Feedback about the new 4PC version

Maybe just allow spectating someone else's analysis board with chat and spectator arrows? Like when someone is observing a game, you can click 'Observing' below his name to join that same game. If someone is analysing, it would then say 'Analysing', which you can click to observe his analysis board? Then only one player controls the board and moves, but the spectator can draw arrows to suggest moves. I think that should not be too complex.

@GDII, screen share in Skype can be a workaround for now. I like your idea, but @_-__-__-___- is right: Too much time is needed to program this feature.

I was just trying to make my own application compatible with the FEN4 and PGN4 definitions used here and I noticed the following:

• The analysis board here does not support subvariations (when you play an alternative move within a variation, it replaces the previous move), so when I try to load a PGN4 with subvariations, it will raise an error.
• The StartFen4 only defines a different starting position, but cannot be used to define the current position within a game. That is, if the movetext just starts from move 1 as normal, but I want to set the current position to some later move in the game, that is currently not possible. All moves before the StartFen4 position have to be omitted for it to work. If I try to load a PGN4 with a FEN4 that corresponds to a later position in the game, it will raise an error.

Also, it's probably a good idea to have a clearly defined convention for the FEN4 and PGN4 (and not change it). For example, I was wondering what the number before the last '-' is in the FEN4. It seems to be always 0. Should that be the ply count?

[player to move]-[dead]-[kingside castling]-[queenside castling]-[points]-[??]-[position]

no subvariations, sorry. you should be able to have sevaral variations starting at the same move though.

"I want to set the current position to some later move in the game"

i dont quite follow what your are doing. StartFen4 is just an option to start from a different fen than the normal starting position.

the last -0- is the plycount yes. not sure why it's alwyas 0, i'll have a look

He probably wants to change the start position which is shown while still having the pgn for the whole game (so you can move backwards to the start). Like this:

Exactly, what @Martin0 said.

i could include an option to jump to a certain move after loading. (isn't that's how it's done above?)

something like [Goto: 23] and have it jump to ply 23 after loading the pgn

would that help?

 Yeah, you could do that as well I suppose. This is a better example actually:

If you check the PGN, you see a starting FEN and a CurrentPosition FEN.

ok i'll suggest:

[CurrentMove "23"]  -> will jump to ply 23

[CurrentMove "23-2-4"] -> will jump to 4th move of 2nd variation of ply 23

and add it to the pgn automatically each time a move is selected.

sound good?

Yes, sounds good.

take a look on /4pc-test

[Variant "FFA"]
[CurrentMove "5-2-1"]

1. Ne1-d3 .. b5-d5 .. g13-g11 .. m11-k11
2. Nd3-e5
(2.. Nd3-c5 .. b7-d7 .. f13-f11 )
(2.. Nd3-f4 .. b9-d9 .. Kg14-g13 .. Nn10-l9 )
(2.. Nd3-e1 )
(2.. Nj1-i3 ) .. b11-d11 .. d13-d12 .. k11-j11
3. h2-h4 .. b7-d7 .. f13-f11 .. j11-i11

interesting setup where you have to move a rook first in order to castle

[Variant "FFA"]
[CurrentMove "24"]
[StartFen4 "R-0,0,0,0-1,1,1,1-1,1,1,1-0,0,0,0-0-3,yB,yB,yQ,yN,yN,yR,yK,yR,3/3,yP,yP,yP,yP,yP,yP,yP,yP,3/14/bB,bP,10,gP,gR/bB,bP,10,gP,gK/bQ,bP,10,gP,gR/bN,bP,10,gP,gN/bN,bP,10,gP,gN/bR,bP,10,gP,gQ/bK,bP,10,gP,gB/bR,bP,10,gP,gB/14/3,rP,rP,rP,rP,rP,rP,rP,rP,3/3,rR,rK,rR,rN,rN,rQ,rB,rB,3"]
[RuleVariants "960"]

1. j2-j3 .. b10-c10 .. e13-e12 .. m5-l5
2. Qi1-k3 .. Qa9-c11 .. Qf14-d12 .. Qn6-l4
3. Nh1-i3 .. Na7-c6 .. Ng14-f12 .. Nn8-l9
4. Ng1-f3 .. Na8-c9 .. Nh14-i12 .. Nn7-l6
5. Ni3-h5 .. Nc9-e8 .. Nf12-g10 .. Nl6-j7
6. i2-i4 .. b9-d9 .. f13-f12 .. m6-l6

Regarding the new 'create friendly game' feature...

Is there any reason why we cannot have 'days' as an option? I really have problems being able to join games with 'seconds' or even 'minutes' as the only option because I drive ambulance and have to 'down tools' and run off fairly frequently. So while I have a lot of down time, I don't have much dedicated down time... even on my days off I can get suddenly called in.

@VAOhlman, Daily 4PC is possible in theory, but not right now. We will need to save the game after each ply and ignore the fact that players are not online during the game. Also we need to notify players (via chess.com messaging system) about their turn, and so on. Lots of work.

Ah, ok. I didn't think about the whole 'players not online' thing.

@TheHandsomePlayer, it already shows your timezone. Did it allow you to play a minute or 2 later?

What I like about the new version is obviously the pre-move function. What I absolutely hate about it comparing to the old version are the lack of privacy for chatting, the profanity censor, the aborting of a game after a player fails to make a move in the first four round. What someone does SHOULDN'T affect the other players.

Do you plan a slower variant? At the moment I have too many time outs due to short interruptions of my connection, which is pity. 

the next big update will introduce many different time controls. eta 1-2 months