Battleship Model

The process for developing a model is always the same:

  1. Background knowledge: understand the rules and decide what you want your game to look like when you play it. We will play Battleship on paper.
  2. Draw at least three scenes from different stages of the game. In this case, you will want more – include a win screen, a lose screen, and three others.
  3. List the information necessary to draw the scenes.
  4. Write down the model you will use.

Step 1: Battleship on paper

  • Make two 8x8 grids, one for your ships and one for your attacks on the opponent.

  • Number the rows and columns like a computer screen, beginning with (0,0) in the upper left.

  • Place your ships. Each ship can go either horizontally or vertically. The number and size of ships varies in different versions of the game. Today we will use this list:

    • Aircraft carrier (5 squares)
    • Battleship (4 squares)
    • Cruiser (3 squares)
    • Destroyer (Two, each 2 squares)
    • Submarine (1 square)

  • Play at least ten rounds with a partner. Keep going until at least one ship is sunk.

Step 2: Develop the model

For developing the model we will think about only two ships. Later you can add the rest.

  • Draw five different situations, including a win and lose end game.
  • List information you need to draw those situations.
  • Discuss what information must be remembered (the “independent variables”) and what can be computed (the “dependent variables”).
  • Write the model that corresponds to each one of your scenes.
  • Save this paper! Check in your work and don’t lose it.

Step 3: Check your model

  • How do you represent one ship?
  • How do you represent one shot fired?

Interesting variations

You can explore these ideas later in your game.

  • Some games allow you to shoot multiple times in one turn: one shot for each un-sunk ship you have.