Chess

[Rod]

Ahhh…. clock playing up so not fixed. Not incrementing black time. New strategy required!

[tsh73]

I see you use TIMER SUB.
It used to hang then window is moved... I did managed to hang it.

Game save format is really crude I would say. (made me cry actually )
Probably just all game state (arrays)?
As an idea I suggest saving as a move list.
Then load, reset board to beginning, then replay along the list.
If done it will give "take move back" feature - you just replay one move less.
And - you will have move list for free

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Just played (finished ) it
In the list, sometimes some weird symbol instead of space if moved to empty space
like "KD2-?D1"

---

Move list area probably needs FLUSH. 
It DO take time to think - so switching back and forth is natural.

---

Just left it for 15 minutes.
Nothing happened

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sometimes errors with
(ACTUALLY last 8 errors - so quite a lot)
Runtime error: invalid branch label: [mover]

Error(Exception)>>defaultAction
Error(Exception)>>activateHandler: <anUndefinedObject>
Error(Exception)>>handle
Error(Exception)>>signal
Error class(Exception class)>>signal: <'invalid branch label...'>
BasicProgram(Object)>>error: <'invalid branch label...'>
BasicProgram>>goto: <'[mover]'>
BasicProgram>>gotoAndIfStoppedBegin: <'[mover]'>
BasicProgram>>handlerName: <'[mover]'> evaluate: <aBlockClosure> callParameters: <anOrderedCollection>
BasicProgram>>submitHandlerName: <'[mover]'> evaluate: <aBlockClosure> callParameters: <anOrderedCollection>
LibGraphPane(BasicGraphPane)>>button1Up: <aPoint>
Message>>perform
NotificationManager>>empty
NotificationManager>>runPendingEvents
NotificationManager>>runEventLoop
Message>>perform
Message>>evaluate
Process>>safelyEvaluate: <aMessage>
Process>>evaluate: <aMessage>


[Rod]

Undo? really, is point of game not to compete/get beat? I could save game prior to every move to create an undo feature. Need to get clocks and check sorted as first priority. Both are a challenge.

One thing that I have not made clear is that currently the user can only input during white play time. Black play time ignores, or should ignore all input apart from trapclose. Probably needs a rewrite to loose that limitation.

[tsh73]

Undo? really, is point of game not to compete/get beat?

It's not "it eats me so I take it back"
but rather "OOPS I moved it to wrong cell".
With long play time it is desirable feature.

[tsh73]

Just left it for 15 minutes.
Nothing happened

Actually, program says

"15 minutes"
"per player."

But code checks
   if wm>15 or bm>15 then
So it triggers only if time get more then 16 minutes.
I just didn't wait enough

If changed  to
   if wm>14 or bm>14 then
it will work as promised, stop after 15 minutes.

[tsh73]

In the list, sometimes some weird symbol instead of space if moved to empty space
like "KD2-?D1"

It was CHR$(0)
In the sub makemove x,y,x1,y1
empty cell is filled with 0, should be 32 (ASC(" "))
   'erase square vacated
   bsprite$(x,y)=""
   bvalue(x,y)=0
'    bpiece(x,y)=0
       bpiece(x,y)=32   '!!!
   bsign(x,y)=0



[tsh73]

It looks like white could play on after resigning.
Like nothing happened

[tsh73]

Just to share - I got chess mill! It was a long time I made something like this

[Rod]

Thank for the debugging. I am going to remove the timer statements and try a looping counter instead. Might be a while

[Rod]

Removing the timer turned out to be an easy fix. The code is much more stable. The problem I have now is that load and save is not respecting the "status" of the sprite. So taken sprites are still being redrawn. Sigh......

[tsh73]

The problem I have now is that load and save is not respecting the "status" of the sprite. So taken sprites are still being redrawn

It looks like then saving,
bsprite$(x,y)
saves as empty.

So then load we can turn all sprites off
'set all sprites off
sprList$="br1,bn1,bb1,bq1,bk1,bb2,bn2,br2,"+ _
"bp1,bp2,bp3,bp4,bp5,bp6,bp7,bp8,"+ _
"wp1,wp2,wp3,wp4,wp5,wp6,wp7,wp8,"+ _
"wr1,wn1,wb1,wq1,wk1,wb2,wn2,wr2"
for i = 1 to 32
spr$=word$(sprList$,i, ",")
#w.g "spritevisible ";spr$;" off"
next
'//set all sprites off
and then turn on only sprites that got saved
for y=0 to 7
           for x=0 to 7
               line input #1,bsprite$(x,y)
'set existing sprites ON
if trim$(bsprite$(x,y)) <>"" then #w.g "spritevisible ";bsprite$(x,y);" on"
               line input #1,bvalue(x,y)
               line input #1,bsign(x,y)
               line input #1,bpiece(x,y)
           next
       next
Something is still wrong - then I reload after fresh start it looks ok
but after some moves and loading I got wrong piece colored blue

[Rod]

Ok, after some battling with load and save we can now save the game, to be loaded and played later. We can also "undo" our last play. The timer is no longer ticking so the whole thing is more stable but you are still against the clock.

It is a turn based game, while the black player is thinking you can't do anything. Just like the real thing! After black has played you can step back with undo or make your next move. Each player must win within 15 minutes or the game is a draw.


Barring any serious bugs surfacing I think I shall be moving on to something else


gamebin.webs.com/Liberty/LB%20Chess.zip

[tsh73]

Whoa. Impressive work.

1. Then you play with time limit, one who blew it, looses.
This is hard game .

2. I just checkmated computer - it went checking me in return!
(saved_moved after checkmate.gam)
pastebin.com/SxQj1Ee5
save it as "saved.gam", load and do QC5-B5+
It replied with QE2:F1+
May be it just didn't get that the game is over?
If it supposed to move out of check
then we could (after black move)
IF (black still in check) THEN it just couldn't, that is, - checkmate.

[Rod]

Yep that was a bug in the original. Now everything else is stable we might get to the bottom of it. My understanding is that it should recognise the value lost when in check and resign. It does not spoil the game too much, you know when you have won. I find nine times out of ten even at level 3 I get beat near the end of the game. So finding the bug is s rarely. Sharing saved games will help tremendously!

Yes check after blacks move should be a clear sign. Need a day or two off and will come back to it.

[Rod]

Getting a bit closer. With a hint from Anatoly I changed the resign code. I find it hard to beat the machine so better chess players than me need to test it!

edit: I downloaded Anatoly's saved game and made the final move, using the below code, it resigned! So some success, more testing needed.


sub blackmove x,y,x1,y1,result
   if Status=-1 then goto [skip]

   'end less king on king end game
   if result < -2500 then
       call text "Black resigns"
       call text "Game ends"
       wait
   end if

   'remove highlights of whites last move
   #w.g "spritevisible m off"
   #w.g "spriteimage ";bsprite$(old(1),old(2));" ";left$(bsprite$(old(1),old(2)),2)

   'make blacks move
   call text "Black moves ";chr$(bpiece(x,y));chr$(65+x);8-y;"-";chr$(bpiece(x1,y1));chr$(65+x1);8-y1
   if bvalue(x1,y1)>0 then
       taken=showtaken(x1,y1,-1)
       #w.g "spritevisible ";bsprite$(x1,y1);" off"
       Spritetaken$=Spritetaken$+bsprite$(x1,y1)+","
   end if
   call makemove x,y,x1,y1

   'if we cant play out of check then resign
   if incheck(-1) then
       call text "Black resigns"
       call text "Game ends"
       wait
   end if

   'add highlights of blacks last move
   #w.g "spriteimage ";bsprite$(x1,y1);" ";left$(bsprite$(x1,y1),2);"1"
   #w.g "spritexy t ";bspritex(x,y);" ";bspritey(x,y)
   #w.g "spritescale t ";bspritez(x,y)
   #w.g "spritetoback t"
   #w.g "spritevisible t on"
   old(3)=x1
   old(4)=y1
   if incheck(1) then call text "White in check"
   call showboard

   [skip]

end sub