Kindle Chinese Chess

[twobob]

I dug around in the (vietnamese) blog the best I could.

Bottom line? Never got released as source... Far as I can tell.

EDIT: And now they are Thanks to the Author!

[vanhoavn]

I've uploaded the touch version, tested on paperwhite 5.3.1

[hornpipe2]

Do you have source? I'd like to compile it for Kindle2.

EDIT: Never mind, I see you posted it on GitHub. Awesome! I might try a compile later today!

[twobob]

Much respect for posting the sources.

Hero.

[yiming]

@vanhoavn
it doesn't work on KPW 5.3.3, error seems to be related to dev key. any solution? thanks.

[vanhoavn]

Try using the latest keystore from PoP's thread

[Awak]

Thank you very much! I have spend hours in the game and still cannot beat the computer's AI! Well done! I love it very much...

Where can I find the "short Chess Puzzle" in the game?

=========================================

However, I think there are still rooms for enhancement to make it a "perfect" game:

- Provide cheating methods such as an "Undo" button so that it can go back one step whenever it has pressed up to the beginning of the game. Or "Hint" button to let the computer moves the current step even it is your turn.

- Display the history of steps on the screen's left/right side of the chess board.

- Display the play time since the game started at the bottom of screen.

- Load a set of preset games (short Chess Puzzle) for user to solve. Provided (more than one?) solution with a "Hint" button.

- To help the first time player, a single help page just show the basic allowed moves of each chess. Purely graphic without words for international languages.

HeHe! Hope that I am not asking too much??

[twobob]

The Author VERY kindly provided the source.

Fire up a few changes and see if anyone jumps on board to help. For my part? I would appreciate some basic instructions I can't even play

Your changes sound doable, 3 of them near instantly with a bit of code digging I would guess. IIRC there were some puzzles but I should go check my facts, it's been a while.

So yeah. good ideas, starting chucking some code around.

[Awak]

Originally Posted by twobob

For my part? I would appreciate some basic instructions I can't even play.

I can understand the difficulty of learning to play this game if you cannot read Chinese character.

However, you can simply Google "Chinese Chess" from Internet and there are a lot of sites teaching how to play it.

Tried the following site and see if it helps - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiangqi

It is a lovely Chess Game which is develop over a very long history and in my opinion is better than the standard Western Chess.

Both Chess games have very similar pieces: King, rook, knight and pawn. But the similarity is ended here as the rule of chess moves are totally different.

The rules used in Chinese Chess are more complicated and that is the fun bit coming once you know the rules well:

- The King cannot move outside his "Palace".

- It does not have a Queen but have two "Personal Guards" to protect the King.

- It does not have a Bishop but have two "Cannons" that can "fire" across another chess piece!

- The moves for knight, rook and pawn are very similarity with a few exception rules.

- There are also a pair of "Elephants" that can only move in "square" (Chinese word for farm field).

I really hope more people can learn to play this game and enjoy it!

The software works very well on the touch screen of Kindle and I have lots of fun from it - Whenever I taken out my kindle and wherever I like...

[twobob]

okay. well since you were kind enough to give me a guide...

Im digging for your changes/requirements. NOT MAKING THEM, just looking for the places of interest or seeing if they are already in the code.

- Provide cheating methods such as an "Undo" button so that it can go back one step whenever it has pressed up to the beginning of the game. Or "Hint" button to let the computer moves the current step even it is your turn.

SWIPE LEFT OR RIGHT TO GO BACK AND FORWARD ONE MOVE. Also: The computer logic would undoubtedly be capable of moving the players piece. I did not dig into that yet.

- Display the history of steps on the screen's left/right side of the chess board.

DIG IN public static posCollection pc;
public static final Position pos=new Position(); and then splatter in a LISTVIEW

- Display the play time since the game started at the bottom of screen.

An easier one. add a status area (just a label splattered on the bottom), (probably to the BOARD COMPONENTS THINGY) add a callback that updates the UI every 15s (say) and append the time now - (minus) time at start to the status area.

- Load a set of preset games (short Chess Puzzle) for user to solve. Provided (more than one?) solution with a "Hint" button.

there are 40+ on offer (PICTURED)
I can find no hinting mechanism... or "solution lister"


- To help the first time player, a single help page just show the basic allowed moves of each chess. Purely graphic without words for international languages.

Yep the help page could be improved.
Have to dig around in the LANG STRINGS I think

HERE'S where you could find the pictures...

this is just me browsing the code. No solid solutions.

Hope that helps somewhat.

[twobob]

tested on the 3 also. for completeness.

[Awak]

Wow! You amazing me! You are very good in understanding other people's source code...

Since I have just bought my kindle (and jailbreak it), it may take quite some time before I can dig into the codes and do some changes! Not to mention I don't even know how to setup the correct development environment and get the correct toolchains for it ...

As for those "Short Chess Puzzle" solutions, you may not need to provide the real solution - Just let the computer plays its part and Player's part too if wanted (with cheating) and solve it as the game goes.

On a second thought of how to learn to play this game, the easiest way is JUST PLAY IT!

The computer will tell you if it is an invalid move and I am pretty sure you can learn the game in no time!

However, the user interface of Touch Screen may require some time to get used to it: Touch the piece you want to move, a square around it will appear. Touch the location you want to move to, another square around the location will appear if it is a valid move. Touch the place again will confirm the move.

Have fun!!

[Awak]

Originally Posted by Awak

Where can I find the "short Chess Puzzle" in the game?

Sorry guys! I have found it under the Menu Button. I am still new to this thing and never expect the software can add items on the original Menu!

The software is well written and provide an "undo" function already.

However, it takes me sometime to get used to the "swipe left/right" user interface. Personally, I would prefer a simple touch on the left or right edge of screen (which consistent with the "original Kindle style")...

When chosen a Chess Puzzle, it is hard to get the correct one as they are jammed to each other - I would prefer to make a reasonable size button for each Chess Puzzle (similar to the Cover View option) and arrange more than one button on the same row. The font that is now using would be better if double its current size and so there will be six pages for the Chess Puzzle which I think is still a reasonable size.

If that is too hard to implement, at least a small box with a tick against each row to indicate I have chosen the correct one. And a press on "OK" button before enter the game.

Hope you don't mind my "honest feedback"?

[twobob]

me? nah.

I tend to agree with your points.

you should check out the KINDLET HELLO WORLDS if you ever fancy amending it for yourself.

The author indicated that he "Did this one time when he was bored" or something similar (IIRC)

Don't think he will mind the feedback therefore

[freedumb2000]

Works great on the PW. THX!