Nicaragua

1
Nicaragua

• Project update
• 3/22/2006

2
Not sharing is not nice

• The original plan was to use GDL with the Game
  Manager from Stanford
• That plan had to be changed when Stanford did not
  give out the source code for the Game managers
  that it has.

3
New Approach

• In order to use such a complicated game as
  Nicaragua, we want to be able to see what it
  going on.
• We now have to create the Game engine itself, in
  addition to specifying all of the rules of the
  game.

4
First Step

• Create the physical layout of the game, I.e. the
  map.
• This information must then be able to get passed
  to a theorem prover such as Snark.
• The key to this step is to keep the game
  mechanism general so that other games of this
  type can be investigated.

5
Project Scope

• To create a reasonable project for the semester,
  I limited the scope of the rules which will be
  implemented, and do not have plans for an
  automated computer agent.

6
Map Info -gt Game

• The map locations were coded into a text file
  which is then read by a lisp program which stores
  the data.

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The data file which is used looks like

• 1 "chinandega" '(3 15 16 17) '(1 2 3 6) '(111
  112) 1
• 2 "nueva_segovia" '(3 4 17) '(1 4 6) '() 2
• 3 "madriz" '(1 2 4 16 17) '(1 4 6) '() 2
• 4 "jinotega" '(2 3 5 13 16 17) '(4 6) '() 3
• Where each location corresponds to to location on
  the map.
• For example Location 1 is adjacent to 3 but not 2
  or 4

8
Benefits of abstraction

• The major benefit of doing mapping like this, is
  that the map can easily be changed and it does
  not affect the game play
• The Game manager itself supplies the information
  to each player.
• Now we must create the Game manager itself.

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Game Manager

• Ideally the Game manager itself would also be
  very general purpose.
• The GM that I have created was designed with
  Nicaragua in mind, but could be used for other
  games.

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GM Outline (loop on list of tasks)

• World Event (Nicaragua specific)
• Player 1 turn (Rebels in this case)
• Player 2 turn (Government in this case)
• Victory Determination

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Imagine tic-tac-toe

• You have the board
• X goes
• See if there is a winner / tie
• O goes
• See if there is a winner / tie

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World Events

• These are specific to Nicaragua, but can be
  modified to any game.
• For Example,
• Roll dice if
• 1 Natural Disaster (National Will decreases 1 -
  6)
• 2 US goes Rebel (US support -2)
• 3 US goes Government (US support 2)

13
Victory Determination

• The specifics for determining when the game is
  over are up to the particular game played.
• In Nicaragua, the game always ends if foreign
  invasion happens.
• Each scenario within Nicaragua can also have its
  own ending rules,
• I.e. Rebels capture the capital

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What exists and what is needed . . .

• This functionality currently exists in the GM.
• The next step is to add the Players to the game.
• The system currently does not have the players
  fully implemented.