• Think times for the computer player were reduced. On highest diffulty setting, the computer now thinks for 32 seconds instead of 40. On medium difficulty, the computer thinks for 8 seconds instead of 10. Nothing changes for the lowest diffulty.
• Fixed a bug that caused the file of archived game histories to be overwritten after finishing a game. Now the game histories are appended to the archive file as intended instead of wiping it every time.

[ 2023-09-21 11:52:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

• Added a new type of background to the tree stump, a forest floor with dried pine needles and some leaves. Like the others it is also randomly generated each time you click on it.
• Added a button to the in-game user interface in classic mode to change the color scheme. This was only possible in the menu before.
• Previously, if you clicked on "Invite a Friend" while the computer player was thinking, it would not be interrupted and would still make its next move. This is now fixed.

[ 2022-10-16 17:41:27 CET ] [ Original post ]

Online Multiplayer

The game now has an online multiplayer mode! You can invite anyone from your friends list to join your game. Just click the bird and select a friend from the invite dialog. Your friend can then accept the invite from the chat window. That's it - then you should be playing together on the same board. Previously there was only Steam's Remote Play Together, which can be a bad experience if the internet connection isn't good enough. The new true online multiplayer mode is much simpler to use and independent of the quality of connection. There is also a new achievement that is earned by inviting someone to your game.

Assistance for Beginners

Although the rules of the game are quite simple, it may be hard for beginners to understand certain core tactics. Which is why now, while your mouse hovers over a point of the board, the game will display comments such as "Risky", "Suboptimal" or "Invalid". This should help with learning to play the game. Comments are only displayed in the lowest difficulty mode (the Fly), but not in higher levels and also not in multiplayer.

• "Risky" means that the stone you are about to place is easily and quickly captured by the opponent. Not only the most obvious cases are detected, but rather tricky ones too.
• "Suboptimal" means that there are better options nearby to place your stone.
• "Invalid" just means that the move is against the rules. The game won't let you make that move.

Please note that there is no absolute guarantee that the program classifies all situations correctly. There could always be special cases that I didn't think of. I'd be glad if you share screenshots of incorrectly classified situations with me, so I can fix them.

Other Improvements

• It is no longer necessary to manually start the computer player after each move when the game is in tree stump mode. Instead you only need to start it once and the game will remember to automatically start the same computer player after you make a move. You can still interrupt it by clicking on the cross and then select another difficulty level at any time.
• Fixed a visual glitch where button animations didn't play correctly in classic mode.
• Fixed problems with touch input in classic mode.
• AI improved a little.
• Lots of other tiny tweaks and improvements.

[ 2022-06-23 21:56:11 CET ] [ Original post ]

• Fixed the issue with the Steam overlay not properly opening or closing.
• The app will now remember the fullscreen state.
• Fixed a rare bug that could lead to the AI refusing to make a move.
• Slightly improved text rendering on low resolutions.

[ 2022-03-18 13:53:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fixed an AI bug that could sometimes produce suboptimal moves in the rather late phase of the game. When it occurred, the end result would differ by +1 or -1, respectively.

[ 2022-03-06 20:46:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

Please note that while the choice of colors in the cover image is of course intentional, it is absolutely not an attempt to capitalize on current events. Stop war!

Interface Translations

• For now only English, French and German. Maybe more will come.
• The game will use the same language as your Steam client by default, but it can be changed from the properties dialog that is accessible from your Steam library.
• Everyone is welcome to point out bad translations and to post corrections on the forum! You are also even more welcome to contribute translations to other languages. It's about 250 words.

Improvements

• The Snail/Master CPU player was completely re-invented. Quality improved and nodes per second more than doubled. Its play style feels somewhat different and less predictable.
• Graphics processor usage reduced to absolute Zero when the image is still. For laptop and tablet users this means that the battery lasts longer, the device runs cooler and the fans are quieter.
• The auto-finish function is now better at detecting when both players have run out of meaningful options. There is still room for improvement.

Fixes

• Fixed AI getting interrupted when switching between nature and classic modes.
• Fixed accidental double clicks with touch input by ignoring touch input for a short duration after first click.
• Fixed a bug that caused the auto-finish button to remain hidden when it shouldn't.
• Fixed a bug where an achievement would not unlock when in classic mode.
• Fixed black/white flower not updating when background is updated.

More About the AI Upgrade

The previous AI was built by labor-intensive cycles of making fine adjustments to its code, benchmarking them and then deciding whether to keep or discard the changes. Over and over again, for weeks. Naturally this approach had its (human) limitations, so a completely different one was tried: Let the computer learn the game completely on its own by playing against itself, without any prior knowledge except the rules of the game and without any human interference at all. Surprisingly, after only a few hours (!) of learning, the new AI surpassed the previous hand-crafted one.

[ 2022-02-27 22:43:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

Introducing Classic Elm

• The same board game but with a clean interface.
• It is fully integrated into the already existing application. Simply press a button to instantly switch between the classic and artful style.
• A fixed CPU opponent is chosen from the start or disabled entirely for multiplayer games.
• Saves remain fully compatible between both versions.
• Comes with many predefined color themes to chose from. They can be modified or added in the colors.txt file in the game's resource folder.
• Fun fact FYI: Elm looked like this before it got completely overhauled to the artful version which was first released on Steam. So this new content is actually not really new, but more like a refurbished backup from a long time ago. This version is offered completely free to play. More info below.

Free To Play Demo

Classic Elm is free to play as a demo. The artful version is not included. For now, all things related to Steam such as cloud sync and achievements are also not available in the demo. Other than that it is fully playable and has no further drawbacks compared to the full version.

Also Noteworthy Changes

• Drastically lowered easy and medium difficulty levels by halving their search depths. Apparently the AI was not appropriate for beginners before; hopefully it is now.
• The app will automatically go fullscreen when launched from Steam's Big Picture mode.
• Clicking the mushroom (fly agaric) now opens the menu and rules instead of closing the game. From there the game can be closed by clicking the cross in the top right corner.
• The frog will now remember whether music is muted or not.
• Magnification mode removed. It was too easy to toggle accidentally and it doesn't really have a purpose anymore since there is now the classic version with a larger board.
• Improved controller/joystick support: Cursor should move more smoothly.

The store page was updated with new a new trailer, screenshots and description.

[ 2021-12-17 21:29:07 CET ] [ Original post ]

Steam Achievements

There are now six trophies for you to achieve! They range from easy to hard to win. They are purely optional of course, the game itself did not change in any way. Trophies can only be won for games started after this update. The reason is described below. Sorry if that bothers you, but there is no other way.

Saves are now tamper protected

To prevent false claims to those trophies, a mechanism to prohibit cheating had to be implemented. The mechanism is based on a simple trick: When a game is saved, a code is generated based on the state of the game. When the file is loaded and the code is wrong, then the file must have been tampered with. There is no third-party anti-cheat system involved. Saved games that were started before this update do not have such a code, thus are not protected against manipulation. For this reason achievements will not unlock until you start a new game.

Other changes

• Saved games now remember which computer player was last selected and the mouse is automatically placed above it.
• Linux versions now include the OpenAL library. It was noticed that of all Linux versions tested, only Ubuntu did not seem to have it by default, so 'ldd' reported it missing. For some strange reason the game loaded up anyway, but only when launched through Steam. Must have been Valve magic...

[ 2021-10-28 15:53:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

• Added a magnification mode. It makes the board appear larger and hides the bugs. Intended only for multiplayer games, for which the AI isn't needed. Turn the mouse wheel or double click on the tree stump to toggle magnification mode on/off.
• Like almost every update, this one includes the regular bit of AI improvements. Winning ratio of new vs. previous AI is about 3:2 (more than 200 games played, draws excluded).
• Escape button now toggles the start screen that displays the rules. The start screen may function like a main menu in the future.
• As more and more features are added, it is becoming harder and harder to maintain two different versions of the program and documenting exactly which features are included or excluded in which version and to inform the customers about it. For this reason the demo version has been deactivated and all the developer's attention is now focussed on the full version of the game. Note that Steam's current refund policy allows you give the full game a try and refund it within 14 days after purchase or two hours of playtime if you don't like it.

[ 2021-10-21 14:49:51 CET ] [ Original post ]

2 fixes, 3 small visual changes, accelerated AI, Steam Cloud update

• fixed stone positions not updating when background changes
• fixed mushrooms growing on top of the frog/toad
• The snail got better at playing the game. New vs. Old: 84:36 in a 171 game match (51 draws). See details below.
• slightly changed frog/toad eyes
• leaves look a little bit more natural now
• more variety in frog/toad, mushroom and flower sizes
• the area in which the mouse is regarded as hovering over the stump got larger
• some texts have changed
• The Steam Cloud now also syncs the file "computerlog.csv" from the program folder (.../steamapps/common/The Elm Game/saves/computerlog.csv). It contains performance measurements such as search depth, nodes per second etc. Could be used to benchmark the computer.

About AI upgrades

This update accelerates the "think speed" of the computer player a little bit. The time constraints remain unchanged. Compared to before it is now able to plan a little further ahead into the future, resulting in better strategies. The beetle and fly are not affected since they have fixed search depths anyway (6 and 2). Only the snail with unlimited search depth benefits from it. However, all three may in some situations behave somewhat differently then before.

[ 2021-10-07 10:16:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

Slightly improved frog.

[ 2021-09-30 17:23:39 CET ] [ Original post ]

List of changes in this update:

• The game now plays background music created by John Bartmann. There is a new button, the frog, to switch music on or off.
• The rules of the game are now displayed in-game at startup. Click once to continue to the game.
• Backgrounds can be changed at any time now. Click the background to generate a new one or click the background and hold for 3 seconds to reset the board.
• Font size slightly decreased.
• The demo version now displays a notice at startup that lists the missing features. Some visuals of the demo version also changed.
• Due to the added music the memory requirements have changed: Minimum disk space increased to 20 Megabytes and minimum memory (RAM) increased to 200 Megabytes. Those changes shouldn't have a noticeable impact. Memory requirements may increase further in the future as more music is added or the AI is changed.

[ 2021-09-30 12:06:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

There is now an option to automatically finish the game when both players are out of meaningful options in the late game. Usually after the 50th ply or so there are no more strategic choices to be made. The computer will detect that situation and display an unobstrusive [>>] button. It is left to the player to choose between finishing the game manually, or clicking that button to let the computer fast forward the game to the end.

[ 2021-09-25 10:04:11 CET ] [ Original post ]

When the cursor hovers above any UI element, a short text snippet is displayed to tell you what that element does when you click on it. For example, when the cursor hovers above the red mushroom "Exit" appears. That should help understanding the UI.

[ 2021-09-23 12:57:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Elm Game has just been released on Steam. There is also a free demo version available for download that you can give a try before purchasing the full game. I hope you enjoy the game!

[ 2021-09-20 16:49:01 CET ] [ Original post ]