Show HN: Zero – an HTML5 game about modular arithmetic and prime numbers

Show HN: Zero – an HTML5 game about modular arithmetic and prime numbers(zero.karaniwan.org)

39 points by bryanbibat 10 years ago | 18 comments

imglorp 10 years ago |

Summing up digits manually takes too long. A decent strategy seems to be: start chaining a long path together. At some point it will pop by itself, or you will notice what's needed to complete it.

Suggestions: There should be a button to clear the chain in progress because you can box yourself into a dead end. A pause button would also be nice (maybe blank the screen when paused).

closetnerd 10 years ago | |

Randomly chaining numbers seems to be the most practical strategy up until you start running into the empty blocks.

Game should probably be made a little easier so the intended strategy of chaining primes becomes more viable.

bryanbibat 10 years ago | | |

I found that the easiest consistent strategy is to play it like Minesweeper: start with randomly clicking (to gain time) until you find it too risky, then start with the easy portions (2-3 chains like 5-5 and 3-6-1 to clear out blockers, also remove 1s and 2s to increase overall average value), then move on to the difficult part when you're ready (chaining 40+ numbers when you have a lot of time).

There are of course other strategies, but I'll leave that for others to discover. :D

deadmik3 10 years ago | | |

Even then, it's not hard to backtrack a block or two and keep your chain going. It's really not even a game at that point, I can just drag randomly and get crazy high scores.

stevesearer 10 years ago | |

I second the clear the chain in progress function as I ran into the same problem.

lost_name 10 years ago |

You should really be allowed to click on a completely separate circle to start a new chain.

I was initially unsure about how the blockers worked, that should be made more clear. For others, if you create a chain out of a prime count of numbers, you may clear blockers. If you create a chain out of a composite count of numbers, you may create blockers.

Interesting game, but it doesn't have that same "I know I can do better" feel that 2048 grabbed everyone with :)

bryanbibat 10 years ago | |

I don't think it's going to anywhere as popular as 2048. zero's "oh crap I clicked the wrong number ruining my 30+ chain just because I wasn't paying attention for a second" is much more frustrating and more common than 2048's "I filled up 3 rows so I have to take a chance breaking my 1024-512-256-128 row" :P

The "click separate circle to start a new chain" seems a bit risky - when I play the game on my phone, dragging/swiping tends to skip numbers. I'll try implementing the "clear selection" button suggested by the other commenter first.

sethammons 10 years ago | |

ah, I missed that part of the rules. Without effort, I found myself with a score of 67k. Knowing that, I may be able to do better. A leader board would be nice so I know how that rates.

rogeryu 10 years ago |

I don't get this game. The explanation is so short and I have no idea what happens next when I click on another number.

bryanbibat 10 years ago | |

wbhart got the gist of it.

Here's an even longer version of the rules:

Click/tap numbers to connect them to a chain. You can only connect numbers that are at the left, right, top, bottom of the last selected number. As a faster alternative, you can also drag/swipe through the numbers.

When the sum of the chain ends in zero (ie. sum % 10 = 0) you get rewards and side effects depending on whether the chain's length is composite or prime.

- if it's composite (e.g. chain length is 4, 6, or 8 digits long), you gain 2 seconds on your time for each digit connected. However, each digit also gives you a 1 in 4 chance of replacing a digit in the grid with a "blocker", a cell that cannot be selected. - if it's prime (e.g. 2, 3, 5), you only gain 0.5 seconds for each digit, but instead of spawning blockers, each digit now has a 1 in 5 chance of removing a blocker in the grid.

Either way, the point value of the chain is ((sum / 10) ^ 3) * 5.

So connecting 1-2-3-4 gives you 5 points and 8 extra seconds but has 4 chances of spawning blockers. On the other hand, connecting 9-3-8 gives you 40 points, 1.5 extra seconds, and 3 chances to clear blockers.

Game ends when the time runs out. The goal is 1 million points, but the game will not stop you from playing when you reach that point.

wbhart 10 years ago | |

You just have to click numbers, each next to the previous one. The total modulo 10 is shown. Once it reaches zero, your score is updated. You want that to happen before your time runs out, but you get a higher score if it doesn't happen too soon. When the length of the chain is a prime number, blockers are cleared.

gburt 10 years ago |

In a few minutes of playing around, you realize you can just click long paths and get a nearly infinitely high score.

mkagenius 10 years ago |

Did something change between this one and the one posted yesterday? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9894748

bryanbibat 10 years ago | |

Daniel (HN staff) asked me to repost it. Said they were trying something out.

There were a couple of big changes in the game since I posted that, though.

mkagenius 10 years ago | | |

I see, cool.

okamiueru 10 years ago |

Once you figure out some rules for avoiding chain completion, you can fairly easily extend time. When/if it gets a bit blocked, just take extra care to end the chain on prime number lengths. The top score is then just determined by how long you want to keep at it... currently at 1.8 mill, with 500+ seconds to spare.

kelukelugames 10 years ago |

I love games that teach math concepts. Dragon Box was mind blowing.

However, this seems less accessible.

bhz 10 years ago |

I'm pretty sure this is Numberwang.