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Nov 28, 2012 Just practicing. I was trying to make a console version of Minesweeper. It works (mostly) how I want, but there's got to be a way to make it more.
It can be difficult to find time to finish a video game, especially if you only have a few hours a week to play. In our biweekly column we suggest video games that can be started and finished in a weekend.Delete, released back in January by developer Pony, is sort of like a three-dimensional Minesweeper. The goal is similar: click on tiles to reveal numbers which indicate how many adjacent tiles are mines. But in Delete, these tiles are arranged on three dimensional objects as opposed to a flat grid. The game also differentiates itself in a few other ways: not only does it ask you to reveal the spaces that aren’t mines, but indicate which ones are actually mines with a right-click.
Also clicking on a mine, or right clicking on a tile that isn’t a mine, doesn’t instantly end that game. Instead you have three chances before the board resets. Perhaps the most important difference is that none of the game’s 50 puzzles are random; each one is explicitly designed. This is extremely important because just as you get used to the puzzles, the game adds a new element. This can be simple; instead of a number tile indicating the number of tiles adjacent to it with a mine, it shows the number of tiles in a row or column with mines in them. It can also get complicated, like a button in the puzzle that causes the board to change shape revealing even more tiles. This setup takes the game from being the rote execution of your internalized heuristics for solving the puzzles, to an experience where each puzzle builds on what you’ve learned from the previous ones.
You constantly have to come up with new strategies to solve them.Delete does this without explicitly stating what these additions do. Instead, the game organically teaches you the basics of how a new mechanic works when it’s first introduced, with subsequent levels expanding on that understanding. This is why it reminds me of learning to play Minesweeper. My first experience with Minesweeper was in the Windows 3.x days, and it felt inscrutable. (Most likely because I didn’t read any instructions, although I’m not sure there were any.) Clicking on different squares in the nine-by-nine grid sometimes produced numbers, sometimes produced blank spaces, and other times produced mines that ended the game. PonyEventually, after enough trial and error, it started to make sense. I started developing different strategies as I found different patterns in how the randomization produced the game boards.
But at a certain point, getting better became less about improving strategies to solve the puzzles and more about learning to solve them faster. I found this fundamentally less interesting.Initially, I wished Delete had randomly generated puzzles, but after finishing I’m glad there weren’t any. A good puzzle should have just the right amount of challenge — not too frustrating, but also not too simple — while a good puzzle game needs to keep hitting you with new ideas and challenges.
Delete manages this while also building on your heuristics for solving each puzzle by expanding on your previous understanding. It doesn’t just reward you with the satisfaction of solving a brainteaser, but also with new knowledge that will let you tackle future puzzles.Delete was created by Pony. You can get it on for $1.99 (Windows and Mac OS.) It takes about three hours to finish.
Welcome to Minesweeper. If you're a Windows' user chances are that you already have the game on your computer. This guide will help you in completing your first game. The rule of the game is simple, the number on a block shows the number of mines adjacent to it and you have to flag all the mines.Some terms:. Flag: Put a flag in a zone when you have confirmed that there is a mine. Question Mark: Put a question mark when you suspect that there is a mine.
But it is useless. Smiley face: Click it if you want to reset the game, you can also press F2 instead.Now that you know the terms so lets get sweeping! You can start by clicking at any random place since it is your first game. Chances are you'll have something like the image. Remember, the number is the mines adjacent to the block.
![Download Download](/uploads/1/2/5/4/125489233/837558675.png)
So let's take the case in the image. See the bottom-left block in the image (3rd from the left and 2nd from bottom).
It has 1 mine adjacent to it and there is only one unopened block next to it. Therefore, it must be a mine. Flag it by right clicking. Now you've found your first mine.
Do the same with others. If a block with 2 has only two unopened mines flag the unopened ones and same for other numbers (if you got 8, you're a pretty lucky person;) ). Before coming to this step, I expect you to have completed at least 6 beginner fields and have got some experience.
![Minesweeper Minesweeper](https://cdn.wonderfulengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Cameroon-Flag-12.jpg)
Here is a pretty useful technique I found. Its called the 1-2 pattern.
Here in the image above you can see the 1-2 facing a wall (of blocks). Here, you can clear out the block next to one (not in the common field!). This technique will come in handy when playing intermediate and advanced levels. Try to think there is a mine in the block I told you to clear, will the 1 and 2 be satisfied?
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