About this course
You know Java basics, maybe even took a data structures course and wonder how your knowledge could be used in practice? Looking for a coding project to hone your skills? Want to outplay or baffle your friends with a program that plays better than them? Join these series to build game solvers, game AI and Flash game bot! From scratch!
Solving Games in Java course series are targeted for demonstration of practical usage of searching techniques like depth-first search, breadth-first search, A* search, IDA* search, minimax search, alpha-beta pruning. Basic understanding of recursion and Java data structures (list, array, queue) is recommended.
Course series (released as different courses, some might still be unreleased):
- Part I: Boggle solver (3 different solutions, primary focus is DFS)
- Part II: N-puzzle solver (4 different solutions: DFS, BFS, A*, IDA*)
- Part III: Connect Four (4 different AI players: random, Monte Carlo, minimax, alpha-beta pruning)
- Part IV: Diamond Dash (we will build a bot to beat this Facebook game)
By the end of each course you will build a working solution (or even multiple solutions) which you could continue to work on, update, modify, experiment!
What are the requirements?
- Basic Java knowledge
- Understanding of basic data structures (array, list, queue)
- Basic grasp of recursion
- Read a thing or two about depth-first and breadth-first searches
What am I going to get from this course?
- Over 24 lectures and 1 hour of content!
- Learn to use searching techniques in practice (this part is mostly about DFS)
- Build a solver for Boggle game (in 3 different ways)
- Get a project prototype to work on and develop it further
What is the target audience?
- Someone who is familiar with basic algorithms and data structures
- Java beginners who want to progress further
- Java beginners who seek some practical projects
- Java beginners who are eager to learn and experiment
- Anyone else who is interested in the topics covered
