What does that have to do with a philosophy portal?
Well… I do not know!
But then again…
What do we know about life or death?
Goal
The goal of this series of tutorials is to show how to create a small (or big?) adventure game with Quick Basic, so as to disseminate programming knowledge. Even if you do not have prior programming knowledge you will be able to follow the series with some additional effort to clear up some programming details we will encounter along the way.
The source code of the program will always be provided at all steps of the tutorial. Reuse of the code is allowed as long as the source is mentioned properly.
Tools needed
To follow the tutorial you just need the Quick Basic in your computer. Just download the latest QB64 from the relative site here for free.
Designing
Before doing any programming one must design what he wants to do. This applies to small as well as big programs.
So what do we want to do?
To create an adventure game!
This game will utilize simple images that we will show to the users as they progress along the game. All the typical adventure game commands will be allowed: Look at, Walk to, Pick up, Use, Talk to, Give, Push, Pull.
The game scenario is something I have not yet thought in its entirety. However I know that the game will start from a room where you are and where you will need to stay alive for at least one day before the rescue team comes and saves you.
The beginning
From where to start from?
Well, from the start (welcome) screen!
To do that we use the PRINT command to print the game title on the screen.
The game will be called…
First Adventure!
Since it is our first adventure.
'Introduction
LOCATE 10, 32: PRINT "First Adventure!"
LOCATE 11, 30: PRINT "Greece, Athens, 2022"
LOCATE 13, 25: PRINT "Seek the moon under the sun…"
SLEEP
The LOCATE commands puts the cursor in a specific line and then we print what we want.
First Adventure – Start image
Setting up the images
Each game takes place in a… place.
To illustrate things we need graphics.
We will use basic graphics in our game, i.e. images we will load into the screen to show things. The first thing is to get the images, right? For the purposes of our tutorial we will use images that are 580×420 pixels in dimension. These images will be shown in a window that is 800×600 in dimensions.
Why these dimensions?
First, for no reason. Just because.
Secondly, I like to have a small window for the program to show small images. You guessed it, the program will not utilize the full screen and will not resize based on the resolution of your screen. Let’s start with the basics and build a bike and we will go to building a spaceship after that…
Images are loaded with the _LOADIMAGE command as it is shown below.
IF GameResolution = 800 THEN
imgBgrd& = _LOADIMAGE("FA_image_Background_800.png", 32) 'Background image
ELSEIF GameResolution = 1280 THEN
imgBgrd& = _LOADIMAGE("FA_image_Background_1280.png", 32) 'Background image
END IF
You also guessed it right: We have introduced a variable that indicates the resolution of the game. So when I told you that the game will not take into account the resolution of your computer, I lied a bit. Just a bit. We introduce a variable to indicate the resolution used and we will embed it in the code and… we will see how to use it the future.
For now, let’s set the resolution at 800×600…
CONST GameResolution = 800 'Set for resolution 800x600
We repeat the same loading of images for all images of the game. For now, we only have three images: the background image (that is loaded in the beginning and… stays there for ever) and two more images that we put on the background when he game starts.
First Adventure – Background image
The background
The image I have created for background is a black colour image with a white line. This line will be the border between the upper and the lower part of the screen.
In the upper part we will show images that are related to the gameplay, e.g. the photo of a room you are in.
In the lower part of the screen we will show to the user the possible commands allowed for the game, his inventory of objects (if and when we add one) and any messages.
Simple enough. Yet, nice and effective.
How are those images put in the screen though?
Well, with the PUTIMAGE command…
IF GameResolution = 800 THEN
_PUTIMAGE (100, 20)-(680, 440), imgStart&, 0
ELSEIF GameResolution = 1280 THEN
_PUTIMAGE (80, 20)-(660, 500), imgStart&, 0
END IF
With the PUTIMAGE command you can set where to place your image upper-left corner (100,20) and where the lower-right corner will be (680,440), which image to load (imgStart&) and where to show it (0 denotes the screen). In that way we can put any of the images we have loaded wherever we want.
First Adventure – Start image
Show the initial messages
When the game starts and the background image is loaded, we print the initial messages to the user. We use the LOCATE command and print the messages in the lower part of the screen, as mentioned above…
'Print text to begin the adventure...
LOCATE 33, 1: PRINT "You are in a room... Alone..."
LOCATE 34, 1: PRINT "There is a snow storm raging outside..."
SLEEP
'Show the trees!
_PUTIMAGE (100, 20)-(680, 440), imgTrees1&, 0
LOCATE 33, 1: PRINT "You must survive for one day..."
LOCATE 34, 1: PRINT "Until the rescue party comes to save the day!"
SLEEP
And as you see in the code, we can load new images whenever we want to show new things. In that case we have loaded a trees picture. After all, we are in a snow storm…
Important Notes
Guess what the SLEEP command does. Try to remove it and see what happens.
Experiment with the coordinates in the PUTIMAGE command to see how that command can be used. (seek some additional examples commented out in the source code provided)
An epilogue and a promise…
We have just set up the scenery for our game. We have the initial screens and we have understood how images are loaded. We will build on this to expand the game and take it to the next level…
APENDIX I – The source code
Please see below for the full source code of the game.
'Declare variables
DIM imgBgrd&
DIM imgStart&
CONST GameResolution = 800 'Set for resolution 800x600
'const GameResolution = 1280 'Set for resolution 1280x720
'Introduction
LOCATE 10, 32: PRINT "First Adventure!"
LOCATE 11, 30: PRINT "Greece, Athens, 2022"
LOCATE 13, 25: PRINT "Seek the moon under the sun..."
SLEEP
'Load the background from an image in a file
'Load different pictures depending on the resolution we want
'(because the image will be used to set the screen)
'imgBgrd& = _LOADIMAGE("FA_image_Background_800.png", 32) 'Background image
IF GameResolution = 800 THEN
imgBgrd& = _LOADIMAGE("FA_image_Background_800.png", 32) 'Background image
ELSEIF GameResolution = 1280 THEN
imgBgrd& = _LOADIMAGE("FA_image_Background_1280.png", 32) 'Background image
END IF
'imgStart& = _LOADIMAGE("FA_image_Start_800.png", 32)
'Load images of the game from files
'Images for resolution 800x600 are 580x420
'Images for resolution 1280x720 are 640x480
'Image Start
IF GameResolution = 800 THEN
imgStart& = _LOADIMAGE("FA_image_Start_800.png", 32)
ELSEIF GameResolution = 1280 THEN
imgStart& = _LOADIMAGE("FA_image_Start_1280.png", 32)
END IF
'Image trees
imgTrees1& = _LOADIMAGE("FA_trees1.png", 32)
'Set the image as destination
'_DEST img1&
'Set the screen mode based on the background image (800x600 png image)
'SCREEN 12
'SCREEN _NEWIMAGE(800, 600, 32)
SCREEN imgBgrd&
'Set background colour to gray
'CLS , _RGB32(127, 127, 127)
'Present the first image of the game on the black screen
'(i.e. put the image2 on top of image1, which is the background loaded initially)
'_PUTIMAGE (10, 10)-(650, 490), imgStart&, 0
'_PUTIMAGE (200, 200)-(400, 400), img2&, 0, (0, 0)-(400, 400)
IF GameResolution = 800 THEN
_PUTIMAGE (100, 20)-(680, 440), imgStart&, 0
ELSEIF GameResolution = 1280 THEN
_PUTIMAGE (80, 20)-(660, 500), imgStart&, 0
END IF
'Set text colour
'COLOR 7, 5
'Print text to begin the adventure...
LOCATE 33, 1: PRINT "You are in a room... Alone..."
LOCATE 34, 1: PRINT "There is a snow storm raging outside..."
SLEEP
'Show the trees!
_PUTIMAGE (100, 20)-(680, 440), imgTrees1&, 0
LOCATE 33, 1: PRINT "You must survive for one day..."
LOCATE 34, 1: PRINT "Until the rescue party comes to save the day!"
SLEEP
Copy this code in your QB64 IDE and try it out.
In order to use it you must also have the images the program loads in the same folder as the QB64.exe program.
One can find many things in the Internet. Information about programming is one of these things. Seek help in the relative QB64 web site or in relevant programming sites to understand how various Quick Basic commands work.
Below I list some resources related to the commands we used.
The goal of this paper is to analyze in a simple way the thought process of a chess program, so as to facilitate understanding among chess programming enthusiasts and to bolster potential improvements in that process.
Huo Chess thinking algorithm (simple)
A new article “Chess Program thought process analysis (Simple) – The Huo Chess example” has been published.
There the thinking process of a chess program is presented in high level in order to help chess programming enthusiasts gain an initial understanding of the general way a chess program works.
One can find the relative article here at Academia.
A new article with more advanced subjects of chess programming will follow.
Four weird coincidences showing that there could be more than meets the eye…
Photo by Spiros Kakos @ Pexels
Introduction
In science it is often said that one anti-paradigm is enough to refute a theory.
Well, in that case one of the extreme coincidences documented below would be enough to refute our idea that life is ‘just’ what we see…
Without further adieu, let us start.
Coincidence no. 1: Richard Parker
In the Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, Edgar Allan Poe’s only complete novel, there is a shipwreck. Following a mutiny and a monster storm, two heroes of the novel, Augustus and Pym find themselves in charge of the ship’s battered remains, accompanied by just two others, Dirk Peters and Richard Parker. Facing death by starvation, they draw lots to see who will be eaten by the others. Richard Parker loses… But what is the coincidence here? Well, many years after the novel was published, a shipwreck happened. And guess what… They ate a man called… Richard Parker as it was mentioned in the novel! (source)
Coincidence no. 2: The prediction of Titanic
Many decades before the disaster of Titanic, two novels were published that had extreme resemblance to the true story of the Titanic and its sinking. The description of the ship and its sinking are very accurate as well as the reason many passengers drowned (lack of life boats). Not to mention that the name of the boat in one of these novels was… Titan! Or that the author of the other book dies in the shipwreck of the… Titanic many years after he wrote his novel and after living a life during which we was afraid he would drown. (source)
Coincidence no. 3: The church choir
That is one of the most extraordinary examples of coincidences that was mentioned by Carl Jung. In particular, at 7:25pm on Wednesday 1 March 1950 a church was demolished by an explosion in Beatrice. By a weird twist of fate, all fifteen members of the choir who were all supposed to be in the church during the time of the explosion (and who all used to be punctual) were not there. For fifteen different reasons, each one of them were late and, thus, escaped the blast! (source)
Coincidence no. 4: The dream…
Hall of Fame boxer Sugar Ray Robinson backed out of a fight because he had seen a dream the previous day. He explained the boxing commission that in that dream he stroke his opponent so hard and he killed him, so he did not want to play the match. A priest and a minister managed to convince Ray to fight after all. Ray fought and during the game he hit his opponent like in his dream and, like in his dream, Ray killed the other boxer, Jimmy Doyle. (source)
What does this mean?
I do not know what these coincidences mean. But I do know that they mean something. They could mean that there is something more than what we currently sense in life. They could mean that we have a poor understanding of how the cosmos works behind the scenes. Or, well, they could be just… coincidences highlighting our mania to believe in patterns – thus posing questions about other patterns we see in the world.
Yet, this does not mean that we should not care. The things that are weird and not easily explainable are quite the most interesting things to think of. Scientists not investigating more such coincidences (and there are many more of these – we just selected four for this short article) clearly shows many things. People are usually happy to stay where they are, attach to what they know and build on paths they have already seen in front of them.
In astronomy we used to believe we know almost everything.
Until we learnt that what we saw did not count even for the 10% of the cosmos…
Similarly, we should investigate life…
You never know what wonders or terrors lie beyond our very nose…
As you might well know by now, Harmonia Philosophica is a philosophy portal.
But that hasn’t stopped us from posting from time to time other articles, for example articles related to programming. One successful series of tutorials one can find in this portal are chess programming tutorials based on Huo Chess open source program. Click here for more in this…
However we decided that is would be more clear for the readers to view all these tutorials in a different separate site.
Huo Chess is used in the chess programming tutorials
There, those interested in programming a chess program will find tutorials and resources to help them take their first steps into the magical world of chess programming! At the same time, Harmonia Philosophica will continue its existence as a more purely philosophical portal – although articles on the philosophy of chess are to be expected…
Chess after all tests the limits of our brain and of our definitions about what intelligence is, makes us think about how intuition can play a role against pure calculations, even dares to touch the very essence of human nature and our desire for pleasure when a world champion declares that he hates it…
Existing tutorials will remain on Harmonia Philosophica portal as well, for continuity purposes.
Learn how to program a chess application from scratch. Ideal for beginners!
Huo Chess and chess programming tutorials
Interested in chess programming? You are interested in philosophy too! What is thinking? Can AI be conscious? What does it mean to do something? Can the AI understand that it does play chess? Explore the AI related articles in Harmonia Philosophica and understand why you are already a philosopher!
This is a tutorial that shows how one can develop a chess program from scratch. Minimum knowledge of programming is nice to have, but even people with no knowledge will be able to follow since the topics are described in a way independent of programming languages.
Details about programming are explained when needed in a simple and intuitive manner. Code examples will be provided at each step of the tutorial in three programming languages: C#, Java and BASIC, so as to cover all the possible needs of the readers.
The tutorial will be updated constantly with new content added every month. The goal is to have a complete tutorial by the end of the year. This is a live page!
Code to use for the tutorial
Huo Chess: The open source chess program for tutorials
Along the tutorial, we will use the code from Huo Chess. The Huo Chess is a micro chess program that was created with education as its main goal from the beginning. It aims to be the smallest chess program out there that can be used for tutorials.
The current version is a mere 48 KB (Java edition, C# console .NET Framework edition). Huo Chess is freely available in C# (.NET Core and .NET Framework), Java and QBasic (QB64) editions.
You can find Huo Chess source code for free at any one of the GitHub repositories:
Download the code and have it readily available when reading this tutorial. (But even if you do not, code examples will be provided inside the tutorial, so there is nothing to worry about!)
Don’t have a tool to use to view code or just want to read the tutorial without one? Do not worry! Just download the text files below which contain the source code of Huo Chess in all of its editions! (of course these files cannot be used to compile the program in C# which needs more files in the project, but the Java and BASIC editions are indeed the full program.
Note that the Huo Chess source code is constantly updated, so make sure you come back and download the latest from time to time!
Now that we have the code to use, let’s talk a bit about the programming pre-requisities that will be needed for this tutorial.
Programming pre-requisites
This article can be used by beginners in programming. You can read the code here and the explanations of what it does and you will get a fairly good understanding on what is going on.
However you need to help yourself a little bit. Go on and open a tutorial on how to program a simple program in your favorite language and experiment on your own! The tutorials in chess-programming are based on open source Huo Chess, which is available in three main languages: C#, Java and BASIC (you might also find C++ and Visual Basic editions out there, however these are no longer maintained officially). However this tutorial will not explain everything on how one can code in these languages.
You are expected to have an environment in which you can code. This could be:
MS Visual Studio for C#
NetBeans for Java
QB64 for Quick Basic 64 bit
One can download for free the relevant tools for the above-mentioned languages. Using these tools pretty much involves the following steps: Open tool > Create new project > Name your new project (e.g. MyChess) > Start coding. Of course details differ, but this is where you get in.
Regarding programming, the following concepts are used:
Variables: Elements which are used inside a program and which hold values that can be manipulated.
Arrays: Multi-dimensional tables of variables. The most commonly used array in a chess program is of course the… chess board!
Functions and sub-routines: Sets of code that is independent so it can be invoked from multiple places in your program. An example of a function is the CountScore function which is called numerous times in a chess program to count the score of a given position. When calling a function you may need to give a parameter for it to function properly. In the case of CountScore, the parameter passed to the function is the chessboard. In BASIC we use sub-routines to do the same things we do with functions in C# and Java.
Main commands used: The main commands used are the for loops, and the if statements. Along of course with the commands to print output to the screen and to get input from the user. Yes, programming a chess program entails not many commands, but mostly work to design the algorithm.
For the above you need to make some search on your own to see how these notions work. Some previous tutorials in chess-programming mention some explanations about the above. Or you can simply search in the Internet for more. Or, as mentioned above, you can just read the code of Huo Chess and try to understand from there how these notions are used! I strongly recommend the latter two methods combined.
Experimentation is your friend!
Download the Huo Chess projects from GitHub sites (select the latest release from there) and simply open them in the programming tool you use! Then try to first compile the program and see if it works. After that, you can just create a copy of the project for experimentation and play around with the source code! There is no better way to learn than experimenting yourself! The first program I ever wrote was a program I read in the manual of the Commodore 16 I had. I just typed in the commands I saw without even understanding what they meant. And soon, I had my first program ready to go! A few days later, the commands I had typed in started to make more sense.
We are all afraid of what we do not understand, but it is up to us to make use of our time properly and change that.
Step 0: The chessboard
Where does one start to program a new chess program? But from what else than the chessboard!
Various programming languages have different ways to declare an array, but as you can see from the following examples all the ways simply do one thing: Create a new array with the name we choose (intuitively we call it… chessboard), the type we want (the array will be of type String, meaning it will hold characters, e.g. “White Rook” or “WR”) and the dimensions (8×8) we want.
Look at the code that does exactly that…
C# code
public static String[,] SkakieraLog = new String[8, 8];
Java code
public static String[][] Skakiera = new String[8][8];
BASIC code
DIM SHARED chessboard$(8, 8)
Note: ‘Skakiera’ is Greek for chessboard…
There!
Ready to start playing…
Step 1: Fill in the chessboard
How can you play in an empty chessboard? Well, you cannot.
The next step after creating the chessboard is filling it in with pieces. This is easy. All you have to do is allocate the proper values (indicating the pieces, e.g. “White Rook” or “WR” if you use abbreviations) to the elements of the array you just created.
Note that in all these editions, the initiation of the starting position is not done by simply adding the above code after the declaration of the chessboard array. The initiation of the chessboard is put inside a function (C#, Java) or a Sur-routine (QBasic) that is called and performs this initiation.
What are functions or subroutines? To put it simply, these are sections of code with a specific name and a well defined functionality that can be re-used over and over again in a program. Check the full source code of the Huo Chess to get a glimpse on how these functions/subs work.
Step 2: Show the chessboard
What good a chess program is if it does not show the chessboard to the user? After we have filled it in this is the next logical step. But how to do that? There are many ways to present a chessboard with graphics and one can find many of these for free with a little Google search. Huo Chess itself has versions with graphics that present the chessboard is a graphical way (e.g. the Huo Chess DV edition).
For now however, we will just focus on presenting the chessboard with a method based on text: We will just “print” the chessboard on the screen. And after every move we will print it again.
The method is easy. We just loop through the chessboard and print every square as either empty or with the piece that is in that square (this is what we do in Java and BASIC editions).
C# code (simple text-based graphics)
public static void Display_board(string[,] DrawSkakiera)
{
bool BoardColour = true;
//False = Black True = While
int RowCounter = 7;
while (RowCounter > -1)
{
for (int ColumnCounter = 0; ColumnCounter <= 7; ColumnCounter++)
{
Console.BackgroundColor = SetBoardColour(ref BoardColour);
SetPieceColour(DrawSkakiera[ColumnCounter, RowCounter]);
Console.Write(" ");
Console.Write(get_key(DrawSkakiera[ColumnCounter, RowCounter]));
Console.Write(" ");
}
Console.WriteLine("");
Console.BackgroundColor = SetBoardColour(ref BoardColour);
//Does this to switch the colour at the end of the row
Console.BackgroundColor = ConsoleColor.Black;
Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.White;
RowCounter -= 1;
}
// Return to the default letters colour
Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Gray;
}
public static string get_key(string Piece)
{
if (Piece.CompareTo("") == 0)
return " ";
if (Piece.CompareTo("White Pawn") == 0)
return "o";
if (Piece.CompareTo("White Rook") == 0)
return "R";
if (Piece.CompareTo("White Bishop") == 0)
return "B";
if (Piece.CompareTo("White King") == 0)
return "K";
if (Piece.CompareTo("White Knight") == 0)
return "N";
if (Piece.CompareTo("White Queen") == 0)
return "Q";
if (Piece.CompareTo("Black Pawn") == 0)
return "o";
if (Piece.CompareTo("Black Rook") == 0)
return "R";
if (Piece.CompareTo("Black Bishop") == 0)
return "B";
if (Piece.CompareTo("Black King") == 0)
return "K";
if (Piece.CompareTo("Black Knight") == 0)
return "N";
if (Piece.CompareTo("Black Queen") == 0)
return "Q";
return Piece;
}
public static System.ConsoleColor SetBoardColour(ref bool BoardColour)
{
if (BoardColour == false)
{
BoardColour = true;
return ConsoleColor.DarkGray;
}
else
//if (BoardColour == true)
{
BoardColour = false;
return ConsoleColor.Gray;
}
}
public static void SetPieceColour(string Piece)
{
if (Piece.CompareTo("") == 0)
{
Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.DarkGray;
}
else
{
if (Piece.Substring(0, 5).CompareTo("White") == 0)
{
Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.White;
}
else
{
Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Black;
}
}
}
Or it could be even simpler that that: Just print the move the computer plays and forget about the chessboard altogether!
// Function to draw the chessboard position
// It simply prints the pieces, nothing fancy
public static void drawPosition() {
// Transform chessboard to the drawChessBoard
// by adding spaces in the empty squares.
// This allows the program to draw a decent chessboard.
for (int i = 0; i < 8; i++)
{
for (int j = 0; j < 8; j++)
{
if (!Skakiera[i][j].equals(""))
drawChessBoard[i][j] = Skakiera[i][j];
else if (Skakiera[i][j].equals(""))
drawChessBoard[i][j] = " ";
}
}
// Print an empty line to separate the printed chessboard from the previous text in the screen
System.out.println("");
// Print one rank at a time
//for (int i = 7; i > -1; i--)
//{
// System.out.println(
// "[" + Skakiera[0][i] + "]" +
// "[" + Skakiera[1][i] + "]" +
// "[" + Skakiera[2][i] + "]" +
// "[" + Skakiera[3][i] + "]" +
// "[" + Skakiera[4][i] + "]" +
// "[" + Skakiera[5][i] + "]" +
// "[" + Skakiera[6][i] + "]" +
// "[" + Skakiera[7][i] + "]"
// );
//}
System.out.println(
"-------------------------");
// Print one rank at a time
for (int i = 7; i > -1; i--)
{
System.out.println(
"|" + drawChessBoard[0][i] +
"|" + drawChessBoard[1][i] +
"|" + drawChessBoard[2][i] +
"|" + drawChessBoard[3][i] +
"|" + drawChessBoard[4][i] +
"|" + drawChessBoard[5][i] +
"|" + drawChessBoard[6][i] +
"|" + drawChessBoard[7][i] + "|"
);
System.out.println(
"-------------------------");
}
}
BASIC code
SUB drawBoard
sqcolor$ = "" 'Square color
piece$ = "" 'Piece to be printed
pfcolor = 0 'Piece front color
pbcolor = 1 'Piece back color
MT$ = CHR$(219)
SQ$ = MT$ + MT$ + MT$
'CLS 0
SCREEN 0
'COLOR 6
'LINE (0, 0)-(30, 30), 0, BF
LOCATE 1, 1
PRINT "HUO Chess (HUOC) by Spiros (h uo) Kakos - Alpha version"
FOR i = 1 TO 8
FOR j = 1 TO 8
IF (i + j) MOD 2 = 0 THEN
sqcolor$ = "b"
ELSEIF (i + j) MOD 2 <> 0 THEN
sqcolor$ = "w"
END IF
'Columns are the first number inside the parenthesis and
'because we start drawing the board from upside-up, we
'must apply this (9 - i) to draw the board correctly
'Print the square
LOCATE 2 + (9 - i), 1 + (j - 1) * 3
IF sqcolor$ = "w" THEN
COLOR 7, 0
ELSEIF sqcolor$ = "b" THEN
COLOR 0, 7
END IF
PRINT SQ$
'Determine the color of the piece to print
IF LEFT$(chessboard$(j, i), 1) = "w" AND sqcolor$ = "w" THEN
pfcolor = 15
pbcolor = 7
ELSEIF LEFT$(chessboard$(j, i), 1) = "w" AND sqcolor$ = "b" THEN
pfcolor = 15
pbcolor = 0
ELSEIF LEFT$(chessboard$(j, i), 1) = "b" AND sqcolor$ = "w" THEN
pfcolor = 5
pbcolor = 7
ELSEIF LEFT$(chessboard$(j, i), 1) = "b" AND sqcolor$ = "b" THEN
pfcolor = 5
pbcolor = 0
END IF
SELECT CASE chessboard$(j, i)
CASE "wking"
piece$ = "K"
CASE "wqueen"
piece$ = "Q"
CASE "wrook"
piece$ = "R"
CASE "wbishop"
piece$ = "B"
CASE "wknight"
piece$ = "N"
CASE "wpawn"
piece$ = "o"
CASE "bking"
piece$ = "K"
CASE "bqueen"
piece$ = "Q"
CASE "brook"
piece$ = "R"
CASE "bbishop"
piece$ = "B"
CASE "bknight"
piece$ = "N"
CASE "bpawn"
piece$ = "o"
CASE ""
piece$ = ""
END SELECT
'Print the piece
LOCATE 2 + (9 - i), 2 + (j - 1) * 3
COLOR pfcolor, pbcolor
PRINT piece$
NEXT j
NEXT i
'Restore color of screen and text
COLOR 7, 0
'Restore cursor
LOCATE 13, 1
END SUB
If one reviews the example above, it is evident that this is not the optimum way. Still, it produces the result we want and let us focus on the important things, i.e. the development of the algorithm that we will soon start.
Programming notes: About functions and subroutines
The code to draw the chessboard is put inside sections of code called functions (C#, Java) or subroutines (BASIC). These sections are independent self-contained sections of code that can be invoked (called) from any place in your program and perform the tasks they are programmed to perform. Essentially, the main reason for using functions/ subroutines is to have the code tidy and not to repeat code that is used many times in the program.
> Check Huo Chess source code to see how functions are used.
Step 3: Get input from the user
The next step is to get input from the user. This is of essence, since you want your program to play with another human.
Getting input from the user is relatively easy. All you have to do is use the relative command of the language to use and… get the input.
C# code
Console.Write("\nColor (w/b)? ");
String the_choise_of_user = Console.ReadLine();
//v0.980: Reduce choices (only 'w' and 'b' valid)
if (the_choise_of_user.CompareTo("w") == 0)
{
m_PlayerColor = "White";
m_WhoPlays = "Human";
}
else if (the_choise_of_user.CompareTo("b") == 0)
{
m_PlayerColor = "Black";
m_WhoPlays = "HY";
}
Console.Write("Enter move (e.g. e2e4): ");
PlayerMove = Console.ReadLine().ToUpper();
m_StartingColumn = PlayerMove.Substring(0, 1);
m_StartingRank = Int32.Parse(PlayerMove.Substring(1, 1));
m_FinishingColumn = PlayerMove.Substring(2, 1);
m_FinishingRank = Int32.Parse(PlayerMove.Substring(3, 1));
if (m_StartingColumn.CompareTo("A") == 0)
m_StartingColumnNumber = 1;
else if (m_StartingColumn.CompareTo("B") == 0)
m_StartingColumnNumber = 2;
else if (m_StartingColumn.CompareTo("C") == 0)
m_StartingColumnNumber = 3;
else if (m_StartingColumn.CompareTo("D") == 0)
m_StartingColumnNumber = 4;
else if (m_StartingColumn.CompareTo("E") == 0)
m_StartingColumnNumber = 5;
else if (m_StartingColumn.CompareTo("F") == 0)
m_StartingColumnNumber = 6;
else if (m_StartingColumn.CompareTo("G") == 0)
m_StartingColumnNumber = 7;
else if (m_StartingColumn.CompareTo("H") == 0)
m_StartingColumnNumber = 8;
if (m_FinishingColumn.CompareTo("A") == 0)
m_FinishingColumnNumber = 1;
else if (m_FinishingColumn.CompareTo("B") == 0)
m_FinishingColumnNumber = 2;
else if (m_FinishingColumn.CompareTo("C") == 0)
m_FinishingColumnNumber = 3;
else if (m_FinishingColumn.CompareTo("D") == 0)
m_FinishingColumnNumber = 4;
else if (m_FinishingColumn.CompareTo("E") == 0)
m_FinishingColumnNumber = 5;
else if (m_FinishingColumn.CompareTo("F") == 0)
m_FinishingColumnNumber = 6;
else if (m_FinishingColumn.CompareTo("G") == 0)
m_FinishingColumnNumber = 7;
else if (m_FinishingColumn.CompareTo("H") == 0)
m_FinishingColumnNumber = 8;
Java code
System.out.println("Huo Chess v0.991 by Spiros Kakos");
System.out.println("Please choose color (w/b)");
m_PlayerColor = reader.next();
System.out.println("");
System.out.println("Enter move (e.g. c2c4) and press Enter. Enter 'q' to quit.");
// Read the move the user inputs
playerMove = reader.next();
// Break the move entered in starting and finishing columns and ranks
startingColumn = Character.toString( playerMove.charAt(0) );
startingRank = Character.toString( playerMove.charAt(1) );
finishingColumn = Character.toString( playerMove.charAt(2) );
finishingRank = Character.toString( playerMove.charAt(3) );
switch (startingColumn)
{
case "a":
startingColumnNum = 1; break;
case "b":
startingColumnNum = 2; break;
case "c":
startingColumnNum = 3; break;
case "d":
startingColumnNum = 4; break;
case "e":
startingColumnNum = 5; break;
case "f":
startingColumnNum = 6; break;
case "g":
startingColumnNum = 7; break;
case "h":
startingColumnNum = 8; break;
}
switch (finishingColumn)
{
case "a":
finishingColumnNum = 1; break;
case "b":
finishingColumnNum = 2; break;
case "c":
finishingColumnNum = 3; break;
case "d":
finishingColumnNum = 4; break;
case "e":
finishingColumnNum = 5; break;
case "f":
finishingColumnNum = 6; break;
case "g":
finishingColumnNum = 7; break;
case "h":
finishingColumnNum = 8; break;
}
BASIC code
SetPlayerColor:
'Set the colour of the player
INPUT "Set your color. Please select 'w' or 'b': ", playerColor$
IF playerColor$ <> "w" AND playerColor$ <> "b" THEN GOTO SetPlayerColor
SetThinkingDepth:
'Set the thinking depth
PRINT "": INPUT "Set thinking depth. Please select 1 or 3 or 5: ", thinkingDepth
IF thinkingDepth <> 1 AND thinkingDepth <> 3 AND thinkingDepth <> 5 THEN GOTO SetThinkingDepth
LOCATE 13, 1: INPUT "Enter your move: ", Move$
startingColumnText$ = MID$(Move$, 1, 1)
startingRankText$ = MID$(Move$, 2, 1)
finishingColumnText$ = MID$(Move$, 3, 1)
finishingRankText$ = MID$(Move$, 4, 1)
IF humanLogs$ = "y" THEN debugMode = 1 ELSE debugMode = 0
SELECT CASE startingRankText$
CASE "1"
startingRank = 1
CASE "2"
startingRank = 2
CASE "3"
startingRank = 3
CASE "4"
startingRank = 4
CASE "5"
startingRank = 5
CASE "6"
startingRank = 6
CASE "7"
startingRank = 7
CASE "8"
startingRank = 8
END SELECT
SELECT CASE finishingRankText$
CASE "1"
finishingRank = 1
CASE "2"
finishingRank = 2
CASE "3"
finishingRank = 3
CASE "4"
finishingRank = 4
CASE "5"
finishingRank = 5
CASE "6"
finishingRank = 6
CASE "7"
finishingRank = 7
CASE "8"
finishingRank = 8
END SELECT
SELECT CASE startingColumnText$
CASE "A", "a"
startingColumn = 1
CASE "B", "b"
startingColumn = 2
CASE "C", "c"
startingColumn = 3
CASE "D", "d"
startingColumn = 4
CASE "E", "e"
startingColumn = 5
CASE "F", "f"
startingColumn = 6
CASE "G", "g"
startingColumn = 7
CASE "H", "h"
startingColumn = 8
END SELECT
SELECT CASE finishingColumnText$
CASE "A", "a"
finishingColumn = 1
CASE "B", "b"
finishingColumn = 2
CASE "C", "c"
finishingColumn = 3
CASE "D", "d"
finishingColumn = 4
CASE "E", "e"
finishingColumn = 5
CASE "F", "f"
finishingColumn = 6
CASE "G", "g"
finishingColumn = 7
CASE "H", "h"
finishingColumn = 8
END SELECT
Note that the move entered by the user might need to be ‘translated’ for the program to use it. This is necessary because the move entered will be written in a format like ‘c2c4’ but the program code will more easily handle coordinated which are all in a number format. So the move c2c4 for example, will be translated to 3234, meaning that the user moves from the square with coordinates 32 (column 3, row 2) to the square with coordinates 34 (column 3, row 4). Numbers are much more easily used by a program than letters.
Note also that I have included in the above samples some additional things that I did not mention, but which are also essential to set up the game. For example, before even starting the game the human player must select his or her color of course!
Now we are set.
We have a chessboard ready, the human player has enters his move and the… fun starts! How will the computer think of a response?
The first cycle of the tutorial is finished.
In the next cycle we will start exploring how the computer algorithm will work to analyze the chessboard and find a move to answer the human opponent!
Coming soon: Start designing the chess thinking algorithm…
