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Michael, please send me your new board. I would like to include an alternate board if it doesn't induce optical illusions.
For those interested, here is Michael's original board. I converted it to PNG for viewing on the web. If you want to use it with my ZRF, you can convert it back to BMP and edit the ZRF to use it.
Michael, I have long known you as someone who has his head on his shoulders, and you have long been one of the members of this site I hold the highest respect for. I still believe that you are that person I respect, and I will just assume you are having a bad day. I do appreciate that you went to the trouble to make my game more accessible to people who may not like my Smess graphics. I do not mean to be cold, but I do tend to be blunt and to the point. In this particular matter, I could not be very encouraging, because I was never excited over the idea of replacing my Smess graphics with something more 'classic.' As for constructive feedback, I did give that. I carefully explained how the board induced optical illusions and gave specific recommendations on what to do to fix this.
Perhaps for some, but that's not a valid statement because it is unconditional. I had a very successful experience playing STIT last night using my graphics, the first time I was able to play the game to completion. I personally find the Smess-like graphics unplayable.
As Fergus has pointed out, Sam Trenholme's black and white version consists of arrow outlines... with the squares not defined by borders or colors. But I think if these were added to basic color squares (as used in most chess setups) we would have a board similar to that of the 'All the King's Men' game, which has imitation wood and noticeable, yet much more subtle arrows. Note that I was likely spoiled by the physical board I own and the 3D plastic medeival-type pieces that came with it. Perhaps, most important here, is the fact that [other than myself and a co-worker] I know of no one else who minds the bright colors and the current piece set with eyes. So, as the Star Trek Spock once said, 'The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one or the few.' So there is certainly no need to create a second board and piece set on my account, that would be a waste of time and space. But I do thank Mr. Trenholme for taking the time to create and present his black and white bitmap.
I have a black and white version of the board here: http://www.samiam.org/new-ivorytower9x10-bw.bmp - Sam
One question: is a Yahoo allowed to move back to its starting square when the arrows allow for it, making a null move?
A comment about the 'Korean' Clodhopper -- following the analogy with the Korean Cannon, they should not be allowed to capture other Clodhoppers.
About the exit moves. I can see very easily how you ended up with them, and I for one like the forced exit rule, since it should make the game more decisive. An alternate approach if you did want to forbid them the tower in the first place would be to shade the arrows pointing into the tower, and add a rule that Ninnys and Yahoos may not follow a shaded arrow on their side of the board.
In all fairness, you do mention the two things I am dissatisfied with about my game. At one time, I did change the colors of the Blue pieces to a lighter shade, but when I was putting things together yesterday, I was dissatisfied with that color. So I changed it back. The colors of the board have been based on the colors of the Smess board. But I'll look into what might be done. The exit-moves of the Ninny and Yahoo are somewhat kludgy, but so is en passant. I could have barred them from entering their own Ivory Tower, but I don't want to violate the spirit of Smess by making some pieces ignore certain arrows. I tried demoting them to a piece called a Sycophant, but that didn't work well. I considered placing the arrows so that they can't enter the Ivory Tower, but this would also prevent them from entering the opponent's Ivory Tower. So far, exit-moves has been the best solution I have to keeping the game from becoming too drawish. Here's an idea I might try. Within their own Ivory Tower, Ninnies and Yahoos cannot move at all, but they can be pushed by other pieces belonging to the same side. While this might make for an interesting variant, it veers away from both Smess and Chinese Chess. It would also add to the complexity of the ZRF. Anyway, something had to be done. Ninnies and Yahoos are normally trapped when inside an Ivory Tower, and letting them inside your tower normally weakens your attack and increases your defenses so much that the game becomes very drawish.
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