🕸Fergus Duniho wrote on Wed, Aug 31, 2016 04:45 PM UTC:
Since some games call a vao an "archer" or "bowman", should an archer and a diagonal cannon be considered variations on the same character?
The use of arrow for vao is an English translation I made of the Chinese character I used to represent the piece in Yang Qi. But the name of arrow may be used for other pieces in other games. The archer and bow pieces I made for the vao were just ideas that I made images for without using them.
In general, we may class piece images into two main categories. One category is for images of particular pieces with particular powers of movement, and the other category is for images suitable for any piece using a particular name. As an example, the following two images could be used for David Paulowich's Unicorn piece, which moves as a Bishop or a Nightrider. The first image is specific for those powers of movement, while the second is suitable for any piece called a Unicorn, such as the 3D Unicorn in Raumschach, the Unicorn in Grande Acedrex, or the knight-camel compound in Musketeer Chess.
These two categories should be kept separate, and having a piece in each category that would fit the same piece should be okay. The first category would consist of images for some basic piece types and their compounds. The second category would include images illustrative of particular names commonly used in variants, these typically being names of animals, both real and mythological, weapons, military ranks, royal titles, and occupations.
The use of upside-down and sideways pieces for fairy pieces is an artifact of having a limited selection of piece images, and as long as distinct images can be provided for different pieces, they are no longer needed.
The use of arrow for vao is an English translation I made of the Chinese character I used to represent the piece in Yang Qi. But the name of arrow may be used for other pieces in other games. The archer and bow pieces I made for the vao were just ideas that I made images for without using them.
In general, we may class piece images into two main categories. One category is for images of particular pieces with particular powers of movement, and the other category is for images suitable for any piece using a particular name. As an example, the following two images could be used for David Paulowich's Unicorn piece, which moves as a Bishop or a Nightrider. The first image is specific for those powers of movement, while the second is suitable for any piece called a Unicorn, such as the 3D Unicorn in Raumschach, the Unicorn in Grande Acedrex, or the knight-camel compound in Musketeer Chess.
These two categories should be kept separate, and having a piece in each category that would fit the same piece should be okay. The first category would consist of images for some basic piece types and their compounds. The second category would include images illustrative of particular names commonly used in variants, these typically being names of animals, both real and mythological, weapons, military ranks, royal titles, and occupations.
The use of upside-down and sideways pieces for fairy pieces is an artifact of having a limited selection of piece images, and as long as distinct images can be provided for different pieces, they are no longer needed.