v1.2 Algorithmic Improvements

The main changes of this release revolve around internal improvements to the geometric algorithms of the game. The exact details of these changes can be found in our report titled ConvexMerger: Algorithmic Optimisations & Challenges. The following is a list of the notable changes:

• Object merging now uses a more efficient algorithm and can be visualised using a new animation that can be toggled with Ctrl + M.
• The vertical decomposition is now a dynamic data structure and has a new visualisation accessible with Ctrl + D.
• Preventing overlap of objects now uses a new intersection testing algorithm based on segment partition trees. Two segment partitions trees have been implemented, one based on KD-trees and the other based on conjugation trees. These data structures both have an animation availabe via Ctrl + K and Ctrl + S. When active these visualisations also animate segment searches.

For regular users the following changes are probably more interesting:

• You can now input a seed on the new game menu.
• All new game settings now default to medium.
• When the game is in full screen mode it will be on top of other applications.
• AI turns have been slowed down slightly so you have more time to see the moves.
• Fixed that the name input for the 3rd player was broken.
• The aforementioned animations for the various algorithms may still be fun to look at.
• Made it possible to copy and paste text in text fields.
• You can copy a game seed by clicking on the seed field on the result screen.
• Added an FPS counter that can be enabled.
• Other minor bug fixes and unit testing.

Downloads

Requires Java 8 or higher

• Windows executable
• Runnable Java Archive

v1.1 Vertical Decomposition

• Implement a vertical decomposition of the game
  • Can be shown with Ctrl+D
  • Pressing Ctrl+D on the new game menu activates it from the start and you get to see the decomposition being built
  • The animation finishes instantly when you hide the decomposition animation
  • The decomposition gets rebuilt on every merge event
  • The visualisation also shows all line segments that were ever present in the decomposition, including those from former objects
• Persist new game settings between games
• Default all playfield generation settings to medium
• Support screen resolutions as low as 1024x768
• Fix the occasional visual clip in the merge animation
• Make the frame rate more consistent
• Minor improvements

v1.0 Initial Release

First public release of ConvexMerger!