Sam Trenholme wrote on Fri, Mar 17, 2006 03:26 AM UTC:
I just want to let you know that I liked the ideas presented in Shangai Palace, and that the game looked like a fun one to play. I think it is a shame that Zillions plays it so dang poorly, and that people were so hard on it. I really like the idea of a game where some pieces can drop and other pieces can not be dropped. Perhaps we can have a tame chessgi where only rooks and bishops can be dropped. Of course, it's very trickly to compare the value of a piece that can be dropped with a piece that can not be dropped.
Another idea: Have it so that a piece can only be dropped with certain pieces capture the piece in question.
I think I have some interesting ideas in 'Crossing the Rubicon', but I think I want to get several dozen mating positions for schoolbook, and a computer program that can play it better than Zillions--my current plan is to take the guts out of ChessV and make it a Schoolbook playing engine, and hack up Winboard and Xboard to play Schoolbook instead of FIDE Chess (I once hacked xboard to play Grand Chess, so I know this can be done).
Once that is done, maybe I'll consider a variant besides Schoolbook. There are a zillion variants out there; just not enough what I would consider fully-developed variants.
It's a shame there isn't as much interest in board games as there used to be in Ohio. I think this is because people are playing online games instead. I never went for online games; if I am playing someone at Chess and losing, I want to be 100% certain that my opponent is not cheating so I can feel that he is winning fairly. I can never do that on the internet. I think an essential human element is lost when people interact with computer screens instead of real live people.
Another idea: Have it so that a piece can only be dropped with certain pieces capture the piece in question.
I think I have some interesting ideas in 'Crossing the Rubicon', but I think I want to get several dozen mating positions for schoolbook, and a computer program that can play it better than Zillions--my current plan is to take the guts out of ChessV and make it a Schoolbook playing engine, and hack up Winboard and Xboard to play Schoolbook instead of FIDE Chess (I once hacked xboard to play Grand Chess, so I know this can be done).
Once that is done, maybe I'll consider a variant besides Schoolbook. There are a zillion variants out there; just not enough what I would consider fully-developed variants.
It's a shame there isn't as much interest in board games as there used to be in Ohio. I think this is because people are playing online games instead. I never went for online games; if I am playing someone at Chess and losing, I want to be 100% certain that my opponent is not cheating so I can feel that he is winning fairly. I can never do that on the internet. I think an essential human element is lost when people interact with computer screens instead of real live people.
- Sam