Application Description

Simple Hex: A Two-Player Connection Game

Simple Hex is a captivating two-player connection game with straightforward rules, making it easy to learn. Players choose red or blue and take turns coloring empty cells on the game board. The objective? Create a connected path of your colored cells linking opposite sides of the board. The first player to complete this connection wins.

The game offers several play modes: Play with AI, Play with Friends, and Pass & Play. The AI mode features three difficulty levels (easy, medium, hard), and the AI can play first or second. Alternatively, "Play with Friends" allows for multiplayer games using separate devices, while "Pass & Play" enables local multiplayer on a single device.

Simple Hex is deceptively challenging. While easy to pick up, mastering the game requires skill and strategy. An undo button lets you reverse your last move(s) – a feature currently unavailable in AI mode.

To balance the inherent first-player advantage in Hex, a "Steal Move" option is available. After the first player's initial move, the second player can choose to switch places. This forces the first player to consider moves that don't guarantee a win. This option is also unavailable in AI mode.

Three board sizes (7x7, 9x9, and 11x11) provide a gradual increase in complexity, hence the name "Simple Hex."

For a deeper dive into the game of Hex, visit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hex_(board_game)

Special thanks to interns Saatvik Inampudi and Shoheb Shaik for their work on performance improvements to the AI algorithm in the initial version. The current AI uses a "stable" unbounded best-first minimax game technique. For more information on this, connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nsvemuri/

What's New in Version 0.45 (Last updated December 18, 2024):

• The easy AI level has been adjusted to be genuinely easy, and the medium level is now slightly easier.

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