Classic Nintendo Games are NP-Hard
jeremykun.com
Classic Nintendo Games are NP-Hard
1–10 of 21 posts
Re: Classic Nintendo Games are NP-Hard
#2When designing a game [I didn't build], I realized one of the most important ways of making the game indefinitely interestingly was to make it really hard to solve. This meant making it NP-hard on purpose.
Re: Classic Nintendo Games are NP-Hard
#3When designing a game [I didn't build], I realized one of the most important ways of making the game indefinitely interestingly was to make it really hard to solve. This meant making it NP-hard on purpose.
This is helpful, but not sufficient. At the same time it has to be engaging and still look solvable i.e. the player must always have the feeling that "next time I'll do it!" or he will just stop playing.
One of the last bosses in Zelda is an interesting example. It starts as a dragon with three heads. One which is only killable by fire, the other by ice, the last one is invincible but tries to bite you. When the outer heads are dead the third head transforms to a fast moving snake which you have to hit at a specific point to damage. Each time you hit it it gets faster. Now, if you die something interesting happens: The next snake will start slower i.e. easier, so players should be able to kill more parts of it. This repeats itself every time you die. I noticed this when my mother (who loves Nintendo games, but isn't a really good player) died 20 times or so at the snake. Every time it was a bit slower and every time she was like "Well I did manage to kill one more part. THIS time I kill it!" and ran in again. In the end she killed the boss and was happy.
Re: Classic Nintendo Games are NP-Hard
#4I have a book called Games, Puzzles, and Computation (Hearn & Demaine). It discusses and proves the hardness of various games and puzzles. Not the scale of AAA titles, though.
It's an interesting read. Not too mathy. They make clause gadgets in the same way as the example here for Super Mario Brothers and use that to prove things.
Edit: Realized the author of this book is actually one of the authors of this paper. So, yeah, if you found this article/paper interesting be sure to pick up the book.
Re: Classic Nintendo Games are NP-Hard
#5When designing a game [I didn't build], I realized one of the most important ways of making the game indefinitely interestingly was to make it really hard to solve. This meant making it NP-hard on purpose.
This is helpful, but not sufficient. At the same time it has to be engaging and still look solvable i.e. the player must always have the feeling that "next time I'll do it!" or he will just stop playing. One of the last bosses in Zelda is an interesting example. It starts as a dragon with three heads. One which is only killable by fire, the other by ice, the last one is invincible but tries to bite you. When the oute…
Also known as the difference between finishing a mario game, and finishing a mario game with all stars / 100% completion. Those levels are vicious.
Re: Classic Nintendo Games are NP-Hard
#6I have a book called Games, Puzzles, and Computation (Hearn & Demaine). It discusses and proves the hardness of various games and puzzles. Not the scale of AAA titles, though. It's an interesting read. Not too mathy. They make clause gadgets in the same way as the example here for Super Mario Brothers and use that to prove things. Edit: Realized the author of this book is actually one of the authors of this paper. So…
Nice, I'll check it out.
Re: Classic Nintendo Games are NP-Hard
#7When designing a game [I didn't build], I realized one of the most important ways of making the game indefinitely interestingly was to make it really hard to solve. This meant making it NP-hard on purpose.
This is helpful, but not sufficient. At the same time it has to be engaging and still look solvable i.e. the player must always have the feeling that "next time I'll do it!" or he will just stop playing. One of the last bosses in Zelda is an interesting example. It starts as a dragon with three heads. One which is only killable by fire, the other by ice, the last one is invincible but tries to bite you. When the oute…
Zelda 2 is considered by so many weak-willed children of the 80s to be the "hardest" Zelda game, and yet it was not even included...
Re: Classic Nintendo Games are NP-Hard
#8When designing a game [I didn't build], I realized one of the most important ways of making the game indefinitely interestingly was to make it really hard to solve. This meant making it NP-hard on purpose.
This is helpful, but not sufficient. At the same time it has to be engaging and still look solvable i.e. the player must always have the feeling that "next time I'll do it!" or he will just stop playing. One of the last bosses in Zelda is an interesting example. It starts as a dragon with three heads. One which is only killable by fire, the other by ice, the last one is invincible but tries to bite you. When the oute…
That's manipulative :-(
Making these easier by option, or by offering a "skip" or an "assist" to gwt past an obstacle, is one thing, but secretly nerfng is an abomination.
That just teaches people have an over inflated opinion of themselves and to think that bullheaded religion is better than strategy or skill practice.
Re: Classic Nintendo Games are NP-Hard
#9The game's components (underlying rules) can be used to build NP-hard problems. The published games (specific world setups (are not NP-hard, even with generalizations to make them non-constant sized.
This paper is fun and interesting, and it shows how a common abstract language underlies many diverse concrete games. However, one should not make bold statements about sophisticated challenges that 10-year-olds are solving. wert
Re: Classic Nintendo Games are NP-Hard
#10When designing a game [I didn't build], I realized one of the most important ways of making the game indefinitely interestingly was to make it really hard to solve. This meant making it NP-hard on purpose.
This is helpful, but not sufficient. At the same time it has to be engaging and still look solvable i.e. the player must always have the feeling that "next time I'll do it!" or he will just stop playing. One of the last bosses in Zelda is an interesting example. It starts as a dragon with three heads. One which is only killable by fire, the other by ice, the last one is invincible but tries to bite you. When the oute…
That's manipulative :-( Making these easier by option, or by offering a "skip" or an "assist" to get past an obstacle, is one thing, but secretly nerfng is an abomination. That just teaches people have an over inflated opinion of themselves and to think that bullheaded religion is better than strategy or skill practice.