| Author | Message | ||
| M Winther (Kalroten)
New member Username: Kalroten Post Number: 98 Registered: 1-2007 |
Initial remarks: one really needs a 17'' display to play this game. I see no point in these "dungeon" areas. Please remove them. Of course, the external positions will be there anyway, but the board will fit inside a standard 15'' display. I think the head of the pawns should point in the direction they are moving. /Mats | ||
| Shane Freeman (Thegreathabudabi)
New member Username: Thegreathabudabi Post Number: 33 Registered: 7-2008 |
I won't disagree about the size constraints. Resolution must be set to 1280x1024 for the format to fit entirely on the screen. Removing the dungeons is really a simple matter, even to extract them entirely from the code. I personally like to be able to view the accumulation of pieces I have captured, which is why the dungeons exist to begin with. But they hold no purpose aside from displaying ones conquests. Perhaps I can set up 'variants' for various screen resolutions. This rev uses 35 x 35 pixel board squares. My 8 player variant (which will never be released) uses 28 x 28 pixel squares, and the pieces haven't lost any of their definition at the smaller sizes. As far as Pawn heads pointing in the direction of their movement, I like your idea... I'm just trying to decide how much I like it. - Shane | ||
| M Winther (Kalroten)
New member Username: Kalroten Post Number: 100 Registered: 1-2007 |
If you only want to display your conquests then the area can be much smaller. And you can use smaller squares and the mini-graphics that I created for Alternative Chess (see alternative graphics, also for the superknights.) After all, more and more people use laptops, and some of these are just 14", or smaller even. /Mats | ||
| Shane Freeman (Thegreathabudabi)
New member Username: Thegreathabudabi Post Number: 34 Registered: 7-2008 |
The oversized dungeons are as they are so that each one can accommodate all opponents' pieces, under the impossibility that one person captures every single piece from all three opponents. I didn't know that one could define different dimensioned squares on a board layout. If this is in fact what you're saying can be done, then I will proceed to resize the dungeon squares and thus the dungeon immediately. I would much prefer to display captured pieces in miniature form. - Shane | ||
| David J Bush (Twixter)
New member Username: Twixter Post Number: 44 Registered: 7-2002 |
If you change the pixel size of a grid, you would have to provide a new definition of the board so that Zillions will know where the cells of the board are. That means you will have to define a variant for each new screen size. If your game already has several variants, and you want to offer different pixel size boards with each variant, you could start your game with a selection screen. My Twixt package provides an example of this. Three different resolutions are offered. The zrf files are placed in three different directories. Once a pixel size is selected, you can switch to another variant and Zillions will just look in the same directory it was in when it loaded the current game file. The physical size of the screen in inches is less relevant than the vertical and horizontal pixel count. | ||
| M Winther (Kalroten)
New member Username: Kalroten Post Number: 101 Registered: 1-2007 |
But I make use of the functionality whereby Zillions automatically resizes the board so you don't have to define a new grid. I use this in my chess variants where there are small chess pieces and a mini chess board as alternative graphics. Zillions resizes the squares automatically. /Mats | ||
| Greg Schmidt (Gschmidt2)
New member Username: Gschmidt2 Post Number: 76 Registered: 1-2007 |
[But I make use of the functionality whereby Zillions automatically resizes the board so you don't have to define a new grid] Interesting, I didn't realize it did that. I see that it occurs when one uses multiple piece sets. -- Greg | ||
| M Winther (Kalroten)
New member Username: Kalroten Post Number: 102 Registered: 1-2007 |
Yes, I sometimes make use of three different board-sizes, like in Turret Chess. As long as the boards are proportionally identical you can have as many board sizes you like. It's clever. Mini boards are good for creating diagrams, or if you want to have a game going in the corner of the screen. One must keep in mind that people have very different screen sizes, and I believe that visually impaired people sometimes use VGA resolution. My chess variants can be played in VGA too, thanks to the mini board. It's not important, but it's so easy to implement anyway. In Prince Chess, however, it is necessary to add a smaller board. /Mats | ||
| Ronald W Brierley (Ronaldwb)
New member Username: Ronaldwb Post Number: 65 Registered: 2-2003 |
I downloaded and unzipped Prince Chess with the great anticipation of being able to enjoy a multi-player game. Unfortunately the board display occupies more space than my 15” laptop screen allows. I am using Vista with the display set at its maximum resolution of 1280X800 pixels. Surely this is not the intended effect. Should a submission with this constraint have been accepted for downloading? The board looks fine on the Zillions downloading page. Ronald | ||
| Greg Schmidt (Gschmidt2)
New member Username: Gschmidt2 Post Number: 77 Registered: 1-2007 |
Why not use the "Reduce Board" option?  Seriously, take a look at Shane's post above (#34) as it looks like he plans on addressing the issue. [Should a submission with this constraint have been accepted for downloading? ] Standards for submissions, really? Ed makes sure that the "game" launches prior to posting and it's doubtful that it goes any further than that. As a test, someeone could try submitting a game titled "ZillionsSucksTheBigOne.zrf" and see if it gets accepted. -- Greg | ||
| Shane Freeman (Thegreathabudabi)
New member Username: Thegreathabudabi Post Number: 35 Registered: 7-2008 |
Have resized the layout to 672 x 672 pixels. Ronald, I have e-mailed the updated copy to you. I'm not going to be resubmitting to ZoG until I have set it up so that a resolution for game play is selectable. Plus I'm still weighing the pros and cons of Mats' suggestion to reconfig the Pawns such that their heads point in the direction of movement. - Shane | ||
| Ronald W Brierley (Ronaldwb)
New member Username: Ronaldwb Post Number: 66 Registered: 2-2003 |
Thank you Shane, The new program works fine. Good luck with your further developments. - Ronald | ||
| Shane Freeman (Thegreathabudabi)
New member Username: Thegreathabudabi Post Number: 36 Registered: 7-2008 |
FYI - Found a major bug that had been corrected in previous revisions but was reintroduced with the vast reduction in code size. Bug is: If a player captures a set and then in turn is captured by a third opponent, they will lose control of their original set but maintain control of the leaderless set they previously captured. This bug has another layer where if the first set captured is player one's, and then a third party captures the person who controls the two sets, the third party WILL assume control of all three sets. I have worked out a solution already, but I want to do thorough testing for more bugs before issuing another release. FYI#2 - My statements in a previous post about the ability to use the symmetry commands on piece attributes by tricking ZoG into believing the attributes were in fact directions of movement may not be true after all. This misguided statement on my behalf was a result of insufficient testing. (All of my testing revolved around player one being captured by another and then that player being captured, which unfortunately gave the results I was seeking) If anyone else happens across what they believe to be a bug in the gameplay, please let me know. Cheers - Shane | ||
| Ronald W Brierley (Ronaldwb)
New member Username: Ronaldwb Post Number: 68 Registered: 2-2003 |
Shane I was over optimistic in saying that the reduced board size produces an acceptable game. I fact the display slot for the current mover cannot be seen. I will wait for the final version of the program. I am only warning you now of the continuing size problem. - Ronald | ||
| Shane Freeman (Thegreathabudabi)
New member Username: Thegreathabudabi Post Number: 37 Registered: 7-2008 |
Ronald - I don't follow what the problem you're having is. The smaller format is what I use on my own laptop, which has a 15" screen. I think what I'm going to go with in the next release will be three size options. The original large format with dungeon, the current smaller format with the dungeon, and a large format without the dungeon. Hopefully this will appease everybody's varrying screen limitations. - Shane |