Volunteering to pay for anyone who makes a working Chess add on

[felvinn]

Hi,

Topic says all pretty much. I'm looking for a working chess add on which would let me play chess with my friends through. It is necessary for role-playing purposes, i'm willing to pay for it.

Contact: [email protected]

Thanks

[zohar101]

http://www.curse.com/addons/wow/chess
isn't working? (make sure you check load out of date addons)

[Cairenn]

Check this one out, it may still work if you use 'load outdated'.

[felvinn]

Originally Posted by zohar101 http://www.curse.com/addons/wow/chess isn't working? (make sure you check load out of date addons)

It isn't.

[felvinn]

Originally Posted by Cairenn Check this one out, it may still work if you use 'load outdated'.

Not working either.

[Cairenn]

Bleh, sorry. Was worth a shot though.

[SDPhantom]

I've had the idea to work on this a few times, but I've kept putting it off. It shouldn't be too difficult, maybe add in a move log along with it. Among th emore difficult parts would be the move and capture rules along with a stalemate/checkmate detection system. It would be an interesting project to work on and isn't by any means impossible. Another idea would be to add the capability to set a time limit for Speed Chess.

For anyone that doesn't know about Speed Chess, this is what is usually used in Chess tournaments. There are 2 timers, one for each player, and for any one player, their timer counts down during their turn. If there isn't a winner by the time either timer reaches 0, the timer that runs out first loses.

I used to play what was called CyberChess. It was an online game in which you could play Chess with other people around the world. I remember I used to play it with my computer teacher in Middle School during his class and most nights.

[felvinn]

Originally Posted by SDPhantom I've had the idea to work on this a few times, but I've kept putting it off. It shouldn't be too difficult, maybe add in a move log along with it. Among th emore difficult parts would be the move and capture rules along with a stalemate/checkmate detection system. It would be an interesting project to work on and isn't by any means impossible. Another idea would be to add the capability to set a time limit for Speed Chess. For anyone that doesn't know about Speed Chess, this is what is usually used in Chess tournaments. There are 2 timers, one for each player, and for any one player, their timer counts down during their turn. If there isn't a winner by the time either timer reaches 0, the timer that runs out first loses. I used to play what was called CyberChess. It was an online game in which you could play Chess with other people around the world. I remember I used to play it with my computer teacher in Middle School during his class and most nights.

Totally Agreed, plus it would be great if there was a rating system as well. (Ex. ELO) I'm a professional chess player and i can help with rules and anything else you need to know. I won't let anyone down in this project by any means. I hope someone shows up.

[SDPhantom]

I might take a look at fixing the one Cairenn posted. It already has all the specifications I listed including multiplayer capabilities.

If I were to make my own game, it would be multiplayer only. AI programming isn't one of my strong points. I have ideas on how the internal data would be stored and the communication protocol design. There are also other things to consider like network lag, anti-cheat validation on the communication protocol, supporting game savestates in case of a game that is to be continued later, etc.

There are also special rules to consider, such as what to do when a pawn is to be promoted? Allow the player to choose a rank at random or should we store what pieces have been captured and offer a swap for one of those pieces? I personally would like to implement the swap rule as in regular Chess, you have a physical limitation of how many of each piece a game has. I think it would be game-breaking if someone was allowed to have 9 queens.

[felvinn]

Originally Posted by SDPhantom I might take a look at fixing the one Cairenn posted. It already has all the specifications I listed including multiplayer capabilities. If I were to make my own game, it would be multiplayer only. AI programming isn't one of my strong points. I have ideas on how the internal data would be stored and the communication protocol design. There are also other things to consider like network lag, anti-cheat validation on the communication protocol, supporting game savestates in case of a game that is to be continued later, etc. There are also special rules to consider, such as what to do when a pawn is to be promoted? Allow the player to choose a rank at random or should we store what pieces have been captured and offer a swap for one of those pieces? I personally would like to implement the swap rule as in regular Chess, you have a physical limitation of how many of each piece a game has. I think it would be game-breaking if someone was allowed to have 9 queens.

Can you PM me or write your skype adress? I would like to get in touch with you.

[Phanx]

Most people here will not be interested in writing you an addon privately for money. For one, you would likely not be willing to pay the actual market value of a skilled programmer's time. For another, this is a hobby community, not a job board. We're all here because we want to be here, and because we enjoy being here, not because we want to get money from being here.

You will likely get a better response if you stop trying to push people to take the conversation to Skype, PM, or email, and actually present your idea to the community and ask for community participation.

Also, posting your email address on a public forum is not a very good idea, as it is publicly viewable by every spam bot on the entire Internet.

[felvinn]

Originally Posted by Phanx Most people here will not be interested in writing you an addon privately for money. For one, you would likely not be willing to pay the actual market value of a skilled programmer's time. For another, this is a hobby community, not a job board. We're all here because we want to be here, and because we enjoy being here, not because we want to get money from being here. You will likely get a better response if you stop trying to push people to take the conversation to Skype, PM, or email, and actually present your idea to the community and ask for community participation. Also, posting your email address on a public forum is not a very good idea, as it is publicly viewable by every spam bot on the entire Internet.

Of course money won't be the reason for people to contribute this idea, but a reinforcer maybe? Since i have nothing to offer in any other way. Atleast it draws attention to how enthusiastic i am. However, i agree with your email suggestion. I hope not to offend anyone by offering a donation, i'm just in direly need a help about this.

[felvinn]

Just to keep it updated, SDPhantom is working on it. I'm not sure if he's going to fix the one Cairenn did or make a new one, but just wanted to tell you that he's probably doing it.


Probably the features are going to be as listed:

* Multiplayer
* Against Computer
* Notation (tracks up the moves played)
* Hint squares (basicly telling which squares the piece you hold can move)
* Garrosh/Varian etc. speaking if you move your king. (And similar sound stuff)
* Horde/Alliance figures
* Rating -Not sure- (Showing how experienced a player is etc.)
* Timer

I'm trying to help him with the basics/rules of chess. If anyone is interested in helping him, please contact him.

Thanks

[felvinn]

According to SDPhantom, notations will be a combination of Figurine Algebraic notation and Long Algebraic notation .

Ex: ♞b1-a3

[SDPhantom]

Originally Posted by felvinn ♞b1-a3

Seems like some browsers aren't showing the symbol in the example notation.
It's Unicode U+265E from Unicode: Miscellaneous Symbols and is the symbol for a black knight (skin settings for the site is changing it to look like a white knight symbol).

Regardless, I still have to test if the WoW fonts support that Unicode range. If not, I'll just put in a texture UI escape in for it.

[Vlad]

Originally Posted by SDPhantom Seems like some browsers aren't showing the symbol in the example notation. It's Unicode U+265E from Unicode: Miscellaneous Symbols and is the symbol for a black knight (skin settings for the site is changing it to look like a white knight symbol). Regardless, I still have to test if the WoW fonts support that Unicode range. If not, I'll just put in a texture UI escape in for it.

Why not make a custom font file for chess icons only? Editing a font file and exporting a sliced version can't be that hard, can it? Beats making blp files!

Btw I gave up making my own chess addon, too much work, I don't got time for it atm.

[SDPhantom]

I don't have anything that can edit font files and I already have a couple sources to rip the piece sprites from.

[Dridzt]

I've used FontForge in the past.

[Vlad]

Originally Posted by SDPhantom I don't have anything that can edit font files and I already have a couple sources to rip the piece sprites from.

Not sure if you need it, or if it helps, but here: <attachment>

It contains a .ttf font file that only contains chess pieces. I put them in the A-F positions, A=king, B=queen, C=rook, D=bishop, E=knight and F=pawn. Lower case a-f is for the black pieces. You could perhaps use this in combination with fontstring widgets to display the chess board pieces, instead of using image files.

[Phanx]

The only issue with using fontstrings instead of textures for the pieces themselves is that there is a rather small upper limit on the size of fontstrings in WoW; it's anywhere between 28 and 36 point, depending on your font's actual pixel size.