Mac Chess very unApple

[bjm2660]

Originally Posted by buggsndirk

I wish it had an interface like the one attached. Nice and simple, nothing fancy. Well...maybe a few choices with colour....

I completely agree--crisp, clean, and intuitive. Something like your example would be perfect. Where did that come from, by the way?

[dakwar]

Originally Posted by bjm2660

I just noticed that the white knights aren't even facing the right direction.

It just looks that way. Bad rendering. Its actually the ears of the horse, not its snout. This becomes clear if you move the board around. But yeah, still no good.

[bjm2660]

Originally Posted by dakwar

It just looks that way. Bad rendering. Its actually the ears of the horse, not its snout. This becomes clear if you move the board around. But yeah, still no good.

I see that now. Still, this wouldn't even matter if it had a nice clean 2D interface.

[blizaine]

Originally Posted by torbjoern

I kinda prefer good old Battle Chess.

Oh man, that brings back memories. I used to love me some Battle Chess.

[coder12]

Originally Posted by torbjoern

I kinda prefer good old Battle Chess.

Dang, I remember playing that as a kid! It took a long time for the AI to move, if I remember correctly. Sometimes as much as like a minute or two on our old IBM machine.

I want my childhood back

[bjm2660]

There haven't been any exciting chess offerings on the Mac App Store lately. I check periodically, but the demand must not be there. There are dozens of chess apps on the iPhone/iPad/iPodTouch app store. Can none of these companies port their chess app to the mac?

[Winni]

Originally Posted by Macman45

It's okay for a very basic game, and there are so many chess games out there that I doubt if Apple are all that concerned over a built in game. .

No, for OS X there are NOT that many alternatives available. Shredder Chess is the only serious chess software for OS X, and even that one comes with a rather ugly Java interface.

If you want to play against some nicely made chess software, you have to use Windows. Fritz with the Shredder engine, for example.

[bjm2660]

Any developers here that could weigh in on whether Chess has been revamped for Mountain Lion?

[Rychy]

I think they said during the keynote that Chess will be Game Center enabled.

[bjm2660]

Originally Posted by Rychy

I think they said during the keynote that Chess will be Game Center enabled.

I suspect it will still look ugly.

[bjm2660]

In light of the recent shakeup of Apple's leadership responsibilities that has brought the ascendance of Jony Ive a position in charge of all human interface, I'm curious if this much-forgotten part of OSX will be updated or done away with entirely. Chess according to Ive could be an exciting possibility. If he's too busy to get to it, he might just have it cut out like a cancer.

Thoughts?

[Nam Pla]

I deleted Apple's chess game from my system, was pretty lame looking. I had Big Bang Chess from an older OS (Tiger I believe) that I copied over to my new Macbook (Lion) and it works okay with that OS, though I don't often use it.

Nothing spectacular but better than the one that came with Lion. Try searching Big Bang Chess and see if you can download.

[bjm2660]

Originally Posted by Nam Pla

Try searching Big Bang Chess and see if you can download.

Sounds like an adult film...

[Nam Pla]

Originally Posted by bjm2660

Sounds like an adult film...

Hmmm... I suppose it does at that. Though I never thought of it... really...

[rien333]

Might be a nice project for me as a beginning developer, but I think I'm going to hit a big road block when designing the computer AI, because I'm pretty bad at chess myself.

[bjm2660]

Originally Posted by rien333

Might be a nice project for me as a beginning developer, but I think I'm going to hit a big road block when designing the computer AI, because I'm pretty bad at chess myself.

I'm not sure you'd need to be a grand master to design an adequate UI.

I'm just looking for something:
clean
simple
minimalist

not something:
skeuomorphic
"look at me"
cheesy
trying too hard

I think you should try it if you're up for a challenge. You don't even need to develop the chess engine; you can link the interface to remote engines.

[jb3od]

okay playing a game of chess on the mac chess hardest difficulty and am setting myself up to win . i believe that mac knew it was about to lose and wouldn't let me take my move although it was 100.0% legit i try for 5 min and nothing happens i then ask for a hint in which it tell me to take one of its pieces but in doing so it would take my piece and this was the only move i was allowed to make