Q04B
Instructions
How to play:
Use your arrow keys to move the tiles.
When two tiles with the same symbol touch, they
merge into one!
Take as long as you need -- the game does not
e** unless the grid becomes completely full. Try to
build up to a Rosetta tile!
Tile Descriptions
If you would like to see all the "tiles" used in the game, and a
description of the images used for each, see the
tile descriptions on a separate
page (page contains mild spoilers).
Updates and Caching
See this page for a description of
the caching system, including how to play Q04B offline
and some things to try if the game does not load or run properly.
Boosts
Q04B includes various boosts that can be
earned throughout the game. These enable new features that make
gameplay easier and/or more fun. You might wish
to discover these on your own, or you may wish to pick and choose
which ones to read about.
In the list here, for each boost there is a link to a
page with a detailed description of that boost and how to earn it.
Once it is earned, the page will also show a link to enable the boost,
and once enabled, there is a link to disable it again (in case you
decide you'll never use its features).
Wait For It
Description and instructions are here
(SPOILER WARNING -- the linked page describes a part
of the game you have not yet discovered on your own.)
Flutterbee
Description and instructions are here
(SPOILER WARNING -- the linked page describes a part
of the game you have not yet discovered on your own.)
Cueless
Description and instructions are here
(SPOILER WARNING -- the linked page describes a part
of the game you have not yet discovered on your own.)
Snake!
Description and instructions are here
(SPOILER WARNING -- the linked page describes a part
of the game you have not yet discovered on your own.)
Chirpy
Description and instructions are here
(SPOILER WARNING -- the linked page describes a part
of the game you have not yet discovered on your own.)
Lucky
Description and instructions are here
(SPOILER WARNING -- the linked page describes a part
of the game you have not yet discovered on your own.)
Floating Cueball
Description and instructions are here
(SPOILER WARNING -- the linked page describes a part
of the game you have not yet discovered on your own.)
Options
DANGER: Use these links carefully!
New Game: Start a new game (does not
reset achievement badges) (confirmation required)
Reset Badges: Does not start a new game, but clears the achievements (the row of small tiles across the bottom)
Reset High Score: The score in your current game will become the high score.
or Return to Game (without resetting anything)
Import/Export
Current game state:
.
Press this button:
Select
to select the text, then you can Copy and Paste it into a text editor.
Use this feature to transfer your game to another browser, or to
save it prior to erasing cookies and/or "application data".
Console Log
Press this button:
Show Console
to reveal a text listing of of your Q04B activity, including automatic
saved games. If you wish, you can recover an older game by copying a line
and using the "Import" section above to go back to that older game.
NOTE: When the amount of text reaches 100,000 characters, older
lines will be deleted.
WARNING: You'll lose the console log if you tell your browser to
erase cookies and/or "application data"!
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Credits
Original Artwork by Randall Munroe
, with a few of the
later tiles by
xkcd fans Latent22, waveney, and SilentTimer,
and icons by Robert Munafo.
Gameplay based on ''2048'' by
Gabriele Cirulli.
in turn based on
''1024'' by Veewo Studio,
which was inspired by
Threes by Asher Vollmer.
Programming by:
Gabriele Cirulli (2048 gameplay),
TimPetricola (best score storage),
chrisprice (custom code for swipe handling on mobile),
elektryk (made swipes work on Windows Phone),
mgarciaisaia (support for Android 2.3),
{rayhaanj, Mechazawa, grant, remram44 and ghoullier} (other contributions to Cirulli),
Matt Overlan
(heuristics and minimax decision algorithm),
and Robert Munafo (conversion to 5x7 grid, image tiles,
color, achievement badges, import/export, refactoring to merge with
Overlan AI, and improved static evaluation function).
Other Contributions by:
azule (CSS for horizontal layouts);
Chuck McQuilkin (for iOS app example)
Revision History
20140417 Convert the tiles from colored-filled with numbers (leftover
from 2048) to images derived from xkcd 1190 "Time"
20140418 Instantiate the game object into a named variable; add
Grid::islands
Game now starts with one Cueball and one Megan.
Add smaller icons for narrow views (e.g. small phones); move
instructions and credits onto this page; add revision history
Add "fruit list" (so-named after the similar display in Pac-Man), a
row of darkened tiles (really, transparent over a filled container
<div>) which displays the 14 highest tiles you have achieved,
all-time. They serve as achievement badges and as a hint as to what
order the images go in, which might help you choose moves.
20140419 Add Grid::smoothness and Grid::tileMatchAvailable
20140420 Tonight the mrob.com servers stop updating, and some users
might be stuck with the version that was uploaded at about 1600 UTC
today.
20140424 Fruit list now shows bright tiles if you have at least one
of that tile. This is meant to increase user awareness of the Partial
Reinforcement Effect, a contributor to videogame addictiveness and one
of the biggest hazards of all "Threes"/"1024"/"2048" clones.
Add achievement notifications (big "YOU GOT YOUR FIRST xxx TILE!"
message that flots up and fades away)
20140426 The GameManager::move method has been broken up into the
core, now relocated to Grid::move, and the rest (mostly additions by
me) that are now in GameManager::gm_move.
20140430 Add Ffoxy module (Import/Export) from code formerly isolated in
this page (credits.html) to facilitate auto-export by the game.
20140505 Added and tested code for version 2 import/export
20140508 Boosts 00 (Wait for it.) and 01 (Flutterbee) are now live
(as is level 2 export; level 2 import has been live for a few days)
BUGS and TTD:
* Pre-cache the full-size images (azule, NP1901)
* SB-like console messages, suitable for lyrics
* New game; reload; L; Wait for score > BestScore; X; reload; ->: Best
score gets set: usedRaptor flag needs to be persistent
* chromatic heresy option
* molpy boosts: little chirpy; prickly; Lucky
(random); Amtoo
* molpy boost: snake
* how to limit snake, and/or power-up boosts
Things to study:
* Make it give big tiles and find out what happens when raptor
reaches Rosetta; then make raptor disable the "you won!" mode; then
define a bunch of higher tiles.
* A third, intermediate width for use on devices that aren't quite
588 pixels wide (480 is probably common).
* Use Time frames as the background for the grid-container,
behind a translucent white layer so they don't confuse play
(might need another nested div level: each layer of nested div
gives another rendering layer)
License
Expat
License (aka "MIT License")
Copyright (c) 2014 Gabriele Cirulli and Robert Munafo
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
"Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included
in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.
IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY
CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
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