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Diamond Chess 306. Missing description (22x24, Cells: 306) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

💡📝David Cannon wrote on Wed, Feb 4, 2009 06:42 AM EST:

I will add some graphics to this in the near future.

💡📝David Cannon wrote on Wed, Feb 4, 2009 03:12 PM EST:

I have tried to edit this page since submitting it, but keep getting an error message.  I want to link it to a zillions file and add some graphics.

Another comment - this time a request : I am a novice with zillions programming.  I have made a program that works, but I think the code could probably be optimised - it probably takes up a lot more space than it needs to.  If anybody skilled in Zillions programming could optimise the code, I would be very grateful.

David Howe wrote on Wed, Feb 4, 2009 05:05 PM EST:

David -- what error are you getting? I just uploaded an image and edited the contents of my sample game page, and didn't get any errors. Please make sure you are using the links with the text:

'If you are the author of this page, your may edit index information or edit the contents of this page. You may also, if your page uses graphics, upload files.'

Thanks!

💡📝David Cannon wrote on Wed, Feb 4, 2009 08:02 PM EST:

Thanks for the tip, David!  I've tried it and it works.  I've uploaded one 
image now, showing the initial setup for the 'simple version' (there are 
four variants in the Zillions file I made).  I'll upload some more images 
tonight when I get home from work, and the zillions file also.

By the way, is there a limit to the number of images I may upload?  I need a 
number of images to show the different movements of the pieces, so I hope 
I'm allowed some space.

Thanks once again for the tip.  I was indeed clicking the wrong link :-(

💡📝David Cannon wrote on Thu, Feb 5, 2009 07:16 AM EST:

I will come back tomorrow night and upload some more files - I have exceeded my 500KB limit for the day.

I have also tried to link the page to the Zillions file I uploaded, but it doesn't seem to be appearing.  Can anybody tell me what's going on?

💡📝David Cannon wrote on Sun, Feb 8, 2009 04:53 PM EST:

Both yesterday and today, I got the following error message when I tried to edit the index information :

'Error performing query: Duplicate entry 'MSdiamondchess30' for key 1'

Can anybody please look into this?

David Howe wrote on Mon, Feb 9, 2009 12:14 PM EST:

OK, should be fixed now. Please try again...

💡📝David Cannon wrote on Wed, Feb 11, 2009 05:01 AM EST:

Actually, it's still causing problems. I'm trying to edit the index information, but when I click the SEND button, instead of saving it, it opens the edit page for the whole game. When I save that, it does not save any of the changes I made to the index information :-(

David Howe wrote on Wed, Feb 11, 2009 08:11 AM EST:

When you save the index information, it does bring you to the edit content page, but it really has saved the index information. I just tried it. If it still isn't working, just let me know what index information you'd like to change and I'll test it with that information. Thanks!

💡📝David Cannon wrote on Wed, Feb 11, 2009 03:52 PM EST:

Ah, it seems to be fixed now. What I did was add 'Zillions of Games file included' to the description. When I reloaded the 'what's new' page last night, the change didn't show up, so I thought the update hadn't worked. But it shows up now. Thanks for all your help!

💡📝David Cannon wrote on Fri, Dec 25, 2009 07:56 PM EST:

I am about in the process of updating this webpage to take account of changes I have made to the game over the past few months. The major change is to the Pawns - there are now four varieties of Pawns which all assimilate with and split from one another, as do the other pieces. My original idea of allowing a Pawn to morph into whatever piece it captured looked beautiful on paper, but it created some bizarre situations when I play tested it with Zillions: seeing every Pawn as a potential Conqueror (the most powerful piece in the game), major pieces would launch kamikaze attacks across the board against Pawns. That wasn't what I had in mind, so I've changed that. In addition, the Arrow and Intruder (superfluous because their move was identical to the Lance and Spy, respectively, and differed from them only in that they fused with 'crooked' pieces rather than 'line' pieces) have been removed, some pieces have been renamed, and some graphics have been changed.

I will spend the next few hours or days updating this page; new graphics and a new Zillions file will be uploaded, so please bear with me.

Al S. wrote on Sat, Dec 26, 2009 01:49 PM EST:Poor ★

You clearly put a lot of work into this, but I think it's hopeless. Difficult geometry compared to regular tilings, huge number of pieces, many of them with difficult or unclear moves. The chances of a human playing this strategically are almost zero.

💡📝David Cannon wrote on Sat, Dec 26, 2009 06:57 PM EST:

Thank you for your opinion. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it is a given that what one person enjoys, another won't.

The bottom line is that I made the game for myself. If others like it, that's good, but the basic reason I made it is because I enjoy it. I play the game myself (yes, I really do!) against the zillions program, and have been mastering strategy by observing what zillions and remembering it.

Contrary to your assertions, the pieces do not have 'difficult' moves - they are all either sliders or knight-like leapers, apart from two pieces with crooked moves, analogous to the Griphon in some other variants. I have no trouble remembering their moves and anybody interested enough could master it quite easily. But that's the key: if you're not interested, of course I don't expect you to make the effort:-)

You mention the huge board and the huge number of pieces. Well, I think Chu Shogi has more, as have some of Lynn Smith's 3-D variants which I love. I have a preference for 'large' variants, and have made a point of downloading and studying the ZRF for every large variant I can find.

Finally, I made this game in order to teach myself Zillions programming. I knew nothing about it when I started. I deliberately created difficult problems, and spent thousands of hours crafting solutions to them. For me, learning to make a program to play the game was - and is - one of the greatest pleasures.

By the way, I'm about three quarters of the way through this update. I will upload the revised zillions file either today or tomorrow.

💡📝David Cannon wrote on Sun, Dec 27, 2009 03:26 AM EST:

The new Zillions of Games file is now available here.

Sam Trenholme wrote on Wed, Dec 30, 2009 10:48 PM EST:Good ★★★★

It’s nice to see people moving beyond simple square and hex boards, but I think a 22x23 game is the rhombic equivalent of Tai shogi. Perhaps a smaller version of this variant would be good.

Of course, David’s next challenge is to make chess variants for all of the regular polygon tilings. Or, if that’s too ambitious, how about a chess variant for this tiling.

The possibilities are nearly endless...

💡📝David Cannon wrote on Thu, Dec 31, 2009 07:07 AM EST:

Thank you for the links and the challenge! You have correctly guessed that my fascination is with using tilings as chessboards, and I am in fact working on two more such tilings at present.

I've just had a look at your Tai Shogi link - wow! That'll take me a while to master. Yes, I am considering a number of 'mini' variants of Diamond Chess (I deliberately included the number 306 in the name, denoting the number of cells, to allow for variants with different numbers of cells).

Anonymous wrote on Fri, Apr 16, 2010 02:57 AM EDT:

This game is probably good, but i did not understood how pieces moves at all (maybe, only is a bit more clear than other pieces)! You did not explain, what is, for example 'oblique paths'! At least, make diagrams, wich shows these moves, if you can't explain them!

💡📝David Cannon wrote on Fri, Apr 16, 2010 08:38 PM EDT:

For the oblique path, look at the SLIDER family diagram. In the middle of the diagram is the CONQUEROR, which is a combined Rook/Bishop/Lance/Spy. You'll see the SPY-path marked out (the SPY is represented by the wheel symbol). That's the oblique path.

You could also consider downloading the Zillions of Games file I made, and trying out the various pieces for yourself.

💡📝David Cannon wrote on Sat, Jun 19, 2010 08:39 AM EDT:

This page looks like a dog's breakfast at the moment. I am in the middle of rewriting it and replacing the graphics with more cosmetic ones; will try to finish tomorrow.

> 3. When a compound piece captures a simple piece, the latter is simply
killed and removed from the board.

So, Duchess takes Bishop doesn't become a Queen?

dcannon1965 wrote on Sun, Jun 27, 2010 12:58 AM EDT:

No, what I meant was that when a compound piece captures a simple piece that forms one of its components, it cannot assimilate it. A Duchess (a Rook-Lance compound) capturing a Bishop does indeed become a Queen. But a Duchess capturing a Rook simply kills the Rook: it already has the Rook's powers, so gaining the Rook doesn't give it anything it hasn't already got.

Thanks for drawing my attention to this - I think I need to make some further revisions to the instructions:-(

New question: Does a Princess that captures a Zealot absorb the Lance part to become a Queen?

💡📝David Cannon wrote on Sat, Jul 3, 2010 09:47 AM EDT:

The short answer is no. The Princess belongs to the 'slider' family and the Zealot to the 'crooked slider' family. The Lance shares membership of both families and can therefore be assimilated by members of either family - as a simple piece. But when it is part of a compound, it can be assimilated only by members of the same family. Therefore, a Princess cannot assimilate the Lance part of the Zealot to become a Queen.

You may ask why this fussy distinction. There are two reasons. The first is that I could either allow every piece to assimilate every other piece, or I would have to draw the line somewhere. The first option would create such a huge number of pieces that even I wouldn't be able to remember them all. The second option, which I chose, means that some arbitrary distinctions have to be made. I settled on confining assimilation to within 'families' - and in the case of families whose membership partially overlaps, a certain degree of subjectivity creeps in.

The second reason for this is programming. There were a number of things I would have liked to do, but the limitations of Zillions (or, rather, of my knowledge of it) forced compromises. The case you mentioned is one, although I think I would now be able to work around it if I was so inclined. I may may tweak the program that way when I get around to it.

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