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Game Reviews by Jared McComb
If it's impossible to do that, how did he do it in the first place? It must not be impossible, or at least not to Europeans. Would someone please ZRFolize this? --Jared (EDIT) This should be under the Gufuushogi link! Oops!
Wonderful game! Would someone please ZRFolize this?
Wow! I've been called clever by the immortal variantist himself! *blush* But in this game, you win if you know the correct game, of course! Just like those stupid radio trivia thingies -- it's based on the honor system, but you get brownie points for being the first to call in. Also, in an attempt to be on-topic, how would you have doublewide games that don't have a 'home-row' type setup? Like Halma or Danadazo, for instance. --Jared
It seems to me that the Scorpion and Dragon are pretty clumsy, always having a fixed large range. Aren't they a little too difficult to use well? --Jared
The reasons I have a somewhat low opinion of this game are: 1. I did not spend very much time (in fact, almost no time at all) designing it. 2. I did not (and still do not) have a competent opponent to play it with. 3. I didn't win a prize with this game (admittedly, this is kind of juvenile, but it had a small influence nonetheless). I am honored, though, that so many people find this game attractive. However, I agree that the demotion rule is a very bad one (who was it who said a beautiful rule may not be a good one?), and would like any editor who happens to be passing by to remove the rule, and all references to it. I am working on a larger version of this, but I do not know how to say 'great dragon' or 'expanded dragon' in Japanese. In conclusion, if you would like to thank me for this game, email Steve Evans and ask him to incorporate it into his SV program. --Jared
I'm thinking about eliminating the entire double-move rule altogether. I do know that the demotion has got to go, though, and I like the 'no drops in zone 4' rule -- if you could drop there, they could drop adjacent to it and capture your piece with the just-dropped piece, assuming they have something in hand (unless I illegalize that, too, which I'm also considering). I'll probably send Mr. Aronson a revision sometime next week. (And I'm totally clueless when it comes to advanced ZRF programming techniques.) And as for the large version, the main reason I would want to do that would be to make more space (I'd like a piece density of about 40%). So I would probably be able to keep all the rules from the small version intact, and add a minimal amount of pieces. (And thanks, Mr. Lawson, for that name suggestion. Dai Ryu (Dairyu? Dai-ryu?) sounds good to me, too.) --Jared
I know Rules 2 and 6 are going, and Rule 4 modified to match. Rule 7 looks like it will be edited to say that a player with a bare king has the option of forfeit at any time. The Pawn-drop restriction will also go, except for the checkmate part (dropped pawns are much more powerful in this game than in normal Shogi). As for Rule 1, I like it because it forces the players to come up with somewhat more strategic methods of checkmate. (However, your suggestions have not gone unnoticed! How does Michael Nelson no Ryu Shogi sound for a variant name?) I will send an update in shortly. (My computer crashed recently, so I no longer have the original document. I will not be sending in a new file altogether, but rather some plain text.)
I've submitted the modifications, but I haven't got a reply from Mr. Aronson yet. Hopefully they'll be up by next week or so.
I have always been an Ultima fan. This game was the major inspiration for Rook Mania (which incidentally spent about three years in development, and which I am developing a more 'traditional' version of). It amy be true that this game favors defense over offense, and it may not be a perfect game, but the concept -- having all the pieces move similarly, but capture differently -- is a purely beautiful one. I also agree with Mr. Aronson that the imbalance of pieces is not necessarily bad, although I do not necessarily agree with his analogy -- the reason those games faded out of popularity was probably in favor of more balanced ones.
It would be really nice if this game could be linked to on the Oriental variants list. Could someone with mysterious editing powers do that for me, please? Also, I've been focusing on school and other variants lately, so Dai-Ryu is currently on the back burner. (I'm currently working on 44SC entries, a page for Yonin Shogi (which has precious few English resources available for it and which really ought to be a recognized variant), a page for a game which I compiled ages ago called Grand Shakomega, and a variant using Icehouse pieces which is based loosely on Yonin.) Thanks all, --Jared EDIT: Whoops, I forgot to mention something! I'm looking for someone who can provide me with traditional-style Kanji for the pieces of Ryu Shogi (and some pieces which will debut in Dai-Ryu). Anyone who can help, post here, please (don't email!).
Yes, that assumption would be correct. In fact, in the illustration, the white chameleon imitates four different types at once and puts the black King into check, since it could capture the King by replacement. This, however, brings another question to mind: Must a chameleon be adjacent to a King to capture it? Since there is an orthogonal restriction for them when capturing pawns, is there also a one-space restriction when checking the King?
--Jared
It seems to me that a true tetrahedral form of chess would have 'cells' which, in three dimensions, would take the form of rhombic dodecahedrons, which would allow the board to be pyramidial with 'hexagonal' tiled layers. (Rhombic dodecahedrons tesselate space quite nicely, you know, and naturally lend themselves to making tetrahedra with.) Does the current setup of this game allow for such an analogue? The board can be easily translated, complete with cell coloration and the same twelve directions, but can the rules be translated as easily? I'd love to see an attempt.
Sigh... The Internet is a mixed blessing.
The Ascii diagram of the moves for the One through Seven are messed up.
A quick observation: The contrasting black and white in those possible boards make my eyes hurt. Badly. A set of neutral colors would be much nicer looking.
Why not have 7 be the limit, and make a stack of 7 be a King, instead of having a royal stone? (Then you only have one type of piece, making the game much, er, abstracter, as well as adding more strategies!)
It seems to me that this concept was taken by Christian Freeling and adapted to fit Grand Chess, where it works almost as well.
The board is not actually spherical, but rather is a torus with a half-twist.
Or perhaps have it replace a Knight on the board, and play from there as Pocket Knight.
I had an idea very similar to this one ages ago but completely forgot about it! Good to see it being fleshed out.
Can Promoters capture? And can Promoters promote? If so, does a Promoter that promotes a Promoter which previously promoted pieces prolifically pay a pretty penny? Perhaps a pound? Perhaps in practice Promoter promotion proliferates profusely, as the Promoters are positioned in proximity preceeding each play's premiere.
Roberto, I'd like to point out that as of right now, when one Googles 'chessvariants,' the first related page that comes up under the main listing is this Xiang-Qi page. If that isn't a good indicator of this game's popularity variant-wise, if not game-wise in general, I don't know what is. (Incidentally, a search for 'xiangqi' gives this page second in the list, and a search for 'xiang-qi' or 'chinese chess' gives it first.)
Probably not too similarly, but it's certainly a good idea. This reminds me, I've been meaning to make a SSBM-styled variant.
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