Comments by ChessShogi

It is definitely an improvement. However, I think this page would really benefit from some images showing what you mean. If you want an easy way to generate such images, the Musketeer Chess Board Painter is an excellent option.

Also, as it is now, the last variant appears to be the same as the base game.

Earlier, the week ending 13 Jan., I had seen someone's submissions approved where the statement was not added, and I'd thought it was not really required anymore on CVP site, if it ever was.

I guess the statement isn't truly necessary. since the majority of this site's members know how to play Chess, but it helps if you want to avoid ambiguity, especially for people who have never seen Chess or one of its variants before.

I have approved the four variants mentioned in my previous comment.

Usually, in Shogi games, people just use +<unpromoted form> for the promoted form of a piece, but this works, as long as there is a clear link between the promoted and unpromoted forms of a piece.

The Pawns on the second row could become a problem if you need to keep track of which Pawn starts where.

Perhaps add an orthogonal equivalent to the Elephant, or maybe even the equivalent of an Alibaba to solve this? Or simply say that if a Pawn ends up on the starting square of another Pawn it can make another double/triple step?

Also, the White Boyscout's image is missing.

The Intro, Setup and most of the Pieces sections are fine. Overall, the concept looks promising. However, the Rules section still leaves out many crucial details, such as the following:

• Does the Black Swan Event refer specifically to a group of pieces resulting from turning into Black Swans or Pawn promotions?
  • If not, you can call any group of one, two, or three non-King pieces a Black Swan Event.
• Does "it cannot be placed on the board on the Black Swans' starting position, in order to avoid capturing" mean that Black Swans can only be placed on the third or fourth ranks?
  • This should be in the Rules section.
• Can Black Swans make a double step on their first move?
  • If so, if a Black Swan from the first rank turns into a Black Swan after moving to the second rank, does the new Black Swan:
    • have the ability to make a double step?
      • If not, then a problem arises from having to keep track of which Black Swans started where.
    • have immunity from capture?
  • Same questions apply to Black Swans being dropped on the board due to Black Swan Events, if they can be dropped on the first or second ranks.
• How am I supposed to determine the number of pieces that results from a Black Swan Event, such as:
  • a Black Swan turning into another Black Swan?
    • do the probabilities from Pawn promotions apply here as well?
  • promoting a Pawn?
• Are pieces that are dropped on the board always Black Swans, or can the player choose which piece appears?
• Does "nearby empty squares" mean anything in particular? If not, this phrase should be omitted or replaced with "square(s) on own half of board".
• What happens if all pieces are on the board, or all available drop spaces for extra pieces are filled up?

Your using the wrong file for the diagram. For the morph trick to work, you need to use the betzaNew.js file.

You can also put in this code between the betzaNew call and the diagram definition to achieve the same effect without needing to change the Tokin's ID (also requires betzaNew.js):

<script>
function pieceTinker(m, d)
{
  piece = m[-6] & 511;
  if((piece == 1) && d == 0) { m[-1] = (m[-6] & 1024 | piece + promoOffset); return 2; }
}
</script>

I have made the edits I suggested and approved this page.

They're pretty close. However, if you want to stay true to the images I made, I should point out two things.

Firstly, you have three lines, indicating limited-range-5. Only the two outer-most of these lines are used for limited-range-4 in my reference piece for limited range.

Whenever a bulge transitions to a non-adjacent step, the border goes from straight to the rounded "hole" that indicates no move in  that direction. Take these images, for example:

Also, the piece list generated by the Interactive Diagram does not show the promotions. You have to enter those manually, like so (pieceType is the position of the piece in the list, starting at 1):

<ul>
<li onclick="ShowMoves(pieceType)">Insert HTML Here</li>
...
</ul>

Kirin (K) and Phoenix (P) have same IDs as King and Pawn, respectively, and the Dark Spirit adn Divine Sparrow have duplicate IDs (albeit with the latter having an exclamation-point prefix). For the former two, I think you meant KR and PH as in normal Kagamigi.

Also, the decision to have the Deva and Dark Spirit promote to something with the exact same move as its unpromoted counterpart is baffling to me. I know it very occasionally happens with Taikyoku Shogi, but there isn't really a reason to do this.

Hmmm...I guess you technically managed to make the page good enough to be approved without images. There's something you don't see every day. I am really on the fence here...

I guess I'll approve it and see what happens.

Oh...wait. Are there any restrictions on the directions you can jump Pawns in (apart from the Knight, whose directional restrictions are well-defined).

Already this is a much better submission than Black Swan (whose rules still do not answer a lot of the questions that I posted, and ended up giving me headaches, hence my lack of a reply thus far).

There is a typo, and a couple points that need clarifying.

All chess rulles apply, except for the promotion rules. 

Here "rulles" is misspelled.

If a King crosses into enemy territory it will get "dictatorial powers", meaning that the King will be allowed to move and capture twice in a row, provided it is not in check. 

This can be put before the line explaining the border between friendly and enemy territory. I think it flows better that way.

There's also a few points that need clarifying here:

• Is the second step optional? (I assume it is from the current wording)
• Can the two steps be made as a jump?
• Can the second step return to its starting square, even when this would skip a turn?
  • If it can skip a turn, are there any additional rules about turn skipping that we should be aware of?

Also, since there are Pawns starting one row back from the full row of Pawns, I must ask about the initial double step:

• If one of these Pawns lands on the starting square of another Pawn, can it still make a double step?

This and the original are interesting games (more so the original). However, I think a move that moves or jumps to the second square and then slides from that square in the same direction (jR/jB/jQ) would be much a more effective choice for the sliding moves. As it stands now, no single piece is capable of delivering checkmate with the help of its own King.

I meant an Interactive Diagram in the Setup section.

I guess now that I think about it, this is good enough for approval, considering that it is an army for CWDA rather than a standalone game.

@Fergus,

I think there should be a dedicated page for WIP pages (reviewwip.php or something similar), like the Review New Submissions page for Members-Only submissions, if there is not one already. Since it is now possible for a page to be either WIP (Authors-and-Editors-only) or Members-Only, this would make access to WIP pages easier. We can then have a link to the WIP page list on The Editor Page, or perhaps even on the homepage as well.

I believe the exclamation point does make for a distinct ID: DS vs !DS.

Distinct enough, I guess.

The Deva and Dark Spirit look much better now that they have their Maka Dai Dai moves.

I'll take another good look at this one tomorrow. It's getting pretty late for me right now, as of the writing of this Comment.

@Florin Lupusoru,

Please read this Comment all the way through, and wait until the end before judging.

Maybe it's just me, but I am struggling to see much of a difference between the last version and this one. While I do see a few improvements, the page largely looks unchanged.

The concept itself looks very promising, but the way the actual rules are worded makes them very unclear to me. Ideally, a Game page should be made so that the rules are easy to learn.

I think it would be highly beneficial for you to look at and study some of the published articles on this site to get a better idea of the standards that we have for our pages. The pages I have authored are a good place to start (e.g. Hectochess or Yangsi), as I have a good idea of what an approvable submission should look like in general, at least as far as Game pages and Preset pages are concerned. Your pages don't necessarily have to meet my level of quality to be approved. Your submission SPQR is already close to eligible, albeit still with a few kinks to work out in its current form, which I will eventually touch on in that thread. However, they need to do their job effectively and have at least some quality to them. This is something that all Editors on this site will generally agree on, so having a benchmark to follow will help.

P.S. I probably need to refine my review process as I just got Editor status last month. However, my points still stand.

I did already say that none of the seconded games qualify.

Does anyone want to second anything before the month is over? Of the games that have been nominated and seconded, each has problems.

@Fergus,

Perhaps some improvements, even minor ones, to the criteria could be made and/or are in order, if for no other reason than the fact that you said we were running out of eligible variants to be featured when you featured Hectochess.

One improvement we could easily make (which I vehemently recommend) is, for the computer program, replacing the preference for Zillions of Games with a preference for a free-to-play program.

SInce Zillions is a pay-to-play program (meaning it costs money), and you already have it and are accustomed to it, it is safe to say that the Zillions of Games requirement is a personal preference on your part. Unless you are a connoisseur in the types of games that Zillions is made for, you won't be likely to pick it up, especially with the price tag. It makes no sense to have a preference for a pay-to-play program for making to-be-featured Chess Variants when there are plenty of free-to-play options for doing the exact same thing, especially with the world in its current state.

If you want something with rule enforcement options, there are several options, such as ChessV, Ai Ai, Jocly, or Ludii. I would highly recommend listing H. G. Muller's Interactive Diagrams as well, as it is extremely flexible, and has become at least somewhat well-known and adopted by the site's contributors (for me this was a godsend). Each has its own advantages and drawbacks, but these would likely better serve as examples while having the preference as "a free-to-play program" in general.

Ok, this looks better. But I do have a few more things to ask here.

If a King gets "dictatorial powers" it will only be allowed to keep the enemy King at two squares distance.

This seems a bit redundant, unless you are trying to say that the King cannot use this power to deliver check. In that case, simply say that the dictatorial powers cannot deliver check.

Also, does the King lose these powers if if moves to its own half of the board?

If a Pawn reaches a promotion line and does not promote straigt away, it will have to advance to the next promotion line in order to be eligible again for promotion. 

If a Pawn reaches the last rank, is it required to promote? This would make a lot of sense, as it keeps you from accidentally leaving a Pawn as a "dead piece".

P.S. It seems that there are a couple of grammar issues here and there in your submissions. These shouldn't matter too much, as long as people can understand what you are saying.

If it helps any, try looking at Fergus Duniho's On Designing Good Chess Variants page.

An excellent experimental variant. Need I say any more about a concept so simple and brilliant that it works with any practically any board with an even number of ranks, and with odd numbers of ranks with some adjustment?

You are already listed as the author of this page.