brainwagon

My recent revival in interest in computer chess/checkers/gameplaying was in part spawned by the impression (not particularly support by evidence at the time) that the dramatic increase in computer chess strength must have come from more than just basic hardware improvements. It seemed obvious to me that some fraction of the increase in the play […]

Off and on I’ve been pondering some changes to my computer checkers program called Milhouse. Most of these changes have relatively little to do with checkers per se, but are just changes to the algorithms that are common to nearly all game-tree search programs. Since computer chess has always been more popular than computer checkers, […]

A few days ago, I mentioned that @notch, the creator of Minecraft, had a new idea for a space game that he was beginning to work on. One of the features of this game is that your spaceship would be controlled by a simulated computer that you could program. He released a preliminary specification for […]

Okay, a diversion from my regular topics. And that’s what computer games are for me: a diversion. I play them because I like to be diverted from my work and from even my normal bits of hackery and play. I tend to play games with a strong story component, like the Zelda games on Nintendo, […]