| Author | Message | ||
| Ken Franklin (Kenz)
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I just checked the new demo. I have to be 'the bad man' here. I just don't like it... * I absolutely hate the 'babyized /juveniled' default piece graphics. ESPECIALLY as the Default! I expected when additional sets were announced to find (maybe) a standard black/white newspaper chess set, gothic, wood/metallic, and/or other expectedly traditional images. * These graphics are (almost entirely) for under 12, definitely not the overwelming majority of zillions users. It reminds me of when I gave my 5 yr old niece a 'babyized graphic' version of Snakes and Ladders. 'She' felt embarrassed in front of her friends - before 'I' did. * I include the new (& bigger) 'hand' cursors on this point. * I did like the new background images - generally. * But I thought using 'Losing' Chess as the giveaway variant, subliminally, an extremely poor choice to entice new purchasers. It's a 'Losing' game? * And shockingly, I find myself disappointed with the continued lack of quicker access (toolbar placement anyone?) of OPEN RULES. In 1998, there were only the original 48 rules files, and then a still managable number of user-created rules files. Today, there must be 1,000 more game files! That makes the original select screen design irrevelant nowadays. I have more than 5 or 10 favorites, and I generally open the games at random (manually). I hope that I will, readily, find many of the suggested improvements made in the forum over the last few years. These are my honest first impressions of the demo. I'm Sorry. I Loved Zillions (vers 1.?) And I really looked forward to vers (2.?). But should I not say anything, wait a month, or meekly bring up the discussion. | ||
| David Eugene Whitcher (Dralius)
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Dear Ken I don't know what you mean by babyized? Some of the new graphics are fancier then they were before, but i don't see how this makes then juvenile. I know several chess players who have the Simpsons chess set and play as seriously as anyone i play against. As for your downloaded files just place them all in one folder with a link to your desktop for easy access until something better comes along. David (Dralius) Whitcher | ||
| Keith Carter (Keithc)
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Ken Franklin - I welcome your "bad man" input. It is nice to see more discussion on the board. I think the graphics in Zillions 2.0 are a mild improvement over 1.x. The boards have slightly more texture and the pieces are more consistent in style from game to game. Marbles have smoother edges and even shadows to help make them feel like they are sitting on the board rather than floating over it. Most pieces have black borders to better define their edges. The colors overall are more luminous. Some examples of all these things are Blobs, Reversi, Hip, and Chinese Checkers. If the increased luminousity comes across to a player as more candy-like then I can see how the graphics could be considered babyized. The new graphics are okay with me. I don't like the new hand cursor. My system does not handle color cursors. In color cursor mode the hand is grey with yellow splotches like some kind of rotting zombie hand. With color turned off the cursor looks much better but some of the fingers look a little mangled, there is no shading as there is with the grabbed piece cursor, and one of the finger tips has an extra white pixel hanging off the end. That is being picky, I know, but the slightly mangled finger look bothers me. I have previously relayed my cursor thoughts to Jeff Mallet. I mention it here for two purposes: 1) to find out if others encounter the same color cursor problem and 2) to see if anyone has a solution. A way to add color cursor capability to my machine or a way to alter or replace the existing cursor. The Recent Game Rules access is a mixed blessing. I get a list of 10 now instead of 8 but they are now buried an extra layer deep. David Whicher's idea of a desktop link to a folder is a good one. Some things I like about Zillions 2.0 a lot - the ability to cut/copy/paste board setups - the ability to back up to the first real move of a game after setup changes. - the new tabbed options menu, particularly the new authoring options - the extra show options when right clicking on a piece. Keith | ||
| Ken Franklin (Kenz)
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TEXT FILES - *.zd2: I found another apparent new difficulty with v2.0; the *.zd2 files. I opened up the Rules Language help file (via file explorer - outside the demo restriction, no problem), read all about the new features, etc. But I couldn't open a *.zd2 file to examine the code. Not with Notepad, Wordpad, or what I prefer to use; Developers Pad. *zrf were basic text files. Other than a new extension ID (to differiate from v1.?) are the new rules files a different filetype? I can open the images easily, but not the new rules files. Sometimes in detailed editing, provided 'templates and wizards' are a hinderance. Can the new rules extension still be opened as typical text files? By commonly found editing programs? re: the Open Rules desktop folder idea: Waiting for something better ... this was the upgrade waited for  . I'd would have prefer almost anything on the icon toolbar BEFORE Switch Piece Set: Enlarge board, Choose Side, Opponent, and Open Rules! Disregarding anyone's opinions on the graphic images themselves - comparatively, how many times is that switch piece set option ever used? Ken | ||
| Jeff Mallett (Jeffm)
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Ken, Viewing/Editing the rules files of the locked demo has never been allowed in any version of Zillions. The toolbar button for Switch Piece Set shows you when an alternate set is available, which would be difficult to see otherwise. Like most of the new version 2 features, it was a user feature request. | ||
| Jeff Mallett (Jeffm)
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The chess variant in the demo was changed due to user complaints. I received a number of emails saying that Zillions was making illegal chess moves, because people didn't realize that they were playing cylindrical chess rather than regular chess. So I changed it to a variant that had a subset of the regular chess moves rather than (approximately) a superset. Hopefully this will make it clearer that a variant is being employed. I see nothing wrong this choice. Again, this only applies to the locked demo, not the full version. | ||
| Karl Scherer (Karl)
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I find the hand cursor hardly recognizable, even more so the difference between the closed hand and the pointing hand. I games with small positions it is tiny and the colurs are identical in both open hand and closed hand cases. I told this Jeff during testing of V2.0, but to no avail. Also I would very much rather have - at least as an alternative a stronger colour AND brightness difference between the two, and sure one black and white version as well (which is the best visible no doubt), also an arrow version. The arrow version is virtually a MUST-HAVE with tiny positions. I know that I am not the only one who had such complains (bad cursors can be a real curse, excuse the pun). Please give us better cursors, Jeff. Cheers, and have a happy new year everyone! | ||
| Fergus Duniho (Fduniho)
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I hate the new hand cursor too. The original hand cursor used in Zillions 1.x was just fine and didn't need any fixing. I think the boards look nicer, but I don't think the new Chess pieces are much of an improvement. I'll still stick to using my own. | ||
| Andreas Kaufmann (Andreas)
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Nice Chess pieces can be downloaded from the german Zillions side: http://www.zillions.de/download/schach.zip. I like them much better them those shipped with Zillions. | ||
| Robert A. Kraus (Bobkraus)
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I also hate the new hand cursor, the old hand cursor, any and all hand cursors, and in fact any cursors other than arrows! Please at least give us arrow cursors as an alternate option! | ||
| Kanajlo (Kanajlo)
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Yeah! That goes for me too! |