing field between an adult and kid. to have a game the adult can play with proper logic and stratergy whilst the kid plays with "kid logic".

the actual things the monkey does (fling poo etc) are really just there so you arnt asking the kid a direct "shall i break or swap?" question. i was thinking of some more adult options like "monkey makes code" " monkey writes Shakespeare " or "monkey breaks out of infinite cage" but i thought the humor should be more on the silly side

i have rethought the theme, and reworked the win conditions. the monkey works in the same way but now (on a farm) the adult is trying to get 4 rows of different animals (3 for 3 in a row 5 for 4). the monkey is trying to get lines of matching colours, in rows or columns (so that it is twice as easy to get points for the kid).

the "broken" boxes now have extra help for the monkey (can only be moved by monkey, +1 point for monkey etc).
once the kid is older this option can be removed.

the reworking should make it more of of a competition. or if your kid is feeling cooperative you could work to make a perfect grid.

my game clock comes from the monkey deck, it only has 16 cards so once they are all discarded the game is over.

finally the art side of things i see as cartoony. personally i suck at art so it will probably be very basic ( or free geneneric stuff) i figure it only needs to look good enough, if i ever try to get it published im sure the publishers will have plenty of input on that side of things

Syndicate content


forum | by Dr. Radut