Re: gnomines possible improvement

["Callum McKenzie" <callum physics otago ac nz>]

> Hi, I have always wanted to add an option to minesweeper so that the
> program uses an alogrithm to make it impossible to have to guess.  It
> seems a major factor that causes a good game to go bad is a situation
> where it is a 50/50 guess, and the player is unlucky.  I propose an option
> in the preferences (default disabled) where the game can dynamically
> reallocate the mines in these situations.  If the algorithm is
> sufficiantly advanced, the difficulty level could be increased not only by
> the number of mines, but by the algorithm used to reallocate the mines
> after each click.
>
> I have tried to send an email to the gnomine maintainer, and I have
> recieved an email from the server saying it is an invalid user.  I have
> written code so far to put the checkbox in the preferences window, and I
> am familiar with how the rest of the code works.   I wanted to request
> permission to add this feature, I don't think it will cost more than
> 100-200 additional lines of code.
You don't have to request permission to write such a feature. We are
definitely interested, so whether or not it actually goes into the
"official" gnomine is a matter of quality.

The only major reason I can see for not including the patch might be if it
made the game too easy (I wouldn't have an option, removing pure guessing
is desirable).

Do you have an algorithm in mind? I recall considring this once and
finding it quite tricky and I have the vague memory I could concoct a
situation where rearrangement wouldn't solve the problem. Having said
that, even something that only minimised the bad positions will be good.

The finished product should be posted on bugzilla.gnome.org as an
enhancement bug. This makes it easier to keep track of. Discussion should
of course be done on games-list.

> I am not a member of the list, so please reply to spdepagn ncsu edu
> thanks
The mailing list is very low volume, and it might be worthwhile
subscribing for a short while to discuss this. In the meantime I have
cc-ed the mailing list.

 - Callum