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Show HN: Play abstract strategy board games online with friends or against bots

abstractboardgames.com

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Re: Show HN: Play abstract strategy board games online with friends or against bots

#41

Post by abstractbg »

nenadalm wrote: post #39

nice website, Thanks for sharing. I like board games, so I'll definitely try some (or all) of them. > I'm always looking for new games or new features to add Nice feature to add would be single device multiplayer for the games. I play board games mostly in person. I know that there are travel versions of many games... but I don't like to carry too much stuff. So I've created 2 games that I sometimes play with other p…

Thanks, single device multiplayer is a great idea.

Someone else recently mentioned to me that Virus Wars is their favorite game! I'm glad to see it getting some love.

Re: Show HN: Play abstract strategy board games online with friends or against bots

#42

Post by aidenn0 »

The name of my favorite abstract strategy game escapes me, but it is played on a solitaire[1] shaped board, with lines connecting the dots indicating valid moves (all lateral moves are allowed, diagonal are somewhat restricted; I can draw the board from memory). It starts with the offense occupying every spot except for the nine that make up one limb of the cross (the "fortress"). Defense has two pieces only, placed anywhere inside the fortress.

Offense can move any piece by one dot, following the lines, and cannot jump. Defense can move or jumping the pieces from the offense, in any direction, following the lines.

Jumping is obligatory, consecutive jumps are allowed (and also obligatory, e.g. you can't not take a double jump).

Game ends when:

1. The offense occupies all 9 squares of the fortress (offense wins)

2. There is no legal move for a player on their turn (that player loses)

3. The offense has fewer than 9 pieces left (defense wins)

For practiced players #1 is the most common end to a game and the offense gets a number of points equal to the remaining pieces; players then switch sides and the player with the most points wins.

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peg_solitaire

Re: Show HN: Play abstract strategy board games online with friends or against bots

#43

Post by vkazanov »

fsckboy wrote: post #25
quuxplusone wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No text, no chance, perfect information. If you have to read things, roll things, or hide things, it's not an abstract. (This fails to include backgammon and Parcheesi when maybe it should, and includes Zark City when somehow I feel it shouldn't, but it's not a bad starting point.) Additionally: No dexterity (which is kind of a special case of "no chance").

is there a game that is an abstract version of D&D? i've always been curious about the gameplay, but have absolutely no interest in reading past words like "wizard", "mage", or "eldritch", and i won't look at anything where i have to see or imagine that somebody is wearing a cape, or even play with gamers who are willing to imagine they are wearing capes in other games.

There are literally 1000s of non-DnD RPGS!

I am also past the age of wanting to believe in magic. And also past the age of having time for long plays. Most of my friends are busy doing serious adult stuff.

So outside of baroque dnd-like systems, my personal favourite right now is a subgenre called journalling solo RPG, which are often minimalist, but covering all kinds of themes and topics.

Re: Show HN: Play abstract strategy board games online with friends or against bots

#44

Post by barbs »

johnecheck wrote: post #29
Paracompact wrote: post #4

As a longtime chess and go player, I was just doing some research the other day into what modern abstracts are out there. I was disappointed by how dry I came up. Even if you expand the search criteria to include video games, there just aren't many deeply strategic discrete-time games that weren't invented centuries ago and have players online at any given time. Here I exclude games that are perpetually changing and/…

This seems like the time to mention my unreleased board/video game, Star Gambit! It's a turn-based abstract space fleet battle coming to your browser in 2026. It's already playable over the internet w/ time controls and ratings. If that interests you, join the discord for updates and playtest invites! https://stargamb.it https://discord.gg/f3MUSkJjFx

Looks interesting. What engine/framework did you use to make the game?

Re: Show HN: Play abstract strategy board games online with friends or against bots

#45

Post by vkazanov »

krapp wrote: post #26
fsckboy wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

is there a game that is an abstract version of D&D? i've always been curious about the gameplay, but have absolutely no interest in reading past words like "wizard", "mage", or "eldritch", and i won't look at anything where i have to see or imagine that somebody is wearing a cape, or even play with gamers who are willing to imagine they are wearing capes in other games.

Why do you have such an aversion to capes? There's no rule saying you have to play as a character in a cape. If you're asking if there's a version of D&D that's pure math and no roleplay, the closest thing I can imagine would be Dragon Dice, or something with the mechanics of a very basic roguelike. The math in D&D itself such as in combat is affected by your character's stats and the encounters created by the DM, so…

The thing is that dragons and magic and Harry Potter all become irrelevant at some point in life. Power fantasies do have an expiration date.

Now, the genre itself, all the storytelling involved, can easily be adapted to more serious, or even abstract, thinking.

In fact, it was, and there are plenty of alternative rpg universes. But, similar to how serious non-marvel movies are a niche, serious rpgs are also less popular.

Re: Show HN: Play abstract strategy board games online with friends or against bots

#46

Post by animal531 »

I love games and once back in the day had the idea of using some form of genetic algorithm to combine game elements to make new games (Today we'd probably replace the genetic part with some form of NN).

I spent a lot of time collecting and breaking down game elements from all board games I could find, but as things go with ADD I then ran out of steam before I had any kind of functional prototype.

As always I highly recommend The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks, and although its not his best book I really enjoyed the game aspects in it.

Re: Show HN: Play abstract strategy board games online with friends or against bots

#47

Post by Paracompact »

aidenn0 wrote: post #42

The name of my favorite abstract strategy game escapes me, but it is played on a solitaire[1] shaped board, with lines connecting the dots indicating valid moves (all lateral moves are allowed, diagonal are somewhat restricted; I can draw the board from memory). It starts with the offense occupying every spot except for the nine that make up one limb of the cross (the "fortress"). Defense has two pieces only, placed…

Asalto? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asalto

Re: Show HN: Play abstract strategy board games online with friends or against bots

#48

Post by Paracompact »

animal531 wrote: post #46

I love games and once back in the day had the idea of using some form of genetic algorithm to combine game elements to make new games (Today we'd probably replace the genetic part with some form of NN). I spent a lot of time collecting and breaking down game elements from all board games I could find, but as things go with ADD I then ran out of steam before I had any kind of functional prototype. As always I highly r…

Are you familiar with The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse?

Re: Show HN: Play abstract strategy board games online with friends or against bots

#50

Post by Paracompact »

Buttons840 wrote: post #27
Paracompact wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love Spirit Island! Probably played more hours of that game than any other in my collection. Granted, it's purely a cooperative game, and much more artificially complex ("fiddly") than any abstract. It's the immortal simplicity and competition of games like chess and go that I was looking to rekindle, but I guess they aren't well suited to modern gaming tastes. Dominion is also great, and in its simplicity literall…

I haven't played YINSH, but I haven played some of the other games in that "series". You're aware of the others, right? Which is your favorite (YINSH I assume)?

Only played YINSH, and only a few games. It's nice and I would be eager to play more, but unsure if I would study it deeply myself even if it did become popular. A lot of abstracts tend to blend together in my head as "combinatorial slugfests," where the player with the most RAM in their brain wins out. (YINSH may or may not be like that, don't take my word for it.) It's the primary reason I switched from chess to go, where my propensity to make tactical blunders can at least be offset by larger scale planning and good directional judgement.
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