Ultimate Blackjack [Moddable for custom text]

[vayne358]

i wonder how much more is to go.

[Journeyman]

vayne358, oh, it's still a bit of a way off, I fear. It's taken months and months to get to 61%!
But that's ok--there's still work to be done, too!

[TheAllSeeingEye]

This is really fueling my gambling addiction :v lol
Nice to play =3

[Kasev]

Maybe my comment would be inappropriate, but can you make something like this, but chess, or maybe shougi variant? Because it's f*cking blackjack! Game, where you cannot do something! You lose - you don't know why. You win, again don't know why. You don't know what card would be next, and can not do with this nothing... I like this opponent girls, I like this idea of a vore game, and know, that you guys are done very much of work. But... Why it must be f*cking gamble? It's so displeasingly...

[Opian]

Maybe my comment would be inappropriate, but can you make something like this, but chess, or maybe shougi variant? Because it's f*cking blackjack! Game, where you cannot do something! You lose - you don't know why. You win, again don't know why. You don't know what card would be next, and can not do with this nothing... I like this opponent girls, I like this idea of a vore game, and know, that you guys are done very much of work. But... Why it must be f*cking gamble? It's so displeasingly...

Going to have a different problem: programming the AI. Obviously, you want a challenge, but chess (especially chess) has so many moves, it's hard to make a good AI player. Took Google and a whole bunch of machine learning to get a Go AI to challenge world champions. Then, for a game AI, you want a challenge but not too much. You want an opponent you can beat, but you don't want a free victory. Compared to Blackjack, where the AI just keeps hitting until it's above a certain threshold (above 16 iirc).

For a small project, unless you could get some open source solver/AI, I doubt it'd be even moderately difficult or practical.

[Kasev]

Maybe my comment would be inappropriate, but can you make something like this, but chess, or maybe shougi variant? Because it's f*cking blackjack! Game, where you cannot do something! You lose - you don't know why. You win, again don't know why. You don't know what card would be next, and can not do with this nothing... I like this opponent girls, I like this idea of a vore game, and know, that you guys are done very much of work. But... Why it must be f*cking gamble? It's so displeasingly...

Going to have a different problem: programming the AI. Obviously, you want a challenge, but chess (especially chess) has so many moves, it's hard to make a good AI player. Took Google and a whole bunch of machine learning to get a Go AI to challenge world champions. Then, for a game AI, you want a challenge but not too much. You want an opponent you can beat, but you don't want a free victory. Compared to Blackjack, where the AI just keeps hitting until it's above a certain threshold (above 16 iirc).

For a small project, unless you could get some open source solver/AI, I doubt it'd be even moderately difficult or practical.

Ok. I understand... Thank you for answer.

[forumlurker]

Quite some progress has been made it seems. Would it be an idea to release a voice sample? I have a feeling people would get hyped if they heard a line or 2.

[Journeyman]

forumlurker, lol, maybe in a little while Only about a quarter of the voice lines are recorded thus far, and the VO person is away until Sept 18, so I don't want everyone to get toooo hyped before there's anything close to launch

[bob8boy8]

do you see a possible future update where the VA (or a different one) goes back and voices the other characters too? would be nice!

[Userunnown]

Excited to see the big jump in funding. I'm really excited to have a new dealer to play!

[Battalia]

Didn't see a big jump, but 81% is awefully close =)

[forumlurker]

89%? Great progress. Would it be possible to request a voice sample now? We're getting close to 100% after all.

[Journeyman]

Yes! You may request a voice sample now!

[Journeyman]

Annnd, added voice sample
blog/Journeyman/

[maleperduis]

The voice acting is very good quality, from those samples!

[Journeyman]

pseudo, agreed! Hopefully everyone'll love the character, but also the voice! Our VA is looking to get back into doing voice work and stuff, so I'm hoping the publicity will help them along

[CartoonVore]

A few points:

A) I was just playing and got the rare case of a dealer and the player both getting a blackjack. It should have been a push, but I was awarded a 3:2 payout. I'm sure it's an easy fix, and also sure that it hasn't been noticed primarily due to its rarity!

B) I really think you should add a hard difficulty setting. My thought on what it could be is a timer starts, and when the timer expires, you finish the hand that is in action. If the player hasn't won by then, the dealer gets bored and decides to just swallow the player.

C) Have you considered getting a VA for the previous dealers? I think it would be neat.

Still love the game. Can't wait for Erika!

[Journeyman]

CVYouTube, heyaa!
A) Haha, good catch, but not accidental! I deliberately introduced several features to allow the game to be a bit easier for new players to pick up. There's no "surrender" option (which is traditional at casinos, but is statistically always a worse choice than any other play. The player wins instantly on all natural 21s, which *no* casino would allow, so that players don't lose out on those extra-lucky hands (and even still, I've got people claiming that the computer steals wins from them ). The game is played "no-hole card", which is common in European Casinos but rare in the US; the dealer doesn't consult their hole card until their turn (thus, they don't reveal a blackjack if they have one). This is to prevent a somewhat confusing sequence of play for newbies, where they bet, suddenly see the dealer's card, and are informed that they've lost before they get to do anything. Playing no-hole allows consistent rounds of play

I think those are the only significant rules changes. Oh, and I use 1 deck instead of 6, in case anyone wants to practice counting cards ;D

B) I've thought a lot about difficulty. The only true way to add a Hard Mode is what I've got now--each successive dealer starts with more money. It's not exactly exciting, I fear. But it's absolutely a difficulty setting--the player is punished more for inaccurate play or for bad luck streaks when they need to win a greater amount of money. I think that time doesn't play much of a factor; unlike a strategy card game, decisions are not time-consuming, so a time factor would simply turn the game into a coin flip; either you get a decent run early and come in under time, or you have to play slowly early and minimize losses so you run out of time. Still working on ideas, but ofc, best bet is to play the higher tables and restrict yourself from using cheats (or to go for a perfect win record!)

C) Unrealistic at this point. I've programmed the new voice system flexibly, of course, so that it could be retrofit onto anyone, but there's several issues in the way; most prominent among them, the lack of availability of talent to voice each character. There's some other technical limitations as well, though--a few characters (not Erika) make use of some variables in their dialogue which create a multiplicatively larger number of lines--among other things. The interest in the game, funding for VAs, and more make it look like that's not going to be a regular thing!

I think you'll be pleased with the funding progress update on Monday, though!

[ehur]

the dealer doesn't consult their hole card until their turn (thus, they don't reveal a blackjack if they have one). This is to prevent a somewhat confusing sequence of play for newbies, where they bet, suddenly see the dealer's card, and are informed that they've lost before they get to do anything. Playing no-hole allows consistent rounds of play

The downside is when players split or double down and then lose to a blackjack, since both of those involve adding more money to the hand.

Though, I suppose doing either if the dealer is showing a face card or ace is a bad idea in it's own right.

[forumlurker]

Looking forward to the update then. Do you still need to do a lot of work on the next dealer Journeyman?