Starter Kit

Starter AIs are available in the Starter Kit. They can help you get started with your own bot.

Introductory video by Sebastien and Loïc: https://youtu.be/OJxV_zhICls


This challenge is inspired from the board game Samsara

  Goal

The game takes place in a company IT department. Management is organizing a hackathon on the Green IT theme. Two development teams are competing to be the most efficient team. Release the required applications before the opponent team to have more points, but respect the Green IT requirements or you'll get drowned in the Technical Debt.

  Rules

Each player has an IT development team. The game takes place in an office with 8 desks. The hackathon will last many turns. Each turn, the players will play one after the other.

This game is based on Deck Building. Each team will have its own deck of cards that will get bigger during the game.

Each team starts the game with 4 BONUS skill cards and 4 Technical Debt cards. Those cards will be their personal draw pile. And their personal discard pile will be reshuffled into the draw pile when it gets empty.

Deckbuilding: the player discard pile is reshuffled to create the player's draw pile
The team will get more cards and will lose some during the game.

The game space (the office)

The office is made of 8 desks. Each desk is dedicated to a specific skill

  • TRAINING (0)

  • CODING (1)

  • DAILY_ROUTINE (2)

  • TASK_PRIORITIZATION (3)

  • ARCHITECTURE_STUDY (4)

  • CONTINUOUS_INTEGRATION (5)

  • CODE_REVIEW (6)

  • REFACTORING (7)

Those desks are numbered from 0 to 7. Each of those desks contains 5 skill cards at the beginning of the game.

Due to covid-19, Management enforced a one way path in the office so as not to bump into other people. You must always move in the same direction.

This forces you to go through the administrative task desk when you move from the desk 7 to the desk 0.

Applications

Each application needs some skills to be released. Applications are the same for both players. Once an application has been released, it is removed from the game for both players.

Applications will get bigger through the leagues.

A small application needs 3 sets of 2 skills (like 2 REFACTORING, 2 TRAINING and 2 CODING)

A big application needs 2 sets of 4 skills (like 4 DAILY_ROUTINE and 4 CODE_REVIEW)

Each BONUS skill card provides one good skill (any of them) and one shoddy skill.

Each specific skill card provides 2 good skills (of this specific type) and 2 shoddy skills.

For instance, a CODING card provides 2 CODING skills and 2 shoddy skills. Those shoddy skills can be used to replace any missing skill, but the quality will not be there.

Each shoddy skill used during an application release will give you a Technical Debt card. Those cards are useless. They are only here to slow you down since you can draw some from your draw pile.
Examples of how to release an application with various skills

Turn Description

At the beginning of your turn, your team draws 4 cards at random from their draw pile.

1. Move

The team begins by moving to another desk (they must leave the desk for the other team).
They will get one skill card from the desk they are moving to (TRAINING, CODE_REVIEW, REFACTORING, CODING...).
If the desk is empty (no more cards), the team will get a BONUS skill card instead.

If the team arrives on the opponent's desk (or on a desk next to the opponent), they will disturb the opponent (they are noisy when they work).
As an apology, the team must GIVE one skill card from their hand to the opponent (the team can choose which one).
If they do not have any skill card in hand, they get 2 Technical Debt cards.

If the team goes through the administrative task desk (between the desks 7 and 0), they lose 2 skills cards from their hand (they can choose which ones).
Card loss due to administrative task
If they do not have enough skill cards in hand, they get one Technical Debt card per missing skill.

2. Use a skill

After moving, the team can use one of their available skills in hand. This phase will only appear if you can play a skill. The skills and their actions:
  • TRAINING (0). The team draws 2 cards and can play 1 more card from their hand.
  • CODING (1). The team draws 1 card and can play 2 more cards from their hand.
  • DAILY_ROUTINE (2). This is a permanent skill: once played, it stays active until the team has released one application.
    After moving, the team can get their new skill card from a desk one step away. If you play many cards, their effects will add up.
  • TASK_PRIORITIZATION (3). The team will remove one skill card from their hand and put it back on the board.
    They will then take another available skill card from the board.
  • ARCHITECTURE_STUDY (4). This is a permanent skill: once played, it stays active until the team has released one application.
    The team will draw one more card at the beginning of their turn. If you play many cards, their effects will add up.
  • CONTINUOUS_INTEGRATION (5). The team automate one of their skills from their hand.
    This card will never be discarded and will always be available, but only to release applications.
  • CODE_REVIEW (6). The team gets 2 BONUS skill cards from the board and puts them in their discard pile.
  • REFACTORING (7). The team can remove a Technical Debt card from their hand and put it back on the board.

3. Release an application

The team can use their available skills in hand to RELEASE an application.
This phase will only appear if you have enough skills to do it.
Don't forget, if you use shoddy skills, you'll receive Technical Debt cards! When you release an application, your permanent skills are discarded.


4. End of the turn

All cards in hand (skills and Technical Debt) are discarded.

Game end

The hackathon stops as soon as one team releases its 5th application.

Beware, since this hackathon is on the theme of Green IT, the referees will be paying close attention to the quality of the last released application.
The 5th application of each team cannot be released with shoddy skills!

When a team has released 5 applications, the game will end once all teams have played the same amount of turns.

The winner is the team that released the most applications.
In case of a tie, the winning team will be the one that has the less Technical Debt cards.

Victory Conditions
  • You released 5 applications before your opponent.
  • You released more applications than your opponent after 200 game phases.
  • In case of a tie, you have less Technical Debt cards than your opponent.
Defeat Conditions
  • Your program does not provide a valid command in time.

🐞 Debugging tips

  Technical Details

  • The game starts with 5 skill cards on each desk, 36 BONUS skill cards and 100 Technical Debt cards in all the game.

  • Each phase is given to the players only if they can perform an action. If they have no choice and the action is mandatory, it will be played automatically.

  • If you need to draw a skill card from a desk and there are none left, you will draw a BONUS skill card instead.
    If there is no BONUS skill card left, you will get no card.

  • In case of a tie, the player who gained the lowest amount of Technical Debt will win.

  • The 5th application cannot be released with shoddy skills. You will need to have the exact skills.

  • The source code of this game is available on this GitHub repo.

  Game Input/Output

Input for One Game Turn
Line 1: gamePhase the name of the current game phase. It can be MOVE, GIVE_CARD, THROW_CARD, PLAY_CARD, RELEASE
Line 2: applicationCount for the amount of applications that are still to be released.
Next applicationCount lines: the word APPLICATION followed by 9 integers, the description of the application to release and the needed skills to release them (APPLICATION applicationId trainingNeeded codingNeeded dailyRoutineNeeded taskPrioritizationNeeded architectureStudyNeeded continuousDeliveryNeeded codeReviewNeeded refactoringNeeded).
1 line per player: 4 integers (Your data is always given first):
  • location : the desk currently used by the player (-1 in the first turn).
  • score : the amount of released applications.
  • permanentDailyRoutineCards : the amount of DAILY_ROUTINE (2) cards played.
  • permanentArchitectureStudyCards : the amount of ARCHITECTURE_STUDY (2) cards played.

Next line: cardLocationsCount for the amount of locations where the players have some cards.
Next cardLocationsCount lines: the location name followed by 10 integers, the number of cards in this location (cardLocation trainingCardsCount codingCardsCount dailyRoutineCardsCount taskPrioritizationCardsCount architectureStudyCardsCount continuousDeliveryCardsCount codeReviewCardsCount refactoringCardsCount bonusCardsCount technicalDebtCardsCount). Location can be HAND, DRAW, DISCARD , PLAYED_CARDS the cards you played during this turn and that will go to your discard pile at the end of your turn , AUTOMATED, OPPONENT_CARDS (all the opponent's cards in their hand, draw and discard) or OPPONENT_AUTOMATED
Next line: possibleMovesCount for the amount of possible actions.
Next possibleMovesCount lines: a string, one possible action.
Output for One Game Turn
1 line containing one of the following actions depending on the game phase:
  • RANDOM: the player decides to do one of the possible action at random.
  • WAIT: the player decides not to do any optional action.
  • MOVE zoneId: the player moves to another desk.
    This action is mandatory and is only available in the MOVE phase.
  • MOVE zoneId cardTypeToTake: the player moves to another desk and gets a skill card from another desk.
    This action is mandatory and is only available in the MOVE phase and if the player has already played some DAILY_ROUTINE cards.
  • GIVE cardTypeId: the player gives a skill card from their hand to their opponent.
    This action is mandatory and is only available in the GIVE_CARD phase.
  • THROW cardTypeId: the player puts back a skill card from their hand to the game board.
    This action is mandatory and is only available in the THROW_CARD phase.
  • TRAINING: the player plays a TRAINING card from their hand.
    This action is optional and is only available in the PLAY_CARD phase.
  • CODING: the player plays a CODING card from their hand.
    This action is optional and is only available in the PLAY_CARD phase.
  • DAILY_ROUTINE: the player plays a DAILY_ROUTINE card from their hand.
    This action is optional and is only available in the PLAY_CARD phase.
  • TASK_PRIORITIZATION cardTypeToThrow cardTypeToTake: the player plays a TASK_PRIORITIZATION card from their hand.
    This action is optional and is only available in the PLAY_CARD phase.
  • ARCHITECTURE_STUDY: the player plays a ARCHITECTURE_STUDY card from their hand.
    This action is optional and is only available in the PLAY_CARD phase.
  • CONTINUOUS_INTEGRATION cardTypeToAutomate: the player plays a CONTINUOUS_INTEGRATION card from their hand.
    This action is optional and is only available in the PLAY_CARD phase.
  • CODE_REVIEW: the player plays a CODE_REVIEW card from their hand.
    This action is optional and is only available in the PLAY_CARD phase.
  • REFACTORING: the player plays a REFACTORING card from their hand.
    This action is optional and is only available in the PLAY_CARD phase.
  • RELEASE applicationId: the player releases an application.
    This action is optional and is only available in the RELEASE phase.
    Beware: the 5th (last) application of each team cannot be released with shoddy skills!
You may append text to a command to have it displayed in the viewer above your player.

Examples:
  • MOVE 3
  • RELEASE 16
  • GIVE 8 a gift for you!
  • REFACTORING goodbye technical debt!
  • CONTINUOUS_INTEGRATION 1
  • TASK_PRIORITIZATION 8 2
  • WAIT nothing to do...
  • RANDOM got no idea...
Constraints
Response time per turn ≤ 50ms (Doing Green IT means sparing resources)
Response time for the first turn ≤ 1000ms
If you want to know more on Green IT (in French)

Societe Generale ambitions on Green IT : https://youtu.be/ZstnO7j1y4c

Our partnership with INR and our signing of the Sustainable IT Charter : https://careers.societegenerale.com/green-it-program

Our experts Masterclasses in video – to know everything on Green IT

Masterclass #1 Why doing Sustainable IT? : https://youtu.be/eLffG8Z0iXU

Masterclass #2 E-accessibility stakes for IT : https://youtu.be/oRA_CrGxGgw

Masterclass #3 Architecture and Green IT : https://youtu.be/x2fMjGqinLA

Masterclass #4 Moving to a sustainable IT design : https://youtu.be/kb2PM7OniRk