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[TheApo]

Hi,

I started a new game. It is a mix of my two favorite games: chess and soccer.
At the moment you can play against an "easy, dumb ai" which isn't really good. But when the ai has a chance to score, it will score. But the ai is really WIP.

Rules:
To accomplish a victory get three points.
To score a point set the opponent checkmate or make a goal
To shoot or pass the ball, place one figure beside it. THe ball can now move like the figure. (If there is the queen and a knight near the ball, the ball can move like the queen and like the knight)
In your turn you can move one figure and pass/shoot the ball three times.

Next plans:
- better ai
- save the old games online to create a self learning ai (yeah its a plan =) ) done
- demo mode to watch/replay old games to learn or to relax done
- an interactive tutorial to learn how to move the the figures/ball done
- give the opportunity to write your own ai and load the ai done
- an android version done

Download:
Download the desktop game. You need Java 8.
Download the Android Version.

Traier




current Screenshots:

[Bones]

The concept of this game is genius.
Once me and my friend learned you could pass up to three times the game got super interesting.

We were also happy to see that we got all our pieces back after a goal.

EDIT: Okay there is a super OP move where you can put your horse forward turn 1, Bring the ball back near the queen, the next pass back to the Rook. Then you wait until the opponent moves their horse and you can kick it directly into their net.
I did the move first and then it was used against me in the next round.

Great game, I plan to play this with a few of my chess friends.  

EDIT#2: Pawn can take pawn in forward move? That doesn't seem correct.

EDIT#3: Right click moves units if you dont click on the same square

EDIT#4: Bahaha this game is a blast!
So many unexpected moves happening here, the meta is real.
I just took his King-goalie with my Rooks.

I'm going to make some sprites for you for fun. Because I love this.
Feel free to use these if you want.

[TheApo]

Thanks for your feedback! =)

€dit#2: The pawn was to weak with his normal movement, so I changed it a little bit. But now the pawn is perhaps too good.
€dit#3: The game has two ways to move your figures. First click and release the mouse on a figure and look where the figure can go OR drag the figure to the new position

And your chess sprites are really nice. I would like to implement an options mode where you can choose with which figure set you want to play

I uploaded a new version with some improvements:
1.) frame not resizable
2.) better font
3.) interactive tutorial
4.) now you can write and load your own ai.
5.) I made a website where you can download the game and get a short explaination how to write an ai (at the moment only in german, but I will translate it later)
6.) some little ai improvements

Next steps:
- much better ai
- demo mode
- a little puzzle mode with some given line up-formations and you have to score a goal in one or two steps
- android version

[Bones]

Glad you enjoyed the sprites.

I just found that often I would right-click naturally to cancel moving. The game would then move my piece and it wasn't intentional. '
If you could make it so right-click cancels your piece selection that would be grand.
However if your releasing this on smart phones, you probably wont have a right-click.

The pawn being able to take another pawn directly in front of it, removes the strategy of blocking your opponents pawns.
Which is probably one of my only complaints about the game as it doesn't follow chess rules.
It makes it so the pawns are actually less practical because if you moved them anywhere near an opponents pawn, chances are - It will be taken out.

As for the AI, I have no idea how to work it.
It never makes a move and just keeps thinking.

[TheApo]

Glad you enjoyed the sprites.

I just found that often I would right-click naturally to cancel moving. The game would then move my piece and it wasn't intentional. '
If you could make it so right-click cancels your piece selection that would be grand.
However if your releasing this on smart phones, you probably wont have a right-click.

The pawn being able to take another pawn directly in front of it, removes the strategy of blocking your opponents pawns.
Which is probably one of my only complaints about the game as it doesn't follow chess rules.
It makes it so the pawns are actually less practical because if you moved them anywhere near an opponents pawn, chances are - It will be taken out.

As for the AI, I have no idea how to work it.
It never makes a move and just keeps thinking.

Thanks for testing =)

I uploaded a new version with
- added right click cancel =)
- the pawn cant take another figure directly or from the side but can go diagonal at the moment. So only the line is blocked and the pawn cant take out the other one BUT the opponent pawn can go move diagonal and take figures out diagonal.

The current ai needs some time to think. That means a time between five seconds and two minutes. But like I said I try to make the ai faster and better.

I will write an english tutorial how to write a simple ai in Java with Eclipse.
But imho it is really hard to write an ai for that game because you can make 4 moves in your turn. That means not like the "normal" chess with 100/150 oppotunities per step, here you can have up to 650000 possible different moves per step. And that is why the current ai isnt really good.
At the moment I try to "pimp" my heuristic so the alpha beta search can eliminate fast many bad moves.

[Bones]

Oh wow I did not think about the amount of possibilities math wise.
Thought it was buggy or something, but now that I know it's actually thinking I will let it work it's self out.

Many strategies evolved last night while testing with my friend.
The queen is the most dangerous piece by far, and attempting to do combo set ups is really a blast.

We appreciate you catering to our suggestions - We will try it out and see how it works now.

EDIT: First match of the day and our first goal was probably the longest defensive game we've played.
The pawns work great, I understand why you had changed them in the first place but enjoy them now more as blockers.

Suggestion from friend: Pawns turning into Queens when reaching end of opponents field?

[Bones]

WILD GAME BREAKING GLITCH FOUND!
Dragging the ball with right-click onto a unit awards the Black team the match.
I can't explain why this happens. It occurs with every unit on either players turn.
It could have to do with the right click thing I asked you to add.

We were in a clutch 2-2 final match set point when this glitch occured.

Legit strategy?
I was not nice to my friend and pulled this move.
It made the game chess and not ChessBall and was ultimately not fun.
I felt dirty and bad afterwards. He was ahead 2-1 so I wanted the win.
*Scene re-enactment

[TheApo]

New version is online.

Thanks for the right click-bug. It is fixed
and now only the king can move to/in the goal. Because the aim of the game is to score with the ball and not only to play chess.

Like I said many many thanks to you for testing and playing the game! 

I tried to make the ai better but at the moment the ai is really slow. I hope in the next day to "speed" it up.

[TheApo]

New version is online.

What is new?
- demo mode

If you wait 5 seconds in the main menu,  you can watch an old game played automatically.
When you play the game and finish it, the game will upload it and the demo of the game is available for all. So you can learn how to play the game.

Next steps:
- android version
- puzzle mode

[TheApo]

Now I made an android version.
I uploaded it on my website.

Next step:
faster ai because it takes 5 seconds to 10 minutes per turn to think. And that is tooooooooooooooooooooooo long. And then I will upload the verison to the playstore.

[Bones]

Having ChessBall on my phone is great.

I realized I can't move my own units into the other players goal to try and take his king out now though.
So that part has removed the ability to checkmate your opponent's goalie.

[TheApo]

...
I realized I can't move my own units into the other players goal to try and take his king out now though.
So that part has removed the ability to checkmate your opponent's goalie.

thanks for the bug. A new version is online without that bug.

New features:
- ai tells more, now you can see if the ai is thinking or if the game "freezes"
- the ai has only 180 seconds per turn, after that the current best move is taken
- removed many bugs
- ai is a little bit faster, but too slow for "a normal gamer" who dont want to wait ~2 minutes per turn.

next steps:
- AI
- puzzle mode

[TheApo]

Today I tried the game in real. It's really fun. 

[Bones]

SAY WHAT!?       

[Pixel Noise]

Haha! I never would have thought of this, ever. Haven't tested it yet, but plan to. Cool

[sakrirafael]

Did you use some API for the AI or did you make your own?
Making any good chess AI is unbelievably hard 
I'm interested to know how you implemented it!

[TheApo]

I updated the website. Now you can find a description how to create your own ai. If someone is interested, that would be cool

A new Version is uploaded too.
- I removed several bugs
- I "pimped" the demo mode
- I added a puzzle mode. In that mode you get a specified start formation and have to score in one turn. The goal is that the player learn to score and see the possibilites
- removed serval bugs
- the ai "talks" more while thinking

Next steps
- update the android version too
- better and faster ai

Did you use some API for the AI or did you make your own?
Making any good chess AI is unbelievably hard 
I'm interested to know how you implemented it!

No, I make everything on my own. At the moment I use the alpha beta search with a search depth of 2 (I know that is not much, but because of the possibilities I cant go deeper [at the moment])

[grid]

I logged in to TIGForums for the first time in years just to comment on how cool this game is. I am more of an iOS / Unity dev, or I'd be tempted to play with your AI stuff. Very cool.

Congratulations!!

[TheApo]

I logged in to TIGForums for the first time in years just to comment on how cool this game is. I am more of an iOS / Unity dev, or I'd be tempted to play with your AI stuff. Very cool.

Congratulations!!

Thanks!!! 

A new version is online.

Thats new:
- the ai makes no senseless moves.
- the ai is faster. [unnecessary objects removed, faster goal recognition, better heuristic]
- removed many bugs. I am suprised HOW many bugs such a small project could have ...

Next steps:
- update the android version and the publish it on the playstore
- more and harder puzzlelevel

[lobstersteve]

woah, the idea is really cool
if you execute it well, it could become a really great thing