Strat is a strategy game AI library along with some example games which utilize this library. The main purpose of this project was to provide me with a concrete way to learn and improve my Haskell skills.

As a library, my first goal was to build a general code base that would allow me write multiple types of games. There could eventually be a core library that others can use as well, but I'm not currently trying to address that type of library design.

Driving the development of the library are a number of example games. A Checkers game has already been written, and I've begun work on a Chess implementation. I hope to eventually try my hand at Go as well.

Installing and running the Checkers example

The following instructions assume you already have Stack installed. If not, you can install Stack at https://docs.haskellstack.org/en/stable/README/

Once you have Stack, compiling the library and executable follows the standard pattern:

• Clone this repository
• Type cd Strat
• Type stack build

To run the checkers example, which uses a simple web client:

• Type stack exec strat-exe
• Access the game via a web browser at http://localhost:3000

I have tested the program on a few browsers: Chrome, Firefox, IE, and Edge.

Project organization

At a high level, the project directories are organized this way:

• src/strat/StratTree - tree traversal algorithms
• src/strat/StartIO - misc non-web code requiring IO
• src/StratWeb - general code for implementing examples via. the web browser. (Note: some checkers-specific code has temporarily crept into these modules, but this will eventually be game agnostic)
• src/GameRunner - a driver for running a text-only version of the game in a command window.
• src/main - entry point for running the games - the defaul is to run the checkers game via. the web interface
• src/Examples/Checkers - the checkers implementation. It plays a pretty good game, though it could use a bit more work in some end game situation where its play can become a bit aimless.
• src/Examples/WIP/Chess - the very initial stages of a chess example. So far I have only begun to implement how the pieces move, etc.
• test - various tests that exercise both the library functions and game specific behavior
• test/TicTac - A TicTacToe example that, while not particularly interesting, was very useful in getting the initial algorithms working. It can still be occasionally useful when trying out a new idea.

High level next steps

• Fully implement the chess game
• Implement alpha-beta pruning in the move evaluation engine