[OLPC-Games] Play Go issues for laptop

Paul Barchilon shimari at comcast.net
Sat Oct 11 01:12:47 EDT 2008


Hi Andres, and Edward,

Great to hear from both of you!  We have been very excited about this  
project from the beginning, and would be glad to offer any assistance  
we can.  Roy, Terry and I work closely together, so we have all been  
discussing your project.  I have good news for you, and then several  
questions.  The kid I got to look at the latest version was delighted  
with it his message is below:

From	leinad
Date	10/10/2008 22:03
Subject	RE: Play Go
THIS IS A REALLY BIG STEP UP FROM THE OLD PROGRAM!!!

the ai is not half bad and might beat me... you can pass, it enforces  
ko and calculates the score... you can refresh the game without  
exiting out, you have a choice of 19x19, 13x13, or 9x9, and you can  
undo!!!! there is a problem that i cannot really discribe but i will  
try to get some screenshots... it does not inhibit game play in any  
way due to the undo capability.

i really think the ai would have beaten me but i stopped playing...
then i played a 9x9 game and it did beat me but it filled in a lot of  
unnecessary points at the end...  i need to practice more...

they should include numbers and letters around the edges...

I think he is 12 or 13, I know him through our website but have never  
met him.  He was pretty disappointed with the initial release, so  
clearly you guys are working on the right things.

Is there a way for me to run your program on my computer so I can look  
at it?  I downloaded the latest version of PlayGo, but as I do not  
have one of your laptops I can't do anything with it.  I am running  
Mac OS 10.5 on a new intel iMac.  I have an application that can port  
some Windows applications on my Mac also.

As for using our learn to play section from the website, please feel  
free.  I personally wrote everything, and we own the drawings as  
well.  If you could credit the AGF and provide a link to Tiger's Mouth  
that would be great.   What would really be ideal is an interactive  
learn to play module that teaches kids how to play.  There is a good  
one online already, I link to it from our learn to play page.  If you  
didn't click on it, the link is here:
http://www.playgo.to/interactive/index.html  It is also already  
available in some 30 languages, so you could save yourself some  
trouble by using what has already been done.  The interactive way to  
go was written by Hiroki Mori, I am sure he would be completely  
supportive of OLPC.  His contact info is on the website.  I would also  
be happy to work on a learn to play interface for your program if that  
were more feasible for an end product.

What materials describe the application to laptop users, and entice  
them to explore it?  My understanding was that it needs to be  
downloaded separately from the main package.  Is that the case or is  
it bundled with everything else?

Another excellent way to get some feedback would be for Andres and I  
to play a game together online.  The KGS Go Server is a terrific  
program.  Looking at how that works together, and talking about  
important aspects of the game, could give you a good deal of insight  
into how to improve PlayGo.

This forum is fine, I am happy to conduct these discussions through  
your list.  I just wasn't sure how many people were on it, or if this  
was the appropriate place for this discussion.

Thanks,

Paul Barchilon,
American Go Foundation

http://tigersmouth.org
http://agfgo.org




On Oct 10, 2008, at 7:37 PM, Andrés Ambrois wrote:

> On Friday 10 October 2008 06:49:58 Edward Cherlin wrote:
>> I am a go player and programmer, and I have been involved in PlayGo
>> from the beginning. I am also the one communicating with AGA about
>> PlayGo and about our plans for multilingual content for teaching Go.
>> Some years ago I worked on a multilingual go glossary in Unicode,
>> adding various writing systems to the ASCII original.
>>
>> On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 9:53 PM, Paul Barchilon  
>> <shimari at comcast.net> wrote:
>>> Hello to all who are working on this project, and thank you for  
>>> the great
>>> service you are providing to kids around the world!  I am the Vice
>>> President of the American Go Foundation, a charitable organization  
>>> that
>>> provides free Go equipment to children and teachers in schools.  I  
>>> spend
>>> a great deal of time teaching children, and am an active Go player  
>>> and
>>> organizer on the national scene.  It has come to my attention that  
>>> there
>>> are a number of problems with the Play Go program, and also that a  
>>> set of
>>> rules that are appropriate for children may well be needed.
>>>
>>> I am not a computer programmer, and do not have one of the  
>>> laptops, so I
>>> haven't actually seen the Play Go program at work.
>
>  Hello Paul and Edward!
>
>  I've written most of the code in PlayGo, following Gerard J.  
> Cerchio's
> initial implementation, so its very encouraging to see so much  
> enthusiasm
> behind it!
>
>  While I'm not a great Go player, (I do think it's a fantastic game,  
> just
> haven't found a good sparring partner :)). I believe it's a great  
> way to teach
> analytical thinking to young kids in a fun way. Therefore, feedback  
> such as
> this, from knowledgeable people like you, is paramount to its  
> improvement.
> Thank you!
>
>>
>> You can download the latest version. I'll get you instructions  
>> offline.
>>
>>> I did ask a child who
>>> has one, and plays Go, to tell me how it seemed.  He may have an  
>>> older
>>> version of the software, but if his observations are correct it  
>>> sounds
>>> like there are some serious issues.  I would be very glad to help  
>>> solve
>>> some of these problems if you would like some input.  As I said, I  
>>> can't
>>> program, but I can tell whoever is writing the software what the  
>>> problems
>>> are.
>>
>> Thank you.
>
>  Great! Thanks for testing! Perhaps you could encourage people to  
> try the
> latest version of the activity. You can find it at
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Activities/All . I would love to hear  
> about this
> issues in more detail.
>
>>> Please feel free to contact me directly at shimari at comcast.net.   
>>> If you
>>> would like a rule set designed for children, please let me know  
>>> and we
>>> will be happy to write one for you.
>>
>> We will be very interested to hear from you on this.
>
>  Perhaps we could continue this discussion using this list? It would  
> be
> better for other people that can contribute *hint hint*.
>
>>> You can see one example of our approach to
>>> this on our youth go website, which is here:
>>> http://tigersmouth.org/viewpage.php?page_id=8
>
>  Sweet. Now that the Help activity is being shipped, perhaps we  
> could include
> this work in a help bundle for PlayGo. Is this work under a free  
> license?
>
>>> Thank you so much, and I hope to hear from whoever is programming  
>>> Play
>>> Go.
>
>  Thank you!
>
>>> Sincerely,
>>>
>>> Paul Barchilon,
>>> American Go Foundation
>>>
>>> http://tigersmouth.org
>>> http://agfgo.org
>
> -- 
>  -Andrés
>

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