FlipOut NET is an Othello-like game for two or three players on a hex board, with full networking support and AI players. For those unfamiliar with Othello, a simple explaination follows. The basic idea is to capture as many pieces as possible, so at the end of the game you have more pieces on the board than your opponent. To capture a piece, place your piece such that a straight line can be drawn from the piece you just played to another one of your pieces already on the board. All opponent pieces on that straight line are flipped and become yours (you must score at least one flip in order to play a piece). Multiple lines can be made with a single move, and all pieces in all lines are flipped. The original Othello is played on a sqaure board with two players, one white and one black.
Enter FlipOut, with its hex board and two (red and yellow) or three (red, yellow, and blue) players. The great game play of Othello taken to the next level.
Download FlipOut NET for Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP! Requires Microsoft DirectX 9
| FlipOut NET home on Nyarlathotep | Baltimore, Maryland (USA) |
Full Install [0.4.2] (2.01 MB) Upgrade Install for Version 0.3.8 or higher [0.4.2] (167 KB) |
| Version 0.4.2 |
Added Load and Save game options. Mouse changes to pointer + hourglass during animation and when it is not a local player's turn. If hidden or minimized, the Chat window will appear if a chat message is received. Menu relayout. |
| Version 0.4.1 |
Added a new animation type: Fade Away. Added the ability to dynamically select between animation types. Saves animation type in INI file. |
| Version 0.4.0 |
First pass at piece capture animation (Proof of Concept). Added picture of winner's piece to game over window (multiple pieces are shown in tie games). |
| Version 0.3.13 |
When hosting a network game, there is the option to start the game with an AI player. When hosting a network game and waiting for players to connect, it is now possible to stop waiting for additional players and to begin the game anyway. Players who have not connected will be created as AI players. Disconnecting from the network in host mode should be a tad faster than before. |
| Version 0.3.12 |
In a network game, the connecting window does not disappear until all clients have connected. This prevents the first connecting client from getting into a weird state. Player disconnect messages were not being properly sent to remaining players. Fixed. Other players besides the host will also be notified of the creation of an AI player. Clear chat window when disconnecting from the network. Save last player name, port number, and remote host to .INI file. File is loaded the next time the game is run. |
| Version 0.3.11 |
Acknowledgement all of Bill's excellent play testing :) If a client attempted to connect to a game already in progress, strange things happened and that client ended up crashing horribly. This has been fixed, and the user receives notification of the failed connection attempt. Host was crashing on disconnect. Fixed. |
| Version 0.3.10 |
Fixed a race condition where an AI player might accidentally take a human player's turn (only happened if starting a new game with a game already in progress). Recompiled and distributed with DirectX 8.1. |
| Version 0.3.9 |
On some systems, How to Play document (help pulldown) and Web Site link (about box) were not working. Hopefully that has been fixed. |
| Version 0.3.8 |
If unexpectedly disconnected in client mode, disconnect process no longer appears to hang. Failing to connect to a remote host did not show an error message. It now does. A timeout of 10 seconds has been added to wait for the connection to succeed. Added the ability for the user to decide which port to use for network games. Added an info message to the chat window whenever a player disconnects. |
| Version 0.3.7 |
The current player piece was not updating properly after an AI player turn. Fixed. Added "About" window. Added How To Play document. |
| Version 0.3.6 |
Fixed a bug where it would not allow you to start a new game if one was running. Even if offered multiple choices, AI players were always picking the same play. Now random. |
| Version 0.3.5 |
Redid how AI players take turns. The pause between AI turns is much more reliable, and works properly in a network game. Added a zero player game (causes the AI to play itself). |
| Version 0.3.4 |
Fixed a display bug - when joining a game the connect window displayed the wrong message. Fixed a display bug - End of Game window was always displaying Player 3, even if 2 player game Main window caption changes depending on play mode (local, host, or client). |
| Version 0.3.3 |
Improved handling of unexpected disconnects. A disconnected client gets turned into an AI player. |
| Version 0.3.2 |
"Start New Game..." menu option behaves differently depending on game state. If no game is active, it starts a new local game. If a local game is active, it asks before starting a new local game. If the game is in Host Mode, it prompts for confirmation, then restarts the game (clients are not disconnected). If the game is in Client Mode, it displays a message and does nothing. |
| Version 0.3.1 |
Added game play field redraw optimizations when in Network Mode. Added "Disconnect..." menu option, visible while connected. |
| Version 0.3.0 |
Network support complete. "Host..." and "Join..." game menu pulldowns completely actived. Chat window added, visible while connected. |
| Version 0.2.2 |
Added Easy AI skill level. |
| Version 0.2.1 |
Added a one second pause before AI player takes a turn (per user feedback). Pause period decrements slowly, incase human player has been completely defeated. |
| Version 0.2.0 |
Added AI opponent to standalone game (careful, he's pretty tough). |
| Version 0.1.0 |
Port and rewrite of internal FlipOut components. Standalone version complete. |
FlipOut began many years ago as a school project. For Software Engineering class, our group decided to make a game (like any good programmers still in school :). What we came up with was FlipOut: an Othello-like game with a hex board and two or three player game play.
FlipOut NET takes over where the old project left off. Much of the internal were rewritten, but the same addicting game play and mega cool graphics were kept. And a few new features were added. As the name suggests, network game play was added, allowing two or three people to play together even if they are miles apart. Also added was an AI player, who can be almost as cunning as the real deal.
The original FlipOut team was:
Team Leader - Brian Morin
Architectual Design Specialist and Artist - Miguel Silva
Head Coder - Stephen Kazmierczak
Testing Specialist - William Binder
Requirements Specialist - Jae Chung
Presentation Specialist - Swathi Subramanian
Email the author: zik@alum.wpi.edu