X10 Chess tournament

[fguy64]

Ah I see. I would have loved to see a chess tourney on X10. Good luck none the less, I'll go back to lurking in this thread.

"ON x10" is kind of a moot point, imo. it's easy enough to post the results in forum thread, but not so easy to actually have a game applet in a thread. We can always link to some other site hosted on x10, but really, what's in a name? May as well have it on a site where everything is already built.

When you are only one click away from anywhere, imo the concept of "doing it on x10 is kind of moot. It would be a lot of work to set up a proper gaming site, and we would probably not do as good a job as one of many sites that have been doing it for years.

But if you have any ideas Kayos, we're all ears.
Edit:

...

(As an aside, I really wanted to write my own engine but I know that even if I do a really good job it's still not going to be on par with existing engines. So I put it on hold rather than "waste" a lot on time on an engine that might never get used. I do have a random mover engine for testing purposes but that's it.)
Edit:

Mine does a little bit more than move randomly, but not much, It will not hang a piece, and it will solve checkmate in two even if it has to underpromote or capture en passant to do so. And it will resign before it gets mated . Anyways, I know I'll never compete with Fritz, but it's just a hobby, I just wanna see what I can do.

 

[Kayos]

"ON x10" is kind of a moot point, imo. it's easy enough to post the results in forum thread, but not so easy to actually have a game applet in a thread. We can always link to some other site hosted on x10, but really, what's in a name? May as well have it on a site where everything is already built.

When you are only one click away from anywhere, imo the concept of "doing it on x10 is kind of moot. It would be a lot of work to set up a proper gaming site, and we would probably not do as good a job as one of many sites that have been doing it for years.

But if you have any ideas Kayos, we're all ears.

The best idea I can come up with is play on Yahoo games (or whatever else) and post the results on X10.

 

[fguy64]

The best idea I can come up with is play on Yahoo games (or whatever else) and post the results on X10.

Sure. or an alternative is to have one person act as a tournament director, announce the pairings for each round, and let the two opponents decide for themselves how they want to play it out.

Myself, I favor "postal style" internet chess, at a site like gameknot.com, where you can log in, make a move, then log out. One game might take a few weeks, but you could have a round robin tournament and all games are played at the same time. That would eliminate scheduling problems. TThere would also be a few different options for other x10 members to follow the action.

 

[merrillmck]

The best idea I can come up with is play on Yahoo games (or whatever else) and post the results on X10.

I think Yahoo Chess is the quickest and easiest alternative to running a one-time X10 users chess tourney.

But some interesting ideas might come out of this too ...

 

[xaoskitty]

...how will this work people..?

 

[fguy64]

...how will this work people..?

That's what we're trying to decide. I can think of a few ways to do it on other sites, and we can post the results, and maybe links to the games, here in the forum, but an efficient way to do it entirely on X10 would require a lot of work to set up. Which is ok, it's all about learning for me, but it wouldn't happen soon that I can see.

 

[merrillmck]

OK, here's what I have ... this is obviously incomplete ... link will be below ...

I'll repeat what I said earlier. If the readers want a one-time chess tourney, Yahoo Chess is the fastest way to do this. Everything below is me sharing what I already have.

What I have:
- Chess game that can be installed from the web
- All chess rules should be correct (en passant, draw rules, etc.)
- Load and save a game to a readable text file
- Play a person or random mover engine
- Available moves are highlighted (including your opponents based on mouse over events)

What I don't have:
- An intelligent chess engine to play against
- A way to play a game against someone over the Internet
- A tournament feature
- A login or identity feature
- Pretty graphics (my current graphics are simply placeholders until I have time to put something nice out there)
- Probably everything else that isn't listed in "What I have"

How to run it.

1. www.wyrbel.com/chess.htm
2. Click "Run"
3. Click "Run" again (see screenshot clickonce_warning.jpg attached)
4. Play (see screenshot chess.jpg attached)

My chess app installs using ClickOnce, a Microsoft technology. You do not need Admin privileges to install this game (and if you're wary, consider installing it while logged in as a non-Admin to ensure worst case security issues cannot happen. It is just a chess game. I'll leave it up to you whether you want to install it or not. If it is anything malicious, then I've wasted a lot of time already on these message boards as I'll be kicked off X10 in a heartbeat. Anyway ...)

My personal goal is to use this game and create phone apps (like iphone apps). I want to sell them. Chess already exists so I'm not kidding myself. The whole purpose of the chess app is for me to make my mistakes on it rather than more original ideas for phone apps. This is my learning curve. So if this board wants chess features that would make sense on a phone app then it is very likely I'll add them. So those interested could help custom design their chess tourney app ...

Fguy64 and I have talked also. I told him we'd talk more once I was able to share what I had with him ... which is what is in the link. I expect us to private message a little more and who knows what will come of all this ...

 

[fguy64]

Hi Merrillmck, I checked out the link, the first thing I noticed was that Microsoft .net Framework 2.0 was required in order to run the program. Please confirm.

 

[merrillmck]

Hi Merrillmck, I checked out the link, the first thing I noticed was that Microsoft .net Framework 2.0 was required in order to run the program. Please confirm.

If it says it is required then it is ... which sucks for me LOL. This pretty much confirms that I won't be able to stick with ClickOnce as an easy means of sharing my work via the web.

I'm also wondering whether or not a Linux or Mac user will have even greater trouble view stuff this way.

Hmmmmmm ... check your PMs too.

 

[fguy64]

If it says it is required then it is ... which sucks for me LOL. This pretty much confirms that I won't be able to stick with ClickOnce as an easy means of sharing my work via the web.

I'm also wondering whether or not a Linux or Mac user will have even greater trouble view stuff this way.

Hmmmmmm ... check your PMs too.

You mean you didn't know it was requirement? I'm not sure I follow what's happening here, but Microsoft .net Framework strikes me as a non-trivial requirement to run a chess application. Anyways, I'll check my PMs. ttyl.

 

[changc]

I'd like to participate. Shoot me a message some time!

 

[fguy64]

sure thing! the more the merrier. You'll hear from someone, one way or another

 

[merrillmck]

You mean you didn't know it was requirement?

That's true. I've read more about it and it appears ClickOnce (the technology I used to publish it ... not the game itself) is specific to MS operating systems. Apparently it can work on Firefox running on Windows but currently my version does not. So, this is what I have. For better or worse, LOL.

There are a number of changes that can make this more OS-independent but each will require some time and effort. So this is where I stand now ...

I'm not sure I follow what's happening here, but Microsoft .net Framework strikes me as a non-trivial requirement to run a chess application. Anyways, I'll check my PMs. ttyl.

I agree.

 

[fguy64]

hmm, so Microsoft .net is a requirement of click once and not the chess program? that would make more sense. Anyways, I'll respond to your PMs and we'll sort something out.

 

[zen-r]

Hopefully you'll both keep posting some of these conversations in the forums, & not consign them all to PMs!

The discussion on these topics can be quite informative for other people - I've enjoyed learning more about ClickOnce etc here & in merrillmck's other thread with Hue Kares, over here ; http://forums.x10hosting.com/programming-help/98670-being-trusted-publisher.html

 

[fguy64]

Duly noted, zen-r.

 

[merrillmck]

We already finished this simple project by PM. It was so easy. But it's private.

Hue's the bomb over there in the other thread.