CSCI 335 - Programming Project #3: Checkers

Fall 2011

Due: Thursday, September 15, 2:45 pm

Students may work independently, or in teams of two people, for this assignment.

Implement alpha-beta search for the game of Checkers. Invent your own board evaluation function. You may find it easiest to begin by implementing a minimax search, followed by incorporating alpha-beta pruning.

To implement an evaluation function, write a class that implements the EvalFunc interface. An example of a trivial implementation of this interface is the NoPreference class. Implementations of this interface will evaluate a board represented by an instance of the Checkerboard class.
To implement a search algorithm, extend the Searcher abstract class. An example of a trivial extension to this class is the OnePlyShuffle class. The selectMove() method that you will override will return an object of the MoveScore class.
Once you have defined a new search algorithm, you can make it visible in the GUI by adding its name to the JComboBox named searchers, in the constructor of the Checkers class. Similarly, every board evaluation function you define can be added to the JComboBox named evalFuncs, defined in the same constructor.

Select a depth level that allows it to complete its search in approximately 5 seconds or less.

Evaluate your player as follows:

Run it against a random player 32 times using AutoCheckers (included in Checkers.jar)
Play against it a number of times, starting as both black and red, in order to develop a qualitative evaluation of its performance

Having evaluated your player, attempt to improve the evaluation function. Then evaluate it again as you did for the first function. Also have the players play 32 games against each other. Attempt to make a qualitative judgement as to which is the superior player.

Attempt to improve your search algorithm. The requirement is to perform two modifications, but you may choose more if you would like. You may choose to do any of the following:

Extend the search with the search-until-quiescent strategy
Extend the search with a singular extension
Create a database of solved positions
Create a database of openings
Implement a transposition table
Implement an ordering heuristic
Perform any other modification of your choice
- Your modification must be approved in advance by the instructor

Evaluate each combination of your modified search algorithm and your two evaluation functions as described earlier. Run the search algorithms with the same depth limit. Record the number of nodes they expand when played against each other.

Write a paper describing your search algorithms, board evaluation functions, the reasoning behind your functions, your additional modifications, and your results. Draw conclusions about the different approaches you attempted in light of the observations you have made.

Select your best overall player, and convince at least three acquaintences to play against this player a few times. Include the results and a discussion of their impressions in your report.

Submit using Sauron