Brian Damgaard has published a new version of his great and widely used Sokoban YASC program.

The release notes for this new version:

• New feature: Walking player animation.
  This is an alternative to the simpler "directional player" animation, which has always been capable of showing a player avatar with directional orientation (e.g., an arrow-shaped avatar reflecting the direction of movement).
  The walking player animation features separate animations for walking and pushing.
  The skin format has been extended accordingly (see the detailed layout description added to the built-in help).
  A new speed control parameter has been introduced to regulate the duration of the animation sequence:
  "Settings | Animation | Walking player animation | Do move (milliseconds)". 
  This dedicated setting is necessary to prevent the animation sequence from being rendered too quickly, which would negate the visual effect.
  
• Added a new "KenBri - Walking Player" Public Domain skin with walking player imagery.
  The original concept and foundational elements for this skin were generously placed in the Public Domain by Kenney Vleugels (via the CC0 dedication).
  Building upon this base, the resulting "KenBri" skin features significant, high-impact contributions by Brian Damgaard.
  Due to its graphical quality, gameplay suitability, and broad applicability for the Sokoban game, this skin is also donated to the Public Domain under the CC0 license.
  For full details, please see the accompanying description:
  In the skin selector window, select the skin and then choose "Menu -> Image text..."
  
• Added a new "KenBri - Directional Player" skin, featuring a directional player avatar in place of a walking animation.
  This player drawing, processed and re-rendered using AI image tools, features a cartoon-style player drawing with advanced, professional-grade shading and depth. 
  Graphic artists are highly encouraged to develop walking player imagery based on this drawing.
  Such contributions would enable a future unified skin variant, serving as a replacement for the existing "KenBri - Walking Player" skin.
  Due to its graphical quality, gameplay suitability, and broad applicability for the Sokoban game, this skin is also donated to the Public Domain under the CC0 license.
  For full details, please see the accompanying description:
  In the skin selector window, select the skin and then choose "Menu -> Image text...".
  
• The KSokoban skin has been replaced with a comprehensively updated version, achieving significant improvements in both aesthetics and gameplay clarity.
  While the original skin possessed strong ray-traced foundations, it was critically flawed by design inconsistencies and poor color choices that hampered visibility.
  This new version resolves those issues, introducing a consistent theme, a highly visible yellow gemstone for the player, and a new blue diamond for boxes-on-goals. 
  This refined version is intended to become a worldwide replacement for this classic skin. 
  The skin contains a detailed breakdown of all the modifications:
  In the skin selector window, select the skin and then choose "Menu -> Image text...".
  Thanks to Matthias Meger for valuable contributions to this skin.
  
• The oldest section of puzzles from the YASGen collection - the "Greek Mythology" section - has been discarded, as these were early examples of auto-generated puzzles possessing little or no human appeal; they were predominantly perceived as chaotic random sequences of pushes that suddenly yielded a solution. 
  The key lessons learned were that auto-generated puzzles must either be small (e.g., four boxes), a size at which the chaotic element is successfully contained and perceived as a stimulating challenge, or - for larger auto-generated puzzles - they must exhibit structure, such as featuring a goal-room theme or connected goals, in order to introduce identifiable objectives. 
  One discarded puzzle deserving of honorable mention is "Hera":
   "9#|#.$.--*@#|#--.$*$$#|##-$*-*-#|#3-*3-#|#-#$.$#.#|#.$-.--.#|9#". 
  This 7x6 puzzle (not countng exterior walls), with 39 interior floor squares, held the longest known optimal solution of its size class (for conventional puzzles, not recursive so-called "Fibonacci puzzles") and illustrates the practically unsolvable complexity achievable by auto-generation within such small dimensions.
  
• The Haywood puzzle collection has been streamlined by discarding the older "SokEvo" puzzle set - which shared the same design shortcomings as the early YASGen puzzles (detailed in the preceding entry) - and retaining only the "SokHard" set, with the entire collection renamed accordingly. 
  Furthermore, to enhance visual variety and appeal, redundant walls have been removed from all remaining puzzles in the collection. 
  One discarded puzzle deserving of honorable mention is "Teresa": 
   "7#|#+$--.#|#*$*$-#|#-$--.#|#.$*$-#|#.--.-#|7#", 
  which was proven to have the longest push-optimal solution in the class of 5x5 puzzles (excluding exterior walls) with nine boxes and no interior walls.
  
• All hint texts and menu captions across the application have been inspected and refined using AI tools to improve consistency and bring the language closer to idiomatic English.
  
• Windows 11 compatibility: The former logic utilized a two-step process for installing the accompanying Sokoban game skins:
  unpacking them to a shared, common program directory (as unmodified  source files) followed by a copy operation to the individual user's skin folder (where modification is permitted). 
  This design was intended to maintain a clean source copy of all standard skins.
  The subsequent copy step failed on certain installations, notably those running Windows 11, likely due to elevated operating system privilege restrictions. 
  The installer package now bypasses the intermediate common folder and writes all accompanying skins directly to the user's local skin folder during installation and updates.
  This ensures all skins are accessible and modifiable by the user. 
  However, this also means that any local modifications to the default skin files will be overwritten during future updates, so users should make their own copy of a skin before modifying it.
  
• Minor changes.
  

Brian Damgaard has published a new version of his great and widely used Sokoban YASC program.

The release notes for this new version:

• Added a plug-in script for the BoxSearch Sokoban solver by Ge Yong.
  The script seamlessly integrates BoxSearch into the Sokoban YASC environment, allowing users to launch, stop, and manage tasks directly from the solver task queue. 
  As with other supported solvers (such as Festival and Sokolution), the BoxSearch program itself must be downloaded separately from its website due to licensing restrictions.
• Enhanced the "Macintosh" Sokoban skin by Scott Lindhurst. 
  The player (ladybug) and the boxes (marbles) now have a perfectly rounded shape. 
  This resolves the slightly irregular outlines that appeared after the original skin was converted to the larger 64x64 pixel format.
•  Addressed an issue with unexpected undo operations in reverse mode, when a user switches between using the mouse and the keyboard.
   A jump is a special move at the start of a reverse mode game that allows the player to bypass walls and boxes to get from one area to another. 
  The program's behavior differed depending on the input  method used for the jump. 
  Keyboard jumps:
  The user manually guides the player along the jump's path.
  Because the users are aware of this path, they can easily recognize if a subsequent keyboard move steps back along it.
  In this case, the user isn't surprised to see the program interpret the move as an undo operation.
  While the user might be mildly surprised to see the program (for practical reasons) reverse the entire jump, the action is overall predictable and understandable. 
  Mouse jumps:
  A mouse jump is performed by simply clicking the destination square.
  The program automatically calculates the path, and while the moves are shown on the board, the user typically doesn't pay close attention to the specific path taken. 
  The issue arose when a user performed a mouse jump and then used the keyboard for the very next move. 
  If this keyboard move happened to fall on the program's jump path, the program would interpret it as an undo, effectively "teleporting" the player back to the starting position.
  This was confusing for the user, who was unaware of the path and the fact that the keyboard move had triggered an undo.
  The program now never treats a keyboard move made immediately after a jump as an undo operation.
  This prevents the player from unexpectedly being sent back to the jump's starting position.
  Thanks to Carlos Montiers for bringing this up.
• Minor changes.
  

Björn Källmark has published Sokoban for Windows version 3.4 build 4.

Release notes for this version:

• Fixed:   Crash in select files to download
  

• Fixed:   Live update crash when upgrading Sokoban.exe
  

 A feature comparison of the main Sokoban programs can be found in the Sokoban Wiki.

Brian Damgaard has published a new version of his great and widely used Sokoban YASC program.

The release notes for this new version:

• Replaced the original "YASC 20 Years" puzzle with an improved version.
  Originally created by DrFogh to mark the 20th anniversary of YASC on 2021-12-02, and subsequently refined through contributions by DrFogh and Anian. Thanks to both for this puzzle.

Björn Källmark has published Sokoban for Windows version 3.4 build 4.

Release notes for this version:

• Crash in purge scores fixed
  

• Problem with time handling fixed
  

 A feature comparison of the main Sokoban programs can be found in the Sokoban Wiki.

Björn Källmark has published Sokoban for Windows version 3.4 build 3.

Release notes for this version:

• Fixed:   Deleted skin file caused prroblem

• Fixed:   Problemreporter fixed

• Fixed:   Finished level stepped over the next level
  

• Fixed:   Minor bugs fixed
  
  
  
  

 A feature comparison of the main Sokoban programs can be found in the Sokoban Wiki.

Björn Källmark has published Sokoban for Windows version 3.4 build 2.

Release notes for this version:

• Access violation because of debug code in production release
  

 A feature comparison of the main Sokoban programs can be found in the Sokoban Wiki.

Björn Källmark has published Sokoban for Windows version 3.4 build 1.

Release notes for this version:

• Stability improvements
• Number of players is now restricted to four
  
• First step to make individual Top Solvers lists
  
• Improved Option dialogs
  
• Improved database handling
  
• And much more
  

 A feature comparison of the main Sokoban programs can be found in the Sokoban Wiki.

George Petrov has published YSokoban 1.851.

The release notes for this new version:

• Bugfix: wrong calculation of "changes" and "Inlines" during undo on right/left rotated level.
  

A feature comparison of the main Sokoban programs can be found in the Sokoban Wiki.

A new JSoko version has been released.

Please check out the release notes.

Please report any bugs, problems or suggestions to: JSoko@mail.de

A new JSoko version has been released.

Please check out the release notes.

Please report any bugs, problems or suggestions to: JSoko@mail.de

A new JSoko version has been released.

Please check out the release notes.

Please report any bugs, problems or suggestions to: JSoko@mail.de

Brian Damgaard has published a new version of his great and widely used Sokoban YASC program.

The release notes for this new version:

• New puzzle editor feature: Convert untraversed floor squares to wall squares.
  This new tool enables puzzle authors to automatically convert floor tiles unused in existing solutions and snapshots to wall tiles.
   It contributes to the puzzle creation process by removing unnecessary open space, resulting in cleaner and more focused puzzle designs.
   Thanks to Matthias Meger and Anian Wu for this suggestion.
• The thread limit for the Sokolution solver plug-in has been raised from 85% to 100% of the available logical CPU cores.

• Minor changes.
  

Florent Diedler has released a new version of Sokolution - one of the best Sokoban solvers.

Release notes for version 7.33:

• Fixed another crash when the level had more than 1024 floors.

You can find details about which levels have been solved in the Sokoban Wiki.

Florent Diedler has released a new version of Sokolution - one of the best Sokoban solvers.

Release notes for version 7.3:

• Add the ability to solve big levels (levels with more than 255 floors)
• Add the solver version in the parameter viewer when Sokolution is launched by the batch file or the command-line
• Fix "extended" searches modes that was not launched correctly
• Fix a crash (Thanks for Brian for reporting me that bug)
• Fix an issue where some levels could not be solved if using a single search mode (Thanks for Matthias for reporting me this issue)
• Misc improvements
  
  
Release notes for version 7.31:
• Fixed a crash
  

You can find details about which levels have been solved in the Sokoban Wiki.

Brian Damgaard has published a new version of his great and widely used Sokoban YASC program.

The release notes for this new version:

• Updated the Sokolution solver plug-in to support the new features  and accommodate the new parameter syntax introduced in Sokolution version 7.2.

  Sokoban YASC includes plug-in scripts for several major solvers, such as Sokolution by Florent Diedler and Festival by Yaron Shoham.

  These programs must be downloaded separately from their respective websites due to license restrictions.

  Once installed, the plug-in scripts seamlessly integrate these external programs into the Sokoban YASC environment, allowing users to launch, stop, and manage tasks from the solver queue. 

  Thanks to Matthias Meger and Florent Diedler for contributing to this update.
  

• Minor changes.

Florent Diedler has released new versions of Sokolution - one of the best Sokoban solvers.

Release notes for version 7.2:

• Fix bugs and a crash with push-optimal solutions (Thanks to Matthias)
• Add all non optimal algorithms
• Unify parameters --solver-mode and --solver-optimal-mode to one parameter
• Add a new "extended" search mode (Thanks Brian for suggesting the word "extended" and Matthias for your feedback about this word) for complicated levels
• Change default parameter --solver-mpdb-size from 2 to 3
• Change default parameter --solver-strong-deadlock from 0 to 1
• Misc improvements

Release notes for version 7.21:

• Fix an overflow for a counter for large collection
  

You can find details about which levels have been solved in the Sokoban Wiki.

Florent Diedler has released new versions of Sokolution - one of the best Sokoban solvers.

Version 7.1 is a special version that only searches for push optimal solutions.

Release notes for version 7.11:

• Fix a bug with optimal solutions
• Fix a crash in the penalty engine

You can find details about which levels have been solved in the Sokoban Wiki.

Florent Diedler has released new versions of Sokolution - one of the best Sokoban solvers.

Version 7.1 is a special version that only searches for push optimal solutions.

Release notes for version 7.1:

• Invert lines in the bench csv file for Brian's script
• Improve penalty engine thanks to Matthias : use an enhanced heuristic to detect complex penalties
• Misc improvements
• Fix some bugs

You can find details about which levels have been solved in the Sokoban Wiki.

Florent Diedler has released new versions of Sokolution - one of the best Sokoban solvers.

Version 6.34 fixes some bugs compared to version 6.33

Version 7.0 is a special version that only searches for push optimal solutions.

Change log for version 6.34:

• Fix a rare memory corruption
• Fix a bug with symmetry (Thanks Matthias for reporting this bug)
• Fix a bug in diagonal deadlock

Release notes for version 7.0:

• Use a powerful penalty engine for trying to find optimal solutions
• Add a control to check if the solution is really optimal according to solutions found on Sokobano.de website. This control works only for XSokoban, Microban, Microban II and Sasquatch level sets
• Fix the parameter "nbCores" to limit the CPU load used by Sokolution
• Add informations for the user for the generation of the MPDB and MPPDB that could be long
• Misc improvements

You can find details about which levels have been solved in the Sokoban Wiki.

George Petrov has published YSokoban 1.850.

The release notes for this new version:

• Bugfix: rare crash during export of solutions.
  

A feature comparison of the main Sokoban programs can be found in the Sokoban Wiki.

Brian Damgaard has published a new version of his great and widely used Sokoban YASC program.

The release notes for this new version:

• The "Find similar puzzles" variant of the puzzle duplicate finder has been significantly improved.
  It now uses the Levenshtein edit distance algorithm for comparisons. ("Levenshtein" is spelled correctly - it's not a typo.) 
  Previously, this variant relied on a simpler, more direct comparison method. 
  While it also used normalized puzzle boards and also allowed for a match threshold percentage to account for variations, the results were less flexible than those achieved with the new algorithm. 
  The other two duplicate finder variants, "Find all duplicate puzzles" and "Find duplicates of the current collection", remain unchanged. 
  They still search for exact duplicates (considering puzzle normalization) rather than  similar puzzles, as the computational cost of a similarity-based search would be prohibitive.
• The built-in puzzle generator has been enhanced to produce better-quality puzzles. 
  Previously, it was prone to carving dead-end tunnels and placing goals or boxes in them.
  While this was an easy way for the generator to increase the number of pushes - a key metric for creating more complex and interesting puzzles - such puzzles often turned out to be trivial and too easy to solve.
  For example, here is an auto-generated puzzle with a promising beginning, but after unwinding its initial knot, the remainder becomes trivial:
  "--9#|--#3-4.#|--#--6#|--#3-#|3#-$-#|#-$--4#|#7-#|4#-$$-#|3-##@-##|4-4#".
  The improved algorithm now avoids creating dead-end tunnels in most cases, resulting in more challenging puzzles.
• Bugfix: Filling the optimizer task queue with solutions from a puzzle file containing thousands of puzzles can take so long time that the user might choose to switch to another application during the import.
  This worked as expected, but if the user switched to the Windows desktop instead of another application, then a harmless but highly technical error message would appear on the screen.
  After dismissing the message, the user could restart the import from where it left off.
  This issue has now been resolved for the optimizer task queue and the puzzle generator task queue. 
  The solver task queue, which uses a similar import mechanism, already handled this scenario correctly.
  

• Minor changes.

George Petrov has published YSokoban 1.849.

The release notes for this new version:

• Bugfix: rare crash during save of a solution.
  

A feature comparison of the main Sokoban programs can be found in the Sokoban Wiki.

Brian Damgaard has published a new version of his great and widely used Sokoban YASC program. There are also new versions of the optimizer (YASO) and the solver (YASS).

The release notes for this new version:

• The puzzle file format has undergone a major overhaul, most notably abandoning the run-length encoding feature.
  This includes both the simple form that allowed moves like 'rrrUUUU' to be encoded as '3r4U', and the advanced grouping form that encoded moves like 'rrUUUrrUUU' as '2(2r3U)'.
  The feature was not only never used in practice, but there was no real need for it. 
  For programmers, it greatly increased the implementation complexity, far more than could be justified.
  Thanks to Matthias Meger and Eric Sunshine for their valuable contributions to both the file format and its description.
• New feature: The application now includes an automatic "Check for Updates" feature, installing updates automatically when available.
   The update check frequency can be customized with options for weekly, monthly, yearly, or never. To adjust these settings, go to "Settings | Control | Miscellaneous".
• New feature: A graphical user interface (GUI) is now available for configuring all solver and optimizer plugins that come with Sokoban YASC.
  The program includes plugin scripts for several major solvers (e.g., Festival) and optimizers (e.g., JSoko). While the YASS solver and YASO optimizer are bundled with Sokoban YASC, the other programs must be downloaded separately from their respective websites due to license restrictions. 
  Once installed, the provided plugin scripts seamlessly integrate these external programs into the Sokoban YASC environment, allowing users to launch, stop, and manage tasks from the solver and optimizer queues.
  Previously, the only way to adjust settings such as 'time limit' or 'memory limit' for these external programs was by manually editing plain text files. 
  Although  functional, this method was far less user-friendly than a graphical user interface with checkboxes, radio buttons, drop-down lists for multiple choices, and other common GUI elements. 
  The novelty is that the underlying SokLisp scripting language has been enhanced with the ability to support GUI windows. 
  This upgrade enables the plugin scripts to offer a much more convenient, user-friendly interface for managing the settings.
   Additionally, it allows the plugins to offer new, advanced features, such as saving and swapping different sets of settings tailored for various types of tasks.
• The accompanying solution optimizer uses four optimization strategies. 
  One of them, “Global Optimization,” often requires considerable time with only minimal chances of finding improvements.
  Nevertheless, this method remains essential for optimizing secondary metrics, such as player lines, alongside moves and pushes.
  This capability makes the method particularly valuable for finding truly optimal solutions in very small puzzles.
   Now, the “Global Optimization” strategy includes a 50-million pushes limit, providing a more balanced trade-off between runtime and the likelihood of discovering improvements.
• Minor changes.

A new JSoko version has been released.

Please check out the release notes.

Please report any bugs, problems or suggestions to: JSoko@mail.de

A new JSoko version has been released.

Please check out the release notes.

Please report any bugs, problems or suggestions to: JSoko@mail.de

A new JSoko version has been released.

Please check out the release notes.

Please report any bugs, problems or suggestions to: JSoko@mail.de

A new JSoko version has been released.

Please check out the release notes.

Please report any bugs, problems or suggestions to: JSoko@mail.de

Brian Damgaard has published a new version of his great and widely used Sokoban YASC program.

The release notes for this new version:

Bugfix (1.674): 
When running an external solver or optimizer plugin,  everything worked fine if the plugin was allowed to run to completion.
However, manually terminating the plugin had stopped working.
Thanks to Anian Wu and Matthias Meger for reporting this bug.

A new JSoko version has been released.

Please check out the release notes.

Please report any bugs, problems or suggestions to: JSoko@mail.de

A new JSoko version has been released.

Please check out the release notes.

Please report any bugs, problems or suggestions to: JSoko@mail.de

A new JSoko version has been released.

Please check out the release notes.

Please report any bugs, problems or suggestions to: JSoko@mail.de

A new JSoko version has been released.

Please check out the release notes.

Please report any bugs, problems or suggestions to: JSoko@mail.de

George Petrov has published YSokoban 1.848.

The release notes for this new version:

• Bugfix: macro stops working and does preform undo
• Bugfix: exported positions changed
• Bugfix: wrong display of a rotated level with skin which uses alternate wall.

A feature comparison of the main Sokoban programs can be found in the Sokoban Wiki.

Brian Damgaard has published a new version of his Sokoban solver "YASS - Yet Another Sokoban Solver and Optimizer".

This version has improved support for running multiple instances of the solver simultaneously.

You can find details about which levels have been solved by which solver in the Sokoban Wiki or on the Sokoban Statistics Website.

Brian Damgaard has published a new version of his great and widely used Sokoban YASC program.

The release notes for this new version:

• Reverse game play
  While playing the game in reverse mode, there was a special case where the program correctly prevented pulls that would lead to a deadlock, but it didn't provide a message explaining this.
  Thanks to Matthias Meger for reporting this omission.
• Scripting language
  Various improvements and bug fixes of the built-in SokLisp scripting language.
• Minor changes

Florent Diedler has released a new version of Sokolution - one of the best Sokoban solvers.

 This is a bugfix version which replaces version 6.32.

Change log for version 6.33:

• Fix bugs due to symmetry thanks to Matthias
• Fix another small bug

You can find details about which levels have been solved in the Sokoban Wiki.

Florent Diedler has released a new version of Sokolution - one of the best Sokoban solvers.

 This is a bugfix version which replaces version 6.32.

Change log for version 6.33:

• Fix bugs due to symmetry thanks to Matthias
• Fix another small bug

You can find details about which levels have been solved in the Sokoban Wiki.

A new JSoko version has been released.

Please check out the release notes.

Please report any bugs, problems or suggestions to: JSoko@mail.de

A new JSoko version has been released.

Please check out the release notes.

Please report any bugs, problems or suggestions to: JSoko@mail.de

Florent Diedler has released a new version of Sokolution - one of the best Sokoban solvers.

Change log for version 6.3:

• Allow to load some big levels by adding walls in "dead areas"
• Misc improvements

You can find details about which levels have been solved in the Sokoban Wiki.

Florent Diedler has released a new version of Sokolution - one of the best Sokoban solvers.

Change log for version 6.2:

• Improved strategy for complicated levels
• Fix for possible memory corruption

You can find details about which levels have been solved in the Sokoban Wiki.

Björn Källmark has published Sokoban for Windows version 3.3 build 15.

Release notes for this version:

• Faster start
• Database problem for own files fixed.
• Start problem on new install fixed.
• Plus numerous other improvements.

 A feature comparison of the main Sokoban programs can be found in the Sokoban Wiki.

Florent Diedler has released a new version of Sokolution - one of the best Sokoban solvers.

Change log for version 6.1:

• Improve global speed of the solver
• Allow to solve more difficult levels...

You can find details about which levels have been solved in the Sokoban Wiki.

A new JSoko version has been released.

Please check out the release notes.

Please report any bugs, problems or suggestions to: JSoko@mail.de

Björn Källmark has published Sokoban for Windows version 3.3 build 14.

​

Release notes for this version:

• Possible moves symbol scales.
• Font size setting for all dialogs.
• Animation speed has a wider range.
• Animation acceleration on/off selectable.
• Edit mode bugs fixed.
• Skins bug corrected.
• Plus numerous other improvements.

 A feature comparison of the main Sokoban programs can be found in the Sokoban Wiki.

A new JSoko version has been released.

Please check out the release notes.

Please report any bugs, problems or suggestions to: JSoko@mail.de

Takaken has published MOP for Sokoban 2.2, a program for playing the Sokoban game.

It offers many features such as support for solving a level by using a solver program and automatically pushing a box to a selected destination.

Takaken has published MOP for Sokoban 2.1, a program for playing the Sokoban game.

It offers many features such as support for solving a level by using a solver program and automatically pushing a box to a selected destination.

A new JSoko version has been released.

Please check out the release notes.

Please report any bugs, problems or suggestions to: JSoko@mail.de

Takaken has published MOP for Sokoban 2.0, a program for playing the Sokoban game.

It offers many features such as support for solving a level by using a solver program and automatically pushing a box to a selected destination.

George Petrov has published YSokoban 1.847.

The release notes for this new version:

• Change: macro continues at the end of ()/{} even without *
• Change: play macro button changes to stop when started
• Added: command stopMacro
• Bugfix: make mixed case Ctrl-L
• Change: more optimization for RLE

A feature comparison of the main Sokoban programs can be found in the Sokoban Wiki.