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        Arimaa >> Site Discussion >> 4steps - standalone Arimaa client
        
(Message started by: aaaa on Dec 19th, 2017, 5:26pm)
Title: 4steps - standalone Arimaa client
Post by aaaa on Dec 19th, 2017, 5:26pm
http://i.imgur.com/rqrIT0w.png

4steps is an Arimaa client written in C++ and Qt. It has enough features to play online games with, but it doesn't yet allow one to go through a game's history or play out speculative lines. Ideally, you should build it yourself from the source code (https://github.com/TFiFiE/4steps), but if you're comfortable enough running a Windows executable from an untrusted source, you can find one here (https://github.com/TFiFiE/4steps/releases).

Undo steps with right-click, redo them with middle-click and submit moves by double-clicking on any empty square. Otherwise, the interface shouldn't be hard to figure out.
Title: Re: 4steps - standalone Arimaa client
Post by Hippo on Dec 26th, 2017, 11:53am
Ok I have found the link mentioned in the game coments. ... what white background means? What are the client special features?

http://arimaa.com/arimaa/games/jsShowGame.cgi?gid=613097&s=w

OK 18g ... white denotes squares included in the last move.
Title: Re: 4steps - standalone Arimaa client
Post by aaaa on Dec 26th, 2017, 3:18pm
As played moves are not animated, they are instead indicated by highlighting the squares changed as a result of them.
Title: Re: 4steps - standalone Arimaa client
Post by Lion on Dec 30th, 2017, 12:55pm
I played a game on it yesterday. The new client is excellent for quick time controls (especially lightning). Dragging pieces (rather than clicking stupid arrows) is the way of the future. Instant (not animated) moves are very useful for fast time controls and, in general, might be preferred by seasoned players (though worse for beginners). It would be nice to have an options to choose between animated and instant moves.

Thumbs up!
Title: Re: 4steps - standalone Arimaa client
Post by Lion on Dec 31st, 2017, 8:13pm
I just compiled the 4steps client in windows. I tested it and it works fine (I demolished bomb_lightning). The only thing is that I needed to copy a bunch of .dll files (libgcc_s_dw2-1.dll, libstdc++-6.dll, libwinpthread-1.dll, Qt5Core.dll, Qt5Gui.dll, Qt5Multimedia.dll, Qt5Network.dll, Qt5Svg.dll, Qt5Widgets.dll) into the folder containing 4steps.exe. aaaa, how did you make the executable such that it works all by itself?

I used Qt 5.10.0 and MinGW_32bit.
Title: Re: 4steps - standalone Arimaa client
Post by eykca on Dec 9th, 2018, 11:21am
I downloaded the 4steps app and love it! I have two questions:

1) How do I play against bots using this client? (is it possible)
2) Is it possible to setup a position (from the strategy/tactic book that I bought) and then begin the game from there so I can follow the moves presented in the book?

This last idea, is very common in chess for following along with books that present a starting position (at some midpoint of the game) and then list off potential moves.

I understand I could simply setup a real board and follow along, but doing so on my tablet would be pretty cool.
Title: Re: 4steps - standalone Arimaa client
Post by aaaa on Dec 9th, 2018, 3:42pm

on 12/09/18 at 11:21:40, eykca wrote:
1) How do I play against bots using this client? (is it possible)

Start a bot game manually after browsing to http://arimaa.com/arimaa/gameroom/botLadderAll.cgi and following the appropriate "Play" link; then join the game from the client. In the future, this procedure might become a more user-friendly function in the client itself.


Quote:
2) Is it possible to setup a position (from the strategy/tactic book that I bought) and then begin the game from there so I can follow the moves presented in the book?

Not yet, but text I/O obviously has a high priority.
Title: Re: 4steps - standalone Arimaa client
Post by eykca on Dec 9th, 2018, 11:31pm
Thank you for the prompt reply. I appreciate your help.
Title: Re: 4steps - standalone Arimaa client
Post by aaaa on Jan 6th, 2019, 9:28am
Big update: You can now start and join bot games, play in unrated mode and get to the chatroom, all through 4steps. This should eliminate most of the need to log in via the website (including for when playing (unrated) simuls).
Title: Re: 4steps - standalone Arimaa client
Post by eykca on Jan 15th, 2019, 12:19am
I left a couple questions/comments in the chat. I tried out the new 4steps and loved it, but had a few suggestions/concerns as well. My n00b brain NEEDS animated moves from my opponent. The way it is feels less like a game and more like a series of semi-related puzzles.
Title: Re: 4steps - standalone Arimaa client
Post by eykca on Jan 15th, 2019, 4:50pm
I was playing around with the custom position setup feature. It's awesome! It's exactly what I was looking for to help work through problems in the Arimaa: Strategies and Tactics book. It is very similar to the Analysis Board feature on Lichess.

Is it possible for the custom board setup to have a START from this position feature and then have a move list off to the side. That way if I want to work through a variation, I can then snap back to the starting position.

The only other thing I was thinking about, and this is just me listing pie in the sky stuff, is a rough computer analysis of the position. That way if I'm working through a problem from the book and I pull my patented "why don't you just do this" the computer can quickly show a refutation.

If I worked on something as hard as I am sure you have on this, I wouldn't take "just add this" stuff very well, but I got the impression you wanted some feedback and the such. Again, I greatly appreciate your effort, it makes me want to keep playing the game.
Title: Re: 4steps - standalone Arimaa client
Post by aaaa on Jun 25th, 2019, 8:17am
4steps will now optionally animate moves by playing out the steps its made of (although these are themselves still shown instantly). Replaying the previous move manually is always possible by pressing middle-click. It's also possible to configure the delay between steps by editing 4steps.ini. Re- and undoing steps can now be done with the mouse wheel.
Title: Re: 4steps - standalone Arimaa client
Post by aaaa on Feb 11th, 2020, 3:03pm
You can now freely explore back and forth in a game.
Title: Re: 4steps - standalone Arimaa client
Post by Hippo on Mar 12th, 2020, 1:00pm

on 12/19/17 at 17:26:42, aaaa wrote:
If you're comfortable enough running a Windows executable from an untrusted source, you can find one here (https://github.com/TFiFiE/4steps/releases).


Actually I am not able to find it there ...
Title: Re: 4steps - standalone Arimaa client
Post by aaaa on Oct 29th, 2020, 2:20pm
Major update!
By right-clicking on the board, you can now send (custom) setups and moves through the clipboard (also directly with middle-click) and set up a custom game starting from the shown position.
By right-clicking on the move list, you can copy moves and sequences to the clipboard and modify the game tree by moving and deleting branches.
Other changes include improved raster piece icons.
Title: Re: 4steps - standalone Arimaa client
Post by aaaa on Dec 24th, 2020, 9:55pm
It's now possible to analyze positions with Sharp (http://arimaa.com/arimaa/forum/cgi/YaBB.cgi?board=devTalk;action=display;num=1526353703). It's accessible through the popup that comes from right-clicking on the board.
Title: Re: 4steps - standalone Arimaa client
Post by aaaa on Feb 13th, 2021, 3:52pm
4steps now has an integrated puzzle trainer!
If you download the new version of the client and uwi2_2021_01.zip at the usual (https://github.com/TFiFiE/4steps/releases) (under "Assets"), you'll be able to try out 122,775 unique-win-in-2 puzzles.
Each of them will be presented in a randomly symmetric fashion, for a combined total of 1,137,760 different positions.
Just be sure to have the client load not the zip file itself, but the file in it.
Title: Re: 4steps - standalone Arimaa client
Post by eykca on Jun 6th, 2022, 12:13am
Dude, about once a year I get the itch to come back and play this wonderful game. I redownloaded the 4steps client and started playing. You have made such wonderful improvements. Piece sliding is a life-saver! Without exaggeration, if I had to play solely through the web client, I wouldn't. Your dedication to this game and improving the 4steps client is commendable. Thank you!

I downloaded the puzzles and started working on a few, an amazing feature!


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