UPDATE 10/28/2022: Both Durer Drawing Machine and Good Color are now available to be bought on Microsoft online store. A bug fix update to Drawing Machine on Steam was pushed out today too.
UPDATE:10/19/2022:Privacy policy: For both Durer Drawing Machine and Good Color on the Microsoft Store absolutely no information about you is collected or transmitted anywhere. The same is true for the Drawing Machine and Good Color on Steam.
UPDATE:10/19/2022:On Steam, Drawing Machine has been updated and on the Microsoft Store you will soon be able to buy Durer Drawing Machine and Good Color
The Steam update of Drawing Machine made it possible for you to generate print files which contain your starting image, your starting image with a grid overlaid on it, and a blank grid of the same size as your starting image. This removes the worst thing about the previous version: you always had to manually draw your grid on your drawing surface. Now, assuming you are drawing onto a piece of printer paper, you can generate the various print files, print them, and take all these printed sheets with you and leave your computer at home. If you are drawing on a canvas you still have to manually create your grids, sorry. Also, the upgrade to Drawing Machine makes it easy to intuitively add portions of other images to your starting image. Programs like Gimp and other photo shopping programs let you do this sort of thing but it tends to be a complicated process. Not so in Drawing Machine, the interface makes it obvious what you need to do. Also, the update lets you cause some of your print files to becomes grayscale thus supporting charcoal drawing. Finally, the update lets you more precisely control your styling. Perhaps the most useful thing you can do is to cause the grid lines to be replaced with small nearly transparent crosses. Instead of large, visually-obvious grid lines dominating your print file you have nearly unnoticeable small crosses marking where the grid lines would have crossed. Hopefully, this will make it so you can draw on your print files and that drawing can be your final product (the small almost-invisible crosses won't make your final product unacceptable). The Durer Drawing Machine on the Microsoft Store is the same product as Drawing Machine on Steam. Good Color on Steam and on the Microsoft Store are the same too.
UPDATE:6/21/2020:This site will now also be used to promote and link to a new type of product you can buy.
There is a new and unique type of canteen which can now be bought at Amazon. To find this canteen yourself on the Amazon site search for "solar fire starting canteen". This canteen holds water like a conventional canteen but it can also be used to start a camp fire. The canteen gives you both fire and water. The canteen has transparent sides which lets light pass through it. Light from the Sun enters one transparent side of the canteen, passes through whatever water is in the canteen, passes through the other transparent side, and then is focused by a flat lens into a concentrated spot of light that is hot enough to ignite your tinder.
The flat lens is a Fresnel lens which can be detached from the canteen and used solo. The best fire starting results will always be when you detach the lens and use it alone. This is because light will inevitably be absorbed and difracted in some degree by the transparent sides and the intervening water. The following is a good technique to use this canteen:
Hold your tinder in one hand and the lens or canteen in the other.
Rotate the lens/canteen and focus light on your wrist until the light hurts the most and hurts over the largest area. Don't actually burn yourself.
Then shift that spot of "best concentrated" light to the tinder.
Note that starting a fire is never easy. For this device to work, the solar conditions must be right and the conditions of the fuel for the fire must be right. This canteen should NOT be the only way you have to start a fire but it is a good backup way to start a fire. If you are going to be exercising in the outdoors enough to need to carry water and you are only willing to carry just one item (your water container) and there is a possibility you might get lost then it makes sense to use this canteen as your water bottle. Someone who is going outdoors and is going to be performing some outdoor activity like camping, hunting, fishing, boating, running, jogging, or even just working (to name just a few of the possibilities) would benefit from having this canteen available. Getting lost is always an unpleasant surprise and having this canteen in your possession is a good way to reduce your personal danger.
The manufacture of this device is compliant with FDA rules for food safety. The manufacture of this canteen uses a combination of 3D printing and hand crafting. No two canteens of this type will look exactly the same because there will be some degree of surface variation in coloration and texture. Two means of sealing in the water are provided: a square cap and two silicone corks.
Be careful with this device! This device is designed to start a fire so don't let it start one unexpectedly. The canteen can be rendered fire safe by detaching the lens, reversing it, and then reattaching the lens. If you do that then the light is focused inside the canteen where there is no kindling so it can't start a fire.
UPDATE:6/21/2020:An improved version of the demonstration of Drawing Machine has been uploaded to YouTube.
Improved Demonstration of Drawing Machine with comments and advice.
This is a link to the basic trailer for the Drawing Machine app on Steam
UPDATE:6/2/20:Pushed out a very minor update to Drawing Machine today. There may be another demo of Drawing Machine on YouTube you can look at in a few days. I'll put a link here. I'm thinking I'll show you what I can do using Drawing Machine to draw an image I take on my cellphone. Unfortunately, that may mean you'll get a good look at why I'm not an artist! Or not..if the app works...the app isn't magic.
UPDATE 6/1/20:Drawing Machine is now available on Steam for both Windows and the Mac. The following is a link that takes you to the Steam page where you can buy it. Note you do have to have Steam itself installed on your system. For those of you unfamiliar with Steam, it is a very well known and popular service for buying, downloading, and using games for Windows and Mac computers. After you install Steam it becomes something that automatically runs when you start your computer. You can cause it to NOT run every time you start your computer if you want to, just take it off the list of run-at-computer-start programs.
Click here to go where you can buy Drawing Machine on Steam
There is also a video on YouTube which gives a demonstration of using the Steam version of Drawing Machine (the video is 7 minutes long, there is no difference between the Windows and Mac versions).
Click here to see a YouTube video giving a demonstration of using Drawing Machine on Steam
But, hang on, that's not all!
Good Color is now available on the Mac on Steam. Happy Days! There is no difference in function between the Windows and Mac version.
Keep holding on to your hats, there's more good news!
Weaponized Chess is now available on the Mac on Steam. Another big helping of Happy Days Are Here Again!
The Windows and Mac version are interoperable and are able to play against each other.
UPDATE 9/30/19:An update was pushed out today to the free DrawingMachine. Just prior to the update, about 69 devices had proved to be crash-capable if they had Android Pie running(API level 8). With this bug fix update probably all of these devices should work normally. At the present time there are 8496 types of mobile device which can run free DrawingMachine. If it turns out that this does NOT fix the problem then that will be dealt with too.
UPDATE:8/10/19:17 devices have been removed from list of devices which can run free DrawingMachine. Several Galaxy devices, a couple Huawei devices, a couple Xiaomi devices, 1 Nokia. The crashes were all occurring in Android Pie so if you weren't at Pie level then you weren't getting crashes on these devices. However; to stop the crashes in newly installed copies of the app, I removed these devices from the supported list.
UPDATE:8/3/19 The free version is crashing sometimes. Whenever this happens it is on a machine with Android 9(Pie) and most of the time it is on a Galaxy (A20, S10(beyond 1),J7 Neo) mobile device. It can also happen on a Nokia 6.1 and Mi A2. Theoretically this app will run on 8,175 types of mobile devices. Honestly, I don't believe I can correct this. I know where the error hits and I doubt I can produce a workaround. The problem devices at Android 9 level apparently do not support an API I use.
UPDATE:7/31/19:A free version of Drawing Machine is now available on the Google Play Store. The exact name is DrawingMachine. It is free but you do have to look at an ad when you load an image. Note that this free version does NOT include a built in function for taking a photo using your mobile device's camera. You MUST get your image from somewhere other than the app itself. DrawingMachine knows where your stored photos from the Google Camera app are kept and it knows where your screenshots are and you can load images from there into DrawingMachine. DrawingMachine only allows 1 color band to be defined as opposed to the multiple color bands you can define and use in DrawingMachinePro. You can zoom to portions of your image but only to the upper left, upper right, lower left, and lower right. This is unlike DrawingMachinePro which can zoom to any rectangular area of your image. DrawingMachine does not let you draw a subgrid within a major square grid the way DrawingMachinePro allows you to do. Ghosting out pixels not in a color band is supported (although you only have just 1 color band) but the ghosting(blending) level is locked at 75%. The api level is one notch up from DrawingMachinePro so this free version probably runs on fewer devices. It won't run on a Nexus 10 for example (a relatively old tablet) but DrawingMachinePro WILL run on a Nexus 10. The free version still runs on thousands of different types of mobile devices. In some cases it will run on devices which cannot run the paid version because the paid version needs a certain type of camera. It will probably be more useful to run the app on a tablet than on a phone just because a bigger screen will be better to have. The same basic technique proposed by Durer of subdividing the image into contiguous rectangular squares is provided in both apps. It should be possible for you to become a better artist using these two apps.
UPDATE:7/4/19:A paid version of DrawingMachinePro will be available later today or by a few days from this date. DrawingMachinePro is an app available (will be available) on the Google Play Store for Android devices. It is an implementation of Durer's machine. In 1525 Durer invented a way of mechanically producing a picture. This technique essentially allows a non-artist to draw a picture. Imagine,if you will, a table on whose surface lies an object you wish to draw. In a famous image of Durer's this object to be drawn is a naked woman (you can easily look this image up online. Just search for "Durer's drawing machine" and set your browser to show only images). At one end of the table the artist sits on a chair. Between the object to be drawn and the artist is a mesh of wires or strings laid out in a grid pattern. By the artist,on the table, is a little pedestal with a chin cup. The artist puts his chin in the chin cup. That way,whenever the artist works on drawing his picture, his head is in exactly the same position. The object to be drawn is always in the exact same position. The grid of wires is always the same. At this point the artist draws a series of connected pictures. He does not draw one, monolithic image in which he has to mentally calculate related angles and sizes. The artist draws many smaller, connected pictures. This technique is considered one of the earliest methods of mechanically reproducing an image. Using this technique, it should be possible for you to learn how to draw. You can substitute (as needed) the additional help you get about where to draw your lines or to paint your colors for the artistic experience of a seasoned artist. DrawingMachinePro (a paid app) overlays a grid on a picture that you provide. There is a built-in camera function in the app so you can use the camera on your mobile device to take a picture and use that picture in DrawingMachinePro. Alternatively, you can use the default camera app in Android or you can use a snapshot of your screen (and you can snapshot any image you can find online). You decide how many squares there are in the grid. You can define ranges of colors that you want to include in your image and reject any dots in the image which don't fall into that range. This allows you to concentrate on drawing certain colors of your image. You can selectively "ghost" out dots(pixels) which are not in your preferred color range. You can define up to 4 color ranges. One practical utility of these definable color ranges is that an artist will usually only mix a small number of colors in which they paint at any one time. What you do is set your color ranges to the paint colors you have mixed (and must use before they do dry!). The app lets you zoom in on portions of the image. This app does ask for and use permission to look at your files. This is so you can access your very own images! The app does not collect or relay any information to anyone about you or information on or about your device. Neither does the Good Color apps. Neither does the WeaponizedChess games.
UPDATE:1/16/19:A paid version of the full-blown Good Color is now available to buy in the Google Play Store. The only difference in functionality between the paid Android version and the Steam Windows version is that the paid Android version does not allow you to read in photographs from an internal directory that exists within the GoodColor install. Instead, the paid Android version lets you get a photo (and then get a color from that photo) from 3 locations. The 1st location is from the last photo created by the free Android GoodColor app. The 2nd location is from the photos created by the Google Camera app. The 3rd location is from the shapshots the user has created of their mobile device's screen. Note that on a Nexus 7 that you can only get a photo from the free GoodColor app (the Nexus 7 puts the Google Camera photos and snapshots somewhere the paid GoodColorPro cannot find). You can always install the free GoodColor and then always get a photo into the paid GoodColor (whose name is "GoodColorPro" following the convention that the text "Pro" designates a paid-for application). On the other two test devices, the Nexus 10 (a 10" tablet) and Nexus 6P (a cellphone), GoodColorPro has no problem finding Google Camera photos and the user's snapshots. The paid GoodColorPro only runs in landscape mode. Theoretically, 10,999 types of mobile devices can run this app.
UPDATE:1/9/19:Pushed out two more bug-fix updates today. Most people will not have been affected by the errors.
UPDATE 1/5/19:Two more updates pushed out this week to correct minor problems. A language mis/non translation and a misdirected error correction text. Neither had an real affect on operation but were non-optimal.
UPDATE:12/30/18:A couple of updates to the Steam GoodColor have been pushed out in the last week. These updates corrected minor language translation problems for some languages that were occurring in one screen.
There is now an Android version of GoodColor available. This version is greatly simplified compared to the GoodColor version on Steam. It is intended to help shoppers buy items with good matching colors. Suppose you have some object (your favorite shirt, coat, dress, etc.) and you want to buy another item which has a good matching color. GoodColor in Android lets you take a photo of your old object and it tells what the best matching color is for your original object.
Here is a link to a You Tube video about the Android version of GoodColor
This website will now be where you go to get news about 2 products in addition to WeaponizedChess. Both of these products are derived from WeaponziedChess. Bare Bones Localization is available at the Unity Asset Store. It is an asset package a game developer(any Unity application developer actually) can load into their product to add foreign languages. GoodColor will be available in the Steam store on December 17 of this year. GoodColor helps you choose good matching colors based on color wheel theory. Good Color also lets you use predefined color themes (the same themes available within WeaponizedChess). The privacy policy for Good Color for Android is the same as the policy for WeaponizedChess. No personal information is collected in the app or is transmitted from the app to somewhere else.
Here is a link to GoodColor in the Steam store
Here is a link to Bare Bones Localization
Here is a link to a YouTube video about Good Color.
UPDATE 7/20/2018:The professional translations for Russian, Polish, and Japanese are now live. Also note that in the top right corner of your screen there is now a pull-down menu you can use to translate this web page to various languages. This was added a few weeks ago.
UPDATE 7/4/2018:Even more professional translation will be added in a few days. Once again, this will happen in 7+ days. Russian, Polish, and Japanese.
UPDATE:6/1/2018: Attempt to create a macOS version is a failure. The attempt ...almost... worked but there was one critical show-stopper failure. There was a workaround I could have implemented but you users would have thoroughly disliked it (I didn't like it either). Therefore no macOS version in the immediate future. Potentially this situation could change in the future but I'll likely work on shifting the animated Windows version to Android next while hopefully keeping the Google+ online multiplayer.
UPDATE:5/30/2018:Pushed out that minor update mentioned in 5/1/2018 update notice. Working on adding a macOS version of game to package.
UPDATE 5/1/2018:I have a minor update pending which modifies the display of German documentation (removes a visual error about showing accents). But I'm not going to push it out at the moment. I will wait and see if anything else comes along which needs to be fixed and push all corrections at that time. That change actually affects several Latin-1 languages but at present I see only a difference in German. I need to make sure that trying to improve the translation for one languages doesn't mess up multiple other languages!
UPDATE 4/18:18:Today professional translations for 5 more languages were added. These languages are Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, Arabic, and Simplified Chinese. The commands in the game when you change to these languages are now professionally translated. The store page you see if you have your locale set to one of these languages is professionally translated. The quick start guide portion of the documentation for these languages is professionally translated. I used the Brazilian Portuguese translations to update the Portuguese store page and the Portuguese in the game too. I notice that Google Translate no longer differentiates between Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese (?). Some errors were fixed in this update too.
UPDATE 4/5/18:It is likely that more professional translation is coming soon. Stay tuned. In about 7 days or a bit longer. Probably.
UPDATE 3/27/18:Pushed out an update to the Steam Windows version yesterday. This update does two things. First, it fixes several failures to translate to foreign languages at specific points during the execution of the game when the language the commands are supposed to be in have been changed from English to something else. Second, professional translation of much of the German language that appears during buying and using the game has replaced the machine translated German that previously was used. The web page where you buy the game on Steam when your language locale is set to German is now professionally translated. The commands you see when you play the game in German are now professionally translated. The quick start guide portion of the game documentation you can access in the game is now professionally translated when you have the game set to German. When will other languages be professionally translated? That is uncertain. When I see sales in a language pay for the translation costs then I will promptly provide the professional translation for that language. Also I added Brazilian Portuguese to the Steam list of supported languages. Not because I have a new translation but because I hope that the present Portuguese translation is understandable. I hope that those language differences that do exist do not make the Portuguese machine translation that I have beyond understanding. Certainly Google Translate sees no difference between Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese! On Steam there is only one Curator listed as being in Portuguese and 21 listed as being Brazilian Portuguese. I am going to assume that the machine translated text I have (from Google Translate set to Portuguese) is suitable to be used as Brazilian Portuguese.
UPDATE 3/5/18:Pushed out a bug-fix update to both Android versions. Several errors were fixed. The severity level of the errors ranged from severe to mild. There will be no new YouTube video as there is no visible change to the games. I decided not to add animation. There is a possibility that I could get the Steam Windows version to run on Android and that would mean all the animation (all the piece sets) in that version would suddenly appear on the Android versions (if that is truly possible, is practical to do). As there is no Steam client for Android online multiplayer would have to accomplish connection some other way. There is a high probability that I could publish a Mac version of the latest Steam version without too much trouble. Perhaps that is what will really happen next re WeaponizedChess. I point out that I am a solo developer and if you want to support chess in general that perhaps supporting this game is justified (regardless of whatever fault you may find in it).
UPDATE 2/19/18:Fixed a couple of errors and pushed it out to the live version tonight. Be sure to set to competitive mode if you are going to be making use of stealth/invisibility. If you don't set to competitive mode then your opponent can go to the game move history and read your hidden move there. The default is non-competitive. In an online game you'll be in non-competitive unless you negotiate to competitive. Originally, there was a sophisticated solution of removing information about hidden movement and letting everything else through in the game move history (even to the point of including some factually incorrect information in the history to conceal otherwise deducible hidden actions). But that is malfunctioning at the moment so I have disallowed seeing the game move history in a competitive game.
Remember,you can always turn stealth completely off, so you always see pieces that would otherwise be cloaked (camouflaged) by stealth. Or..you can turn on stealth detection by range and set the range to a large number. In that case for a piece with stealth to be invisible it would have to be far away from every stealth detector.
Note that one use of a non-competitive game is to teach younger children to improve their reading and comprehension skills. You could play such games with them such that if they can only read the game history they can have invisible pieces that you can't see (because you would refrain from reading the game history). This would give them a big edge over you. They should like that. And in the process it would sharpen their reading skills and presumably improve their comprehension skills. My personal experience with young children is that it can be a challenge to find something new to do with them. Perhaps doing this is something that YOU might find interesting if only because of the challenge of fighting off invisible chess pieces when you can't have any!. That probably would be no fun at all if you were matched against an adult, but a young opponent in that situation might even be fun. Another way to play with your child.
All game effects including low-visibility in WeaponizedChess are "tunable." You can adjust the application of the option so as to fine-tune what happens and what you can see. The end result is intended to be a personalized version of chess, the type of chess that you really like and want to play. The fact that all these options exist and you can control them is NOT something that is wrong with the game! Note that in the Windows version that by default many of these options are not shown but can easily with a click of the button be returned to visibility and use. I refer to the "Show All Options/Simplify Available Options" button that is always shown first on the top level menu.
UPDATE 2/17/18: There are 2 new videos you can watch about the game on YouTube. One is a copy of the new trailer describing the new version. This video is a bit over 3 minutes long as opposed to the 5 minutes long previous version. It is not easy to come up with a trailer because the best reasons for playing the game are based on negative factors about playing regular chess and from the enjoyment of planning for the intricate use of tool-like weapons. These reasons are emotional and mental and you can't take a photo of an emotion or make a video of a mental process. The game is about thinking, it is not about looking. Here is that link to the new trailer:
New version of trailer describing the Steam Windows version
The other new video is longer and concentrates on showing the animation and providing a demonstration of setting up an online multiplayer game on Steam. Here it is:
Video demonstrating how to set up an online multiplayer game on Steam
UPDATE 2/12/18:The new Steam version has been released. This version runs on Windows, has fully-animated graphics, and allows owners of the game on Steam to play against their Steam friends in an online multiplayer game. If you already own WeaponizedChess then you now have this version too in addition to the Linux/SteamOS version. This new version does NOT include an artificial intelligence. You cannot play a game against the computer. The Linux/SteamOS version DOES have an AI but it is not as good as a human player.
The new version provides the Steam overlay although the old version still does not. The new version is available in all the foreign languages that the original version supported (i.e. all the languages supported by Steam except Brazilian Portuguese).
The price for WeapnizedChess has been lowered to $7.50 from the old price (or it will be as soon as Steam approves the price change).
Restating and rephrasing: If you buy WeaponizedChess now you get both the Windows, the Linux, and the SteamOS versions. If you have a Steam console running SteamOS (a non-Windows version) then you can play the older version on that.
If you have a Steam console running Windows then you can play the new version on that console. This new version has been tested to run on Windows 10 and Windows 7. This new version is strictly a 64 bit application. It will run on i3, i5, i7 chips and equivalent chips.
The new version allows you to play an online game with your Steam friends but only with your Steam friends.
To play an online game with a Steam friend following this procedure:
One person starts the game then clicks File then clicks Play Online. Then click to start a server (private or public) then click Invite a Friend. Ideally your friend already has started their copy of the game. Then the 1st person clicks the name of their friend. The computer of the friend bleeps at them and then they press SHIFT TAB. The overlay windows opens up and the friend clicks Join. After the original person gives the friend enough time to click Join the person clicks File and Play Online again. If the friend has joined then the text window will say that a game can now be started. The 1st person clicks Start Game. On both computers a window will open asking which color the player wants to be. Both players can pick any color they want. A conflict will be randomly resolved. Next, either player can go the the Play Online window and click End Negotiations. The other player will be notified that Negotiations are over. Then (usually, unless this is a loaded game where the white player has the 1st move) the black player can make the 1st move (then click End Turn to send their move to their opponent). Another variation of this process occurs when the two players do not immediately End Negotiations. If negotiations are ended immediately after Start Game then the two players will play a standard WeaponziedChess game. Alternatively, each player can click Play Change then modify a game option. On the change of a game option the other player is queried as to whether they will allow this change. The other player can allow or deny any change. Multiple changes can be made. Both players can request (and deny) changes. When either player decides they will allow no further changes then they go to the Play Online window and click End Negotiations. This technique allows the online multiplayer game to be changed to be acceptable to both friends. You can always use the overlay chat window to verbally come to an agreement. Either player during the game can save the game. In a multiplayer game this save causes a local copy of the game to be created on each machine. Note that this creation of a save does NOT involve transmission of a file from one computer player to another. The save file thus generated is created purely by using the local definition of the game. After such a save file is created at a later time the two players can start an online multiplayer game and DURING THE NEGOTIATION PHASE can load that file that was created at an earlier time. The other player is queried as to whether to allow the load of this file. If the other player agrees then that saved game is loaded on both computers. Then the rules can be changed (negotiations are still active) or ...not.. if either player clicks End Negotiations immediately after the load of the saved online multiplayer file. The pre-built scenario boards in your save game directory can be loaded this same way into an online multiplayer game. For a online multiplayer saved game to be successfully loaded you must be the same SteamID and color your were when you saved the game. Suggestion: whenever during the online game setup process the computer asks you a question answer immediately and whenever you are waiting for your friend to answer give them plenty of time. If you have clicked End Negotiations then the other player must click to acknowledge that before you can make the 1st move (assuming you have the 1st move). The idea is not to rush through the process (unless you are being asked to respond!). Hurry up when asked for a response and wait when expecting a response. It is possible to untimely mis-click and foul up the online game setup process. If you have requested a change then don't try to request another before the response to the 1st request comes back! You'll confuse the poor computer. Use chat to facilitate matters.
What happens next? An update of the Steam trailer happens next. Then I'll be working on a project completely unrelated to WeaponizedChess for a few weeks. Then I will switch back to the Android version of WeaponizedChess. There are several errors there that I have detected that I will fix. That will take a few weeks. Potentially I will add some degree of animation too while I am fixing present errors.
UPDATE 9/27/17:The new Steam version will NOT be ready by the end of this month. Fortunately there is no exact day or month on which it MUST be completed. Work is done and progress is made every day. Adding animation is requiring a lot of new code to be written. There is a lot of fiddly, persnickety, nasty tweaking required to handle a myriad of potential situations.
UPDATE 8/30/17 That problem with Android N which kept Nexus 6P's from displaying in landscape mode has been corrected. This fix of Android N's behavior on the Nexus 6P allows you to physically rotate the cellphone to landscape (long from left to right) where it is easier to play WeaponizedChess. You can still play WeaponizedChess in portrait mode on a 6P but you probably have to use Emergency Square Select. Or you can try using the in-game ability to adjust the graphics to fit during portrait use. Theoretically, this game can be played on ANY device with the right base Android level. The new Steam version will not be ready by the end of August. It might not be ready by the end September. Lots of progress has been made but there is still much work left to do.
UPDATE:7/30/17:The new Steam version will
not be ready by the end of July (that's tomorrow). It will probably not be ready by the end of August. It seem likely that it will be available by the end of September.
UPDATE:6/13/17:Progress is being made toward creating the new Steam version of WeaponizedChess. However, it will probably not be released until the end of July or the end of August. This new version will probably have animated graphics to some degree, will provide online multiplayer, and will run on Windows. This new version will not be available before or during the Summer Sale, it will come out a month or 2 after that.
UPDATE:5/13/17:You can bypass the auto-rotate problem on the Nexus 6P if you download and use a program like Rotation Control. To run the game on a 6P in landscape mode, install and run Rotation Control or some similar program and force your screen rotation to landscape mode. Testing indicates that if you do that then you can play the game without a problem.
UPDATE:5/9/17: Latest monthly update for 7.1.2 has been pushed out. It does NOT fix problem on Nexus 6P re landscape mode being no longer available. Note this problem update is the same one which disabled the fingerprint scanner. You can still play the game on a 6P but you probably will have to use Emergency Square Select. Other devices (cell phones probably) may or may not be affected by this erroneous Android update.
UPDATE:4/7/17:There seems to be a problem with the 7.1.2 Android N update which disables your phone's ability to display in landscape mode. This affects the game on a Nexus 6P. Hopefully this problem will be corrected soon.
UPDATE:3/17/17:There are a few more videos available about WeaponizedChess which are about the new version(s).
The new video which describes the new versions in general:
New Version of WeaponizedChess on Android
The new video which demonstrates starting an internet game using Google Play:
Play WeaponizedChess on Internet Using Google Play
The new video which demonstrates starting a local WiFi game (you don't need the Internet or a Google account. you almost don't need to use a wireless router at all):
Play a Local WiFi Game of WeaponizedChess
The new video which is a tutorial showing how to use the Fix Views function so that this game can be adjusted to run on any mobile device:
Tutorial on How to Use Fix Views Function for WeaponizedChess
UPDATE:3/14/17:The privacy policy can be viewed in the paid and unpaid apps by touching File->EULA. At this time, all of the snapshots you see on Google Play Store for a 7 inch tablet, a 9 inch tablet, and a cellphone have been updated to reflect the present graphics. Later today all the promotional graphics images should be updated to show the new(present) graphics. Then work will begin on updating the text describing the game (including the foreign language translations for Google Play store pages). It will probably take 2 weeks to do that. Then Steam work begins again!
UPDATE:3/11/17:New versions of WeaponizedChess(the paid version) and WeaponizedChessFree(the free version) are available to upload. True internet multi-player games are possible in both of these versions using Google Play. To play an Internet game go to File->Play Internet Game then use the standard Google Play interface for setting up an Internet game. Once both players have joined a game be sure to use File->Finish Internet Setup after you have finished negotiating with your opponent using Play Change to set the exact options for a game. Note that to play another internet game after you have played an internet game that you need to actually stop the game program using File->Quit or by sending the game to background(making it hibernate) then using the X in the top right to actually kill it. Then restart the game program using either Play Games or by touching the game icon. The ability to play a local WiFi game that was introduced recently is still available. That ability does not use Google's Play Games, it in general does not need or use a wireless router. Finally, you can still play a game with a human opponent just by handing back and forth a cellphone or tablet. The biggest still-existing drawback with both local WiFi and Internet play is that you cannot load or use a pre-existing game. After you finish a local WiFi game you still need to reboot your tablet before you can play another local WiFi game. Several other problems that existed in the paid and free version have been corrected in these new versions available today. The foreign language translations for the webpages where you buy/download these versions for Android will be updated in the next 2 weeks. Some of these upgraded language descriptions will be upgraded more than others. Those languages for which the Steam version is sold in those languages (there's a Steam store webpage in that language) will be upgraded using multiple statistical translators so the quality of the translation will be somewhat better than for some other languages. In the next few days the images for the Android related pages will be updated to show the newer graphics (presently they show the old original graphics). So...in two weeks all the text and pictures for these new versions will be up-to-date for the Google Play Store webpages. Then, finally, work can shift back to the Steam version. Once work has shifted back to the Steam version then it will take about 3 months of effort before an update to the Steam version will provide for that version 1)Internet multi-player play, 2)a Windows version, and 3)Animated pieces (probably). Well, it has taken a long time and a lot of effort to get here but now you can finally play a WeaponizedChess game against anyone in the world (who has an Android phone or tablet and also has an Internet connection).
UPDATE:2/9/17:A description of the privacy policy for the Android versions is at the bottom of this webpage.
UPDATE:2/8/17:There is a problem with the free version that prevents use of the Board Editor. This problem is already fixed in the present test version but I do not intend to push that out now. The test version is also making progress towards adding true Internet turn-based Google Play multiplayer. But that isn't finished. The paid version also probably has problems with respect to some actions such as Undoing actions. This is also already fixed but I intend to push all fixes out when I push out full Internet play. These problems are related to the Nougat problem (and because I did a better job of disabling some functions in the free version than I did in re-enabling them). My present intention is to also adjust the graphics back toward being more like the original version than the wholly cubistic graphics in the latest updated versions. The next push will have these adjusted graphics (unless I change my mind for some reason). I have begun removing some of the older UPDATE notices from this page as they are no longer relevant.
UPDATE:1/30/17:The problem that has been affecting the paid version has been corrected. All testing indicates that the paid version may now be bought, loaded, and it will run properly. The two updates pushed out today also adds the ability to use the Fix Views capabilities under both Landscape and Portrait Modes to the paid and free versions. To adjust the viewpoints for landscape, touch File->Fix Views and then choose which orientation you are working with. To adjust views and learn those new views you have to go through the whole process twice, once for each orientation. Both the paid and the free version has this ability. The paid version also has the ability to play local WiFi games. Both versions can be played in 53 foreign languages. There are a few still-existing problems. One is that after you play a WiFi game you must reboot both of your mobile devices to play another WiFi game. Another problem is that in the free version that after someone wins you need to File->Quit the game before you can play another game. The learning ability is still failing on the Nexus 6P. It is unknown to what degree this failure affects other device types. Learning works just fine on Nexus 7, 9, and 10. Firebase testing indicates that the game also works on several other devices (Moto's, Samsung's, Nexus 5). The ability to directly touch a piece in portrait mode on a Nexus 6P is failing (but works just fine if you hold the device in landscape mode). The zoom crosses and square-touching work just fine on a Nexus 6P in landscape mode too. Emergency square select works just fine in either landscape or portrait mode on a Nexus 6P. So...you can play the game on a 6P. Using the ability to adjust viewpoints on a 6P might allow board touching in portrait to work better. The next task is to extend the ability to play local WiFi games to an ability to play games over an Internet connection. Remember, if the game becomes temporarily confused (you touched the board to select a piece and it didn't work for some reason, you didn't touch exactly the right spot) trying tapping the screen to the side of the board until you see the "Cancelling" message then try again. If the game seems to be "stuck" then you may need to File->Quit the game. For WiFi malfunctions you probably need to reboot your devices. Your last line of defense is to uninstall and re-install the game. The zoom crosses are very helpful if board touching is balking at accepting your touch. The graphics for these latest versions do not match exactly what is presently shown on the Google Play webpages (to be corrected later, creating true Internet multi-player is a more important task to perform).
UPDATE:1/21/17: A new update for WeaponizedChessFree has been published. It fixes the Android N problem. It adds new features. One new feature is an ability to play local WiFi games. It does NOT support multiplayer games across an Internet connection however. Restating, if you have this new version of WeaponizedChessFree on two mobile devices which have a WiFi capability and those two devices are within WiFi transmission range (about 105 feet) then those two people with those two WiFi mobile devices can play a game whilst transmitting their moves by radio to each other. About once every few hours the two devices must be within range of an Internet connected WiFi modem to validate the license of the games but once the games are validated then the devices do not have to be in range of an Internet-connected WiFi modem. The Internet-connected modem used for license validation does not have to be your personally owned modem either. Any Internet-connected WiFi modem owned by anyone will execute a license check for you. So...if you are going on a long trip away from home (away from your own Internet connection) you should still be able to play WeaponizedChessFree between your two devices as long as there is SOMEBODY's WiFi wireless router that is connected to the Internet somewhere near you every few hours.
This new version does require your mobile device to have a WiFi capability, to have OpenGL 2.0+, and to have API 17+/4.2.x+/JellyBean+.
Another new feature in this new version is an improved ability to run on any device. There are green zoom crosses drawn on the screen. These are for use whenever you experience a problem getting the screen to recognize your screen touches although primarily the zoom crosses are for use on a cellphone (or a device which has a really small screen). Touch a zoom cross and the screen zooms in on one quarter of the board. It is much easier to touch the right square then. Note that the Emergency Square Select option is still available under File on the action bar at the top of the screen. You can always use that to select a square. The square with coordinates row=1 and column=1 is the square on the row closest to you that is the furthest to the left (the very lower left square) on the screen when you are looking at the Black View. That square is always row=1 and column=1 regardless of which view you see. Using Emergency Square Select means you don't have to touch the board EVER. Another way that new devices are supported is using the Fix option under File. You can use the Fix option to change the view definition of all the views. You can also use the Fix option to cause the tablet/cellphone to 'learn' where all the squares are. After you run the learning option under Fix then reboot the device for learning to take affect. One way or another you can adapt the game to work on your device!
This new version has been tested to run on Nexus 7, Nexus 9, Nexus 10, and Nexus 6P. On the Nexus 9 and Nexus 6P you may or may not need to use the zoom crosses. Learning works perfectly on Nexus 7, 9, and 10 (but isn't necessary). At the moment, learning fails on the Nexus 6P. I will try to fix that as one of my next tasks.
I have a version of the paid app WeaponizedChess but I am not entirely certain it is working so I have not published it. It has all the same new capabilities of WeaponizedChessFree. And it allows the use of weapons!
I have loosened the restrictions on WeaponizedChessFree. I have removed the limit on the number of turns. You can now play as many turns as you like. You can freely load and save games. You may use the Board Editor. This allows you to put Stealth and Anti Stealth objects on game pieces in the editor, save that game, then play your saved game with those stealth objects. My intention is to shortly add ads to WeaponizedChessFree but that is not in the version that is available today.
WeaponizedChess and WeaponizedChessFree can be played in 53 languages. In-game documentation is available in most of these languages. I am going to try to improve the quality of the foreign language translation for the non-English Android store pages in the next few weeks. At the very end of the in-game documentation is a description of how to use all the new features in this new version. So look there to read about how to set up a WiFi game and how to use the Fix option.
My plans for future activity are: 1) finish getting the WeaponizedChess paid version working right and publish it, 2) finish adding advertising to WeaponizedChessFree, 3 )improve foreign language translations for Android store pages, 4) see if I can get learning to always work (fix the learning failure on the Nexus 6P), 5) extend Fix to portrait orientation(it presently only works on landscape), 6) extend the WiFi ability to full Internet connections, 7)Investigate how well Android emulators that are available on Windows 10 can run WeaponizedChess or WeaponizedChessFree, 8) Get online multi-player working on the Steam version(probably in a Windows variant), 9) maybe, maybe (or maybe not), create a free/demo Move-only WeaponizedChessFree-like variant for Linux/SteamOS for Steam. Don't count on that last one ever occurring (it's just a vague thought in the back of my head). Look at all the other, more-important stuff I need to do! Android work still has priority over Steam work (but that will change after local WiFi shifts to full Internet). I do not predict when I will finish performing all these actions.
UPDATE:1/8/17:Working on updating all the foreign language translations. There are over 50 languages so to update all the new functionality in all the languages takes a good bit of time.
UPDATE:12/28/16 Probably the upcoming update will NOT happen in December (in the next 3 days). That's the bad news. The good news is that I believe I have a bypass for the Android Nougat problem, I have a working version that runs on Nexus 7, 9, 10, and 6P devices (and is capable most of the time of self-learning to function on new hardware), and I have a working version that allows devices with WiFi to play locally (but not over the Internet). The problem is putting all these capabilities into just one app. I probably won't be able to get that done by New Year's Eve. But I recommend against making a huge bet that I won't either! With a decent amount of luck...I just might have it ready by 12:00 PM on the last day of Dec. Or not.
UPDATE:12/11/16: Work is proceeding well with upgrading the Android version. Probably there will be an Android update this month(December). Probably this will restore the paid version to full functionality and make it so Android N does not render the free version non functional (this is a keep-your-fingers-crossed sort of "probably"). Note that on a Nexus 10 that the free version still works just fine (because as of yet the Nexus 10 has not been updated to Android N). The plan at the moment is to also add a few more features to the Android version. These new features are 1)some form of wireless multi-player capability, 2)support for a way to make the game work for ANY device (with the stipulation that OpenGLES 2.0 is available. the minimal Android level will no longer be 3/8-ish, it will be more like 18/4.3/JellyBean). The specific hardware for which this update will work is Nexus 7, Nexus 9, Nexus 10, Nexus 6P(yeah, one specific type of hardware on which the update will be guaranteed to run will be a cellphone). The wireless multi-player capability will use WiFi or WiFi and cellular. If I get a fix working that is limited to WiFi (no cellular use) then I might decide to push it out (not wait to add cellular multi-player). All of this hinges on whether a way can be found around the random and mysterious monkey wrench thrown in the mix by the November update and Android N. Trying to use the Bug report system to resolve the problem is useless.
UPDATE: WeaponizedChess has been launched on Steam! No reports of installation or execute failure so I call that a win.
Click here to go to the store page on Steam where you can buy WeaponizedChess
Here is a clickable link you can use to see a hi-definition version of the 5 minutes long trailer for the Steam version:
High definition 5 minute long trailer
Here is a clickable link you can use to see the hi-definition, 10 minute long version of the trailer for the Steam version (or go to YouTube yourself and search for "WeaponizedChess"):
Trailer for WeaponizedChess on Steam
Let me take a moment to respond to a couple of the comments about the game I have seen on SteamWorks. I am going to greatly reduce my previous responses and responses in the future.
The trailer is overlong: Trailer length reduced to 5 minutes on 9/3/16.
$20 cost of the game: There are many options you can set in the game. Each change to an option usually creates a profound change to game play. Each such change is essentially a new type of game. Since WeaponizedChess has a very large number of such sub-games the cost per game is very low. At the very bottom of this webpage are my calculations for an estimate of the number of such games. What I came up with is a lower bound. It is not the exact number of games. The actual number of sub-games is more than the estimate. There are an estimated 89587078766765604864000 sub-games. The price per sub-game is 2.2324648013212661794517927186586e-22 dollars. This is NOT $2.00 per game. Notice the e raised to -22.
Just how cheap does the game have to be per sub-game before you think it is worthwhile? If your counter argument is "I only want one game" then assuming you do really want a type of chess, a different type of chess, then the accessibility to all these sub-games increases the likelihood that you can fine-tune the game to get the exact type of chess that you really like. What is a fair price for a game that you really like?
"There are too many options" is one complaint (viz. "interface is bloated"): This complaint is without substance. The longer lists of options only are shown when the user specifically causes them to be shown. They are not visible in normal game use. The options are needed to configure all the various sub-games. As a lowest priority activity I will consider adding an option to permit the user to inhibit a long list being displayed (primarily to cut down on the list being displayed due to a mis-click). Reiterating: there is nothing undesirable about a flat interface. It is a logical impossibility to provide an enormous number of sub-games and permit them to be controlled without there existing numerous "widgets" to support that control (assuming the use of a graphical user interface). The widgets must be displayed at some point. Provision of a very large number of ways to modify and play chess is integral to the rationale for the existence of this game. To claim that providing a way to control all these ways to play is a game defect does not make any sense.
Re-translation of the foreign language store pages on Steam for WeaponizedChess is complete. The translations for all 26 languages have been improved. At some time in the future I will investigate the availability of non-statistical translators (translators that are actually parsers) so maybe I can avoid this sort of problem in the future.
There are also two new videos about the two graphical user interfaces available for you to use to play the game. Here are links for those:
GUI for Ubuntu 12+ and SteamOS Steam Console Desktop Mode
GUI for Ubuntu 15+ and SteamOS Steam Console Big Picture Mode
UPDATE:7/23/2016 On July 29 2016 on the Steam software download service a version of WeaponizedChess will become available to buy. The Steam release will occur sometime Friday afternoon U.S time. This version only runs on Linux (there presently does NOT exist a Windows version). It is tested to run on Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 15.10, and SteamOS. On SteamOS it has been tested to run both in Big Picture Mode (that's the single window screen you see when you boot a Steam console) and on the desktop. Restating: WeaponizedChess will run on a Steam console under both the mode you normally boot to when you press the On button and under the mode you see when you switch to desktop mode. The specific type of Steam console on which Steam WeaponizedChess was tested was an Alienware Steam Machine.
Probably the other most important piece of information you need to know is that you basically MUST have hardware acceleration installed for the game to be playable. If you don't have hardware acceleration then you should set to the simple piece set and toggle on See Big Board Only. If you don't have hardware acceleration installed and you try to run it on something like an i3 laptop then assuming the normal piece set is in use when the game starts then whenever you click on a game piece there is a delay of over 40 seconds before the game board updates. This delay can be dropped from 40 seconds to more like 14 if you switch to the simple piece set (but that's not the piece set you normally see when you start the game). To switch to the simple piece set go to View->Select Shape of Pieces. To further speed up the draw speed select View->See Big Board Only. If you do that then the i3 non-accelerated draw of the complex piece set should drop down to about 10 seconds (instead of 40) and a non-accelerated draw of the simple set will drop down to about 2 seconds (instead of 14). See! See! I told you the simple piece set was a good idea. I realize that the simple set may not provide an aesthetic response spike that will appease the effetely jaded visual sensitivities of some people.
In point of fact, you CAN play the game without hardware acceleration and still see the 3 additional views of the board and the draw of the presently selected piece but you must be a very patient and determined individual. Presumably you will spend a lot of time thinking between moves so optimistically the 40 second delay won't matter to you (yeah right..). Steam normally will set up hardware acceleration for you and most games don't run well if not accelerated. fglrx is what you want on Ubuntu in my experience to get hardware acceleration. Steam consoles are guaranteed to be hardware accelerated in both the Big Picture and desktop mode. That is one of the two big reasons they exist, why they were invented. All games on them will always be hardware accelerated (so is WeaponizedChess). The other existential justification for Steam consoles is uniformity of OS installation (you don't run the risk of accidentally misinstalling Steam itself or misinstalling hardware acceleration).
There are two GUIs for the game. One is for SteamOS Big Picture and Ubuntu 15+ and the other is for SteamOS desktop and Ubuntu 12.04+.
This Steam version DOES have an AI. It will play a game with you. It will run faster if your chip is equivalent to an i7. It does NOT support online multiplayer. You cannot play against another human using the Internet to communicate your moves. However, you can play against one of your friends using this Steam version but you and your friend must be in the same physical room. You share the computer, the keyboard, the mouse, and the screen while you play a game against each other.
In this Steam version there 13 piece sets. In all the YouTube videos except the last one you only see 2 piece sets. To see the new trailer video for the release use one of the links below to go to YouTube (or just go there yourself) and search for and find all the WeaponizedChess videos. The trailer is the very last video added. Most of the behavior of the game is the same as described in the previous YouTube videos.
The Steam version is playable in 26 languages. The language translation does not use, rely, or care about what locale you have your computer display language set to. You can set the game to your language so that it will boot into that language but you yourself must do that. I will describe in the Steam store page for each foreign language how to start in English and what you click to set to the specific foreign language (the instructions will be IN that foreign language). The exact languages you in which can cause the game commands to display are:
English, Italian, Spanish, French, German, Arabic, Czech, Dutch, Greek, Japanese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Simplified Chinese, Thai, Turkish, Bulgarian, Danish, Finnish, Hungarian, Korean, Polish, Russian, Swedish, Traditional Chinese, and Ukrainian.
Steam is easy to get and install. It is free to have on your computer but many games (like THIS game) cost money to buy. To get Steam just search for "Download Steam" and follow the instructions. It isn't complicated or hard to do. There are free games on Steam!
It occurs to me that maybe you don't already have Linux. You may have no idea what Linux is. Personally, I have always considered Linux to be the Anti-Windows choice. If you don't want to constantly be giving money to Microsoft over the years then perhaps Linux is for you. Linux is free. Ubuntu, the type of Linux on which WeaponizedChess was developed and tested, is free. You need at least 25 gigabytes of disk space and you need about 45 minutes of time but that is all you need. If you already have a Windows computer then you can add Ubuntu to that computer without losing your ability to boot to Windows (this is basically what Linux was designed to do, i.e. add it non-destructively to a Windows system). WeaponizedChess is strictly a 64 bit application so you can't run it on non-64 bit computers like Pentiums or earlier chips. You can run it on Celerons, i3's, i5's, and i7's. I am not familiar with non-Intel chips so I can't name the compatible AMD chips. At the bottom of the web page I have added instructions on how to install Ubuntu and OpenSUSE. The instructions are for Ubuntu 14.04 but I point out that the development and test of WeaponizedChess occurred on Ubuntu 12.04. Note 12.04 is due to be phased out in about 1 year...but if you want the best chance for compatibility get 12.04 and not 14.04. WeaponizedChess is tested to run on Ubuntu 15.10 but to run there the Big Picture GUI had to be used.
I hope you enjoy the game. I have worked very hard for a very long time to create what you see. It isn't perfect and there is room for improvement in many areas but it's present form is adequate to the task of being the first major release on a desktop.
WeaponizedChess is now available on Android.
If you have a mobile device that has Android then you can go to Google Play Store and get WeaponizedChess there.
You will find it by searching for "Weaponized Chess". Two versions are available. WeaponizedChess and WeaponizedChessFree are their names. Obviously, one of these versions is free. However, the free version is very restricted. The paid version costs $1.50 US dollars (except in a few discounted markets). Note that neither of these games has an AI. These game programs will not play a game with you. Instead, 2 human beings use the game program on a single mobile device to play a game of WeaponizedChess. You and your friend will share the device to play the game while you are both in the same physical room. A future version will provide the ability to use WiFi so that each player can use their personal device to play but that version is not available yet.
Both of these versions should run on virtually any Android device. The game programs have been hardware tested to run on Google 7, 9, and 10 tablets. The game programs have been emulator tested to run on Google 5, 4, S, One, and Android Wear (Round and Square) devices. The advantage of these versions of WeapnizedChess is that they will run on low-cost, low-end mobile devices that do not have WiFi and only have limited memory. The only permission required is a touch screen but the game provides a way to select game pieces without using the touch screen. You do need Jelly Bean (4.2.x) or above.
These games have been translated into 48 to 50 languages.
If you set your tablet to display in one of these languages then you will be able to read the game commands in that language and use the game via that language. In the game there is language-specific documentation in all of these languages except for Malay, Marathi, Thai, Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Punjabi. All language translation was done using a computer translator and the results have not been checked by a native speaker of that language.
In the paid version, if you set your device under Settings to the language then the game commands can be read and used in that language in the following 48 languages:
Afrikaans, Arabic, Bengali, Bulgarian, Traditional Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay, Marathi, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Urdu, and Punjabi. These languages were selected because Google Play maintains a market for most of these languages and because of their larger speaking population (larger than other language populations).
In the free version, if you set your device under Settings to the language then the game commands can be read and used in that language in the following 50 languages:
Afrikaans, Arabic, Bengali, Bulgarian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay, Marathi, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Urdu, and Punjabi. These languages were selected because Google Play supports distribution of free apps for most of these languages and because of their larger speaking population (larger than other language populations).
The free version WeaponizedChessFree is very restricted and there may or may not be advertising displayed during game play. Movement is restricted to Move Only. There are many other restrictions too. The general move type is restricted to Weaponized Chess which means that if you would like see what regular chess would be like if you added weapons, 3-D, and stealth then you don't get that in the free version but you do in the paid version.
The Linux version of WeaponizedChess is alive and well and not for sale! The powers that be in the land of software-protection and sell-your-Linux-software-online have been noticeably disinterested and unhelpful in the seemingly endless quest to make this product for sale on Linux. Recently WeaponizedChess has recently been accepted into the Greenlight program at Steam. The Linux version _HAS_ an AI. But you can't have it. Not yet anyway.
A forum website is open for users to log in and do user-ish sort of activities like leave bug reports. You can reach the site at www.chessofmassdestruction.com. If you want bugs stomped at maximum speed then you will act so as to be helpful on this site and not otherwise. Trolls and hackers will receive what they deserve. Very little time is available for moderation. Due to repeated hacking and spamming attempts if you want a new topic or to post then you should 1)be on-topic, 2)post in English, and 3)post to pre-existing topics. Any reference to other web-sites, to URLs, etc. even in a requested post is VERY likely to get you banned. If you want to advertise a product then go pay for your own website or pay for your own advertising. If you want a new topic (something directly related to WeaponizedChess and particularly to a bug in WeaponizedChess) then it's fine if you ask for that. In English. YOU expend the time to use Google Translator to translate. There are no known major bugs. There is an update pending which fixes a known bug re game state retention across tablet orientation changes.
There is a new video on YouTube showing what the game looks like. The following clickable link will take you there (or you can search for Weaponized Chess on YouTube yourself):
WeaponizedChess is a game created by modifying regular chess.
Arguably the most important modification is to add weapons (along with other types of objects that your pieces can pick up and use).
chess + weapons = WeaponizedChess
WeaponizedChess is also an attempt to modernize chess.
Regular chess is about pawns contending with horsemen (knights) in an effort to destroy castles and capture the enemy king. Modern conflict is not like THAT at all.
WeaponizedChess pawns are more maneuverable and powerful. Horsemen (knights) are replaced by choppers (air cavalry) which truly fly through 3D space. Submarines use the subterranean level to attack and cannot normally be seen.
WeaponizedChess is three-dimensional but use of the 2 new dimensions (air and sub) are limited by the game design and in a standard game. This type of three-dimensionality is often referred to as "2.5D". Some weapons are specifically designed to destroy pieces using the air and sub level. SAM launchers fire SAMs which home in on and destroy air pieces and torpedo launchers fire torpedoes which seek out and destroy pieces in the sub level. It can be hazardous to your health to fly!
Modern conflict is heavily dependent on military technology. In WeaponizedChess there are choppers, jets, tanks, submarines, destroyers, and combat engineers whose movements and characteristics have been translated to a chess-like board. Low-observable assets play a deadly game of cat and mouse with the opponent. Infantrymen use jump-packs to fly over the battlefield. Combat scuba invisibly travels under the surface to attack.
Human beings are usually more able to accomplish their task when they are able to use a physical object or tool to help them. Similarly, a soldier is more effective when armed. Each combatant piece in a WeaponizedChess game has many more potential courses of action than a piece on a regular chess board. Comparatively, the soldiers in a regular chess game are eternally disarmed.
Projectile weapons, area-of-effect weapons, non-lethal stunning weapons, and conversion weapons are used against the enemy. Lese-majeste has been replaced with decapitation strikes. Ambushes can occur and reinforcements can arrive. Fratricide is always a possibility. Logistics is critical. All of these concepts inherent to modern war have been translated into a type of chess.
Sometimes pieces in WeaponizedChess cannot be seen by the opposing side. This limited visibility of pieces (stealth) is tunable. That is, if you hate stealth you can turn it OFF and everything will always be visible. Alternatively, you can turn the stealth-tuning 'dial' and stealth/low-visibility becomes more or less applicable. In modern warfare it is critical to not be seen because anything that can be seen can be destroyed. WeaponizedChess attempts to mimic this nature.
WeaponizedChess uses a 10x10 board, not a 8x8 board. 8x8 is too small, let's make it a little bigger. The WeaponizedChess board rotates the regular chess board by 90 degrees (the color of the square in the lower right is black, not white). Black moves first. White got to move 1st in regular chess all this time, let Black move 1st now.
WeaponizedChess is an attempt to provide a game for people who used to play chess in the past but got bored with it.
Whenever regular chess does things one way, WeaponizedChess tries to do things the other way (if there's a clear, definite alternative choice). Did you ever look at your present position during a regular chess game and wish you could move TWO pieces instead of just one? In WeaponizedChess there is often a way to move more than 1 of your pieces during your turn. Rarely, you are even able to move one of your opponent's pieces!
WeaponizedChess is also an experiment in creating a game where a human player will always have an advantage over any conceivable artificial-intelligence player.
This is achieved by deliberately and radically increasing the exponential burden of a computer player but in a way that any human can naturally handle. Humans will always be better guessers than computers and stealth (and other features of the game) ensheathe this nature into the game. You don't like playing chess by mail or email remotely with someone because you fear they may cheat (get advice from a chess-playing computer program)? Play this game instead. Tired of playing chess against people who have spent a lot of time building up book knowledge about chess? Play this game instead.
Features common to Android and non-Android version:
WeaponizedChess has a fully developed board editor, game notation, and undo ability. Curious about what would have happened if you had done something different? In non-competitive mode, you can selectively take back movements and actions. WeaponizedChess has an extensive ability to modify game play to match user preferences. A user can save those preferences so that whenever the game starts those preferences decide how the game is to be played.
There are numerous videos about the game that you can watch on YouTube.
Just search for "WeaponizedChess" or "Weaponized Chess" and you will see them there.
Below are clickable links that take you to those videos.
The first video shows you what it looks like to play a simple game.
Click on the link below and you will be taken to YouTube where you can watch the video. Note that this video does NOT show the game as it looks in the Android version. Instead it shows the old graphics from the old, original Linux version. The graphics in the present Linux version have been significantly improved and there are now 13 piece sets you can use instead of the original two (this video only shows the simpler, faster-to-draw piece set).
Fool's Mate in Weaponized Chess
The second video is a short slideshow that describes the game. Again..click on the link below and you can watch it on YouTube.
Short, Sweet, and Simple: Rapid Slideshow about Basic Concepts of WeaponizedChess
The third video is a somewhat longer demonstration of what you actually do when you play a game. Note that on YouTube there is a more detailed description of the video that you can read about each video. This video does NOT show what the game looks like on Android. It shows what the game looked like about a year ago under Linux. The present Linux version has better graphics and there are 12 more piece sets you can use in addition to the simple one you see in this video.
WeaponizedChess: A Longer Game
The fourth and fifth videos (Part 1 and Part 2) describe the game in more detail. No time is devoted during these videos describing how WeaponizedChess is more like modern warfare than regular chess (two of the later videos DO talk about that).
Part 1: Detailed Description of Weaponized Chess:Relation to Chess, How the Game Functions
Part 2: Detailed Description of Weaponized Chess:Relation to Chess, How the Game Functions
The sixth and seventh videos talk more about the various ways the user can control the program. Here is where the board editor and all the various options you can use to control the game are shown to you.
Part 1:WeaponizedChess Interface
Part 2:WeaponizedChess Interface
The eight and ninth videos describe the game in detail AND spend a significant amount of time making the case that WeaponizedChess is a more faithful analog of modern conflict than regular chess.
Part 1: WeaponizedChess Detailed Game Description:Concept,Design,Relation to Chess
Part 2: WeaponizedChess Detailed Game Description:Concept,Design,Relation to Chess
The tenth video describes the various scenarios (pre-built starting game boards) that are available when you play the game. The use of the phrase "Deep Blue" is intended to be humorous and falls under fair use.
Deep Blue DIS buddy!: Scenarios for WeaponizedChess
Instructions
INSTRUCTIONS FOR INSTALLING Ubuntu
I assume that you have a PC which already has Windows on it and that you want to keep your Windows.
In this document I will 1st provide a simplified list of actions. This list is intended to quickly give you a general idea of what you must do. Subsequently, I provide an exact list of instructions. These instructions attempt to provide a click-by-click set of instructions that guide you to do exactly what should be done.
Simplified List of Actions that You Must Take To Install Ubuntu (these simple instructions are not click-by-click)
First, get Ubuntu by downloading an .iso file from a public download site.
You burn your .iso file (which is an .iso image) onto a writeable DVD.
You boot that disc on the computer onto which you want to put Linux.
You answer a series of questions and make a number of selections.
You eject that boot disc. You reboot.
Select Ubuntu
Enter your username and password.
Exact Instructions on Installing Ubuntu as of September 14, 2014 (click-by-click)
Type in "Ubuntu" in your favorite browser. If you're using a Google toolbar make sure you're looking on the Web.
Click on www.ubuntu.com or just enter that as a web address in your toolbar.
Move your cursor over Download. Select Desktop in the drop down list that appears.
Click Download
Click not now, take me to the download
It will ask if you want to Open or Save ubuntu-14.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso. Click Save.
A 6 megabit Internet connection will take 23 minutes to download this file.
The type of DVD you use to record the .iso needs to have a capacity to store a file as large as this .iso (It is a 1 gig file that is much smaller than openSUSE). I use a DVD+R double layer DVD that has 8.5 gigs of capacity.
When you insert your blank DVD in Windows it will ask if you want to burn it. It will offer to burn files to disc or to burn a DVD video disc. We will do neither. Hit the red X to cancel. If you burn your .iso file here and now you will get a disc that will not boot and which is useless for the purpose of installing Ubuntu.
Click the Windows icon in the lower left. Click Computer. Go to the location of your downloads. If you haven't changed where that goes then under Computer it is in Downloads. When you have the directory of the downloads opened RIGHT click on ubuntu-14.04.1-desktop-amd64
Select Burn Disc Image.
Select Verify if you want then click Burn.
Depending on the speed of your DVD drive, it should finish burning the disc in 5 minutes.
BEFORE YOU BOOT THAT DISC:
Back up your Windows system if possible. Don't leave your backup file on the Windows partition. Put it somewhere else. Somewhere online might be a good place to put your backup. In Windows determine the name/identifier of your Windows partition(s). In this document I will not try to tell you how to do these 2 things (out of scope).
If you are installing Ubuntu to an i3-base laptop (even though I have elsewhere on this website recommended against that) my recommendation now is to not to try to install Ubuntu wirelessly. Instead, if you have a WiFi router that normally connects to your laptop under Windows (or any other OS) turn that off. If you have a WiFi router that you insert between your laptop and your real telephone company router then you may need to unpower that WiFi router and move your Internet connection cable from that WiFi router into the real router. All of my attempts to install Ubuntu and openSUSE wirelessly all ended in disaster. Use your wired link for all your communication needs during installation of either Ubuntu or openSUSE on an i3-based laptop. If your laptop is connected to a dock then I recommend physically disconnecting the cable that communicates with your dock for the duration of the Linux install.
AFTER YOU HAVE BACKED UP YOUR WINDOWS:
Now that you have a boot disc here is what you do:
Put that boot disc in the DVD drive of the computer on which you want Ubuntu, however you decide to do that.
Boot your computer.
Click Install Ubuntu
Click Continue.
You'll have to decide for yourself what you do at the next screen. Pick the option that says it will install Ubuntu and leave everything else alone. If you already have an Ubuntu on there then be careful. You don't want to Reinstall. You want the option that totally erases the old Ubuntu. If you presently have 1 Linux that is not Ubuntu and you want your game on Ubuntu then choose whichever one erases that old Linux and replaces it with Ubuntu. A word of caution: this is the point of no return. All ye who pass through here are making irrevocable changes to their system, to the partitions.
On the next screen, click on the world map on your location then click Continue.
Click Continue
Type your name
Type your username
Double enter your good password. Note that this username and password are effectively the root password. Note that Ubuntu follows the same odiferous practice that Windows does of blending user with superuser. This is a bad idea. It significantly reduces the security of your system, inherently.
Click Continue.
Click Restart Now.
Ubuntu ejects the boot disc and politely asks you ro remove it. Please do so. Hit enter.
Enter your password.
Hit x to close the window telling you about Keyboard Shortcuts. It may not respond to your click very quickly. Wait. The reason it froze up here is because it's busy figuring out which updates your system needs. We will NOT install those updates at this time when it comes back. Wait a few minutes until it decides to respond to the mouse. Don't press any buttons.
At the top left under the words "Ubuntu Desktop" there is a column of differently colored square icons. Click on the top one.
Click in the search field. Type in the 3 letters: ter
Click Terminal. Don't select either of the XTerms. Terminal lets you use your mouse to copy and paste text from your screen that you have selected. The XTerms won't do that so we don't want'em.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR INSTALLING OpenSUSE
I assume that you have a PC which already has Windows on it and that you want to keep your Windows.
In this document I will 1st provide a simplified list of actions. This list is intended to quickly give you a general idea of what you must do. Subsequently, I provide an exact list of instructions. These instructions attempt to provide a click-by-click set of instructions that guide you to do exactly what should be done.
Simplified List of Actions that You Must Take To Install openSUSE (these simple instructions are not click-by-click)
First, get openSUSE by downloading an .iso file from a public download site.
You burn your .iso file (which is an .iso image) onto a writeable DVD.
You boot that disc on the computer onto which you want to put Linux.
You answer a series of questions and make a number of selections.
You eject that boot disc. You reboot.
Select openSUSE 13.1
Enter your username and password.
You download a lot of updates that should be applied to a newly installed version of openSUSE 13.1
Exact Instructions on Installing openSUSE as of September 14, 2014 (click-by-click)
Type in "openSUSE" in your favorite browser. If you're using a Google toolbar make sure you're looking on the Web.
Click on www.opensuse.org or just enter that as a web address in your toolbar.
Click on Get It
Select 64 bit PC (remember that the game only runs on a 64 bit processor). There's a set of installation instructions here you can click to read.
It will ask if you want to Open or Save openSUSE-13.1-DVD-x86_64.iso. Click Save.
A 6 megabit Internet connection will take 1 hr and 43 minutes to download this file.
The type of DVD you use to record the .iso needs to have a capacity to store a file as large as this .iso (It is a 4.5 gig file). I use a DVD+R double layer DVD that has 8.5 gigs of capacity.
When you insert your blank DVD in Windows it will ask if you want to burn it. It will offer to burn files to disc or to burn a DVD video disc. We will do neither. Hit the red X to cancel. If you burn your .iso file here and now you will get a disc that will not boot and which is useless for the purpose of installing openSUSE.
Click the Windows icon in the lower left. Click Computer. Go to the location of your downloads. If you haven't changed where that goes then under Computer it is in Downloads. When you have the directory of the downloads opened RIGHT click on openSUSE-13.1-DVD-x86_64
Select Burn Disc Image.
Select Verify if you want then click Burn.
Depending on the speed of your DVD drive, it should finish burning the disc in 15 minutes.
BEFORE YOU BOOT THAT DISC:
Back up your Windows system if possible. Don't leave your backup file on the Windows partition. Put it somewhere else. Somewhere online might be a good place to put your backup. In Windows determine the name/identifier of your Windows partition(s). In this document I will not try to tell you how to do these 2 things (out of scope).
If you are installing OpenSUSE to an i3-base laptop (even though I have elsewhere on this website recommended against that) my recommendation now is to not try to install OpenSUSE wirelessly. Instead, if you have a WiFi router that normally connects to your laptop under Windows (or any other OS) turn that off. If you have a WiFi router that you insert between your laptop and your real telephone company router then you may need to unpower that WiFI router and move your Internet connection cable from that WiFi router into the real router. All of my attempts to install Ubuntu and openSUSE wirelessly always ended in disaster. Use your wired link for all your communication needs during installation of either Ubuntu or openSUSE on an i3-based laptop. If your laptop is connected to a dock then I recommend physically disconnecting the cable that communicates with your dock during the duration of the Linux install.
AFTER YOU HAVE BACKED UP YOUR WINDOWS:
Put the boot disc in the tray, do whatever it takes to do that.
Power down your system (do not restart).
Power up your system (cold start).
As the system comes up press F2 (or whatever button your hardware responds to) to get the BIOS Setup screen.
After you are in BIOS Setup, if it isn't already true, change the boot mode so that the disc in the DVD drive is booted. I can't give click by click intructions here.
Select F10 then save to reboot.
After you see a Welcome screen, click Installation and hit return.
Click Next to agree to license.
Select New Installation.
Click on your location in the world (there's a clickable world map).
Hit Next.
Keep KDE as the Desktop. Click Next to get past Desktop Selection.
Be careful at the next screen. The installer probably will not try to get you to delete your Windows partition(s) but it might. Don't let it if you want to keep your Windows. If you have Windows and this is the 1st time you have put a Linux on that system then the installer will correctly and considerately inform you using red lettering that it will now shrink the Windows partition. This gives you confirmation now that it isn't about to erase your Windows. Now is when you need that list you made of the specifications for your Windows partitions. In general, the installer might try to format or delete those partitions. In all likelihood it will not. Usually the behavior of the openSUSE installer (and all other Linux installers) is to leave Windows alone and put your new installation into available, unused space. After you are satisfied that it isn't about to erase your Windows then hit Next. You get one more chance after this to back out, to abort and not touch your present system.
Set up your name, userid, and password(s). You probably should NOT use this password for system administrator. If you don't use this password for system administrator then the next screen will have you pick your root/super-user/system-administrator password.
Hit Next. Choose a good, hard root password. Hit Next.
This is now your last chance to back out. You should have backed up your Windows system to secure storage by this time. Hit Install again.
In about 15 minutes it will finish loading packages and will reboot. Since you didn't take your disc out before the reboot (Do not take it out before the reboot. I didn't while writing these instructions.) you now need to remove your disc.
You computer at this moment wants to keep that disc. Cut power (it'll never give it back to you unless you cut power).
Turn power on. As it boots, keep hitting the manual eject button of the DVD drive. It will eventually let you have the disc. Close the DVD door. Cut power. Turn power on.
Select openSUSE 13.1 from the GRUB2 boot loader.
The setup process will continue briefly. You don't have to enter anything. You know you've done a good install when you see the continuation of the setup process. Usually after this step of the setup finishes your computer has an active Internet connection.
Enter your username and password.
A window will pop up that wants to tell you about OpenSUSE. Click Continue. You can read all this information later.
On the screen there's a bar along the bottom. At the right on that bar is a little lady bug. Click it. It will say it is getting updates. This process will take a few minutes.
2 little windows will pop up. 1 will go away after a few seconds. The smaller one that goes away tells you to log-out. Don't do that. Ignore it. Click Install in the 2nd, larger window. If you delay a few seconds before clicking Install in the 2nd window, then yet another small window will pop up telling you that 5 updates are available for you to Review or Install. Ignore that. Don't click on that. You've already started installing those 5 updates. Starting to do it again before you've even finished doing it the 1st time is a bad, bad, bad idea.
Click Continue.
A window will pop up and scroll some text at you. Don't click on it.
Now your lady bug is red.
Click on the red lady bug.
Click Install.
At this point the installation process will come back and tell you that additional packages are required. It now wants 556 packages, not just 291. Click Continue.
And wait.
A little window will pop up telling you to restart. Don't do that. Don't click on it. Ignore it.
Click Continue.
A window will pop up that asks you to accept the flash player or gstreamer. Promptly click to accept either. Click to accept as soon as you see that window. Do NOT let that window just sit there during the remainder of the download.
Wait now.
Don't click on anything while you wait. Leave the red lady bug alone. Leave the spinning circle with a number in it alone. Don't let your screen lockup due to inactivity. You need to see what happens. Move the mouse occasionally.
Assuming a 6 megabit Internet connection, it takes 30 minutes before a window pops up. The next thing you see is the KDE Crash Handler reporting an error. Click Close. One of the 291 (or 556) packages you just downloaded had an error.
Restart your computer. You do this by moving the mouse cursor to the little round green SUSE icon at the bottom left. Click it once and don't move the cursor after you click. Move the cursor up and to the right so that the cursor is over the square red Leave icon. Don't try to click it. Move the cursor up (without leaving the white of that window) to the square red Shut down. Click THAT. A window pops up in the center of the screen. Click on the underscored T in that window (or wait 30 seconds).
About the present potential for a bad install in openSUSE: At the moment in openSUSE during the download process which brings a newly installed openSUSE up to snuff there are a number of opportunities to make a mistake and hence get a bad install. This extraordinarily rude behavior is not historically typical of the openSUSE download process. Usually it occurs without a hitch. I consider the openSUSE install process to be the best one, their Install/Add software function to be the best available among the Linuxes. I assume those responsible for openSUSE installs will notice these problems and fix them.
Estimate of Number of Sub-games Created by Options in WeaponizedChess
This not an exact estimate. The reason to create this rough estimate is not because an exact number is required. Three of the factors have been simplified hence rendering the final count inexact. The formula for the number of sub-games within WeaponizedChess is:
N=(black-gov#)*(white-gov#)*(stealth#)*(submersion#)*(dominance#)*(XXX#)*(weaps/defs#)*(extra-defs#)*(reinforcements#)*(off-level#)*(homing#)*(max-stun#)*(stun-range#)*(flame-range#)*(stealth-detection#)*(submersion-detection#)*(competition#)*(doze-enemy#)*(move-range#)*(general-move#)*(king-restriction#)*(transport-restriction#)*(ground-ground#)(action-restriction#)*(rocket-rate#)*(stun-rate#)*(flame-rate#)*(conversion-rate#)*(game-type#)*(AI-difficulty#)
gov#'s:Number of different government types a player can choose. Each player can choose from 4.
stealth#:Settings to change stealth. There are 9 check boxes. If Never See or Always See are checked then the other checkboxes are meaningless. Any number of the 7 remaining checkboxes can be checked. 127 ways to configure these settings.
submersion#:Settings to change submersion visibility. There are 5 check boxes. Like stealth# if "if Never See or Always See" are checked then the other checkboxes are meaningless. Any number of the remaining 3 checkboxes can be checked. 7 ways to configure these settings.
dominance#:Whether a submerged submarine is shown according to stealth or submersion. 2 choices.
XXX#:Number of additional XXX boxes on the ground at game start. 3 choices
weaps/defs#:Amount of additional weapons and defenses on the ground at game start. 3 choices.
extra-defs#:Amount of additional defenses on the ground at game start: 3 choices.
reinforcements#:Number of reinforcements for each side. 3 choices.
off-level#:Whether the specialty rocket for a jet or sub can reach 1 square further. 2 choices.
homing#:Range that a torpedo or SAM can lock on to a target. 3 choices.
max-stun#:How long a stunned piece is stunned. 2 choices.
stun-range#:How far a stunner shoots. 7 choices.
flame-range#:How many squares(distance) a flamer affects: 2 choices.
stealth-detection#:Detection range of anti-stealth. 3 choices.
submersion-detection#:Detection range of torpedo launcher as it functions like a sensor. 3 choices.
competition#:Whether a game is competitive. 2 choices.
doze-enemy:Whether dozing can move an enemy. 2 choices.
move-range#:How far a tank, cleric, or queen can move. 81 choices (3 choices for a tank, cleric, 9 for the queen).
general-move#:General movement. 3 choices. This is one of the variables where I have simplified the calculation. If Chess of Mass Destruction is chosen then the user must choose 1 of 3 ways to move pawns. The effect of this pawn movement choice is not included in this calculation (is ignored). This makes this variable an underestimate.
king-restriction#:Restrictions on the king. 4 checkboxes. 15 choices.
transport-restriction#:Another source of inexactness in the calculation. This is a complicated variable. There are 11 checkboxes. I have pulled one checkbox from this factor (ground-to-ground-transport-only) and made it the next factor. I am leaving out 5 of these checkboxes from this calculation. That makes this factor an underestimate. There are 15 choices for this factor. This factor is concerned with various ways to restrict fires from pieces which are using transport articles.
ground-ground#:A transport article restriction. Whether or not a transport article can be fired by a piece that is in the air or at sub level which does have a transport article. The real-world analogy for this happening is for an airborne trooper using a parachute to jump out of an airplane or a combat diver using scuba to exit a submarine. 2 choices.
action-restriction#:Restrictions on actions. Another source of inexactness. This factor underestimates the true count. The inexactness comes from move-only. When the user chooses moveonly then the action restrictions menu is replaced by a menu of checkboxes to control move-only specific options. The move-only checkboxes has 2 independent checkboxes and 3 checkboxes such that only 1 of those 3 can be selected. This calculation ignores all these additional ways to configure a move-only game. There are 128 choices.
rocket-rate#;Recharge time for a rocket. 9 choices.
stun-rate#:Recharge time for a stunner. 9 choices.
flame-rate#:Recharge time for a flamer. 9 choices.
conversion-rate#:Recharge time for a conversions symbol. 9 choices.
game-type#:Whether this is a human versus human game or human versus AI. 2 choices.
AI-difficulty#:Difficulty level for the AI. 10 choices.
N=4*4*127*7*2*3*3*3*3*2*3*7*7*2*3*3*2*2*81*3*15*15*2*128*9*9*9*9*2*10=2032*7*2*3*3*3*3*2*3*7*7*2*3*3*2*2*81*3*15*15*2*128*9*9*9*9*2*10=2032*1134*2*3*7*7*2*3*3*2*2*81*3*15*15*2*128*9*9*9*9*2*10=2032*1134*294*2*3*3*2*2*81*3*15*15*2*128*9*9*9*9*2*10
=2032*1134*294*5832*3*15*15*2*128*9*9*9*9*2*10=2032*1134*294*5832*1350*128*9*9*9*9*2*10=2032*1134*294*5832*1350*839808*20=2304288*1714608*1133740900=2304288*1943921045606400=4479353938338280243200*20=89587078766765604864000
Feel free to check my math. This is very complicated and it would be easy to make a mistake. Remember, this is an underestimate, a lower bound.
To be fair, I am sure there are many games with a large degree of optionality. Is the number of their subgames equal to or greater than this game? I do not know. I have been gaming for several decades and I personally do not recall seeing a game with the optionality of WeaponizedChess. Perhaps a better comparison would be against other similar board games.
Note that there are many starting boards included in WeaponizedChess. It is possible to consider each potential start board to be yet another "sub-game". There is a VERY large number of potential start boards. Each square may hold 2 ground pieces, 2 air pieces, 2 pieces at sub level, 2 articles on the ground, 4 reinforcement pieces (2 black, 2 white). Each of the non-reinforcement pieces may be carrying up to 3 articles. There are 17 types of pieces that a player owns (can be either black or white) and 16 types of articles (weapons, defenses, transport articles, sensors). There are 100 squares. A regular chess board only has 64 squares, only has 6 types of pieces, and there can be only one piece in a square. Do you catch my drift? A rough estimate for the number of start boards for regular chess is 6^100 (this erroneously assumes a board where every square has some type of piece and makes no distinction between black and white pieces, does not require each side have a king). A rough estimate for the number of WeaponizedChess start boards is:
((17^2)*(17^2)*(17^2)(16^2)(17^2)(17^2)((16^3)^2)((16^3)^2)((16^3)^2))^100
Hmm. Let's try to remove at least some of the inaccuracies. For the regular chess estimate let's make the formula A*B*C where A is 100 (100 places the white king can be), B is 99 (99 places the black king can be), and C describes where everything else is. Instead of 6 let's use 12 (1 through 6 are the white pieces and 7-12 are the black pieces). 100*99*(12^98) is the new estimate. This estimate still assumes every square is filled. To improve the estimate we would need to add 97 more terms with each term assuming one less square is filled (stuff in 99 squares and 1 is empty + stuff in 98 squares and 2 squares have nothing+...+ finally 98 squares are empty and the white king and the black king are in different squares (100*99)). I do believe THAT would no longer be an estimate and would be the exact number of board configurations. But I refuse to do the math (and I suppose I could have made a mistake in my logic).
Let's refine the estimate for WeaponizedChess start boards similarly. Since there can be an indefinite number of king-types we can get by with merely replacing some of the 17's with 34's leading to:
((34^2)*(34^2)*(34^2)(16^2)(17^2)(17^2)((16^3)^2)((16^3)^2)((16^3)^2))^98*100*(34*(34^2)*(34^2)(16^2)(17^2)(17^2)((16^3)^2)((16^3)^2)((16^3)^2))*99*(34*(34^2)*(34^2)(16^2)(17^2)(17^2)((16^3)^2)((16^3)^2)((16^3)^2))
This formula assumes every square is filled and every non-reinforcement piece has the maximum number of carried articles. It forces the existence of at least 1 black and white king-type piece. To calculate the other terms you would have to add up every combination of 0, 1, and 2 items existing everywhere you see a ^2 in the equation in conjunction with every combination of 0, 1, 2, 3 items existing everywhere you see a ^3 in the formula. You're going to have "sigma k=0 to 2 (n choose k)" 's and "sigma k=0 to 3 (n choose k)" 's running out of your ears. Then you'll deal with 100 non-empty squares + 99 non-empty squares and etc. Again, I refuse to do the exact math.
Let us stick with the first, simpler estimates. Define A/B to be the ratio of WeaponizedChess start boards to regular chess boards. A is the number of WeaponizedChess boards and B is the number of regular chess boards. If this ratio is greater than 1 (it is) then there are more WeaponizedChess start boards than regular chess boards. In fact, if you execute the division A/B then the resulting number is the number of WeaponizedChess start boards for every regular chess board. If A=2 and B=1 then for every regular chess start board there would be 2 WeaponizedChess start boards.
(((17^2)*(17^2)*(17^2)(16^2)(17^2)(17^2)((16^3)^2)((16^3)^2)((16^3)^2))^100)/(6^100)
((289*289*289*256*289*289*16777216*16777216)^100)/(6^100)
((2015993900449*256*281474976710656)^100)/(6^100)
((2015993900449*72057594037927936)^100)/(6^100)
(145267670061492947338620043264^100)/(6^100)
((24211278343582157889770007210.667*6)^100)/(6^100)
((24211278343582157889770007210.667^100)*(6^100))/(6^100)
24211278343582157889770007210.667^100
(2421127834358215788977000721.0667^100)(10^100)
Therefore 2,421,127,834,358,215,788,977,000,721.0667^100 googles of start boards.
Can you say this purely in English? Yeah. 2 nonillion, 421 octillion, 127 septillion, 834 sextillion 358 quintillion, 215 quadrillion, 788 billion, 977 million and 721 raised to 100 googles of WeaponizedChess start boards for every regular chess start board. Then multiply this number by the previously established number of sub-games. And that would be an underestimate. But..maybe I made a math or logic error somewhere. And why isn't WeaponizedChess going to win the award for the most sub-games? I'll make you a deal. If someone would be so kind as to pay me $1 US for each sub-game then I will consider making the game free-to-play for everyone else.
I firmly believe that the $20 price for WeaponizedChess on Steam is very reasonable. The price per sub-game is 2.2324648013212661794517927186586e-22 dollars (making no claim about a new start board being equivalent to a new sub-game). This is not $2 per game. Notice the e (whose value is approximately 2.71828 ) raised to -22.
PRIVACY POLICY:
The latest Android versions of WeaponizedChess (paid and free) does indeed require several permissions due to the recent inclusion of WiFi games. However, no version of WeaponizedChess (on Android or on Steam) knowingly or intentionally collects, shares, or uses any information about the user. The Android WiFi code does see some information about your devices and that information is displayed on the screen during WiFi Game setup. When peer-to-peer communications is established then inevitably that information is accessible. That information is not stored or propagated any further than the screen or used for any other purpose than to make a WiFi game possible. Arational Entertainment reserves the right to change this policy.
The privacy policy can be viewed in the paid and unpaid apps by touching File->EULA.