About Ravel, a new Game
The Game:
– Ravel is a new 2-player turn-based game. It is played on an 8x8 grid that starts off looking a bit like an empty checker board with four “neutral color” (grey) squares in the center. Unlike most (or all) of the games you’ve played before on an 8x8 grid, players move by “rotating” rows or columns. Players do this to form solid lines of their color, while avoiding solid lines of the other players' color. Rows must move exactly one square to the right, and columns move exactly one square down.
In the image above, you can see that the second row has been shifted to the right.
– There are four squares with a “neutral color”. Those squares prevent either player from forming solid lines. In the image below, you can see three horizontal green lines, but only two blue lines. There would be a third blue line, but it has a neutral color (grey) square in it, so it cannot be counted.
– A game lasts at most 40 turns. The player with the higher score wins. A game will end sooner, however, if one player accumulates at least ten more points than the other player.
– Each move requires the player to be aware of the “entire board”, trying to form lines of their color while blocking the other player from doing the same. Are you up for the challenge? Good luck!
The app:
For now, Ravel is only available for Android on the Google Play Store. The app only supports playing against the app (there’s no support for connecting with another human player yet). The app supports seven difficulty levels. The easiest level just plays random moves. Above that, there are six levels where the app can make better moves (I can’t beat the app above “level_3”, but I’m not very good). It’s still in its infancy. More features will be available soon!