Comments by BobGreenwade

I hope to get rid of this kludge, one day. Perhaps this is already achieved, but the price is that you then have to define a captureMatrix. A ^ in that matrix outlaws hopping in a type-specific way, so that you could keep specifying the universal hop ipfmR, and then outlaw doing it over all enemy piece types, but not with friendly piece types, by writing as many ^ as there are piece types (shorthand ^N) in the row for the Helepolis, after a dot . (which would apply to hopping over an empty square, which is nonsense and so doesn't have to be outlawed).

Just a thought: What if this could be done with i^pfmR? Would that confuse things too much?

73. Yaf. In the Berber languages of northern Africa, including the still-extant Tuareg, the alphabet used is called the Tifinagh. One of the letters is yaf (ⴼ), and the piece bearing that name (and appearance) also has a move that mimics it.

The Yaf first moves one space sideways; then may move one or two spaces forward or backward; and from that endpoint, may continue in its original sideways direction, sliding like a Rook. ([sW?sW?fW?sR])

How useful this piece is could easily be the subject of some debate. I could see it as a decent piece to have on either end of a row in a large-board game for use as mid- to late-game defense, or possibly to help corner an opposing King for checkmate.

It's not the only letter of the Tifinagh that could represent a good chess move, though. Yaa (ⵄ), yagn (ⵐ), and yagh (ⵖ) could be interesting too, to name just the ones that don't look like Roman or Greek letters and/or already-existing chess moves.

My eye:

1. King. Suitable mainly for display.

2. Chameleon. Suitable mainly for display.

3. Don't recognize, but I'd play with this one.

4. Knight, though it could be used as a longer-range alternate Knight such as a Nightrider or Midnighter. Good for either play or display.

5. Don't recognize, but good for play. (I might use that as a Berolina.)

6 Archbishop, perhaps? (It looks like it could be a decent Inquisitor or Kuhani, actually.) Another one suitable for either play or display.

I redid the Bharal while I was also doing a bunch of others, and here's the result:

I do like it much better.

The visual pun is quite funny ngl; I wouldn't have said either it or its replacement is terribly suggestive though

Still, the "visual pun" version would go well with the Gerfod. ;)

Eventually I will need some additional buttons anyway, to indicate other things than a piece or a hole. E.g. check and win squares for the morph board, evaporate / explode for the capture matrix. 'Blank' could be another button in that group.

AFAICT this getting done, plus a clear way to assign a morph board and/or capture matrix to a piece, would complete the improvements.

75. Ancress. and 76. Metropolitan. These are a couple of pre-existing pieces, both from Charles Gilman's Conclave Ecumenical Chess. I think they're worth looking at, especially for large variants (12x12 and larger).

The Ancress is a combination of the Rhinoceros (sometimes also called the Anchorite) and the Rook. As a Rhinoceros, it can move one space orthogonally, and then proceed from that point diagonally like a Bishop.

The Metropolitan is a combination of the Gryphon and Bishop. As a Gryphon, it can move one space diagonally, and then proceed from that point orthogonally like a Rook.

Each has both orthogonal and diagonal slides, yielding Queen-like properties without actually duplicating the Queen; while arguably more powerful than the Queen, each has something it cannot do that the Queen can (direct diagonal or orthogonal moves, respectively).

Aside from any concern about the Metropolitan's shape making it difficult to grip, I'm actually quite pleased with how these two came out. Both would be fairly distinctive on a chessboard.

Monochrome monitors are pretty rare these days. In fact, I don't think I've ever set my eye on one since the 1990s. So, I think your color scheme would work fine. If you're really worried about it, you could tweak the shades of the colors so monochrome displays show them in distinctive shades of grey.

Other than that, the only thing I'd say is that pieces on the board should have their moves on the table shaded green, just like the Absentees. If you think they should be differentiated, then perhaps cyan would do.

And did you make any changes to the piece selection list? A couple dozen of them seem to have vanished, including several that I was relying on for Short Sliders.

Have you thought about adding this to game courier?

I finally got a start on this this evening, and so far it's had more wrinkles than my Jedi Elvis costume when it's straight out of the suitcase. I'll have so many questions for H.G. (and probably Fergus) when I go back to it Monday....

Fair enough point; I should've explained the names a bit further (even though they're Gilman's).

An ancress (a word unfamiliar even to most native English-speakers) is a woman who has cut herself off from secular society entirely for religious reasons, staying in small quarters in an abbey, convent, or other religious building. The word is the feminine form of "anchorite," for a man who does the same (it's also Gilman's name for a Manticore/Rhinoceros).

I'm presuming Mr. Gilman was using Metropolitan to describe a woman who does the opposite: living among the people in a city, being around them as much as possible. (Probably a better word for it, in that context, would've been Socialite, but Metropolitan is what's stuck.) What I was going for there is a sort of Eiffel Tower/Empire State Building mashup, though now that you mention it I probably shouldn't have set aside my usual base. This is one of a handful of pieces where a good, logical design escaped me.

I like the Simurgh as an alternate name for the Anchorite; but isn't Qilin basically a different rendering of the well-established Kirin?

I do thank you for your feedback on those; a suggestion for a better look for the Metropolitan would be very welcome (especially from you, Jean-Louis).

As for those other three, I just managed to get together workable Reaper and Harvester pieces. For Cerberus I've tripled what the Musketeer's Dog can do, from F2sW to BsW3; Hydra is a cool-sounding piece, but evokes images of something extending the Snake, possibly as the Gryphon/Rehinoceros. Similarly, the name of Godzilla evokes something like a Fire Dragon that takes up four squares. (But that's just me; half the established pieces in this game, including most of the orthodox ones, don't quite scan for me, with the Bishop and Knight being two of the worst offenders.)

If you're interested in having other games featured, please make sure they are playable both online, preferably through Game Courier, and against a computer opponent, ideally Zillions-of-Games or stronger.

This is good information to have. I definitely want to make GC and ZoG for Short Sliders (the one game that I've submitted so far that I think is most worthy), though I also intend to work on Desert Dust, Hundred Acre Chess, and Zwangkrieg, as well as others that I haven't posted yet.

I'd think that such a thing would be as difficult to work in as the restriction on my Chicken Pawn's backward move that it only works if the piece is under attack. At least, I think it'd take a bit of reprogramming for either to be done (that is, either having the "silent" restriction or imposing it on others, as well as the Chicken Pawn's restriction).