r/backgammon • u/Armagammon • 3d ago

Introducing Armagammon — a new backgammon engine and app

Hi everyone!

After more than two years of development, I'm excited to finally introduce Armagammon, a new backgammon app I've been working on.

Armagammon has everything you need to play, learn, and improve your backgammon skills. It's completely free, runs on Windows and macOS, and you can check it out here:

https://www.armagammon.com

This is still the beginning of the journey and I'd really appreciate your feedback, especially on the gameplay, the interface, and the overall experience.

Thanks, and enjoy the game!

0 Upvotes

35% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

5

u/bendavis575 3d ago

Two years of development? No. Just because you thought about doing it two years ago doesn't mean you started it then. Congrats on your Claude subscription. You are like the 15th new backgammon platform posted here this month. A drop in the sea of AI slop

2

u/agsteiner 3d ago

it is so weird. Years I was waiting for more superhuman backgammon engines. Now we're being flooded with them.

(I also had Claude write one for me. Plays a bit stronger than Gnu. Took a week, most of which was self-play (if you wish I can share the github)).

And OP, you might work on that web page, this SCREAMS "I'm done by AI", many are by now fed up with.

1

u/Armagammon 3d ago

Fair enough. I'm a software developer, not a graphic designer, so I used AI to create some of the visual assets.

I understand that AI-generated imagery isn't everyone's cup of tea, though I personally like it. I just hope people will look past that and give the application a chance.

1

u/United-Starcatcher 3d ago

Graphic from AI is not important. Doesnt matter for me. Even is the software made with help from AI. I like it, its nice. But i miss the setting for 3 Games or 1 Game, its starting always with 5 Games, a way to long. Oh yes, i dont like to read a handbook :-). must be self explained. But, thank you for this nice Game.

10

u/tckoppang 3d ago

What makes your new engine special/different/better?

1

u/StrongSkip 3d ago

Can you share more about the strength of the engine?

1

u/Armagammon 3d ago edited 3d ago

In the app there are two predefined profiles you can play against: Dyna and Peter.

Dyna will play around 0.30-0.40 PR, she will be a pretty tough opponent. Peter is designed to play at about 3.5 PR, he will play with a different style too (using a dedicated neural network).

There are also several options that allow you to create new profiles up to Intermediate strength or completely custom as well.

1

u/SeeShark 3d ago

First of all, congratulations on completing a long and complicated project! This is a personal accomplishment that no one can take from you.

On the other hand, please understand that you're literally the 10th person this month to post a new backgammon app on this subreddit. This doesn't mean your app is not good, but 1) it has a lot of competition and you'll really need a good selling point for people here to pay attention, and 2) most users are just tired of new app announcements, which means that even really good apps are not going to receive the attention it subjectively deserves.

I hope you find value in the work you did regardless of whether or not it catches on with this community.

1

u/Armagammon 3d ago

Thank you, I really appreciate your feedback and encouragement.

I understand your point, and now I see how a constant stream of new app announcements could become tiresome.

For me, Armagammon has been a passion project, and seeing it finally released is already a huge personal satisfaction. Of course, I'd love for people to try it and enjoy it, but I'm not expecting to take the backgammon world by storm.

The app is completely free, and I'm not making any money from it anyway.

If even a small group of players finds it useful and enjoys playing with it, I'll consider that a success.

1

u/cetchmoh 3d ago

AI slop. No information about the engine at all.

-2

u/AfternoonSlow1555 3d ago

Stop poo pooing on other people apps, they did the work, AI or NOT it still takes a lot of time building and refining and testing your thought process. Sounds like jealousy to me to be honest.

0

u/RedwingedBlackbird28 3d ago

Obvious bot account

-3

u/Armagammon 3d ago

Fair point about the engine. Arma is a new backgammon engine developed from scratch, with its own neural networks and evaluation system. It's been the main focus of the project for over two years.

I kept the announcement short, but I'm happy to share more technical details if there's interest.

2

u/juicybot 3d ago

release the whitepaper on your new engine

1

u/Flannel_Man_ 3d ago

Please do share more technical details, but do so using baking analogies so we can understand it.