Comments by ChessShogi
Everything else looks good.
Perhaps. Ideally, each piece should be easily distinguishable from the others.
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Well, as I pointed out, it is not a matter of opinion. What is a better representation for playing a game is a verifyable fact, measurable by the average rating drop or raise people would get when having to play with one representation or another. E.g. representing all pieces by empty squares (aka blindfold chess) usually greatly degrades the rating of non-GM players, and can thus be considered an unsuitable representation for playing Chess.
And 'disagreeing with facts' is also known as 'being wrong'.
The pictograms are better at distinguishing the sides visually (e.g. the Mnemonic pieces for the large variants). However, Shogi uses Kanji pieces by tradition, and it has been this way even before the drop rule was added. Most Japanese players use this system, and even Western players (such as myself) have a tendency to use the kanji system as well. It doesn't take that long to learn and recognize the Kanji pieces.
The idea that Shogi and Chess would have different needs does seem rather inconsistent, as they are practically the same game. I have difficulty identifying any aspect of either game that would cause such a difference.
In theory they would be the same, but Shogi uses the drop rule, which by its nature necessitates a way to distinguish pieces that is not dependent on color.
I think the best answer to this whole debate is that there is no right or wrong answer as to whether color-based pictograms or orientation-based kanji are better for Shogi variants.
However, I would never EVER recommend using orientation-based pictograms, unless they either:
- all have some universal defining feature that makes it easier to tell each side apart, like the wedge shape with the kanji Shogi sets.
- are mnemonic representations of the piece moves and are also color-based, like with the mnemonic Shogi variant sets.
Whoopsie.
Should be fixed now.
@Adam: it is strange to say "Heavy Shako is a 100 square variant inspired by Adam DeWitt's Yangsi." I think this game was more inspired by Shako, as the initial setup and the name of the game say.
A link to Shako would be nice to have here.
Eric Silverman explicitly said in this comment that this game was at least partially inspired by Yangsi. I have included a link to Shako.
It would be nice if I could update the description of the game on the site, but I can't.
For the GC, would it be possible to use the wildebeest icon, and not the ram icon, for the Buffalo. This would be consistent with other games that use this piece and also with the page presenting Heavy Shako itself.
Unfortunately not for this page's diagram of the game, as the set that is being used does not have a Wildebeest icon. However, I could rig a custom set for the preset, which I have done successfully.
I have decided to rename the Free Pup to Whale, to include a marine animal and balance out the number of dog and cat piece types (bears are dog-like).
This change also applies to Dai Seireigi.
Challenge accepted.
You haven't turned off all the changes though (transparent menu background). May I suggest you work on this in the .org site to not affect users until you're ready with the changes?
Yeah, the current transparent background for the top menus looks terrible. Doing these tests on the .org site would be way better.
- If these pieces still have natural predators on the board but they are unable to reach these red squares
It feels like there is something missing here.
Pieces can be blocked from reaching a certain square, don't they?
Being blocked doesn't necessarily mean that a piece is unable to reach a square.
Now that I think about it, I guess the inability to reach a square part refers to the predators, and not the moving piece.
The Review new submissions seems to have losts its style sheet for the text fonts. All the last action text has the same color.
What if you turned the one bishop into an Anglican Bishop, which moves as a Bishop or moves without capturing one step orthogonally? This allows it to reach all squares on the board while keeping its attacking range the same.
I think the new system is much better, but some instructions at the top would also help (e.g. "Click on icon of piece of choice" for the current system).
It may also help to have a unique highlight color for the promotions in the current system, such as magenta or the blue you use for Chess-style promotions.
Hmm...I think simply showing the promotion options with a highlighted background is better. The plus and minus don't really tell me what my choices are (they are basically covering up the images), but do better at showing that a promotion option exists.
Personally, I'd omit the markers and highlight the background with the same color that is used for Chess-style promotions (#8080FF), while also showing instructions at the top (e.g. "Click icon of piece of choice").
Perhaps the color for promotion highlights could even be set with a parameter (e.g. promoHighlight=#8080FF) in case the selected board shades are too similar to the default color.
P.S. Also, it would be really nice to be able to deselect a piece in the holdings like you can with pieces on the board. Currently, this is not possible.
Much better.
However, I did notice a bug that causes the promotion choices to replace pieces on the squares they are shown on if you select something other than a promotion choice.
Replication Example: Have a Rook General capture the opposing Rook General, and then when the promotion options show up click on any occupied space other than the highlighted squares.
It would be really nice if you could deselect a piece that you have just selected in the holdings. Currently this is not possible without selecting another piece in the holdings or dropping the selected piece on the board.
Let's not forget about betzaNewer.js (the one with the experimental Shogi promotion system).
Both Berolina and Chinese Pawns are omnidirectional Pawns. They move orthogonally (one square only) but capture diagonally.
If these two Pawn types are essentially the same, you might as well replace both with Stewards, which have the same move (move without capturing one square orthogonally, capture one square diagonally).
The Kings can not move into check or be checkmated.
Does that last part (or be checkmated) mean that other pieces cannot put the King in check?
Guards move one square orthogonally and diagonally in any direction. .
I assume here you mean "Guards move one square in any orthogonal or diagonal direction, akin to a non-royal King."
What happens in mutual stalemate, where a player makes a move that leaves both sides unable to move?
Is the double/triple move of the back row of Pawns also subject to en passant capture?
This page would greatly benefit from having a setup image, as well as actual diagrams in place of the ASCII Art. Here are some tools to help with that:
Diagram Designer for Chessvariants.com
H. G. Muller's Interactive Diagrams (Has the bonus of being able to move the pieces)
ASCII Art is considered outdated by most.
What happened to the Knights and Rooks (more accurately their Shatranj equivalents)? Those were in the original, not the Dabbabah or Wazir.
Regardless, the page is good enough to be approved.
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I revised the page to make the Knight move clearer.