Question

NOTE: **Please read all other related questions:**

Here is my first and second attempts at asking this question:

• Efficient way to determine the outcome of test matrix
• Would cartesian product be the best approach for this

Here is the problem:

• I have several ( like 20 ) Boolean validations ( true / false )
• All Boolean validations as a whole also have a validation Result

I’m trying to find the best solution to test all the validations and also the validation result. I was looking into a Matrix to hold all possible combinations but that might be an overkill.

Here is an example ( 1 – 20 ):

• test_1 = Has 30 Kills
• test_2 = Has Found Map 1
• test_3 = Has Mastered Level 1
• test_4 = Has Achieved Grunt Status
• test_5 = Has Assault weapon
• test_6 = Has Knife
• test_7 = Has Grenade
• test_x = Etc…

So when the Player has all these validations as TRUE I can then give a level result

• if test_1, test_2, test_3 ( any combination of the three ): level = green

All combinations are ( 15 ):

• test_1
• test_2
• test_3
• test_1, test_2
• test_1, test_3
• test_2, test_1 ( duplicate can skip this )
• test_2, test_3
• test_3, test_1 ( duplicate can skip this )
• test_3, test_2 ( duplicate can skip this )
• test_1, test_2, test_3
• test_1, test_3, test_2 ( duplicate can skip this )
• test_2, test_1, test_3 ( duplicate can skip this )
• test_2, test_3, test_1 ( duplicate can skip this )
• test_3, test_1, test_2 ( duplicate can skip this )
• test_3, test_2, test_1 ( duplicate can skip this )

So unique combinations are ( 7 instead of 15 ):

• test_1
• test_2
• test_3
• test_1, test_2
• test_1, test_3
• test_2, test_3
• test_1, test_2, test_3

Now I’m trying to find the best possible solution to find unique combinations for all 20 validations and come up with a level validation from that matrix.

UPDATE:

Also I need to find only TRUE Combinations so you might read the Unique Combinations like this:

• test_1
• test_2
• test_3
• test_1, test_2
• test_1, test_3
• test_2, test_3
• test_1, test_2, test_3

Boolean Value Results from Validation Tests

• TRUE, FALSE, FALSE
• FALSE, TRUE, FALSE
• FALSE, FALSE, TRUE
• TRUE, TRUE, FALSE
• TRUE, FALSE, TRUE
• FALSE, TRUE, TRUE
• TRUE, TRUE, TRUE

So any of these combinations would be a GREEN level.

Also I need to know the order of the test validations as well as the matrix order to compare for level assignment. So for GREEN level I only need the validation result combination matrix for test 1, 2 and 3. So I could ignore tests 4 – 20

UPDATE #2:

I know this looks like a simple OR condition but I wanted to take out the combination logic to set the level into a matrix. I could use the matrix of combinations to determine the level logic without having to code additional or modify current logic in the code itself. I wanted to just compare the validations results for a given set of tests and assign a level to those results. Different permutations of the validation combinations would result in different level assignments.

I understand that I could add the combination logic in the code itself, but as this logic looks to be very volatile and thought this might offer a more flexible solution.
Suggestions?

Answer 1

(removed my two previous answers for clarity)

After your last edit, instead of answering directly, I would like first to be sure to 100% understand the “level detection algorithm” you want.

If I understand well, you would like to define/maintain a simple configuration structure telling which tests give which level.

e.g. with an associative array:

array(
  'green' => array('test1', 'test2', 'test3'),
  'orange' => array('test2', 'test3', 'test5')
  ...
  );

With the meaning: if one or more of the tests in the list are satisfied, assign that level (array key) to the player. Such logic could easily cover quite a lot of combinations, and would avoid handling a huge matrix.

Maybe you want to extend the logic to tell, for example, that at least N tests among the test list are satisfied.

array(
  'green' => array(
      'tests' => array('test1', 'test2', 'test3'),
      'nb_required' => 2
    ),
  ...
  );

Is that what you want?

BTW, why don’t you use a classic XP/level up system? :-p