An Implementation of Board Game by MATLAB.
This individual project is one of the final exams during my undergraduate studies, which is about writing a game. The game is based on the board game named Onitama, with a few rules added to the original Onitama board game.
The project consists of 2 parts.
Part 1: Human vs Human
Code the game which allows two players to play against each other.
Part 2: AI vs AI
Write an AI for the game, then play against the AI written by other students and of course, my professor!
The game is played by two players, A and B. Each player controls an army of 5 pawns, represented by A or a (B or b). In the board, A or B represent generals, a or b represent soldiers. The pawns are placed on a 5×5 board. W represents a wall. Here is a sample set up of the game.
+---+---+---+---+---+
a | b | b | B | b | b |
+---+---+---+---+---+
b | | | | | |
+---+---+---+---+---+
c | W | | | | |
+---+---+---+---+---+
d | | | | | |
+---+---+---+---+---+
e | a | a | A | a | a |
+---+---+---+---+---+
1 2 3 4 5
In the program, the board is represented by a 5×5 matrix of characters:
board = ['bbBbb'
' '
'W '
' '
'aaAaa'];
Each player take turns on moving his pawn according to movement cards (details will be explained below) and then move the wall one space. The goal is to
- Capture opponent’s general or
- Use your general to occupy opponent’s military base (A’s military base is e3, B’s military base is a3)
- Players: Player A and Player B
- Pawn: A, a, B, b. Letters A and a are player A’s pawns. Letters B and b are player B’s pawns
- Wall: W
- General: A, B. Letter A is player A’s general. Letter B is player B’s general
- Soldier: a, b. Letter a is player A’s soldier. Letter b is player B’s soldier
- Military Base: Player A’s military base is at position e3. Player B’s military base is at position a3
The goal is to
- Capture opponent’s general (A or B) or
- Use your general to occupy opponent’s military base (A’s military base is e3, B’s military base is a3)
A movement card indicates the movements a pawn can make. It is represented by a 5×5 matrix of characters. Here is a sample of the card.
.....
...x.
.xo.x
.....
.....
The circle represents your pawn, the cross represents the possible movements. The circle is not necessarily at position (3,3).
The above card indicates your pawn can move
- 1 space to the left
- 2 spaces to the right or
- 1 space to upper right diagonal
The possible movements of a pawn at d2 are d2→d1, d2→c3, and d2→d4. Those positions are marked by X. For the movement d2→d4, we don’t care if the space d3 is occupied or not.
+---+---+---+---+---+
a | | | | | |
+---+---+---+---+---+
b | | | | | |
+---+---+---+---+---+
c | | | X | | |
+---+---+---+---+---+
d | X | a | | X | |
+---+---+---+---+---+
e | | | | | |
+---+---+---+---+---+
1 2 3 4 5
Since player B sits on the opposition side, the card should be rotated 180 degrees.
+---+---+---+---+---+
a | | | | | | same card (view from B)
+---+---+---+---+---+
b | X | | b | X | | .....
+---+---+---+---+---+ .....
c | | X | | | | x.ox.
+---+---+---+---+---+ .x...
d | | | | | | .....
+---+---+---+---+---+
e | | | | | | X are the possible movements of b
+---+---+---+---+---+
1 2 3 4 5
+---+---+---+---+---+
a | | | | | |
+---+---+---+---+---+
b | | | X | | | ..x..
+---+---+---+---+---+ .....
c | | | | | | ..o..
+---+---+---+---+---+ .x.x.
d | | | a | | | .....
+---+---+---+---+---+
e | | X | | X | | X are the possible movements of a
+---+---+---+---+---+
1 2 3 4 5
+---+---+---+---+---+
a | | | | | |
+---+---+---+---+---+
b | | | | | | .....
+---+---+---+---+---+ .x...
c | X | | | | | ..ox.
+---+---+---+---+---+ .....
d | | a | X | | | .....
+---+---+---+---+---+
e | | | | | | X are the possible movements of a
+---+---+---+---+---+
1 2 3 4 5
- The pawn moves according to the movement card.
- The pawn cannot move out of boundary.
- The pawn cannot move to a space occupied by his own pawn.
- The pawn cannot move to a space occupied by W.
- The pawn CAN move to a space occupied by opponent’s pawn. If the pawn captures the opponent’s pawn, the opponent’s pawn is then removed from the board.
- After the movement of the pawn, the player can move W.
- The player can move W one space up, right, down, left. He can also choose not to move W.
- The player cannot move W out of bound.
- The player cannot move W to a space occupied by his opponent.
- The player cannot move W to a space occupied by his own general.
- The player cannot move W to a military base (position a3 or e3).
- The player CAN move to a space occupied by his soldier. In this case, W swaps the position with the solider.
There are 5 moving cards. For each game, there will be different movement cards. For example,
..... ..... ..... ..... ..x..
.x... ..x.. ..x.. .x.x. ...x.
.xo.x ..ox. ..o.. ..o.. ..o..
..... ..... .x... .x... .....
..... ..... ..... ..... .....
The first two cards are player A’s cards. The next two cards are player B’s cards. The last card is a side card. The set up of the board is as following. (Note that Card 3 and Card 4 are rotated 180 degrees as they are viewed by Player B’s side). The arrow at the side card indicates the direction of the side card.
Player B
Card 1 Card 2
+---+---+---+---+---+ ..... .....
a | b | b | B | b | b | ...x. ...x.
+---+---+---+---+---+ ..o.. ..o.. Side card
b | | | | | | ..x.. .x.x. ..x..
+---+---+---+---+---+ ..... ..... ...x. ^
c | W | | | | | ..o.. ^
+---+---+---+---+---+ ..... ..... ..... ^
d | | | | | | .x... ..x.. .....
+---+---+---+---+---+ .xo.x ..ox.
e | a | a | A | a | a | ..... .....
+---+---+---+---+---+ ..... .....
1 2 3 4 5 Card 1 Card 2
Player A
- Player picks a moving card on his sides (card 1 or card 2).
- Player moves his pawn according to the movement card.
- Player swaps the card he picked with the side card.
- Player then moves the wall (W).
- Player finishes his turns. It is the other player’s turn. Rotate the side card 180 degrees.
- Players take turns of doing the above until the end of the game.
For example, player A can pick Card 1, move the pawn e4 to d3. Then move W to the right. Then it is now player B’s turn, the set up looks like the following. Note that the side card is rotated 180 degrees as it is now player B’s turn. The cards should be viewed from player B’s angle. The direction of the arrow next to the side card is also reversed.
Player B
Card 1 Card 2
+---+---+---+---+---+ ..... .....
a | b | b | B | b | b | ...x. ...x.
+---+---+---+---+---+ ..o.. ..o.. Side card
b | | | | | | ..x.. .x.x. .....
+---+---+---+---+---+ ..... ..... ..... v
c | | W | | | | x.ox. v
+---+---+---+---+---+ ..x.. ..... ...x. v
d | | | a | | | ...x. ..x.. .....
+---+---+---+---+---+ ..o.. ..ox.
e | a | a | A | | a | ..... .....
+---+---+---+---+---+ ..... .....
1 2 3 4 5 Card 1 Card 2
Player A
It is possible that the player has no possible move. For example,
Player B
Card 1 Card 2
+---+---+---+---+---+ ..... .....
a | | | | | | ...x. ...x.
+---+---+---+---+---+ ..o.. ..o.. Side card
b | | | | | | ..x.. .x.x. .....
+---+---+---+---+---+ ..... ..... .x... ^
c | W | b | | B | | .xo.x ^
+---+---+---+---+---+ ..... ..... ..... ^
d | a | | | | | .xx.. ..x.. .....
+---+---+---+---+---+ ..o.. .xo..
e | A | | | | | ..... .....
+---+---+---+---+---+ ..... .....
1 2 3 4 5 Card 1 Card 2
Player A
Player A can still pick a card and move W but no need to move his pawn. However, if you have valid moves, you must choose one of those moves, even if the move is bad for you.
The player wins the game if
- He moves his general to opponent’s military base (i.e. move A to a3, or move B to e3) or
- He captures opponent’s general.
The game is a tie if
- After
$n$ turns have been played and no one wins, where$n$ is the maximum number of turns played.