Thanks to this forum, I'm releasing my dream chess variant game!

[zulban]

Hey folks! I've posted here a few times about programming chess AI for chess variants. See, only about half the traditional chess AI tricks apply to my game idea. This is because the player can change how pieces move, and the shape of the board, and immediately play against the AI. So no PST or pre-computing! Here are some of my past posts here: generalizing heuristics, dynamic piece square tables, and draw offers like a human in chess variants.

Well thanks for the helpful chats! This weekend I released my Android game ChessCraft on Google Play. I recommend the one minute video but here's the pitch:

ChessCraft is a chess sandbox with an AI computer opponent. Customise chess boards, rules, and pieces. Play your creations against a computer opponent, or choose from one of 60 built-in chess boards in adventure mode.

It's free to play the full version, except if you play a lot there will be 10 second unskippable popups asking you to buy "ChessCraft Patron" to get rid of the popups.

I'd love to hear any feedback, and I'll continue to sharpen the AI and come back here with questions

Thanks

[Ferdy]

Hey folks! I've posted here a few times about programming chess AI for chess variants. See, only about half the traditional chess AI tricks apply to my game idea. This is because the player can change how pieces move, and the shape of the board, and immediately play against the AI. So no PST or pre-computing! Here are some of my past posts here: generalizing heuristics, dynamic piece square tables, and draw offers like a human in chess variants.

Well thanks for the helpful chats! This weekend I released my Android game ChessCraft on Google Play. I recommend the one minute video but here's the pitch:

ChessCraft is a chess sandbox with an AI computer opponent. Customise chess boards, rules, and pieces. Play your creations against a computer opponent, or choose from one of 60 built-in chess boards in adventure mode.

It's free to play the full version, except if you play a lot there will be 10 second unskippable popups asking you to buy "ChessCraft Patron" to get rid of the popups.

I'd love to hear any feedback, and I'll continue to sharpen the AI and come back here with questions

Thanks

Nice app, brilliant
Good grahics, very responsive on Android Nougat 64bit Tab.
You can define board and pieces, and the game itself. It has lots of potential to create variants. Thinking about crazyhouse and musketeer chess.



I wonder if you can save and replay the game or even just replay the last game you played.

Suggestion:
1. When playing against ai, allow 1s or 2s delay before ai plays its move.
Or create an option for ai move speed. Slow, Moderate, Fast, with [10s, 5s, 0s] delays.

[zulban]

Thanks! Glad you like it.

Question: is that screenshot your full screen? Or did you trim the bottom? I ask because the chess board is supposed to be centred. Hmmm!

For the AI delay - I believe you are playing on difficulty 1. That moves pretty quick. On 3 and 4 it takes some time to think.

Let me know if you have any other feedback

[Ferdy]

Thanks! Glad you like it.

Question: is that screenshot your full screen? Or did you trim the bottom? I ask because the chess board is supposed to be centred. Hmmm!

For the AI delay - I believe you are playing on difficulty 1. That moves pretty quick. On 3 and 4 it takes some time to think.

Let me know if you have any other feedback

Yes I trimmed the bottom. I think that was difficulty 1 indeed.

Suggestions:
1. Add button to end the game when user does not want to continue the game
2. Landscape mode.

[zulban]

Ah! Great. That is a relief. That was an old bug

Thanks again for the feedback. The menu on the top right lets you resign. Since you weren't aware of that, I'm interested in how to make this clearer. Did you not see the button, or was "resign" not a clear way to quit the game? I'm happy to take suggestions on button appearance or text labels. I don't actually play mobile games much (because until now none of them were as awesome as my game). So I don't know what is standard, really.

Hmmmm, landscape mode. Sadly that would be an enormous amount of work actually. Is that a common preference for chess apps?

[Ferdy]

Ah! Great. That is a relief. That was an old bug

Thanks again for the feedback. The menu on the top right lets you resign. Since you weren't aware of that, I'm interested in how to make this clearer.

I know it, resign and draw offer buttons. But it is not the same as the user wants to start a new game. Example, I play e4 ai played e5 and I want to end the game without resigning or offering a draw, because I like the ai to play c5 (sicilian) or other reasons.

Perhaps a button with label "New game" would be fine. It is embarrassing to resign in a non-resignable position against an ai that is only a toy to the user .

Before most smart phones were smaller, but now big phones are common. Also tabs are common today.