SOCRATES: re :I found it shocking that Brainking has all these unknown variants of Checkers
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answer
I for one am glad BK has unique,uncommon variants.that is what makes it special.
so many games sites are clones,same games.
anyone else feel this way? please speak up!!

I found it shocking that Brainking has all these unknown variants of Checkers(Corner Checkers, Gothic Checkers) without first putting in the Checker variants of the World like, Italian Checkers, 10x10 International, Spanish Checkers, Pool Checkers, 12x12 Canadian, Russian, Brazilian....

I think the checker players at Brainking would love for those variants to be added...ESPECIALLY Italian Checkers for I've noticed a lot of Italians that play here. Players from all over the world play here and I'm sure they would love to play these variants.

I was reading about a game called Latrunculi which seems very interesting - like a cross between Hasami Shogi & Talbut.

While searching sites, a few different versions of rules since it is a very old game (Romans - BC)

Basic rules (that I like):

12x8 board.
Row 1 on each side are the players pieces (12 each).
Each side has a "king" which starts in row 2.
The back row pieces act just like Hasami Shogi - you move, capture, etc just like in the game of Hasami Shogi. But the goal of the game is not to get 5 in a row, but to capture the opponents king on all 4 sides like in Talbut.

I would add that if a king is along the edge, then only 3 pieces are needed to capture it.
If a king is in the corner, then only 2 pieces are needed to capture it.
King can only "jump" their own pieces, not the opponents.
If no captures are made in 30 moves, game is over - person with most captured pieces wins.

Wikipedia has an entry for the game which shows the board, the the rules listed there are a little different. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latrunculi

Other sites which all have a little bit different rules, but overall - looks like it would be an interesting addition to this game site:

http://www.di.fc.ul.pt/~jpn/gv/latrunculi.htm
http://www.bethanddon.com/page/1168564608.html (about 1/2 way down the page)
http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/w/x/wxk116/roma/latruncu.html

We may have to discuss this to get a good set of rules that will work well, but I think something could be worked out.

rod03801: Perhaps you could, by keeping in contact with Fencer, amend the top of this board to have 2 headings - something like - "Features being worked on at present(or in development as it at present)" - numbered in priority to Fencer from 1 to X, and then another list of "Features Requested - not currently being considered/worked on".

By keeping the Features being worked on upto date, people will be able to see exactly what's coming, and the other list will help people see what's been requested previously so we dont get the same suggestions every few months when the original request gets burried in all the posts.

It really NEEDS to be the last post on this subject now. Please continue the backgammon conversation on the backgammon DB.(A link to help ya get there, even!) Fencer knows our wishes and will do it when he gets to it.

Further posts on this board about this will be deleted.

Please don't make us do that! :-D

AbigailII:To me it means backgammon players are more satisfied with Brainking than Chess players. There are more of them, and relatively more of them pay. So, Fencer needs to work harder in the Chess department to attract more players. ;-)

that's not necessarily true... I for one would be a paying member if the 'gammon features had more to offer... mainly fixing the dice program and the implimentation of the cube...
chess is a great game when played fairly, but it is too easy to cheat at chess... too many computer progams out there and you never know when an opponent is using one...
...some may say 'well, gammon is luck', which at times it might be a small factor, it also has alot to do with skill...
...for the avid chess player, BK is the bomb, I suppose(with all it's differant variations) but as for the avid 'gammon player, BK is a dud of sorts...
I realize that my one measily membership means nothing to Fencer and HIS site, but he put this feature request board here for a reason... to figure out what members or POTENTIAL members would like to see here at BK...
...as he stated "I am aware of it"... and " I am not obliged to show any progress with anything. I read, think, consider, conclude etc. But it's only up to me and nobody else"...
...and we all respect that... we're simply REQUESTING FEATURES!!

:o) have a great day and happy gaming!
p.s. ...I'll be waiting to see the bone thrown!

plaintiger: I've had that happen once,does the loginname start with D & end in K???

When I get time, I will go through the requests and put all that have come in, in September in one post, and post a link to that post at the top of this page.

This will serve 2 purposes:
a) It will be "one spot" for Fencer to look over past requests, without scrolling through "chatter".
b) people will see what has already been requested (if they care to check)

I may not get a chance to do this until the weekend, so if anyone wants to help out and do a good deed, they can send me a PM with a summary of the requests.
I will start keeping an on-going list in my notepad, so that future months can go up immediately at the end of that month.

playBunny: Same here!

playBunny: lol...you're right on all counts, my friend...

plaintiger: I can see the use of it, but I think it'd be a shame if a lot of people used a "whitelist" facility. It prevents good natured messages that come out of the blue. A "good post" message or "I saw your profile that it says..", etc, even "Interesting. A statement like that raises.." I do quite a lot of that sort of messaging; it can makefriends out of strangers.

I don't know about the automatic bit. I've got "enemies" on my "Friends" list I think of it more as a Watch List

having just received a hostile PM from a memeber i've never heard of, i would like to request a "whitelist" feature: the ability to block PMs from everyone except those people i've approved to send me PMs.

adding someone to one's "friends" list should automatically add them to one's whitelist, but one should also be able to add a person to the whitelist without making them a "friend".

thanks!

from now on to remeber to read the "whats new" board before asking any questions

Throwing a bone, you say? Okay. Wait and watch :-)

... it would be useful to be able to search messages not only by content but by author also.

Fencer: : sure fencer,I trust most people know this.
and i realize paying members opinions rate more than us other members.
and I know your are busy.
but its nice to give people a little feedback & let them know were we are going once in a while.
its nice to let them know you hear there questions.
doen't hurt to throw them a bone once in a while.
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hey wait a minute,dont we have a newsletter page for BK here..I'll check.
If its good at being informative,it could answer a lotta questions about development stuff.
maybe it does,I'll check.

Would it be possible to impliment rating limits for the pond games like all the other games? It seems that many people can't or don't read.

chessmec: If it's only question of ego, then this is wrong approach. Better would be to say: auto**** and cube and dice "bug" are a challenge to excellent programmers. Let's hope Fencer is good enough and can solve it Sorry couldn't resist, but it's We want threaded DB!

playBunny: I do not know anything about Backgammon, but in my opinion - as I said in a previous message - improvemenst should concentrate at BG in the moment.

The chess (variants) community here has a lot of games, thanks. But there are other customers.

The keyword is: Egoless programming.

Bry: "Perhaps if we leave Fencer to get on with his improvements, we may see some to the BG games in time quicker."

Depends on which improvements. It may be a more effective option to give Fencer a brief spell of grief, no matter how uncomfortable it is for him and those who think "BrainKing is #1" and all is rosy in the garden. I think continuing the passive waiting game which has been the mode, to remain silent, is to be dumb in both senses of the word. How often do you persuade someone to change their mind by saying nothing?

I actually think BrainKing is #2. It comes second to the BrainKing which doesn't treat Backgammon like a toy game.

red dragon: Not quite. If that were the case, he would have implemented the feature I'm not allowed to mention. ;-)

i think fixing the bug should be the # 1 priority, then the cube. wondering if the fibs rating system has been discussed for the gammons, if so what was the outcome? the gammon games are most important to me.

I think many people are missing the point. Backgammon players are asking for a fix to the game, and the addition of a crucial element (the cube). I agree we don't need any new variations of backgammon.

Regardless of which is the most popular game etc, Fencer has stated many times that this site was always intended to be prodominantly a "Chess" site.

I dont play Chess, or any of it's variants, in fact I only really play Backgammon - so I am one of the many who are eagerly waiting for new variants/improvements, but I don't complain and neither do many others.

Perhaps if we leave Fencer to get on with his improvements, we may see some to the BG games in time quicker.

Yes - I agree, perhaps an more regular/accurate update on current features in progress and which features Fencer is prioritising, but in the meantime, I think we should just bear with the site.

- by far.

Andersp: To me it means backgammon players are more satisfied with Brainking than Chess players. There are more of them, and relatively more of them pay. So, Fencer needs to work harder in the Chess department to attract more players. ;-)

AbigailII: To me it proves that Backgammon is 4 times more popular than chess...and 817 ranked backgammonplayers compared to 354 chessplayers proves a lot too.

Im sure youll find a lot of paying members among those 817 bgplayers too?

Andersp: What does that prove? If you look at the statistics, you'll see that of the top 50 backgammon players there are a lot more paying customers than there are in the top 50 chess players.

No wonder Fencer pays attention to chess: there's more marketshare to gain. ;-)

Personally, I prefer adding more chess variants than backgammon variants. There's less variation in play with the backgammon variants than there is with the chess variants.

Hm, chess is worth 5 backgammon games so backgammon is behind chess :)

Andersp:
I think Fencer added so many chess games in last time so that is it enough for the moment. I think most of us chess game players need to digest the so many new games at first.

I do not know anything about Backgammon, but I think in the next time the major improvements should belong to backgammon games.

Most of the customers are there ;-)

Andersp: Heck.. top 3 spots is backgammon variations ..

Fencer:

http://brainking.com/en/Statistics?p=2
9553 running Backgammongames compared to 2117 Chessgames

I dont think you should ignore backgammon too much

grenv: I am aware of it.

Fencer: It's not a question of obligation, nobody is asking for their money back.

However if you want more people to renew their membership or new people to join then you may need to provide more. For example potential members that enjoy backgammon but not chess will go elsewhere if you don't fix the bug and introduce the cube.

chessmec: Of course you are. The Paid Membership specifies the advantages of all membership levels. Everything what is mentioned is provided.

Fencer: But it's only up to me and nobody else.

Well, but we are your customers.

WhiteTower: I am not obliged to show any progress with anything. I read, think, consider, conclude etc. But it's only up to me and nobody else.

red dragon: It's the acknowledgement of his checking this board that most people have a problem with... As you probably noticed, some issues have kept being mentioned for over a year with no tangible progress...

red dragon: Absolutely correct.

Thad: That's why we try to keep this board clear of chat and off-topic comments. Fencer reads this board regularly to find out which features members would like to see. That's why he created it.

WizardII: Well, we could start out small. Perhaps a system to keep track of people's feature requests. That way, Fencer could easily see what new features players really want. We wouldn't need any of his existing code. He could absorb it if he ever wanted to. Seems like a good first step. We/he could always add more if it works well.

I was thinking along those lines. ;-)

Alot more is need than FTP to share on project the size of BrainKing. You really need a Version Control System. Also there is the whole concept of Intelectual property, a keep tight controls on it. Otherwise you would see sites poping using BK Code. An NDA would need to be signed by developers to avoid possible problems.

nobleheart: I could probably offer some space at thad.com. I know how to administer ftp access. Would more than that be required?

if anyone has a site.and wants to grant access to others to help.
is it simply a matter of allowing multi-login privileges to a few?
can you set up several levels of access?
can people collaborate on something online?

I realize that a site is a lot of work.
and if you grant others access,they you have to invest some time governing the site.
but if the trade off is a lot of help,is it worth it?

..just curious about these things.

of course,they the"group" would have to"meet" online to discuss directions.

fungame: Yes, a bonified list of soon-to-be-released features or even bug fixes would be great.

May be it would be wise to sort the priority of features in progress regarding to some voting of members, I think that would make some of you happy and Fencer could prevent leaving of some people this way (f.e. orthodox backgammon lovers).

playBunny:
re : ...It's a good idea and there's willingness (people have offered coding assistance from time to time)...
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I dont know how these things work.
and I respect the fact that it's fencers site.
but others are willing to help.and if it truly is a community.
we can share in helping it grow together...if we want to.
can we not have a select few that are qualified help?
if he desires,fencer can maintain approval over any changes,cant he?

Most of us backgammon lovers agree that this bug needs to be fixed. Fencer certainly knows this. Can we please keep the bulk of that conversation on the backgammon DB now?

Thank you.

Yet another occurence of the backgammon bug.

It happens A LOT

http://brainking.com/en/ShowGame?g=1084775&i=21

tinksbell: It's a good idea and there's willingness (people have offered coding assistance from time to time), but I don't think Fencer's keen on the idea. He can only do so much at one time but he wants it all to be his doing.
(Must admit, I'd be the same.)

LionsLair: Maybe backgammon changes would happen if someone else was willing to take over the job of coding for it. At this time, at least, I know I am not up to the task of coding something like this for a web environment. From a personal perspective there is only so much I can do at one time...