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Aviary. New pieces with shogi elements and a bird theme. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

Matthew Paul wrote on Wed, May 19, 2004 05:46 AM UTC:Good ★★★★

Seems like a very colourful game!

I like the wide selection of short-range pieces here.  I also like the way
you can figure out the moves of the pigeon, gull, and owl are by their
colours.

The jumping rules are also very interesting.  The possible checkmate
patterns are very innovative.  Especially with the Shogi drops, it
doesn't seem as hard to checkmate as I first thought.

I'm not sure how it plays, but it looks good to me.

Moussambani wrote on Wed, May 19, 2004 12:01 PM UTC:

I like this game. I'd make just a minor change, but I can't understand if
you don't because, even if minor, it would be a major pain to redo all
the diagrams.

It's a shame you overlooked that tiny detail, but it would have been nice
if Canary and Robin swapped their movement capabilities (and the major
birds swapped accordingly). That would be so you had a Red Robin making
Rook-like movements, just as you have a Blue Bluejay making Bishop-like
movements, making it even easier to learn for chess players.

Another problem of this game is that it can't easily be translated into
other languages, but that's not definitely your fault.

That being told, I want to insist this game looks really interesting and
nice, in spite of my post making it seem otherwise. Just pointing minor
flaws, good job!

Jared McComb wrote on Wed, May 19, 2004 06:23 PM UTC:Good ★★★★

A quick observation: The contrasting black and white in those possible boards make my eyes hurt. Badly. A set of neutral colors would be much nicer looking.

Michael Nelson wrote on Wed, May 19, 2004 08:06 PM UTC:Good ★★★★

I like this game concept. I thinks that the two Kings will be playable and
it isn't necesary to change the win conditon--a player threatend with the
capture of one of his Kings has a move option not present in FIDE
Chess--the counter-check. You check one of my Kings and I defend by
checking back. You capture my King I capture yours. 

I would suggest a small rules change--whenever a player captures an enemy
King, he must drop it on his next turn. This keeps all four kings in paly
and allows the player with a single King some nice chances of
equalizing--he has three royal targets vs. his opponents one.

Daniel Hollombe wrote on Thu, May 20, 2004 01:25 AM UTC:

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. I'd like to answer a few of them: Re Michael Nelson's Suggestion. I would agree with you on that. A variation whereby one would have to re-enter a Sparrow on to the board immediately after capturing it might certainly be worth a try, but I would at least make an exception if the player who just captured it was having one of his/her other Sparrows placed in jeopardy by the opponent. Re Michael Howe's Suggestion. The option of constructing a set of pieces with little dots or arrows indicating which directions they move on them would be fine for beginners, just as it would for any chess variant. I would still maintain the colors in addition to that, so that eventually the player's would memorize the movements without the need of 'training wheels' so to speak. As for the two Kings (Sparrows), I would just like to testify that I have played this game many times, and on several occasions, a player has lost a Sparrow, later won it back, and gone on to win the game. But your suggestion of having the first person to checkmate a single Sparrow, would be a fine variation for anyone who is pressed for time, and wishes to play a shorter game. Of course, under those circumstances, you'd only need a black or white dot on one side of them. Re Jared McComb's Suggestion. I thorougly agree with you. I sent in a couple of pictures of a set I constructed using a regular wooden chess board, and I hope that Mr. Quintanilla will post them as thumbnails as soon as possible. I believe you'll find it quite pleasing to the eye. Re Moussambani's Suggestion. I thought about that, but there's a simple solution. Instead of thinking R for Robin or Rook, think C for Canary or Castle.

Tony Quintanilla wrote on Thu, May 20, 2004 04:40 AM UTC:

The set images are now posted! Very nice indeed.

Charles Gilman wrote on Fri, May 28, 2004 07:35 AM UTC:

I'm with Moussambani on the swap giving Robin=Rook, as it would also give Canary=Caballo=Cannight (Knight with the initial pronounced!). It would also tie up Gull with Queen, and there is a resemblance both between the upper case G and Q and between the lower case ones.

Peter Aronson wrote on Mon, May 31, 2004 07:55 PM UTC:

<blockquote> I created an alternative piece set and board based on graphics from my next Nova Chess update. </blockquote> Mike, if you send them to me, I will add them to the ZRF as an alternate piece set. It's always nice to have a choice.

Daniel Hollombe wrote on Tue, Jun 1, 2004 12:32 AM UTC:

'If anyone would like me to zip up and email to them the alternative graphics set for Aviary, or if the inventor would like to see it posted on these pages, I'll be happy to provide.' I would definitely encourage anyone to re-design the pieces in any way they think might make it easier for them to play. I do, however, believe that all the different colors are a big part of what give the game it's distinctiveness. In addition to any illustrations/symbols/arrows/dots you'd like to use, I would suggest perhaps adding a dash of the appropriate color as well. At least beginning players would be able to tell at a glance the value of the piece, depending on whether or not it's a primary or secondary color.

Peter Aronson wrote on Tue, Jun 1, 2004 01:20 AM UTC:

Daniel, while the game looks interesting, the color-coded pieces simply do not work for me on the computer screen. I have added Michael Howe's symbolic graphics as an alternative set for the ZRF (the color-coded pieces still come up first), and those are certainly the ones I will use to play the game when using Zillions. It is good to remember that what works on a board does not necessily work on the computer screen.

Ben Reiniger wrote on Wed, Aug 19, 2015 03:44 AM UTC:

I love the color-mixing idea here. I would enjoy seeing a game that uses that and an Absorption-like mechanic. And maybe when a piece takes on too many elementals, it becomes a weaker "brown" piece?

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