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ColourLine

The current prototype for the Colour Line game is loaded by copying-and-pasting the contents the file boxes4.js-e into http://jseden.dcs.warwick.ac.uk/construit/ and pressing Submit. There is as yet no attempt to impose rules on the play, so as to prevent illegal plays, or to terminate the game when one player has won etc. Indeed, the rules themselves are still a subject for experiment, and may even remain so, depending on how the game environment is used.

Tentative rules being observed are as follows:

  • Players take it in turns to enter an R, G or B colour component into a grid square. This can be thought of as placing a transparent coloured tile on a grid square. The construal is currently set up so that the player who starts can place R and B tiles, and the opposing player can place G and B components. The 2 by 3 array above the game grid specifies the next sequence of three colour tiles that each player is obliged to play in order. This sequence is randomly generated and extended move-by-move, so players don't have control over the colour of the next tile they play. Placing two tiles of the same colour on the same square 'cancels out' that colour component.
  • The construal is 'programmed' to impose the above rules. Other aspects of game play - such as the convention for winning and the constraints on where tiles may be placed are discretionary. A plausible convention deems the first player to create a line of tiles of the same colour to be the winner. A constraint that may be applied would prevent a R tile being placed on a square that has a G tile and vice versa.
  • A game can be deemed to end when one player has created a winning line. Other variations of the rules might award points for lines according to their colour consitution and permit play to continue even though a line has been established.