I began playing Amazons at Superdupergames.org SDG uses a checkered board that I think makes playing amazons a heck of a lot better. Currentely the orange just doesn't please the eyes very much.

On BGG I posted a poll for the prefered board type. 76.9% prefer the checkered board vs 0% for the monochromatic board. The other 23.1% selected that it doesn't matter.

Does anyone else agree that a checkered board color scheme would help amazons?

Yes, as long as the checker pattern is somewhat “light.”

Over ten years ago, back when I was a very active player on this server, I suggested a couple of alternate board designs.  They can be found here:

http://www.edcollins.com/images/amazons-boards.gif

The first diagram, is, of course, a graphic of the board this server currently uses.

The other three graphics were my suggestions for “improvements.”

Notice all three of these suggestions do have a checkerboard pattern, but the pattern is not too pronounced and somewhat subtle.

Also notice all three of the graphics “improve” on the icon for the four white queens.  My graphics show a little bit more “white” inside each white queen, helping it to make it stand out a bit more from the black queens.

Also notice my graphics give the arrows some depth.  When I used to play live games against a friend of mine, this was our preference.  We played on a cardboard board, and used poker chips for the arrows.  But when an arrow was shot we didn't just place ONE poker chip on the square, as we could have, but three or four chips stacked on top of each other.  After a few moves, the height of these “walls” that were now forming from these multiple chips could clearly be seen, and we liked that effect.

Note the size of the arrows (square blocks) in the lower left graphic (the blue one) are slightly smaller than the other two graphics.  (Graphics #2 and #4 are identical, other than the color scheme.)

A checkered board would make the diagonals more easy to recognize; an improvement, as there are long diagonal moves in this game.

@Ed Collins: I suggest two changes to your graphics: a) more contrast between light and dark squares (but not too much), and b) replace the pseudo-3D blocks by plain ones. The original gray discs are perfect.

IMO there are two general rules to create graphics for abstract games:

1. everything meaningful for the game should be easy to recognize

2. there should not be graphic elements without meaning, which are only distracting

Hi Thomas,

I do agree with your two rules for abstract game graphics, especially Rule #1.  The only problem with Rule #2 is that it is often a matter of opinion as to what is distracting and what is not distracting.

Regarding my board designs… any more of a contrast between the light and dark squares would give the entire board more of a “cluttered” look.  At least to me, although maybe its just my eyes.  Regarding all three of my board designs, I think the contrast between the light and dark squares is just about perfect.  Not enough to be “distracting” yet just enough to help with the long diagonals.

I love the pseudo-3D blocks.  I dislike the discs.  For one, the discs are slightly too large for me.  I don't think they need to be quite that large.  Notice that my blocks (on the blue board) take up less room than the discs.  In fact, I think I could even make theses blocks one pixel smaller in their height and width and they would still be okay.

I don't think the pseudo-3D effect is overkill or without meaning or distracting at all.  The representation helps to inform the player that the one dimensional queens aren't allowed to “jump over” these blocks.  Again, however, when I play this game live, we often use small blocks for the arrow squares.  We like that effect.

I do agree with Clark that the orange board has got to go.  It definitely is NOT pleasing to the eyes.

Ideally, of course, the server would give us several graphics to choose from, and each player could select the one they wanted.

QUOTE:

" I do agree with Clark that the orange board has got to go.  It definitely is NOT pleasing to the eyes.

Ideally, of course, the server would give us several graphics to choose from, and each player could select the one they wanted. "

I am actually not sure the developer reads the forum.