Connect 4 Xtreme
Connect 4 Xtreme is a classic connect four board game with added power-ups to spice up the gameplay.
Power-ups includes destroying or switching colours of surrounding, vertical, horizontal, and diagonal pieces.
Submission for Extra Credits Game Jam #4
Credits:
Developed by Lei
Assets used
"Connect Four - Starter Kit"
(https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/connect-four-starter-kit-19722)
Sound effects
http://soundbible.com/1705-Click2.html
http://soundbible.com/1765-Glass-Break.html
http://soundbible.com/682-Swoosh-1.html
freesound (freesound.org) by
incorrect - ertfelda
Action 02 - rhodesmas
Special thanks to Alejandro
Download
Install instructions
Unzip and run "Connect 4 Xtreme.exe"
Comments
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This is a super smart and interesting twist on connect 4! It's a short little gameplay loop, but the AI was suitably smart and interesting, the powerups were cool, and the SFX were actually pretty nice, if not a little plain. Really enjoyed it!
Thank you! Ill focus more on visual effects for my future projects
Simple but fun! The powerups were just enough of a twist to make for some interesting choices. I played a few games, and the AI seemed like a competent opponent most of the time, but a couple of times it used a powerup that made me win XD
Thank you! Some times the AI is quite challenging, but some other times it just does what it wants
Simple, but very efficient in being fun! The new bonuses add an element of randomness and depth to the connect-4 formula. The concept is a good idea, and the animation are fast enough to have a good game feel. The letters of the powerup don't convey really well what they do, so a small text legend in the game would have made things clearer, but even that is not a real problem.
If you want to play our game: https://itch.io/jam/extra-credits-game-jam-4/rate/432457
Thank you! Im happy that you liked my idea of sprinkle some new mechanics to a classic game. And as many players commented, Ill take note about game instructions for my future projects
I'm not exactly sure how much if it is original and how much is an asset, but there's certainly nothing wrong with that. Modifying someone's code is an essential skill in gamedev, and you've demonstrated a good level of it. Good job!
Thank you! Give thanks to the creator of the asset I used as the base for this game, it saved a lot of my time. I mostly focused on adding features, like AI (which the original "AI" was placing pieces randomly) and power-ups, and some required modifications to the asset, and keeping level creation and stages control intact
Like everyone has been saying: Great job on the AI!! Only thing I could think of is that powers could maybe have used an animation, specifically pieces switching color on a gradient. It would make the powers more intuitive. Over all, well done!
Thank you! Im surprised that many players like the AI I made, you can check a reply I made earlier to Yubs about how it works. Ill take note about giving more feedback to the player about effects for my future projects
Maybe there is no any serious innovation apart from powerups, but at least there are no any bugs, and AI is really hard to beat. Congratulations for finishing a game!
Thank you! Serious innovation was not my main focus, I didnt want to ruin a good old classic game. Im happy to know that the AI is challenging, you can check a reply I made earlier to Yubs about how it works. About bugs, youll find some if you keep playing it :D
I liked the difficulty level of the AI, it seemed just hard enough but not to hard. The addition of power-ups definitely made it much more interesting. Although I did feel that the lack of explanation for the power ups did take away from my first two games but I got it after that. Overall great game!
Thank you! Its great to know that the AI I did is challenging enough, you can check a reply I made earlier to Yubs about how it works. And Ill take note about adding feature descriptions to the game for my future projects
Simple yet well done. The power-ups give you something extra to consider with each turn, so adding them was a good idea.
Thank you! I appreciate that you like what I added to this classic game
Good implementation of the classic game with a twist. I wish there was a explanation of what the power-ups were and how they worked as I lost my first game because I didn't understand what did what. The sound worked great with what was shown. Great job.
Thank you! Its great that you liked my take of this classic game. And Ill take note about game instructions for my future projects
I really like the twist on a classic game. The sound effects are spot on for immersion. Overall, the game allows for greater depth and strategy than typical Connect 4. The one thing that might improve some users' experience would be a tutorial although the power ups are easy enough to figure out after a few rounds.
Thank you! Im surprised that you liked the sound effects, let me tell you a secret, I literally added it half an hour before submission :P And as many players pointed out, Ill take note about game instructions for my future projects
Very good idea! I didn't know what the power-ups did, but they were simple enough to understand and memorize after seeing them for the first time. Also, although simple, the power-ups did add a certain level of additional depth to the game!
Thank you! As many players said, it lacks some description about power-ups. Ill take note for my future projects
I really liked the polish and fun factor! The ai was a bit simple though. Overall great entry!
If you want to play my game you can here: https://c0d3d.itch.io/cyborg-festival
Thank you! The AI made of simple logical checks, you can check a reply I made earlier to Yubs describing how it works
A really interesting take on connect four. The power ups could really use an explaination, but I see how that wouldnt be the focus next to actually making the power ups themselves and a fairly challanging AI. I enjoyed it, really fun!
Thank you! I appreciate that you enjoyed the game. Seems like it only misses a touch of power-up descriptions, Ill take note for my future projects
It's pretty cool! It's nice that the AI is smart but not just a completely optimal one! Would've been nice if the special tiles were telegraphed, so you know what will be coming next.
Thank you! I used some simple logical check to make the AI, you can check a reply I made earlier to Yubs about how the AI works. And showing up coming special tiles would also be a nice feature
This is really clever! The AI is really good and the additions to the main mechanics are really interesting and I haven't gotten used to them but make this really addicting. Great job!!
Thank you! Its great to hear that you like it!
Nice. The AI seemed challenging; I had to "trap" it to win. The powerups could've used a description, although I was able to figure them out.
Thank you! I like how the AI is giving you some good challenge, and if you want to know how I did it, you can check a reply I made earlier to the user Yubs. And Ill keep in mind about adding descriptions in my future projects!
This is really neat. Nice job. More power ups would be great, and yeah props on the AI work.
Thank you! I wish I could add more power ups before running out of time. The AI is one of my proudest part of this project
I totally understand, if only we could implement everything we wanted!
I really liked how the power-ups and it made the game had a fun twist! I'm very impressed with the A.I. you made also, because it actually does use the powerups to win in the game! I just wish there was some music to go along with it! Good job!
Thank you! I was also surprised by my AI implementation, which is a very simple but effective logical checks. And I agree, a touch of background music would be nice
Oh really? Could you sort of explain the process? I'm kind of curious how the AI "thinks"
In simplest terms, given a state of the table, for every empty slot that a piece can be placed, check all 4 directions (horizontal, vertical, and both diagonals). For each direction, check 3 pieces away from the center (the empty placeable slot). If an AI piece is encountered, add points to an AI direction score sum; if a player piece is encountered, add points to a player direction score sum. Piece points can be 1, 2, or 3, being 1 furthest to the center and 3 nearest. For each pair of pieces of same type (AI or player) found consecutively, a multiplier (x2) is applied to the direction score sum of the corresponding type. Once checked all four directions, add up all direction scores of one type. Once checked all empty placeable slots, pick the highest AI score or a player score thats higher option to place the piece. If there are multiple highest score, randomly choose one.
With this, AI tries to bunch up its pieces in the same zone or breack up players piece clumps, so it moves without exclusively searching for amount-of-pieces-in-a-row slots.
And of course, the are many flaws. Biggest one is sometimes AI doesnt see 3 in a row pieces because another slot has higher score for some reason. Maybe the score system needs some tweaking, but for now, with the amount of time I dedicated in it, its good enough to play with.
As you can see, there arent branched prediction thingy like minimax algorithm and stuff, because I dont know any of those things, I couldnt find a simple plug-in implementation, and I dont have enough time to add the real stuff.
About AI using power-ups, let me reveal you the secret. It doesnt, really :D. A power-up piece is treated as a placeable empty slot, but only adds 5 points to the final AI score, where scores can be up to tens and hundreds.
I see! So it really isn't some crazy algorithm or Deep Learning AI! Its really cool hearing how these work when explained by the dev! Thank you!
Hey, I really liked this game! The twist with power-ups was simple but effective. I think there's more design space in the power-ups somewhere. Keep up the good work!
Thank you! And I agree, there are much more space for improvements