SwellFire
Steer a growing squad through the right gates, blast through the waves, reach the boss. Then watch the game play itself.
The Game
Your squad runs forward on its own. You only steer left and right. Gates come in pairs and change the squad size, some multiply it, some add to it, and some take members away, so picking the right gate is the whole game. The squad fires at enemies automatically as you push toward the boss at the end of each level. Tap a shot below to see it full size, then swipe through the levels.
An Automatic Player That Optimizes Every Gate
SwellFire can steer for you. As each pair of gates comes into view it weighs every position it could move to and works out how the squad would change at each gate. It steers toward the gate that grows the squad most, and when both gates would shrink it, it threads the gap between them instead.
It commits to a lane early so it never dithers in front of a gate, and keeps re-planning as the next gates appear.
This is optimization on a small scale: decide what a good outcome looks like, score the options against it, and keep the best. Vilvik runs the same kind of search on your own problems, and the in-browser demos let you watch it work step by step.
How It Decides
Read the Gates
What each gate ahead would do to the squad.
Weigh the Lanes
Consider every position it could steer to.
Pick the Best
Choose the lane that grows the squad most.
Commit, Then Repeat
Hold the lane, and re-plan for the next gates.
You Set the Temperament
Cautious
Protects the squad, avoids risky gates.
Balanced
Trades squad growth against risk evenly.
Aggressive
Chases the biggest gains. Reaction speed is adjustable too.
Get SwellFire
Free to play on Android phones and on desktop computers. The code is open source.
The macOS download is for Apple silicon Macs. The downloads page also lists an Android install file and an unsigned iPhone and iPad build. The iPhone and iPad build is meant for developers to sign and test, so it can't be installed as is.
Curious How the Optimization Works?
Vilvik lets you run your own optimization against built-in problems, or bring your own. Sign in for free to try the live demos.