🕸Fergus Duniho wrote on Fri, Aug 8, 2003 12:21 AM UTC:
I've now eliminated some bugs in the new version that made it difficult to
accept an invitation to play. David has now made it possible for anyone
with an email address to register with this site. So you can all get
userids, which will let you post messages here and play games on the PBM.
Using a second userid I created for myself, I tested the ability of the
PBM to serve as a real-time game host. I got rid of some bugs and got it
working.
The PBM seems to be working properly now. I'm still writing the
documentation, and I still have some other features planned, but it seems
ready for use now. Since the documentation is not ready yet, here are some
brief instruction.
To start a game, invite someone to play. Wait for an acceptance of your
invitation. The invited player gets to choose which side he will play.
When each player moves, an email message is sent to the opponent, and the
log is updated. This allows a game to be played by email or in real time.
Once a game is started, you don't need email to continue it. And if you
do play by email, you don't have to worry about interruptions in the game
caused by lost email. Your game is given the same URL, no matter what turn
it is. Moves, turns, and other things are all stored in the log. When you
go to this URL, the page will let you know whether it is your turn. If it
is not your turn, it will occassionally refresh until it is. Once it is
your turn, the page will gain focus, emit a beeping sound, show you your
opponent's move, and provide you with a form for moving. This is useful
for playing in real time, as well as for checking whether your opponent
has moved without checking your email.
More new features are still planned. At present, it does not allow you to
take back moves. I plan to add the ability to take back moves by branching
the moves list. Thus, take-backs would show up in the movelist, allowing
the enforcement of a no take-backs rule in tournaments.