chessgame in coulour-help wanted

deedebee

i am a painter-photographer who's been working for several years on a new type of chess game that's played in colour. i managed to get a general idea on my website, but would appreciate if somebody could give me some help to make the game more interactive.(i'm fairly new to gamedesign)
here's the link
--played with coloured pieces
http://www.theapplegallery.com/drag%20and%20drop+january11-transp.htm
--played with little carpets
http://www.theapplegallery.com/drag%20and%20drop+.htm
--more info
http://www.theapplegallery.com/chessgame/somebasics.html
i managed to show things with the drag and drop system but need help with
-(1)how could i put the pieces straight on top of the carpets?
-(2)is there a way of counting the moves people make?
-(3)any help or idea to make it more interactive
-(4)i have seen somewhere a chess game in flash where the moves pieces made, where shown
here's the link http://wickedgoodgames.com/flash3/chess.html
could i use something similar ?

the basic difference between this game and normal chess is
that the nature of the game is not one of attacking but of helping eachother
(i'm at present working (writing) on some form of play (story) where "WAR IS OVER" and the two clans are invited to a wedding (hence they need to get there as soon as possible)
my initial idea was (still is)to play the game with coloured lights (additive colour)when for example (in the theatre)you shine red+blue+green toghether on the stage it will make white. so having 2 opposites would make a white light(RIGHT MOVE)), while for example green and red would create just another colour (-yellow) so (WRONG MOVE)
the players need to find their opposite colour ( that could be made easy or difficult)+ you can change the whole setup

over the years i have been applying different forms how this game could be played
(for example the game with the carpets i made with the help of a whole village in india and works on the same principle- finding their opposite player) same as the other game with the coloured squares . i also used numbers to make it a bit easier to understand (opposite players need to make nr "7")


the moves used are exactly the same as in chess (horse,bishop,etc...)

deedebee

website
http://www.theapplegallery.com/

clearz

Hi Interesting Idea for a game there. Have you fully completed the design of the game and are ready to implement it in software.

I strongly recommend that you scrap the idea of using DHTML and go with a language like java. I believe java is perfect for this kind of game because of its built in graphical capabilities which can be very easily coded using an OOP style.
The game could be easily made as both a stand alone Application or an Applet which can run in a browser.

DHTML can get very messy (Its a mix of 3 different languages JavaScript, HTML, CSS) and is different for every browser (I’m using Firefox and your drag and Drop example doesn’t work)

I have very little expierence with DHTML so I cant really answer your questions but if you were to go down the Java path I’m sure I could help you with your questions as I have a keen interest in game creation.

Thordon

I would recommend java also, but applets are terrible tbh, another option would be webstart if it has to be web-based. I havent used it myself, but it seems straightforward enough.

rsynnott

Thordon wrote:

I would recommend java also, but applets are terrible tbh, another option would be webstart if it has to be web-based. I havent used it myself, but it seems straightforward enough.

It's fairly easy to design an app that can be used in an applet or as a Webstart app, depending on context. Just have the app's main frame as a JPanel (or Panel if you're using AWT) and add it to either the Applet or JFrame depending on implementation.

deedebee

would it also be easy to make a kind of template whereby i could change player positions?

the idea is to make different games with
different set-ups (colours or forms) and levels (-easy, intermediate and difficult) (so the positions would need to be changed for another game)

there's a multitude of ways the players and the board could look,making it easier or more difficult to find the opposite player.

--- while a specific game could be played over and over again (trying to find the least possible moves -or against a clock) by changing the positions of the players a totaly new game is created

deedebee

got an improvement on the previous version

http://www.theapplegallery.com/cchess/drag.html

hopefully the full version will be ready soon

feedback greatly appreciated

amen

interesting idea for a game but
1:your web site is a bit disorganised
2: when playing the game there are no rules to enforce valid moves or
to take turns

why use java ? why not look at some thing like flash ?

if you need a hand with anything send me a pm

clearz

Hi
I have developed a full screen java prototype of your chess game which can be downloaded at:

http://electra.lunarpages.com/~aor0002/chess/chess.jar
(I just noticed there when I try to download this it renames it to chess.zip. Make sure it is called chess.jar)

This can be run by double clicking it. You will need java installed in order for it to work. This can be got here.

http://www.java.com/en/download/windows_automatic.jsp

I like your DHTML version. Once you have added the game logic to it I will implement it in the java version.

John.

deedebee

thanks clearz,

the game looks great

i've been having some help by somebody who's working at the moment on the
game logic for the server. (storing and passing chessboard state,
counting moves, and enforcing valid moves)

i've just set up a blog yesterday (to do a bit of writing about it all) as i found that my website was becoming a tad disorganised due to keep adding stuff to it.
i hope a weblog will do more justice to the game as it'll be easier to organise the workings and toughts of it all.
http://colourchess.blogspot.com/

i hope to stay in touch with you people and feedback and ideas will always be appreciated (it's been quite a bit of a learningcurve for me and i wouldn't have been able to manage without the forums)
as a game with co-operation in mind i hope to evolve the game (might even be a role playing game) in a few directions

keep in touch