Hot off the compiler! If you already have a wifight login, you can try out this early version of the windows client. It's still very much a work in progress. Specifically, there aren't New Player, New Game, or Chat screens. Yet. And no scrollbar in the game list, etc. But you can play games
Great Brenna, I finally got the new edition to work!
Nice being able to spectate games too. Im looking forward to chat a lot. On the Treo my garrulous nature leads to my fingers suffering from too much cramped typing - but I cant stop myself!
trgeoff: Also awesome! Glad it worked for you too I also can't wait to get the chat screen ported. Should be nice to use on a full-sized keyboard.
ssrjazz: D'oh! I haven't even seen Windows 7 in person. So the winclient does start up ok, but doesn't log in then? I wonder if they changed TCP/IP networking AGAIN.
Cool Brennan! Chat makes a huge difference for me, since it means less typing on the tiny treo keyboard!
One suggestion - a bigger window would be great esp for viewing games. I feel like I'm peering at my games in the distance! Is that possible without major recoding?
Hola wifighteros! It's been slow but steady progress, and I'm happy to post the latest build of the winclient for wifight. Almost everything works, except new game/select game screens (altho they are coming along), and the new player screen still.
But! You got the turn clock, a systray icon, keepOnScreen (docks the window to the edges of the screen), and more! Also, I'm updating the server so you can stay logged in on your windows desktop and your PalmOS device At the Same Time
good one, getting very close to the functionality of the Palm client.
also btw: I love the new wifight icon - any chance that could be also used for the Palm edition, it looks heaps cooler than the current one.
Ive been playing a bit on the Little Golem site, which seems a most civilised PC turn-based game site. It turns out one can even play via Blazer. If you turn off the address bar then the board fits (well just about) in the browser window. Nowhere near as slick an experience as playing via a dedicated app like wifight, but usable nevertheless.
I dont know if you have looked at LG yet, but it has a couple of nice features that could be used to advantage in wifight. I wont dwell on the obvious, and big, features (ie tournaments/ratings/wide range of games) but just on some "simple" game play features:
1. after you have picked yr possible move you can see what the new arrangement of pieces will look like, and then you decide to commit or cancel. Especially helpful in Reversi, but chess also.
2. in any chess game, you can pull up what they call an "analysis window" whereby you can play around with the pieces, trying out different lines of thinking. It would be neat if wifight also allowed one to temporarily switch in and out of a 'self vs self' version of a current game (exploiting the fact that you have already implemented this mode for new games). I find this feature very cool, and it really is in tune with the patient, deliberate mindset of turn-based play.
LG has much to learn from wifight too! They dont have: chat, possible moves (esp missed in reversi), specific game-following (ie spectating, although one can access all games), nor the excellent rapid alert system of wifight.
The main drawcard of LG is of course the massive user base. Im very happy to see you developing the multiple clients to pull in a bigger crowd of wifighters. That is indeed more important at this point than anything else, but I know you like to work on a multiplicity of things at any one time, so i thought you might find these observations of interest.
icon: Glad you like it. I like it too. Unfortunately Palm icons seem to be 22x22 instead of 32x32 like Windows so it might be a bit of a squish. But I'll look into it.
I still haven't tried playing LG myself (looked at the front page tho).
1. So graphically it shows the final result? Like if in wifight Chess, instead of a green X you would get an overlay of the piece you're moving (and the original would disappear?) Is that how you mean? Or is it more of a two-step process to commit to a move? i.e. you move, stuff happens, THEN you commit. I guess I should try it.
2. This would be really nice to have, I agree. I am thinking of creating some kind of game cloning ability after my quit-all-games debacle Maybe you could clone the current game into a self-play game. Alternately, I could maybe let you just slide the pieces around on the current board, without actually altering any gameplay data. What do you think?
Getting the winclient (and new palm client) out is definitely still the #1 priority, but it won't be long after that that I will get back to doing some tasty gameplay/UI features (in both clients simultaneously, woo!), so thanks for posting your thoughts.
Glad to hear the porting process is going so well. I was intrigued by "new palm client"?
1: re final result in LG: yes youre right, you would see the moved piece in its new position, and it would disappear from orig square. More exciting is that in reversi, you see all the pieces that have been flipped change color, so you know exactly what youre getting into b4 committing.
2. Cloned games, self vs self, or switching to 'experiment' mode in current game both sound good.
If you went with the former, a slightly more sophisticated cloning process could achieve something I have always thought could provide a good alternative to takebacks.
The idea is that if youre having a fantastic contest, but at move 33 you do something completely moronic, then you resign that game but ask if your opponent is interested in cloning the game back to move 32, and continuing from there.
cheers
geoff
PS I have also started playing Go at last, an interesting game indeed. One feature of it, and a few other games (eg Hex, Havannah) that makes them attractive in an online context, is that you cant do computer cheating, at least not at the medium-higher levels. The computers cant actually compete with humans - in fact the top Go programs cant even beat good amateurs - with 361 squares, the processers are really pushed! Cheating has never been a problem at wifight, but as it grows, it will inevitably rear its unfortunate head.
Yep, new Palm client. Part of the porting process that results in a winclient is also going to result in a new Palm version of the client. That's the goal, to get all platforms compiling from the same source, and it's almost there. It's gonna be really nice being able to add features to the UI for both clients at once. Currently my plan is to get the winclient to a stable 1.0 beta state, and then get the new palm client out and stable as well. The old palm client will still work fine in the meantime.
I think we're on the same page on the usefulness of cloning. Another possible use case would be if you're in an interesting midgame and your opponent abandons the game, you could continue the game with a new opponent. Or an AI player. Or perhaps even clone your chess game starting from a standard opening or something. Lots of possibilities.
And, here's a new build of the winclient! Lots and lots more UI works now, including the new player screen, new game/select game screens and even the user guide! I put the always-showing menus back in for now, too, until I can figure out how to make em pop up when you click the form title or something. Right-clicking for the screen menu still works too.
Also, the client now minimizes to a tray icon so you can leave it running without it getting in the way. Right click on the tray icon and select "Exit wifight" to close the client.
Happy... Tuesday? Wednesday? It's time for a build of the wifight windows client!
- UI fonts now scaled to look more bueno
- text labels autosized
- game details screen works
- now closes normally when you click X, but still minimizes to system tray
- more!
Introducing wifight 1.0 prealpha for Windows AND Palm :)
Thanks, Dan! While the above-seen 2x zoom mode is not yet ready for public speaking engagements, this new build is still pretty neato. It has better-lookin fonts in the UI, and the About screen has the big ol wifight logo as it should. This leaves only one single screen left to port over (the games archive filter options.) Plus tweaks and more porting. So we're getting pretty close to a 1.0 alpha here In fact, I'm calling this one 1.0prealpha.
Also, the Palm OS build of 1.0 prealpha is just about ready for a looksee. It should work almost exactly the same as the win32 port, plus or minus a few bugs/features. It's not quite ready to replace 0.36 just yet, but hey, you can still play games.
Enjoy! Not all features are ported yet, but most of them are. I still need to debug 5-way nav control in the game lists and chat. Also, don't forget to try hitting Control-D in the Windows client!
Code:
1.0prealpha2:
– win32: Double-size mode! Hit Control-D from almost anywhere to toggle 1x and 2x sizes
– palm: fixed chatscreen font size issues
– made About screen show version number again
– fixed reboot when 'return to gamelist' button pressed on progress screen
– renamed 'Games' button on Login screen to 'Back'
– ported Games Archive filter options screen. That's all of em! :)
– made chatscreen automatically fit as many lines on screen for font as possible
- win32: made Control-D (for double size) work anywhere, even from edit boxes
- win32: minimize button does normal minimize, not systray minimize
- win32: right click menu now its own menu
- win32: double-size and minimize to systray options
- win32: bigger fonts for edit boxes
- win32: client stores settings in wifight subdirectory in user data dir
- win32: double-size mode setting now restored on startup
- fixed accented characters not displaying in the chat screen
Yessss! The client is really coming along. Some of the most requested features are now in place, and/or ported. In a couple more builds it will be time to move up from prealpha to actual alpha! Can't wait.
1.0prealpha4:
- palm: 5-way nav buttons work on list controls again, woot
- win32: dialog-box style tabbing between controls enabled, woot
- win32: double-click on a game name to select it and close the select game screen
- win32: min/max field lengths set correctly in New Player screen
- win32: always-on-top mode selectable in right-click menu (persistent even)
- all: optimized blitting for List gadgets (gamelist, chat) when items are repainted
- plus bug fixes and tweaks as always :)
wifight 1.0 prealpha5 is now up for grabs. This build is actually getting pretty sweet, if I say so myself. I think this is gonna be the last of the prealphas. Probably. I think just about everything works at this point. Please let me know if I'm wrong on that
– all: network error handling improved muchly, auto-redials on error
– all: lightened up alternating gray backgrounds in lists
– all: game list shows 4 games instead of 5
– all: game icons (are back) in game list!
– all: wifight logo gadget is back
– all: fixed bug with popup that comes up when you browse a game you're playing in
– all: made green outline for chat lines a little less intensely green
– all: added top row gadgets to login screen
– all: trimmed popups' language, no more "Are you sure..."
– palm: disabled turn alert beeps being played multiple times (for now)
– win32: bigger font for alert popups
– win32: added "Exit wifight" option to right-click menu
– plus bug fixes, tweaks
OK, maybe THIS build will be the last prealpha. Prealpha means stuff might still be broken or just be plain missing, but I think we're getting pretty complete here. I really want to get everybody onto these new clients soon, so I can start working on new more better features, instead of just porting the old ones. Anyway, here's what is new:
Please upgrade and test! Trg, you should find the chat font readable once again, I hope. Oh yeah, can you also try the winclient at your work? It might work this time.
wifight winclient sneak peek :)
Linear Mode
