Among Us - Can You Find A Venting Imposter On Mira HQ?

Not every research has success, and I used not to post those. Combined with the limited time, having to learn for exams, I didn't write any. Thus, I'll start posting failed research as well. Since you can learn from fails too.

Hypothesis

Screenshot of Mira HQ on Among Us Mobile
With the "Y"-Tunnel circled and the door
log marked ~ By GreenyNeko

Mira HQ is a map in Among Us, that is famous for its Y-shaped-tunnel. Each exit of the tunnel has a sensor, triggering a log when a player passes it, but not when venting. As such, you can't read the imposter from the door logs should be possible. To prove this, we'll look at the Crewmates' sensor combinations and compare them to the possible Imposter combinations. Another question is if the imposter can counter this. But first, we'll organize the information in a useful way. Therefore removing unnecessary details and keeping the relevant (sensors, Crewmate/vent pathing, cardinal areas).

Ill. 1: Crewmate/Vent Pathing in
Mira HQ
~by GreenyNeko

Simplification

We take the MIRA HQ map and draw in the paths between rooms, between vents, and the sensors. (see Ill. 1) However, we still have more information than needed. We only care about the sensors, so we reduce the paths to the north, south-west, and south-east. The result shows how players will trigger the sensors. (see. Ill. 2) From here on out, I will label south-west as west and south-east as east.

Ill. 2: Log Relevant Crewmate/Vent
 Pathingof Mira HQ 
~by GreenyNeko

Crewmember Logs

Given the nodes on the crewmate path (shown in green), they can be west, east, north, or in the tunnel. Additionally, triggering sensors puts it on cooldown for the player. Thus doubling back causes only a single log, not two.

So, we get these combinations:

• WN - The player went from west to north or is in the tunnel.
• WE - The player went from west to east or is in the tunnel.
• NW - The player went from north to west or is in the tunnel.
• NE - The player went from north to east or is in the tunnel.
• EW - The player went from east to west or is in the tunnel.
• EN - The player went from east to north or is in the tunnel.
• N - The player is in the north, or the tunnel. (NN, NNN... N⁺)
• S - The player is in the south, or the tunnel. (SS, SSS... S⁺)
• W - The player is in the tunnel or the west. (WW, WWW... W⁺)

We read NWE as:

• The player went from north to west, doubled back, and went east.

Doubling back makes the logs ambiguous. Thus, we can't tell the player's exact position or path.

We read NWWE as:

• The player went from north to west and then from west to east.
• The player went from north to west, doubled back multiple times, and went to the east.

Imposter Logs

The imposter can use the pink and green paths. Ergo, all combinations we found so far count here too, as well as the ambiguity. But if you think a person vented, you can check the logs. Seeing an imposter in the west, but there is no recent combination of SW/NW, and they appear in the log, they vented. Unsuccessful research? We just solved it! Well, you can't tell the difference if the imposter vented and then double backed on the sensor at the target location. Especially since doubling back is not uncommon on sensors.

Conclusion

Since both imposters and crewmates produce the same log combinations, and imposters can hide venting through doubling back. Reading who vented isn't reliably with a good imposter.

I have planned two more blog posts on Among Us, and if you're interested, I got some research going on. It takes 30-40 minutes to complete.

>> To the research

8bit And 16bit Color Palettes

It took me quite a while to understand how 8bit and 16bit palettes work.

To spare you the search, I've decided to write this guide.

Motivation

Creating authentic 8bit and 16bit graphics requires understanding palettes. There are programs and algorithms, which transform your images into 8- or 16bit. Since algorithms cannot guess the intention behind the color choice and miss the context, creating them yourself is more flexible and results in higher quality. It also prevents the loss of details due to quantization. Additionally, to some, pixel-art is about control, and creating the palette gives such.

8Bit Graphics

During the era of the Nintendo Entertainment System, the technology worked with 8bit. Therefore the color of a pixel is represented by eight ones or zeroes. Today a pixel carries up to 32. You might be familiar with the red, green, and blue or RGB, where we split a color into three components. However, dividing 8bits into three colors is ambiguous. That's why there are formats for palettes. RGB332 is the most common for 8bit. It means we assign 3 bits to each red and green, and two bits to blue. A lighter orange would be 111 100 01, which would be 7 for red, 4 for green, and 1 for blue. That's nearly 0, so almost black.

Comparing the colors.
Left: Black; Right: Our Orange

What Is A Palette

Better idea: We map each RGB value onto a level. 

For example, let's map the following blue levels:

00 -> 0

01 -> 79

10 -> 155

11 -> 255

The color levels (right-hand side) the bits map to is our palette. Back then, hardware limited us to use one palette for all drawn on the screen at the same time. Years later, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was released. Powered by 16bit, our capabilities increased immensely! A typical format for 16bit is RGB565. Today we use 24bit ("true-color") and the RGB888 format. Some formats use RGBA, followed by four numbers, where A (="alpha") stands for the transparency.

Side note: The sum of the numbers does not need to add up to the number of available bits. Ergo RGB333 is a valid format for 16bits.

Creating A Palette From Colors

Using preexisting colors to create a palette takes three steps. First, choose a format. Then add them to your palette.

Let's use the following colors for an 8bit palette of the format RGB332:

	Red	Green	Blue
Black	0	0	0
Color 2	212	211	198
White	255	255	255
Color 4	248	216	198
Color 5	248	197	198
Color 6	232	173	159
Color 7	97	99	43
Color 8	117	234	73

The format gives us 3 bits for red and green and 2 bits for blue. The formula for the number of representable levels is 2^bits. That is enough for 2³ = 8 levels of red and green each and 2² = 4 levels of blue. However, our colors have six unique levels of blue (0, 43, 73, 159, 198, 255). Therefore we can't represent all eight colors.

Quantization

Quantization, the third step, will help us here. For this one, we'll merge close color levels.

Our two colors:

248 red, 216 green, 198 blue            232 red, 173 green, 159 blue

will then (for example) become:

248 red, 216 green, 198 blue            232 red, 173 green, 198 blue

By choosing a good looking and distinguishable color level, we can optimize this better than an algorithm. Then we continue adding all needed colors and quantify them to our palette. Now with our palette created, we can color the pixel art.

Tips And Tricks

Reminder: In 8bit and 16bit video games, everything on-screen at the same time uses one palette. Therefore use the same palette for all associated sprites.

The difference between darker colors is harder to notice. Thus use less dark color levels.

Examples

Senko Pixel Art, 16Bit Palette (RGB565)
 drawn by GreenyNeko

This pixel art of Senko uses an RGB565 palette with the following color levels:

Color	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	...	32
Red	0	97	126	155	174	197	205	212	222	227	232	248	-	-	-	-
Green	0	46	54	60	83	99	106	163	173	188	197	207	211	216	224	234	255	...	-
Blue	0	43	48	60	73	88	93	101	118	159	175	198	236	255	-	-

Notice that there's still space in the palette marked by the "-"s.

Senko Pixel Art, 8Bit Palette (RGB332)
drawn by GreenyNeko

This one uses an RGB332 palette with the following color levels:

Color	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Red	0	97	126	155	174	197	212	248
Green	46	83	106	156	173	197	216	234
Blue	43	106	175	198

Mobile, Mobile or Mobile Games?

The "graphics" versus "aesthetics" misunderstanding between players and developers isn't the only problem. Even developers confuse each other with terms like Mobile, Mobile, and Mobile Games. Though, this issue arises from the ambiguity of abbreviation. The full terms would be games on mobile devices, games developed for mobile devices, and mobile context-aware mobile games. But what is the difference? Why are they all just called "Mobile Games"? And how to categorize games like Diablo Immortal, Merge Dragons, Weather Farmer, Emulators, Pokemon GO and Candy Crush?

Mobile Games as Games On Mobile Devices

Non-natural input on smart-phone.
https://pixabay.com/photos/game-play-mobile-game-android-game-4622800/

"Games on mobile devices" is the broadest category. If a game is available for a mobile device, such as a phone or tablet, it is a mobile game, more accurately, a mobile device game, which abbreviates to a mobile game. Ported games are a massive subcategory of these. Their typical controls are buttons and analog stick simulations, like in Diablo Immortal or Emulators. As such, they can't belong to the next category.

Mobile Games as Games Developed For Mobile Device

Natural input on smart-phone.
https://www.piqsels.com/en/public-domain-photo-jfxiz

A game designed for mobile devices uses device inputs naturally. Since a game developed for a console is a console game. A game developed for a mobile device is a mobile game. Hence the confusing terminology. An example of natural input on smartphones would be tapping to select an object, or dragging your finger over the screen to move an object. However, natural-input does not match all games. Thus, "one does not simply [develop an MMORPG on mobile]"^[1]. Merge Dragons and Candy Crush are games developed for mobile devices, but not the next one since they don't use contexts.

Mobile Games as Context-Aware Mobile Games

Game using GPS and area context
https://www.flickr.com/photos/140521268@N03/27947940226

When using the device's position, surrounding area, light level, etc.. We get a context-aware mobile game, specifically, a mobile context-aware mobile game. Since it is a game and contains "mobile" twice, it is a mobile game. Researchers are still researching these relatively new mobile games, but they already provide a plethora of possibilities. Their era got initiated by Pokemon GO. And present features such as considering weather-data like in Weather Farmer.^[2]

Conclusion

Now you know about the different mobile games. You understand why they're called mobile games. And you know their differences and what determines their category. Keep in mind these categories do not determine the game's quality, though they relate to their uniqueness. You don't see games using your location or weather on a computer, for example. That wouldn't work well either unless the player is using a laptop.

^[1] Lord of the Rings - One Does Not Simply Walk into Mordor Meme

^[2] Technical University Munich: IN0040 Social Games