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Fluid Chess. A modest variation allowing movement through friendly pieces. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Charles Gilman wrote on Sun, Jun 7, 2009 06:40 AM UTC:
'The Feeble Knight, on b1, g1, b8, and g8, is initially able to leap in the forwardmost Knightly direction towards the center line (from b1 to c3), and turns 45 degrees.'

Approximately 37 or 53 degrees, actually. The directions of the Knight are at 45 degrees to those of the Camel, not to each other. Likewise its compounds.

Jeremy Good wrote on Sat, Jun 6, 2009 11:10 AM UTC:
And it uses Moos (which I wrote a post about before I took my hiatus - never should have left these pages, btw)! Wow, I've really spent some time re-treading...let's try this Fluid Chess. I created a preset and sent you an invite. What should Moos look like anyway? I'm sure you have ideas about this as I know you like to think about piece design with me. Do we already have 'moos' in Many-Alfaerie? Anyway, I created a preset this morning with just the standards.

💡📝Joe Joyce wrote on Thu, Oct 4, 2007 08:15 PM UTC:
Hey, Jeremy. There are several ways to deal with directionality. Gary Gifford designed a delightful game with directional pawns represented by a spear and shield. A slightly smaller, slightly offset icon with a directional arrow should work quite nicely for a 1-directional knight, for example. You'd have a rather trying time stacking 3-4 of these different pieces, though. Probably have to do something like Navia Drapt and use a marked grid to show moves, which sort of makes the original concept disappear. Or use an alphanumeric system to indicate piece components and directionality. You might also make a board with oversized squares so you could use oversized icons that can carry more info. 

You're also venturing into the realm of the 'build it yourself' armies that were often an outgrowth of role-playing games or wargames, or both. I'm sure someone could tell you names, but I've seen a few build-it games in the CVPages. Most of them appear to be exceedingly long and complex, whether they are or not, so may not have gotten a lot of play.

I'd playtest 2 and 3 part compounds before trying to create 'Mutant Monster Chess' with its '2 to the n' piece possibilities [if not more]. But that's just me; being lazy, I'd raid the icon list for things like berolina pawns and sergeants to show stacks of 2 or 3 pawns, for example. There's enough pieces to cover most 2, 3, and some 4 part compounds. That'd give me enough to experiment with for a while, and indicate what I thought could be reasonably done next. 

I also believe there's a limit to the number of different pieces you can put into a game, no matter the board size, total number of pieces, or complexity of movement rules. I probably came very close to, or [far] more likely went past it in Fortress Chess, trying to do too many things at once. People don't play those games. That's a reason for not doing a game. I generally get better results when things come out of a game idea than if more ideas get put in. Those games, stuffed with ideas, can lack clarity, much like me, when I write things like this, but ramble on. ;-)

Doug Chatham wrote on Thu, Oct 4, 2007 02:49 PM UTC:
Jeremy,
If you're going to divide pieces into their directional components, I suggest that you also make the captures kamikaze.

Jeremy Good wrote on Thu, Oct 4, 2007 10:17 AM UTC:
Since two parts would be eminently doable (we already have pieces for wide and narrow knights and bi-directional bishops - barbershop pieces - and bi-directional rooks, side moving rooks and backward-forward moving rooks) we should start with that....[er, but we don't have pieces that combine them...guess I'd better get to work on that...]

Jeremy Good wrote on Thu, Oct 4, 2007 09:41 AM UTC:
Weakest Chess deals with this minute directionality, but I find it hard to create a visual representation of the knight for that game. It's do-able just a little bit difficult. I'm not sure how to proceed exactly, but I think arrows would be a good way to do it, arrows with little knights on them.

💡📝Joe Joyce wrote on Thu, Oct 4, 2007 02:46 AM UTC:
Some people don't know when to quit... ;-) Lego Chess? Build your own chess pieces out of bitty-little components? I'm probably too lazy to do all that, but it could be workable. Maybe Zany Chess, allowing 3-4 or so parts to combine... 
In the meantime, want to run through some openings in Fluid with me?

Jeremy Good wrote on Thu, Oct 4, 2007 02:07 AM UTC:
One way of making it even more fluid would be to say that each piece is divided into its directional components. Rook is made up of right-moving rook, left-moving rook, forward-moving rook, and backward moving-rook, any part of which could break out and combine with say, a narrow left forward knight (the knight could be divided into 8 components). Now that would lead to some very strange and fun combinations of new pieces.

Jeremy Good wrote on Sun, Sep 30, 2007 07:51 PM UTC:
I envision playable variants where all pieces are superpowerful and can theoretically access any space on the board, it's just a matter of how and when.

💡📝Joe Joyce wrote on Sun, Sep 30, 2007 07:11 PM UTC:
Thank you, Jeremy. You were in the mix somehow, with my thoughts about your tilerider variants, and where they do and don't work out.

Yes, that's an excellent idea, and not just because I had it myself last night, although I was thinking more in terms of Great Shatranj pieces being additive. I got thinking about it as a general mutator, and was thinking paper: 'Fluid, a Mutator'. Fortunately, you derailed that by your comment, making many happy. But I think we need to categorize mutators, too, if we're to have a CV Encyclopedia that designers can use to look up their games systematically and easily to find similar work.

The generalized Mutator Fluid is what allows games like Fergus' Fusion, my variant Fluid and your Atlantean variant. Three very different looks at the same concept. Bet that 'fluidized' Atlantean Barroom Shatranj pieces would be more addictive than additive! And that's the main problem I see, how to reign in the excesses. Otherwise someone's going to try to marry a FAD to a twisted knight [A/F +/- A/F] and get what is effectively a colorbound [cruise] missile piece, able to drop onto almost any square of one color on the board.

Jeremy Good wrote on Sun, Sep 30, 2007 06:34 PM UTC:
Thanks for mentioning me, Joe, as having helped inspire the conception of this game. I'd like to add a Fluid Chess mutator variant which would permit like pieces to bond in a significant way. 'Atlantean Fluid Chess' in which pieces that combine get to move as one, the other, one twice, the other twice or one and then the other. So two knights on the same spot could make up to two knight moves in any direction, etc. Queen can move as rook then bishop, bishop then rook, bishop and again as bishop, rook and again as rook (hook mover) or just as bishop or just as rook.

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