7/6/98

PocketChess v1.1

by Scott Ludwig
scottlu@eskimo.com
http://www.eskimo.com/~scottlu

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Sections in this document:

1> Intro
2> New features in this release
3> Bug fix history
4> Features of PocketChess v. 1.1

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1. Intro

Welcome to the v. 1.1 release of PocketChess for Pilot!
PocketChess is a well featured Chess playing program
for your Pilot.

PocketChess v1.1 runs on Pilot 1000's, Pilot 5000's, PalmPilots,
and the new Palm III. The 1.1 release is a minor release to fix
some problems, most of them related to running on the new Palm III
device. Check out the Bug Fix History section for more info.

This release marks changing to a new compiler. Old .prc size was
27594. New .prc size is 29247 - most of that is because the new
compiler produces less tight code. The original PocketChess was
developed using VC++ with a Mac cross compiler (to generate 68K),
plus misc ASDK tools. The Mac cross compiler is no longer supported
by Microsoft it seems; its last release was compatible with VC 4.x.
It produced the best 68K code for a C compiler that I have seen so far
though. Thankfully no compiler generated bugs detected in PocketChess with
the new compiler which is good news.  

On another note, starting with the PalmIII device, when viewing the
applications list in icon view mode (as opposed to list view mode),
the name "PocketChess" is clipped to say "PocketChes". This is very
unfortunate in my opinion. It is correctly viewed as "PocketChess"
in other situations - list view, delete..., beam..., category...,
info..., and it was correct on Pilot 1000, 5000, and PalmPilot devices.
In addition it looks like there is just enough room in the PalmIII hilight
square to not clip off the last s. I have not decided to change the name
of PocketChess, so for those in icon view mode it'll remain "PocketChes".
To change to list view mode, bring up the application list, tap on menu,
Options, Preferences..., tap View By: and select "List". Hit Ok.

Finally, the original PocketChess v1.0 was released in 9/21/96 - almost 2 years
later PocketChess v1.1 is being released. It's been awhile, yes I've been
doing other things. However the good news is that I have returned to
chess development and am working on PocketChess 2.0! I have received many
great feature requests over the last 2 years. If you have your own suggestions,
now would be a good time to send them to me at scottlu@eskimo.com.

PocketChess v1.1 is free. Enjoy!

Scott Ludwig
scottlu@eskimo.com
http://www.eskimo.com/~scottlu

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2. New features found in this release

v1.1 is a bug fix release. No new features.

v1.0 is almost exclusively a bug fix release. However, a few feature changes
have been made:

- By popular user request, auto-reversing of board orientation when
  playing you vs. another player has been removed!
- Menu shortcuts no longer need the shortcut stroke! Just enter the character
  of the shortcut directly and that command will execute. Nice feature.
- New Game command can be cancelled
- Options command can be cancelled

3. Bug fix history

v. 1.1 Release:

[fixed] tapping "applications" silk screen button now brings up the
        correct applications dialog on palmIII devices!
[fixed] PocketChess now has a small icon when viewing in list view
        from the applications dialog.
[fixed] fixed a very rare fatal exception when playing games that
        are very long (symptoms include a board that starts flipping
        by itself right before the fatal exception).
[fixed] fixed two uninitialized variable bugs! They did not manifest
        themselves as bugs when playing PocketChess however.
[fixed] fixed the menu commands so they aren't intersecting the menu
	shortcut commands.

v. 1.0 Release:

[fixed] Undoing a pawn promotion would reverse the color of the pawn!
[fixed] Castling on king side denied if castle was legal on queen side.
[fixed] Pilot move calculation would occasionally take uncharacteristically
        long periods of time even on level 1.
[fixed] Using shortcuts would occasionally cause redraw problems in lower
        left of screen.
[fixed] The board would not redraw after dismissing the Alarm dialog, find
	dialog, or low battery dialogs
[fixed] Double board redraw when changing options to pilot vs. pilot play
[fixed] Immediately after completing your move in you vs. pilot play and
        before the pilot completed its move, issuing an undo command would
	undo both your move and the last move the pilot made. Now it only
        undoes your last move.

BETA3 Release:

[fixed] Bringing up the app dialog on Pilots with all existing Pilot
        apps installed would occasionally cause a crash declaring
        "memory chunk underflow". This is a bug in the Pilot ROM,
        however PocketChess now works around it.
[fixed] Incorrect Checkmate declared occasionally causing game to
        end prematurely (especially when playing levels 1 and 2).
[fixed] Castling bug: move king, then undo, and future castling denied
[fixed] Castling bug: if hint suggested you move your king, you couldn't
        castle after that.
[fixed] Castling bug: if squares outside king's castling traversal
        path were challenged, castle denied
[fixed] Castling bug: castling out of check was allowed on the queen
        side.
[fixed] You vs. Another player would not declare checkmate when it
        occured.
[fixed] Sound effects didn't work in large board mode.
[fixed] Stalemate was not correctly declared when it occured.
[fixed] In board setup mode, you could remove your king from the
        board, causing problems when the game was resumed.
[fixed] After checkmate, you could still use all menu items which
        in some cases would allow you to continue playing past
        checkmate!
[fixed] An en-passant move could not be undone.
[fixed] When using hint, algebraic notation of hinted move now remains
        for reference
[fixed] When using undo, algebraic notation of undone move now remains
        for reference

BETA2 Release:

(first released to public with BETA2)

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4. Features of PocketChess v. 1.1

Because a good number of people have asked, to access all the features
in PocketChess, tap on the menu button found at the lower left of the
Pilot screen, just left of the graffiti area. That'll pull down the
PocketChess menu, giving you access to all the PocketChess commands.
Or if you wish, use the menu shortcut by writing the letter of the
shortcut directly in the graffiti area (not shortcut stroke required!)

PocketChess features:

- A drag / drop move as well as a tap, tap move UI for moving pieces
- Square selection cursor for detailing from, to positions of a chess
  move.
- You vs. Pilot, You vs. Another Player, and Pilot vs. Pilot play. 
- 8 levels of difficulty 
- Playing status includes white / black player indicator, turn 
indicator, last move indicator (in algebraic notation), last piece 
played indicator. 
- Ability to turn off status for larger board size 
- Board setup mode to set up hypothetical chess positions and then play 
them 
- Undo Move command to undo moves. Remembers all moves back to the very 
first move. 
- Hint command. Proposes strategic moves for your pieces. 
- Skip Move command allows you to forgo your move 
- Reverse Board command to flip board presentation 
- Switch sides command which allows you to switch between playing black 
or white sides. 
- New game command 
- Current game is always saved if you switch to another Pilot 
application during play. Last game played is reloaded whenever chess 
is loaded again. 
- Game play allows you to issue any command during game play (even play 
level and play mode). 
- Sound effects to liven game play, including special sound effects for 
check, checkmate, and pawn promotion. Sound effects can be turned off.
- A built in 80 game opening move library
- Animated computer piece move, also used in hint and undo.
- Menu shortcuts (using graffiti command strokes)

Thank you for playing PocketChess!



