Prev/Next Blog
by date

Free Game E-mail Chess

Name:	Arland (Barry) Woodham
Date Posted:	Feb 11, 2008
Rating:	Not Rated
Public:	YES
Comments:	YES
RSS Feed:	or Subscribe with .
Profile Page:	View profile page for Arland (Barry) Woodham

Blog post

Yes it's been quite a while since I have posted anything here. In the time I have been gone I have managed to rebuild my entire website in flash. www.cartoon-combat.com Once I finished it I asked myself what I wanted to do next and I thought of an idea I had with my father. A long time ago people used to play chess by mail and the games could take years to complete. The idea of mail chess encouraged correspondance between one another with a chess move being the main reason. The idea was to recreate that original thought and modernize it. I knew that I could create a chess game in flash but the question became how to make the email part as simple as possible. Originally I had thought of making a system that people could log into that would store all of their information. However a login system adds an extra step to the process. Eventually I went with an html query string that is sent via php to the flash file. The game itself creates the link so that all the player has to do is copy it into an email. Let me stop and post a picture to break up all of my rambling.

So the idea goes like this. The first player goes to www.cartoon-combat.com/chess.php and they then make a move. They copy the link into an email to the person that they want to play with. Said player clicks the link and the board loads up displaying the current game. That player then makes a move and emails it back.

Mainly I created this for playing chess with my father which is why right now it is basic with no real frills. The game does detect check however checkmate is far beyond the coding I wish to attempt right now. I figured others might enjoy the game as well so I am putting a link up now that I think most of the bugs have been caught. Anyways comments or ideas are welcomed.

Recent Blog Posts

List:	03/17/08 - Free Email Chess New Version 02/11/08 - Free Game E-mail Chess 05/16/06 - 1 year later Im Hired 03/12/06 - Unemployment and blender and firefox. Oh my! 02/14/06 - Wow I won something. 12/10/05 - Plan for Arland "Barry" Woodham 10/05/05 - Plan for Arland "Barry" Woodham 05/27/05 - Plan for Arland "Barry" Woodham

Submit your own resources!

Tank Dork (Feb 11, 2008 at 17:28 GMT)

Nice idea and seems very easy to use!
I also love your artwork and the style of your website, you have alot of talent.

Never used flash before, so not sure how you interact with the squares. Could you add a button to the sideboard for "checkmate" then if pressed have the program on the next players turn scan the sqaures around the king for a legal move?
Edited on Feb 11, 2008 17:32 GMT

Arland (Barry) Woodham (Feb 11, 2008 at 18:32 GMT)

Interacting with the squares is simple click on a piece and the square turns blue to indicate it is selected. Then all valid moves turn yellow to indicate that the piece can be moved there. Also squares that have pieces that can be attacked turn red. To sum that up click once to select a piece then click again to move it. Also remember most browsers have you click the flash object once to activate it.

As far as the checkmate goes the system already scans for check. If the king is put into check its square turns red. If the player can not make a move that turns the square to its normal color then checkmate would be assumed. The problem with checking for mate is that while I can check for valid moves of the king I would have to check the moves of every piece to see if anything can move in the way of or capture the attacking piece. So really it isn't just checking the moves of just the king.

Kevin James (Feb 11, 2008 at 21:19 GMT)

Been thinking of an email game for Pirates of the Spanish Main. We are using Powerpoint currently and its as efficient as animating using Word's drawing features.

In other words, great idea, Arland!

EDIT: Just checked out your site, Arland. Wow. Incredible work, my friend! I loved the bamboo fountain and the concept art. Amazing work.
Edited on Feb 11, 2008 21:26 GMT

Scott Burns (Feb 12, 2008 at 16:31 GMT)

Great job Arland, and thanks for posting the link. This is a nice distraction to have going at the office.

Edit:
I just of one small improvement that could be made. Either a button that automatically copies the link to the clipboard, or when you click on the url box it's copied to the clipboard, like how youtube does it now. It's really more of frill for lazy people, but I thought I'd pass it along.
Edited on Feb 12, 2008 21:30 GMT

Arland (Barry) Woodham (Feb 13, 2008 at 15:34 GMT)

Thanks for the compliments.

The wish for a copy to clipboard button has been granted. I had been trying to figure a way to simplify that so thanks for the suggestion.

You must be a member and be logged in to either append comments or rate this resource.