[Kde-games-devel] The State of KNetwalk

[Parker Coates]

On Mon, Dec 14, 2009 at 17:50, Stefan Majewsky <majewsky at gmx.net> wrote:
> Am Montag, 14. Dezember 2009 22:34:14 schrieb Matthew Woehlke:
>> Parker Coates wrote:
>> >  * Increase fairness across games by making each game require the
>> > exact same number of moves and an equal distribution of left, right
>> > and double-clicks.
>> >  * Increase fairness across games by preventing the generation of
>> > games with empty cells. [4]
>>
>> Honestly? I don't think either of those are necessary. It's inherent in
>> a game that gives random layouts that some will be harder than others.
>> (For some games, some layouts may even be impossible.) I don't think we
>> should try to eliminate that.
>
> Full ACK from me (as a long-time KNetWalk player).

Well, right now my best times are essentially determined by luck. My
top three times are all from being randomly given exceptionally easy
puzzles. If I ever hope to beat them, then I have to just hit new game
repeatedly until I see something that looks easy, which isn't exactly
fun. I assumed this was the same for others.

Of course even with the above two changes the level of mental
difficulty would still vary from game to game. Some would still have
more terminals. Some will be mostly straight connectors while others
will be most frustrating tees. Some will contain obvious patterns,
while others will require a lot more head scratching.

I guess I don't really understand why having some puzzles with big
holes in them and others that are barely "shuffled" is a good thing.
It just seems to result in one sometimes getting lucky and getting an
especially easy game, which I don't really think captures the spirit
of KNetwalk either.

Parker