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arn

macrumors god
Original poster
Staff member
Apr 9, 2001
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Chess is now a full 3d-app
 

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That's great, I've actually been wondering what the 3D chess looked like after hearing talk of it being remodeled for 3D. Is it still as impossible to beat as ever?
 
Looks pretty cool.

Just needs a bit of smoothing out, and hopefully the viewing angle can be changed as well because it's a bit hard to see from that angle.
 
it's very cool. several skins to chose from... graphics look quite unfinished though... still a hard freakin game..

it's got some cool variations now though

suicide is fun :) you try to kill off all your pieces first. haha

still hard as hell though.
 
wow thats kinda funky, showing off cocoa and quartz extreme mainly
 
AA?

The graphics look very finished to me.

Unless you are referring to the lack of anti-aliasing, which the OS UI as a whole uses throughout. 3D games often don't though, giving 3D edged jagged pixels. I assume that's dependent on the video board. I've never actually seen a game with an AA option, but then I haven't bought too many recent games!
 
It just looks really pixelated in still photos, in motion it will look smoother.

And most new games today have Full Screen AA and it is video card dependant.
 
Very cool - I'd like to see more apps done like that :D

Even with the 3D, no window version of the game, though, I'd still not be able to beat the computer. Although this might make me play it a few more times and you never know....

D
 
Apple's Chess must be the easiest program to crash or f*** up for Jaguar.

Make a few moves, and while the computer is thinking on any one move, take back a move. Do this a few times, and you have . . . it's too funny even I can't describe it.

And I have never beaten Apple's Chess.

Also, Apple's 2D version in Jaguar is not only the same, but also requires something bigger than 800 x 600. Well, I guess that's my fault for purchasing a clamshell iBook with a max. res. of only 800 x 600.

I don't think anything will beat Sigma Chess for a long time, even if it doesn't have board rotation.


Edit: I should clarify: Free chess software
 
Mac chess uses gnu engine, which isn't a very strong engine. Neither is the engine in Sigma. Both are very beatable! The strongest chess program available for the Mac is Hiarcs chess. Unfortunately it runs only under OS 9 and the company who makes it will not update it any further due to poor sales :mad:

~stockscalper
FIDE rated 1966
 
Originally posted by Abstract
The graphics don't look very good. Like others have noticed, the graphics are very pixelated, and the movement of the board in 3-D is quite choppy, in my opinion.


You are probably noticing the quicktime playback choppiness.
 
The graphics are fine actually - not pixelated (as its actually a 3D application). It does have some other assorted issues - but NDA restricts me from mentioning those.
 
Heres a suggestion

Apple should do with chess what it has done for icons and the GUI...make it look better than anything else out there today. It would be great if they could use more polygons for all the pieces and better textures. Also drop shadows are a must. It just looks out of place beside all the good looking stuff that Panther has. I would think that making it look more photorealistic or more Pixar-ish is possible with todays technology, am I wrong on that?

Maybe they can use the Quake 4 engine to run it or something. ;)
 
Way to go Apple!

We are now where Atari ST computers were 15 year ago!!!

May be in 10 more years Apple would realise animated chess characters!!!

"The emperor has no clothes" that was the best description.
 
Re: Way to go Apple!

Originally posted by mymemory
We are now where Atari ST computers were 15 year ago!!!

May be in 10 more years Apple would realise animated chess characters!!!

"The emperor has no clothes" that was the best description.

That is sarcasm right? You can't possibly be mad that Apple updated their chess game? Or that it's not an actual 3D battle chess simulation.

You do know that it's the Macintosh Minesweeper right? Not an iApp, not ChessPlayerPro. Just a legacy app that was once symbolic, and quite indicative of the nature of the platform (as a juxtaposition of solitaire as the flagship game of the Windows platform,) right?

None of your post was more than just a slightly misaligned attempt at a jovial jest of this news item, right?

Oh, ok. Just making sure.

-Hertz
 
I'm glad to know that the previous two posters were focused on the graphics preview, rather than the game of Chess. All they had to do was scroll up to the beginning of this thread and make a comment.

All right. Let me give everyone here something other than graphics to look out for:

Does the knight actually become a horse?
Does the rook have people living in it?
Is the board really an undersized floor tiling?
What happens if the pawn falls on the floor?

Let's keep in mind that Apple's version of Chess is sufficient to the experienced and well-performing chess player. Difficulty is one thing to keep in mind.

How about stats? The link I previously provided goes to a site hosting Sigma Chess. The game keeps nearly every statistic under the sun throughout the game. Some examples:
-->In progress score
-->Node counts
-->Nodes per second
-->Difficulty levels ranging throughout the proper 2500 = maximum ELO scale (I think that references the ELO scale for most computational sports games)

Other things that Sigma Chess has that Apple's version of Chess should consider:
-->Different board sets
-->Custom board designs for 2D and 3D
-->Customize your own board color

Now, no more complaining of the graphics provided in the screenshot of Apple's Chess, which, by the way, is in beta mode. We don't want to attract graphics trolls because of this thread. But now that I've said so, I bet you someone just got an idea.
 
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