Spectrum Computing

R-Tape wrote: ↑Fri Mar 23, 2018 1:59 pmAnother great one is the Sokoban level generator paper

This is a very good paper on the subject. But if you think hard enough, you can figure out many further optimizations that they have missed

R-Tape wrote: ↑Fri Mar 23, 2018 1:59 pmI even wondered if it could be implemented on the Speccy - I think Einar tried and decided it was a no go.

I'm a big fan of Sokoban, and implemented my own level generator and optimal solver in Java years ago. These processes are inerently memory hungry, thus impractical for Spectrum except for solving very straightforward levels like Joefish described.

I don't see why the generator is inherently memory intensive. You could easily generate a floor plan, create a solved state, then move the robot around and pull blocks randomly.
...You could hash the crate positions and keep them in a stack to ensure that you don't revisit states.
...and robot positions...
...and backtrack to a previous crate pull if you hit a deadend...
I'm beginning to see why the generator is memory intensive!

Exactly.

Even using quite a few more optimizations than the ones mentioned in papers, the number of combinations still explode too rapidly. So it's not viable to traverse the tree of possibilities without keeping track of already analyzed positions.

pavero wrote: ↑Fri Mar 23, 2018 7:39 pm Can you please add a joystick support to the full version of the game?

Yep, will do. Joysticks are more in demand than I realised. Can I ask how are you playing your games? PC with joystick or real hardware?

Ersh wrote: ↑Fri Mar 23, 2018 7:51 pm I'm up to Level 23. 13 to 16 felt really tricky but then I breezed through 17 to 21, Level 22 was a bit harder again. Never bothered with Sokoban before because I've seen some huge levels and I haven't the patience for that. This is perfect, bite-sized puzzles that takes 1-7 minutes to figure out.

Full game pwease.

7 minutes is faster than me. I graded them as easy, medium, medium/hard, and hard. Interested to know how you fare with hard, the last 4 or so.

There's been more interest than I expected in Pushbot, I'm more likely to return to it. It needs smooth movement, an undo function, joystick, sound, more polish. I enjoy making my own Sokoban levels but it'd be impossible to improve on these ones.

Completed it! Managed to beat Level 23 in around a minute or two but the remaining levels took me quite some time to get through, had the most problems with Level 25, think I spent over 20 minutes on that one. Such an addictive game and the well defined graphics works extremely well here. More please.

R-Tape wrote: ↑Sat Mar 24, 2018 8:21 am

pavero wrote: ↑Fri Mar 23, 2018 7:39 pm Can you please add a joystick support to the full version of the game?

Yep, will do. Joysticks are more in demand than I realised. Can I ask how are you playing your games? PC with joystick or real hardware?

The answer "C" is correct.

I use Spectaculator in which I can select a sinclair/kempston joystick. Then I use arrow keys on PC keyboard.

Nice..! I usually struggle with games like this, but I got up to level 10.

Manic Miner-esque difficulty spike at level 1, heheh...

An 'undo' move button might be a nice idea, the key controls seem fairly sensitive and a few times I overrun when pushing and had to reset. Though that's not really an excuse for failing to solve the levels...

Am getting quite familiar with the multi-colour games now, I'm going to forget the Speccy has limitations at this rate...

BASIC or ML

did you use Zeus, ZX ASM?

It's written in assembly and it's actually quite advanced code.

No, the Sokoban engine itself isn't that advanced. But this game uses a graphic mode which isn't standard for Spectrum. Maybe you know already that 8 bit computers had some default graphic modes but through advanced tricks in the code people was able to achieve more. It's one of such cases.

This game is great . I am stuck on level 10 though. It does not seem possible.

MonkZy wrote: ↑Sun Mar 25, 2018 10:26 pm This game is great . I am stuck on level 10 though. It does not seem possible.

All levels are possible.