Hacker News Reader

I'd like to have the option to show "remaining" mines. I've played https://pwmarcz.pl/kaboom/ enough in "countdown mode" (i.e. where the numbers are the number of hidden mines) that I can't adjust to this....

View on HN

On the left of the face emoji, in the top bar, you should see the number of remaining mines. It's not exactly like the version you linked, which should "number found / total", as what I show is simply "remaining mines". Is that what you mean?

Although the number I show is actually a bit sneaky, as I subtract the number of flags placed to the total number of mines. So if you were to place more flags than mines, you'd see a negative number. (which I realise as I type that your version is similar, as the number can also go above the total).

Actually I'm more interested in the game board. If a space has (say) 3 mines next to it, then the numeral 3 will appear (as today). However, when I add a flag next to it, then the count should go down to 2 -- i.e. the number is always the number of mines minus the number of flags. It takes a bit of getting used to when first using that mode, but it becomes much quicker after a while as there is no more checking that a cell with a '4' has 4 flags around it, so all the other adjacent cells are safe. The countdown rule means that a cell with 0 in it, all the open adjacent cells are safe (assuming that the flags are in the right place!!).

Interesting. Thank you for explaining, I understand now.

I'm more leaning toward not adding more options, as I'd like to keep the game as simple as possible, but nevertheless I'll have a think, it might be worth it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com