Thought it might be good to answer some questions about the upcoming launch of version 2 and Economy Chess in general. When will version 2 be available? The current date is the 1st of January. It could be a little earlier or a little later. It needs some good testing and chances are that some (programming) problems occur. I will post an update when I know the date more precisely.
When will the ladder (ongoing tournament) start? When version 2 is launched the ladder will start. You can join in anytime though, also when it has already started! The goal is to climb the ladder and get as high as possible.
I don't want to wait, I want to play now. How? You can play with version 1. It's available from the chess.com download section: Economy Chess v1. You can challenge others on the forum. Please do read the "known bugs" thread so you dont get any unpleasant suprises. The software works pretty good, but it has a couple major issues (though not 'gamestoppers')
How will we play games against eachother when v2 is launched? Unfortunatly the software will run locally on your computer. It will not send moves to your opponent. You will have to send you moves manually using e-mail, personal message or an online chatbox (e.g.: the chat of the Economy Chess group.) Perhaps in a future version there will be a computer to play against or something that sends the moves automatically, but that is programming on another level and requires much more upkeep than this standalone software.
Why did you make software for the variant? Because the variant is very hard to play OTB! The simple idea of "conquer a square when you move onto it" popped into my mind and I loved it so much that I wanted to play it. OTB this was tough because we had to keep track of who owned the squares and count up every turn.
Who is the programmer? Not me :) Economy Chess has been built by Ancosys from Pakistan. If you need any kind of software I recommed him and his team alot! He communicates well and is really good at what he does. See his profile and projects that he has been working on here.
I see you are posting messages in groups that are not about Economy Chess, why? Because I hope many people will try the game and join the ladder. Before posting those messages I contacted a superadmin and explained that I joined to post the message and asked if they are ok with that. Only after explicit permission I posted the message. Sorry for the inconvenience when you see the message more than once.
So you want to make lots of money with this game, no? Ofcourse it would be great if someone came up to me and offered me a million $. But that is not going to happen. I created this game because I loved the idea. And actually I've spent quite a bit myself to get it where it is today. I don't expect to make any profit. The game is free to download, no hidden costs, no adds.. The goal is that people enjoy this variant.
What does chess.com think about this? Is it legal? I have not spoken directly about this, but in a chat an admin thanked me for adding content to the site. Also in a personal message I asked a well know admin if I can post in her group and she said it was fine. So they know about the game and didn't close the group or took the game from their downloads. Since the game is free I don't think much legal issues arise. As for me: I think chess.com is a great website that offers alot of free chesstools. I hope they see the game as something that adds to their site.
How can I help to make Economy Chess a better game? 1) Spread the word! Like the facebookpage or tell others about the game and this group. You can also use the social mediabuttons above forumthreads. It would be great if you tweet the rules for instance.
2) If you enjoyed the game and feel like helping out you can make a donation using paypal (elkitchgames@gmail.com). If you can't spare anything, no worries! Just have fun and play it for free. If you make a donation I will mention you as a contributor in future versions.
3) Once Economy Chess v2 is launched I will post a thread for bugs, glitches and your thoughts on improvement. Me and others will test it as much as we can but chances are that we will miss something. And perhaps you got a good idea that should really be added in version 3.
4) Do you know someone who is good at (AI)programming and making apps? In the 3rd version adding a computer to play against would be great. This seems to be very complicated, so any help (coding or knowledge) is much appreciated. Also I will post a guide to play Economy Chess OTB. This is possible but especially the scorekeeping takes alot of time and errors are made easily. An app that keeps track of income, savings etc would help alot. It would not display the board, but just add up and deduct after the players input what they just did OTB.
Thought it might be good to answer some questions about the upcoming launch of version 2 and Economy Chess in general.
When will version 2 be available?
The current date is the 1st of January. It could be a little earlier or a little later. It needs some good testing and chances are that some (programming) problems occur. I will post an update when I know the date more precisely.
When will the ladder (ongoing tournament) start?
When version 2 is launched the ladder will start. You can join in anytime though, also when it has already started! The goal is to climb the ladder and get as high as possible.
I don't want to wait, I want to play now. How?
You can play with version 1. It's available from the chess.com download section: Economy Chess v1. You can challenge others on the forum. Please do read the "known bugs" thread so you dont get any unpleasant suprises. The software works pretty good, but it has a couple major issues (though not 'gamestoppers')
You can use the print and play from the chess.com downloads. Print out the rules, scoresheet and tokens and play the game against someone OTB.
How will we play games against eachother when v2 is launched?
Unfortunatly the software will run locally on your computer. It will not send moves to your opponent. You will have to send you moves manually using e-mail, personal message or an online chatbox (e.g.: the chat of the Economy Chess group.)
Perhaps in a future version there will be a computer to play against or something that sends the moves automatically, but that is programming on another level and requires much more upkeep than this standalone software.
Why did you make software for the variant?
Because the variant is very hard to play OTB! The simple idea of "conquer a square when you move onto it" popped into my mind and I loved it so much that I wanted to play it. OTB this was tough because we had to keep track of who owned the squares and count up every turn.
Who is the programmer?
Not me :) Economy Chess has been built by Ancosys from Pakistan. If you need any kind of software I recommed him and his team alot! He communicates well and is really good at what he does. See his profile and projects that he has been working on here.
I see you are posting messages in groups that are not about Economy Chess, why?
Because I hope many people will try the game and join the ladder. Before posting those messages I contacted a superadmin and explained that I joined to post the message and asked if they are ok with that. Only after explicit permission I posted the message. Sorry for the inconvenience when you see the message more than once.
So you want to make lots of money with this game, no?
Ofcourse it would be great if someone came up to me and offered me a million $. But that is not going to happen. I created this game because I loved the idea. And actually I've spent quite a bit myself to get it where it is today. I don't expect to make any profit. The game is free to download, no hidden costs, no adds.. The goal is that people enjoy this variant.
What does chess.com think about this? Is it legal?
I have not spoken directly about this, but in a chat an admin thanked me for adding content to the site. Also in a personal message I asked a well know admin if I can post in her group and she said it was fine. So they know about the game and didn't close the group or took the game from their downloads. Since the game is free I don't think much legal issues arise. As for me: I think chess.com is a great website that offers alot of free chesstools. I hope they see the game as something that adds to their site.
How can I help to make Economy Chess a better game?
1) Spread the word! Like the facebookpage or tell others about the game and this group. You can also use the social mediabuttons above forumthreads. It would be great if you tweet the rules for instance.
2) If you enjoyed the game and feel like helping out you can make a donation using paypal (elkitchgames@gmail.com). If you can't spare anything, no worries! Just have fun and play it for free. If you make a donation I will mention you as a contributor in future versions.
3) Once Economy Chess v2 is launched I will post a thread for bugs, glitches and your thoughts on improvement. Me and others will test it as much as we can but chances are that we will miss something. And perhaps you got a good idea that should really be added in version 3.
4) Do you know someone who is good at (AI)programming and making apps? In the 3rd version adding a computer to play against would be great. This seems to be very complicated, so any help (coding or knowledge) is much appreciated.
Also I will post a guide to play Economy Chess OTB. This is possible but especially the scorekeeping takes alot of time and errors are made easily. An app that keeps track of income, savings etc would help alot. It would not display the board, but just add up and deduct after the players input what they just did OTB.