Features of Wacky Chess with screen shots
Created by Pete "The Golden Gameboy" - August 2000 to September 2001... or so - ICQ - 14422453
The Rules of Chess (including this one) - also with screen shots
Additional rules of Wacky Chess (not affecting the real game)
Download the game!
Wacky Chess Replays *** NEW! ***
Wacky Chess Message Board
Email bugs / comments / suggestions / blah to the author
Take another look at the download page - there's now a self-extracting EXE now thanks to Seymour, the overseer of things related to marpirc.net, that place where you download the Wacky Chess program, plus a slightly quicker download.
- Feature Improvement: The timing of the players has undergone an overhaul. It used to go on timer intervals based on the speed of the clock. Now it goes directly through the computer clock. This is an improvement because when the speed of the clock was higher, the faster computers were at a disadvantage over the slower computers because the faster ones would count down faster than the slower ones. Now they are all on mainly level ground.
- New Feature: Tenths of a second for both the game clock and the play clock is now present on the Wacky Chess game board for your pleasure. This is more useful in Blitz Chess (2 minutes / game / individual) situations.
- Bug Fix: The detection for music files stopped at music file 10, which was correct before version 6.4 - but it's wrong now! I don't know why you'd start adding music at file 11, but just in case... fixed.
- Feature Change: I determined that the one minute files were not very effective - so I threw them out. However, in exchange, the regular music files have expanded from 25 to 28. No change program is required unlike version 6.4. There are four WAV files no longer in existance - the low on time alert files. They have been deleted from the package.
- Feature Improvement: The music randomization is now truly random. This means that one song can't be heard from again until the other 27 are played. This completly avoids the "hearing of a song twice in a row" problem, unless a song is at the end of the old random list and also at the beginning of the new random list - the odds of which are much lower than before.
- Enhancement: The scoreboard style numbers and how to put them up was improved. There should be... I guess a double speed improvement on average after the enhancement than before.
- New Feature: The screen can be released from its' maximized state now. It can't be re-sized if you do this, however, it's the right size anyway for your entertainment. - Bug fix: Diagonal moves of 7 (from one corner to another) were not working correctly with the Bishop AND the Queen. Badly fixed. That must have been a bug since gosh knows when.
- Bug Fix: Pawn promotion bug. Didn't actually promote the pawn. I'm bad. :(
- Bug Fix: There was a point counting bug I found that I didn't want there. The pawn=1, bishop=3 etc. bit. So I released a quick bug fix for it instead.
- Bug Fix: The clock was resetting to what it was at the beginning of the game when one resigns in internet play. Oh... I said that for 7.1 :) Now it's definatly fixed.
- Bug Fix: The statistics were counting days at the end of a session not in a game... type of... thing. Uh... fixed... I think. :)
- Bug Fix / Scoring Change: Winning on time in individual mode only gave a life bonus. Now it gives all the bonuses. The only time a life bonus will be awarded now is only when the clock influences both players.
- Bug Fix / Scoring Change: When time runs out for one individual, there was no 20,000 point bonus like resigning would give. This bonus is now given as if the player resigned.
- Bug Fix: On internet series of more than one game - the score switched, but the players did not. From this version forth, the score switches, and the players switch. :)
- Enhancement: 1,750 lines - gone. Part one of the code. Along the way...
- Bug Fix: One case where the king didn't reset counter attack information if he didn't capture something. That's a problem.
- Bug Fix: One case where capturing a knight or a bishop, I don't remember, was worth 6 counter attack or combo points, not 3.
- Speed Improvement?: Part of the clean-up was limiting the if statements from 12 * 8^2 to 1 * 8^2 for all of the blue squares and all the green squares in the game board graphic refresh algorithim.
Other notes:
- Seven more replays have appeared. These also exist of my matchups with my friend Chris... total number of replays is
now eleven - feel free to submit your own replays - they will be posted!
- I linked the download and replay pages incorrectly here. Sorry about that! :(
- Bug Fix: The clock was resetting to what it was at the beginning of the game when one resigns in internet play. I think I fixed it, but I'm not positive.
- Scoring Change: Noticing the move bonus often dominating all the other bonuses, the following is hereby changed:
- Fall bonuses are now explicitly 5,000 * the number of piece points the opponent had left minus the king.
- Moves bonus has been reduced from 500 * whatever to 200 * whatever.
- Time bonus changed from 20 to 50 points / second.
- Life bonus remains 1,000 / piece point. Better than perfect life bonus is now 100,000 + 10,000 / piece point.
Other notes:
- Four replays have appeared. They exist of my matchups with my friend Chris...
- Bug Fix: Sometimes the status bar would remain red to give a status report. It's only supposed to be red when some violations or a check occurs. The bar should immediatly go back to purple when a move begins to take place. Fixed.
- Cosmetic Change: The game clock was too dark in showing the time remaining on black's side. I made it a little bit brighter, should be easier to read.
- Bug Fix: Bug when exiting from page 2. Fixed.
- Bug Fix: The fifth digit of black's scoreboard was placed incorrectly. Fixed.
- Bug Fix: Orange square overlapped pieces at the start of scripting mode. Fixed.
- Bug Fix: When you ended scripting mode, the clock continued if it was running during script mode. It's supposed to stop. Fixed.
- Fateback, the site hosting Wacky Chess's program zip files, has decided to limit the file size to 400K... or 200K... or some crap like that. Fateback has failed. Fortunatly, Seymour has donated some space for me to host my files. I think they're using a T3 too...
- Cosmetic change: This game now uses 800x600 resolution! It used to cover 1024x768 resolution, but the normal nowadays is 800x600 resolution. This will attract more players... I hope :)
- Music configuration: Had to split this page into "two pages" because of the resolution change.
- I think there was a saving problem with music configurations... it was something I didn't like anyway.
- You'll notice there is a board configuration setup in service mode. This is not active at this time, I'm reserving it for version 8.0. (I know I said 7.0 earlier, but the resolution change IMO was more important...)
Other notes:
- I've created a Wacky Chess message board for whatever you'd like to talk about. Hopefully I've categorized the
board well enough for you. :) This uses email alerts to tell everyone that a new message has sprouted up, one of
my favorite message board features...
- Version 7.0 is coming up really soon. But with only one change. Just the fact that the large monitor impared will now be able to play this game. Oh yes... Wacky Chess is two forms away from going to 800x600 resolution, instead of the 1024x768 resolution I was doing! I expect a release in two days time for any advertisers of the game... However, of course, I won't guarantee it. (Hey... it's a freeware program now!) :)
- Yeah - so it is. Ooooo... yellow and green colors! What's next, a new wacky chess release? Actually... maybe... I'm looking at one day make your own board positions(7.0) and your own board positions(8.0).
- Hey - I'm going to add a section for wacky chess replays. All you have to do is email me and away you go. I'll check the game to make sure it plays back (I wouldn't know why it wouldn't) and your replay and description will show up!
- On your request, please let me know if you want me to post a script of the game, what level of scripting you want me to do (i.e. moves, scores / move, final scores, whatever), and if you send multiple replays, if they are part of a series of games. I will continue to do this service for you until I become too busy to do it anymore. :)
- But... you can do it yourself and it'll be up as soon as I make sure it plays back!
- Cosmetic change: I changed the scoreboard control so it can change background colors and light colors. Light colors changed in game play and on the high score board. No more plain old yellow :)
- Human interaction problem: I had the play clock label and the add minutes / move in the incorrect spots. This is corrected. Actually... I moved around the labels in service mode anyway - hopefully it's better organized for you.
- Kings get 180 points / move, not 30. This is an issue in attract mode. Silly Gameboy...
- Fixed a statistics bug, especially in series of games greater than 1.
If the same player won both games, the total number of points the player scored in the
series would be assessed to the column of the color of the player's last game,
not the points won in just that game. Did you get that?
- Fixed a few loading problems in regards to configuration files.
- Now Comma-delimiting all(or almost all) numbers involved in the game. I hear this is
hard to do in C++... no wonder they never do it!
- I thought... 10 music files wasn't enough. I expanded that to 25. Added one more
sub-one-minute file, for a total of three. Total music files allowed in one configuration
now: 28, not 12.
- This affects your old music and default configurations. I have included a convert file
utility for your convinience.
- Gameboy's a nerd! He forgot to actually give points for the combos and counter attacks! How exciting!
- All downloads will now be through the Yahoo Briefcase. Besides, it's faster that way anyway. Don't worry - all
you need to do is download it like anything else.
- I made a couple fixes to the rules page... like I said a vertical queen movement was horizontal movement and diagonal queen movement was vertical movement - those type of fixes...
- Fixed a minor bug present in internet play: When the time ran out on one screen, because of the lag deal, it should
stay at 0, but instead went to 9:59:59 on the scoreboard, and -9:59:59 on one side's clock if you were keeping
individual clocks. This should be fixed so it shows all zeros.
- Major scoring changes as follows:
- In the old days, if you go under a major counter fight then one player continues for a combo, you only got credit
for one hit. Now if, for example, a 6-hit counter takes place, then one player continues for a combo, he gets
credit for a 4-hit combo.
- If you like the old scoring system, I'll keep version 6.21 available for download in the Yahoo Briefcase.
- Combo scoring changed to (100 * number of hits * total number of points captured by the offending player)
- Counter scoring changed to (100 * number of hits * total number of points captured by both players)
- In both cases, the multiplier is, starting from a 2 hit, 2-3-4-5-7-9-11-13-15-18-21-24-27... 7 = 6 hit, 18 = 11 hit
- Time bonus changed to a simple 20 points / second.
- Life bonus changed to a simple 1,000 points / point left on the board - but you get 100,000 points for a perfect
round, and 200,000 points for a better than perfect round.
- Move bonus changed to 500 points / move under 100(instead of 50). Double if the moves are under 50, triple if
the moves are under 25, and quintuple if the moves are under 10.
- I'm looking for opponents who are trying out this game. If you have ICQ, my number is 14422453 - I do have
it on autorization - so for the request reason please mention that you came from this site so I have an idea
who you are :) For the record - I'm not the best player at chess - probably in the 30% percentile is my best
guess(hey... easy win for those who like to smash me :) )
- Also added my email address to the page for requests and bugs. I can't guarantee requests to be recognized(for example,
you might as well not request artificial intelligence, that would take years I wager), but I'll take them into
consideration. I'll try to take care of any bugs you may find. You may find the treasure chest in internet play...
although I think it should be playable.
- Corrected an internet play problem with the resign and offer draw buttons.
- Added the F7 and F8 functions to the start-up screen.
- Downloads are now in four files due to a file size problem. A Yahoo briefcase
has also been opened for a one file download.
- I removed adding a script score to the win by checkmate module. This caused an 'input past end of file' error
by placing two scores at once. The quick fix would be to get rid of the last two scores before a mate occured.
- Also fixed a problem where the script didn't give a time win to black. Place the word 'time' in between two scores
I believe for a quick fix.
- Added a repeating position script. During the playback module, it will now declare that it was a draw game through
3 repeating positions, not bad or equal material.
- Disabled the textbox until an internet game begins. When it begins, the textbox will enable, and when it ends, the
textbox will disable.
- Added an offer draw button. If clicked in hot seat mode, a draw takes place. If clicked in internet play, a draw
is offered to the opponent but he can accept or reject. Draws cannot take place until Round 31 according to FIDE
rules.
- Added a resign button. Because of the nature of the program, no resignations will be allowed until Round 2.
- The time bonus in individual play was incorrect. Fixed.
- You could press F1 to start a new game once the winner was declared. Since this affect scripting - it now disallows it.
- Wow... you made the high score board if you hit the X button after the game was over and it went back to
attract mode. Not good - fixed.
- Loads of internet bugs were found - and corrected. Through Dual-Computer Programming.(testing with two computers
at a time)
- Fixed some technical issues - again mostly through internet play.
- The game clock can be set to up to 100 hours of time. With the game clock speed it would be 1,000 hours maximum.
This totals 41 days, 16 hours if you'd like :)
- All Wacky Chess scripts will now playback! But there's bad news - it won't work with version 5.0 scripts or earlier.
All scripting can play-back in real-time(accurate almost t almost to the second you moved it), or move-by-move.
- Added an auto rotate button. By pressing Control+A - it will rotate the board every move so the player's pieces
are always on the bottom of the board.
- Added the 3 repeating positions rule. If a position is repeated three times, the game ends in a draw. All rules
of chess should now be implemented in Wacky Chess.
- Added an announcement of settings to the client for his/her information before the game begins over the internet. This
is the case because the server creates the rules. The game will not begin until the client clicks OK after s/he sees
the settings the server set.
- All the keys to turn on sounds, music, and access the high score board now have a control key added to their
respective keys. So Control-S etc. This was a bug because of the chatting function in internet play turning on
sounds etc. just by chatting.
- Fixed zillions of bugs. Script bugs, game bugs, internet bugs...
- Now you can set the play clock and game clock to 0 seconds/minutes each. If it's at 0, it makes it an unlimited
time limit game.
- Play clock can be set up to 100 minutes now. (with the speed it can be 1,000 minutes, or 16 hours 40 minutes)
- You can set credits to 0 now - which means it's a free play. It's actually default now! :)
- There are now two clocks you can use instead of one. Click keeps individual clocks in service mode
and this will take place.
- Added a feature where you can add time after a certain number of moves both players make. (the moves and the time
added is set in service mode)
- Defaults are changed as follows:
Game Clock: 30 minutes instead of 15 minutes
Game Clock Speed: 7 instead of 6 (longer)
Play Clock: 40 seconds instead of 35
Play Clock Speed: 7 instead of 6 (longer)
Credits to Start: 0 instead of 2(just press space bar, enter, or F1 to start now!)
- Fixed a checkmate bug - a pawn was able to move two pieces in a checkmate check to capture a piece -
which is illegal in chess.
- Fixed a bug where it turned off the activated piece when it was actually still activated when a illegal move
was taking place.
- Fixed a bug where the piece did not promote on the screen immediatly after selection. It was a
"Queen that looked like a Pawn."