Java minimax abalone implementation

Question

I want to implement Minimax in my Abalone game but I don't know how to do it. To be exact I don't know when the algo need to max or min the player. If I have understand the logic, I need to min the player and max the AI ?

This is the wikipedia pseudo code

    function minimax(node, depth, maximizingPlayer)
    if depth = 0 or node is a terminal node
        return the heuristic value of node
    if maximizingPlayer
        bestValue := -∞
        for each child of node
            val := minimax(child, depth - 1, FALSE))
            bestValue := max(bestValue, val);
        return bestValue
    else
        bestValue := +∞
        for each child of node
            val := minimax(child, depth - 1, TRUE))
            bestValue := min(bestValue, val);
        return bestValue

(* Initial call for maximizing player *)
minimax(origin, depth, TRUE)

And my implementation

private Integer minimax(Board board, Integer depth, Color current, Boolean maximizingPlayer) {
    Integer bestValue;
    if (0 == depth)
        return ((current == selfColor) ? 1 : -1) * this.evaluateBoard(board, current);

    Integer val;
    if (maximizingPlayer) {
        bestValue = -INF;
        for (Move m : board.getPossibleMoves(current)) {
            board.apply(m);
            val = minimax(board, depth - 1, current, Boolean.FALSE);
            bestValue = Math.max(bestValue, val);
            board.revert(m);
        }
        return bestValue;
    } else {
        bestValue = INF;
        for (Move m : board.getPossibleMoves(current)) {
            board.apply(m);
            val = minimax(board, depth - 1, current, Boolean.TRUE);
            bestValue = Math.min(bestValue, val);
            board.revert(m);
        }
        return bestValue;
    }
}

And my evaluate function

private Integer evaluateBoard(Board board, Color player) {
    return board.ballsCount(player) - board.ballsCount(player.other());
}

Answer 1

It depends on your evaluation function; in your case, assuming the goal is to have more balls on the board than your opponent, the Player would be maximizing & the AI would be minimizing.