Little Go 4+

I like it… but

Placing stones is not immediately clear, it has a weird magnifying glass mechanic that doesn’t make much sense. It took me a while to figure out how to place a stone because there was no tutorial or anything.

Also I’m playing on the absolute weakest computer and it has DESTROYED me over and over on the 9x9 board without mercy, I can’t imagine what the other bots are like.

Developer Response ,

A tutorial is on my wish list, too, unfortunately it‘s hard to make, technically, so I keep postponing it. If you know an Open Source coder who would like to contribute to the app, then let him know that I would very much welcome a tutorial contribution 😁.

For the most recent version of the app I drastically reduced the default computer player strength. If you are losing against „Fuego (weak)“ on 9x9, then maybe try to let the computer play against itself a few times, then if black wins study the game moves to see how this worked. Or you could also try to play white to see how the computer plays as black, then emulate its strategy when you switch sides the next time. Good luck.

Fun Learning Tool

As a beginner, I have a lot of fun with this app. Even on weaker difficulty, I really struggle to keep up with the AI, and that’s great. Anytime I mess up I will consistently get harshly punished and it has really opened my eyes to the weaknesses in certain play styles. I’ve learned so much from this app and I’ve gotten to watch the margin of loss drop more and more as I keep playing. Sometimes it is frustrating to lose all the time, but every game I learn something and get a little better.

I noticed that the game is open source, but I haven’t gotten a chance to check out the algorithms used. It surprises me that there isn’t a way to tweak the difficulty level to easier levels, as that’s usually pretty easy to do from a developer standpoint. I’ve read that Fuego uses MCTS to make its moves and there should be parameters one could tune to make playing a little easier.

Thanks again for this tool, its really great!

Developer Response ,

Oh, but there are *so many* options to tweak the computer player‘s strength!

First of all you can play against the pre-defined computer player „Fuego (weak)“, which is substantially weaker than the default player that is just named „Fuego“.

Second you can change a large variety of options in the profile that is behind a computer player. 1) Call up the settings screen. 2) Select "Players & Profiles". 3) In the lower section titled "Profiles" select the profile you want to change. At the bottom you see which computer players use that profile. 4) Near the top of the screen you can select between five different preset playing strengths. 5) For a deep dive select "Advanced configuration". The in-game manual (available under „Help“) tells you what each setting does. 6) When you have finished changing a profile start a new game and make sure to play against one of the computer players that uses the profile. Enjoy.

Great App

My favorite part about this app is how much you can customize & tweak. Overall, everything else about it is also pretty strong; display, UI, and even the manual is pretty clear/thorough. People whining about the AI being difficult don’t understand just how high the skill ceiling is for this board game, and even the weakest setting should still take some decent practice to overcome. Besides, if you’re constantly losing to the AI, then that’s a perfect opportunity to see what types of moves are being used to beat you — Look for patterns and adapt your strategy accordingly!!

To the developer(s): Very nice work. 5/5