The Game of Hex - An Interim Report Dissertation

The Game of Hex - An Interim Report - Dissertation Example Project Aims/Objectives The aim of the project is to implement a Hex game using NxN board, where N depicts the number of hexes in a side. The player would be able to specify the number of hexagons on a side i.e. size of board that will be used in the game. The board would be diamond shaped. The gaming mode could also be selected i.e. the two players could be two humans, a human against the system or two systems against each other with opposite sides. The player will select a side. If white is selected, then the player himself begins, else the opponent (player or system) plays the first move. Project Requirements The requirements of this project are divided into three parts: 1. Essential requirements The development language for the project would be Java (oracle JDeveloper 11). All functionalities will be developed using JDeveloper 11. AI algorithm called MCTS algorithm shall be used to support the high level of knowledge required by the Hex game. MCTS shall be implemented on the Hex game board whereon the data structures would be transferred. The game would have playing options. These options will be implemented though MCTS. The game will be played by two human players, or one human against the system. 2. Recommended requirements A new playing mode option can be added. In this playing mode, the game would be played between two systems. Adobe flash player can be used for designing a helper application to guide computer players as to how to play the Hex game. The guide would be simple enough to assist anyone in learning the game rules and playing. 3. Optional requirement: The MCTS algorithm which is used for building this game shall be compared with another... The board is rhombus shaped consisting of an array of hexagons. The optimal suggested size for rhombuses is 14x14. However, the size could vary. After choosing a one of the two colors (e.g. black or white), each player takes turn to place a piece on any one of the unoccupied hex. The goal of the game is that a player has to connect the two opposite sides of the board with an unbroken chain of his/her colored pieces. For a player that selected white, a chain of white pieces has to run from one edge to the other. Similarly, for the player with black pieces, a connected chain of pieces has to run across the other two edges (Figure 1-a). There is no predefined path for the chain. It can freely twist and turn on its path between the two edges. The player with white pieces always makes the beginning move. The strategy of Hex is such that the winning moves may be different for every player and the game never ends in a draw. One player always wins. This is due to Brouwer fixed-point theorem for 2D squares. Computer programs where a game of two players is solved generally comprise of exploration of a hierarchy of positions on the board. This hierarchy (called game tree) is a tree with a root, where its nodes represents the valid position on the board and the edges represent the valid moves. The extensive techniques for game-tree search developed over the last 3 to 4 decades are mostly aimed at programming Chess.