BrainKing - Keskustelualueet (Feature requests)

Otsikko: 1 Feature and 1 Game

A feature I would like to see is one that would allow a user to limit the waiting games shown to only time limits desired. (If a person does not like 30 limits or very fast limits they would not be shown.)

I ran across an article about a variant called Knightmate Relay Chess which is exactly what it sounds like, a combination of Knightmate Chess and Knight Relay Chess.

2. Huhtikuu 2012, 02:00:48

Otsikko: Feature for Waiting Games

I would like to see a feature that allows the player to customize the waiting games display.

1. Allow players to choose the time controls they want displayed.

a. Whether to allow or disallow Fischer time

b. Choose the range of days allowed. For example 3-7 days.

2. Choose a rating range for games that display. An easy way would be + or - a range of points from the players own ratings.

3. Connect the feature to blocked users so that their invitations don't display.

Talen314

6. Helmikuu 2012, 07:00:31

Otsikko: Possible Chess Variant

Hi,

I see a few ways to make Dark Chess a bit darker.

1. Allow players to set up their back row pieces any way they prefer before starting the game.

2. Combine Dark Chess and Screen Chess.

3. Combine Dark Chess and Crazy Screen Chess.

What do other players think of these options?

I think the first option is very workable. I am not quite as sure about the other two.

Talen314

16. Helmikuu 2011, 06:46:10

Otsikko: Tournament Signups

Sometimes tournaments take a very long time to fill or to activate and during the intervening time players that signed up have been inactive at the site for a very long time. This results in unnecessary forfeits. Perhaps players should be removed from tournaments if they have not logged onto the site after a certain length of time or perhaps an option can be made that allows the creator of the tournament to select whether inactive players will be kept in the tournament. Some players naturally move slowly but probably make more than one move over a three or four month period. Most players probably enjoy a tournament more if the players are active players; forfeits after 1 move provide little entertainment value for anyone.

Talen314

20. Lokakuu 2010, 08:17:09

Otsikko: Official Brainking Tournaments

Hi all,

I'd like to see official Brainking Tournaments, perhaps quarterly, that would include all games at the site. There could also be one tournament of each general type. (i.e. one elimination, one where players all play one game with other players and one where players play two games with every other player. There might also be fast tournaments without vacation or only weekends and slow tournaments which allow vacations so players of all time preferences would be able to find tournaments to their liking.

The players' main pages could show icons (gold, silver and bronze) for official Brainking tournaments next to specific games. Achievements could be tied to winning these tournaments.

Ideas?

Talen

28. Syyskuu 2010, 05:30:56

Otsikko: Tournament Page Features

Hi all,
I would like to see greater ability to filter tournament searches.
Examples include:
Search for tournaments that need just one more player.
Allow players to filter out tournaments for games that are not of interest. (Allow the list of tournament games to show only the games desired by the player.)
Filter out tournaments that have undesired time limits.
Highlight the names of players that a member has no wins against to help in going after some of the achievements. Or allow a search for tournaments that include players that a member has not faced.
Talen314

23. Toukokuu 2010, 07:29:49

Otsikko: Shogi Databsse Software

Shogi Database Software

There is a program called BCM Shogi, available from http://home.arcor.de/Bernhard.Maerz/BCMShogi/, for doing analysis and recording games.
It supports all the different types of handicaps used in Shogi and allows the entry of Tsume Shogi (Mating problems) which are a great way to build up tactical ability.
There are a great many books (in Japanese) for Shogi problems. Many are quite useful as long as a person knows how to read moves in Japanese, which doesn't require that much effort.
Talen314

7. Toukokuu 2010, 13:10:43

Otsikko: Re: Gone people who have signed up for tournaments.

El Cid:
One possible way to address this problem would be to have the site keep track of the percentage of forfeits. If an option was added to the tournament page that would allow selection of a maximum forfeit rate for players entering the tournament. It could be percentage of forfeits or a maximum number of forfeits for a set period like a month or year. IF the site tracks forfeits over a limited period like the last year it is possible for players to recover from their past high forfeit rates by routinely completing games.
Talen314

6. Toukokuu 2010, 06:42:47

Otsikko: Re: tourney filter

Nothingness: I like your idea. It would also be nice if a person could search for tournaments that only need one more player in order to start so that less time is spent waiting for a tournament to begin. One help would be having a feature that would allow only tournaments that a player is qualified to enter to be displayed or, alternatively also allow only tournaments with a certain number of players already entered to be displayed which would get rid of many tournaments in the list. Unless a player has all of their ratings memorized it is impossible to know for sure which tournaments a person is qualified to enter.
Talen314

6. Toukokuu 2010, 04:02:34

Otsikko: Game Invitations

Muokannut talen314 (6. Toukokuu 2010, 06:36:47)

Some features I would like to see for game invitations include ways to use ratings to determine which invitations to display. For example limit the players that can send invitations to those within certain rating ranges which could be set on a global or game by game basis. Two ideas come to mind here. One is to display invitations within a certain range of a players own rating. 'The other is to be able to set the actual ranges like players do when creating games for the waiting area. It would also be nice to set default actions for invitations. Examples might include auto accepting invitations until a certain number of total active games is reached. Auto accepting invitations for some games but not others which would be displayed as normal. Another option would be to limit the total number of games for each game type as desired so that invitations only come for games that a player wants to play more.
It would also be nice to have settings to control what time limits would be displayed or accepted.
The friends list might be enhanced so that players can allow friends to always be able to send invitations regardless of the rating limits.
Talen314

20. Huhtikuu 2010, 08:16:46

Otsikko: Possible Chess Variant

Looking at the number of started games Dice Chess and Dice Chess 10x10 seem to be fairly popular. IF this is due to the unpredictable nature of the game due to the use of dice a possible chess variant would be to combine Dice Chess and Ice Age Chess into a variant. The freezing element combined with the random element might make for some interesting play. What do others think about Ïce Age Dice Chess?
I am aware that there are some that don't care for any more chess variants of any kind but there do seem to be quite a few players that enjoy Dice Chess and Dice Chess 10x10.
Talen314

19. Joulukuu 2009, 11:04:11

Otsikko: Feature for Chess or similar games

One feature that would be very handy for games like Chess would be a conditional move feature. A similar idea for games like Ludo where there is often only one move possible an automatic move feature may be desirable. Some people don't care for such a feature so it could be an optional feature for such games, leaving to the players to decide.

19. Joulukuu 2009, 02:49:30

Otsikko: Tournament Page Features

Usually there are many tournaments listed on the tournaments page. It would be useful if there were some additional features for the page.
1. Be able to search for tournaments that need only one more person to start.
2. Allow a filter mechanism similar to waiting games to be used so that only the games a player is interested in are displayed in the tournament games list.
3. An additional filter could be made based on desired time limits. People that don't like really fast or slow time limits could prevent them from being listed.
4. An alert feature might also be useful that would tell a player when a tournament that meets desired criteria is created or when a tournament only needs one more player
Talen314

12. Joulukuu 2009, 07:03:05

Otsikko: Mine Chess

Muokannut talen314 (12. Joulukuu 2009, 14:40:31)

A look at the most popular games at Brainking shows that games with a random element are quite popular.
1. Ludo 2. Backgammon 4. Hyper Backgammon 5. Triple Dice Poker 6. Backgammon Race 7. Fevga 8. Dice Chess 10x10 9. Dice Poker and 10. Nackgammon
All but one of the top ten games have a random element.
Looking through D. B. Pritchard's book I came across a variant called "Mine Chess," which is identical to
regular Chess except that each player picks two squares on own side of board that are mined. If the mined squares were randomly chosen instead a randomized element would be introduced into the game. It is true that Backgammon games make up half of the top ten games but it is also evident a significant proportion of the players at Brainking also indulge in Chess, the number three game. When an enemy piece moves to a mined square the player controlling the mine may choose to make the mine explode. Players can wait for a more valuable piece to go to the square
Judging by the list of most popular games at Brainking this may be a Chess variant that would be popular. Mined squares clearly would have an impact on endgame play which was one of the motivating factors for its creation.
Talen314

7. Joulukuu 2009, 06:16:38

Otsikko: Ghostrider Chess

I recently purchased D. B. Pritchard's volume on Chess variants. Dark Chess is quite popular on Brainking so there is the possibility that this variant created by Ralph Betza in 1978 might also be popular.

Knights are replaced by invisible ghost riders. Opponents are told when a ghost rider moves but the destination is not given unless a capture is made. Pieces may pass over squares occupied by a ghost rider, even when castling. (I assume this means queen-side castling since otherwise two pieces would be on the same square.) Ghost Riders are subject to capture like all other pieces. A player may, not mandatory since Ghost Riders ordinarily don't stop movement, reveal a ghost rider's position in order to block an enemy movement. If a ghost rider checks the enemy king the check is announced but the location of the ghost is not given, unless the move also captured a piece. A king in check from a ghost rider has the option to attempt capture of the ghost rider but loses if the wrong square is chosen.

The book is unclear about what happens when a piece is blocked by a ghost rider. There are several possible options.

1. Choose a different move

2. Forced capture of the ghost rider by the blocked piece (I personally like this option which introduces some real uncertainty in movement.)

3. Stopped just before the ghost rider.

Talen314

21. Marraskuu 2009, 08:24:22

Otsikko: Tournament Search Feature

I would like to see two features which would aid tournament searches.
1. I would like to have a filter that would allow me to generate a list of tournament sections that need just one more player to start.
2. Along the same lines it would be nice to be able to generate a list of all tournaments that have already reached the minimum number players needed to start on time.
There are so many tournaments available that it can be a lot of work to find ones that will start soon without such a feature.

29. Elokuu 2009, 20:07:36

Otsikko: Re: Match Resignation Option

Muokannut talen314 (30. Elokuu 2009, 14:56:27)

rod03801: I like the games matches because all games count. Since all games count this type of match does not favor players with aggressive styles as much. Players like Tal, Fischer and Kasparov are more formidable in win matches because players must play more aggressively pressing smaller advantages than they might otherwise. A player like Petrosian, for example, who had a more defensive style would do better in situations where draws count.

What I am trying to say is that part of the reason that players select certain types of matches is related to their playing styles and not all of the options for matches favor all styles equally.

Talen314

29. Elokuu 2009, 19:55:13

Otsikko: Re: Match Resignation Option

Muokannut talen314 (29. Elokuu 2009, 19:58:56)

rod03801:
The type of match is very much like high level professional matches when a championship is set for a maximum number of games but such matches are ended if a player has enough points to win.
Must win matches do cater to more aggressive players since draws have no impact. It is good to have the different types of matches.
Some choose the number of games matches because it is easy to know how many games you will have to play. I have had several wins matches in checkers where it took several games to get one win.

29. Elokuu 2009, 19:47:38

Otsikko: Re: Match Resignation Option

grenv:
No, I have a 6-game match where I have won 4 games and it still is continuing.
Extinction Chess (Hackingnop vs. talen314)

29. Elokuu 2009, 18:59:25

Otsikko: Match Resignation Option

Muokannut talen314 (29. Elokuu 2009, 19:00:15)

There are times when a player has several games left to complete a match but has no chance of winning. Since rating points are only given for the completed match and not for the individual games there is often no point (rating-wise) in playing out the match. A possible solution would be to have an option to resign the match which would end the match without playing out games that have no impact on the outcome. (It is true that a player could resign each remaining game individually but this seems to be a tidier way to handle it.)

9. Elokuu 2009, 03:12:42

Otsikko: Re: Time limit feature for tournaments

AbigailII: I don't like waiting that long. It is a personal preference. I don't enter tournaments with long time limits which is one reason that the long timeouts stand out the way they do. The games waiting for a timeout are, in my case, often the only ones left. I can see we simply disagree on this issue. It is probably best to leave it at that.
I always look at the time limit to ensure that it is three days or less. When I have nothing coming up in my schedule I prefer ones with just one day.

2. Elokuu 2009, 18:24:53

Otsikko: Re: Time limit feature for tournaments

Muokannut talen314 (2. Elokuu 2009, 18:27:43)

AbigailII:
I have had quite a few timeouts where I had to wait 30 days, sometimes more, for a timeout. It is why I always set tournaments I create to disallow vacation.
For members with limited games, like pawns and knights, it can be frustrating having a game occupy a precious game slot that is not being actively played by the opponent.

31. Heinäkuu 2009, 12:40:22

Otsikko: Time limit feature for tournaments

Muokannut talen314 (31. Heinäkuu 2009, 12:41:48)

At present vacations (all days) are allowed or no days. It would be nice to have an option to allow a set number of days of vacation for a tournament. This would avoid the long waits for games to time out that are not being actively played. It is a good compromise option between those that want games to proceed quickly and those that want to have some days off because of very heavy schedules.

22. Heinäkuu 2009, 03:44:07

Otsikko: Suggestion for unbalanced games

Games like Horde Chess and Maharajah Chess are unbalanced which is probably one reason they do not get as much play. A way around this is to include an option for unbalanced games only where two games are played. If each player wins the same number of games the player that wins in the fewest total moves wins the match. Obviously matches would be an even numbered number of games. Winning quickly and not just winning becomes a trickier proposition.

16. Heinäkuu 2009, 17:24:50

Otsikko: Tournament Feature: New Statistic

I would like to see a new statistic for players, percentage timeouts. I have seen other sites that allow a person to set up tournaments and block players that timeout above a percentage set by the player creating the tournament. It is more satisfying to actually have to play all the games in a tournament to win it.

11. Heinäkuu 2009, 16:00:25

Otsikko: Mancala Suggestion

A simple way to provide more variation in Mancala would be to allow a choice between seeding with 3, 4 or 5 stones at the start.

26. Kesäkuu 2009, 04:58:33

Otsikko: Blocked Users Feature

It would be nice if blocked users also could not join tournaments sponserd by the person that blocked them.
talen314

23. Kesäkuu 2009, 19:15:48

Otsikko: Search Tournaments for Ones That Need Just One More Player

One feature I would really like to see is a search function in the tournaments that would display only tournaments that need just one more player to start. Sometimes I want to start a few more games and this would make it easy to make them tournament games.
talen314

14. Kesäkuu 2009, 06:50:09

Otsikko: Interdiction Shogi

Muokannut talen314 (14. Kesäkuu 2009, 07:15:24)

Interdiction Shogi
Rules are the same as Shogi except for the introduction of a new piece, the Zero, which prevents enemy drops within one square of its location. The zero moves like a king and starts on the square in front of the king.
Zeros do not promote.
Comments welcome.
Scott/talen314

12. Kesäkuu 2009, 16:36:06

Otsikko: Squire Chess

Squire Chess

Standard Chess Setup--except the king, queen and bishop pawns are squires.
All rules are the same as Chess except the following.
Squires may move in any forward direction and may make a two-square move on the first move, including diagonally. A squire reaching the last rank promotes normally.
Squires protected by knights may move as knights like in Knight Relay Chess
If a knight is captured one of the squires of the capturing side that is remaining on the board may be replaced with a knight on the same move, similar to promotion. If none remain the knight is removed and the move is finished.
Comments welcome..
talen314

10. Kesäkuu 2009, 17:12:25

Otsikko: Re: Mortal Loop Chess

cd power:
I think this variant would be pretty easy to implement. I think I have seen some similar ideas about in this regard but I forget where.
Scott/talen314

10. Kesäkuu 2009, 15:49:14

Otsikko: Behemoth Recycle Chess

Combines Behemoth and Recycle Chess. The Behemoth captures pieces like usual but any pieces captured, except the king which still results in the loss of the game, become available for drops like in Recycle Chess. Any pieces captured by players are permanently removed from play. The goal is still to capture the king.
Comments welcome.

10. Kesäkuu 2009, 13:57:41

Otsikko: Mortal Loop Chess

Plays like Loop Chess except that captured queens drop as rooks. Captured rooks drop as bishops or knights, player's choice. Captured bishops and knights drop as pawns. Captured pawns are removed from play.
The goal of the game is checkmate and other rules like castling and en passant are in force.
Thoughts...?
talen314

10. Kesäkuu 2009, 11:16:18

Otsikko: Possible Feature

There are some Chess variants where there are subvariants that are quite similar. For example there is a variant of Amazon Chess where the Amazons can not capture each other unless the enemy Amazon is unprotected. One possible way to implement such small variants based on what Brainking always has is to create a submenu that will come up when creating a new game that allows a player to select what rules will be used for a particular game, kind of like the autopass feature already in use for Backgammon.
Scott/talen314

10. Kesäkuu 2009, 06:35:02

Otsikko: Latest version of Protected Chess where pawns have special worth.

Muokannut talen314 (10. Kesäkuu 2009, 13:26:36)

Hi,

I thought of one way to simplify the movements for Protected Chess. Queens, rooks and bishops move in the usual directions but only one square and knights only move in the forward directions if protected but can't jump the orthogonal space in front of the knight must be open. Unprotected knights can jump. Pawns remain the same except that a piece protected by a pawn has its usual powers; this will make pawns important in the game.

Unprotected pieces have their usual powers. Castling, for protected king and unprotected rook only, is allowed and so is en passant, for only unprotected pawns. Only unprotected pawns may jump two squares on the first move. Only unprotected pawns may promote.
There is a contradiction that occurs if two rooks/bishops protect each other in that protecting each other they would get the shorter move but would then actually be unprotected move. Perhaps pieces that mutually protect each other would move as protected pieces despite actually being unprotected.

Thoughts?

Scott/talen314

10. Kesäkuu 2009, 06:11:38

Muokannut talen314 (10. Kesäkuu 2009, 06:24:39)

This version might be easier to remember. If protected bishops, rooks and queens move in the usual way, but only in the forward direction, and the knight moves only in the forward direction. Pawns and kings have the usual movements.
Unprotected pieces then gain their additonal movements. This would certainly force both forces to close with each other.
All thoughts are welcome.

A tactically more dangerous version might use the Amazon for the Queen's promoted state, the Rook and Bishop gain the ability to move as a knight as well and the knight could move 1 or 2 squares forward before moving one diagonally. Pawns move in the usual way.

10. Kesäkuu 2009, 06:00:07

Otsikko: Re: Protected Chess

pedestrian:
I can go with leaving the pawns the same. What do you think of the concept?

9. Kesäkuu 2009, 14:32:00