jadarite [flags]: the right flag is the one you feel suits you better. It never crossed my mind that one could be of a country and live in another - and as such, i read nationality rather than location. :) Nationality makes a bit more sense inside my head, but that's a personal choice i guess. :)
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[Western Representation] About the promoted pieces and their representations... It might become a tad harder for people to remember what it promoted from if the piece changes name. For the less experienced players, that is. Still, it's part of the game, i guess. To know the pieces and what they promote to/from. If the objective is to have the original game represented fairly, i think one ought to use the "real names". (Although that would, in all honesty, make the process of learning the game harder.)
I like to see the movement indicators on the pieces. I hope that is something to be kept in the more "exquisite" games. Though i'm curious how we'll manage to represent Tori Shogi's exquisite movements - namely the Eagle's back moves. =]
jadarite: Eep! You can't break the kanji, then it'll be a different one! ;) Those two katakana are the katakana for the sounds "ro" ( ロ ) and "e" ( エ ). Any Japanese would go wild if he saw such changes. =P
It's like breaking a word in half: instead of "castle" you write "cast", and it's a different thing.
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It looks great with the whole kanji.
( side note: 口 is also the kanji for "mouth" - kuchi ^_^)
jurek and jadarite: The difference in the quails is the kanji [japanese character] that shows up on the top of the piece. 右 = "migi" = right 左 = "hidari" = left
鶉 = uzura = quail
I suggest you use nihongoresources.com to search for the characters. :) Very good work so far.
Sorry, i didn't read more than a few posts down. If you need any help hunt me on msn: andre_c_neves [AT] hotmail [DOT] com