
Show HN: Kriegspiel - binarymax
http://krgspl.com/
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binarymax
Hi All. Server is getting absolutely pummelled right now. If you get stuck in
a game, you can hit 'refresh' and it should come back. Thanks for playing!

Technicals: It is a medium EC2 running a single node process with socket.io.
Database is an EC2 micro running rethinkdb.

\--EDIT-- Replay functionality seems to be down entirely due to load. Games
are still running though.

\--EDIT2-- Replays are back up! Just need to wait a while. For those who are
discouraged by the signup - I understand, but due to the nature of the game it
is necessary to prevent cheating. Email is _not_ required. Feel free to create
a random string as a username and password if you want to give it a try.

~~~
Oculus
Any insight on what's killing your server? I've been recently looking into
socket.io's issues with scaling.

~~~
binarymax
Trying to figure that out now. DB seems spiffy, and express is logging
requests just fine. Thats the trivial stuff - now I need to start getting my
hands dirty.

EDIT - OK serious issues now. getting a range error on redis and the call
stack is blowing out, recycling node every 15 seconds or so. Will let you know
when its back up.

EDIT2 - Turned out to be an exception due to an invalid date string. Fixed!

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binarymax
Hello! I've been sitting on this for awhile. I mostly built it so my cousin
and I could play against each other (both long time fans of the classic
variant). The source is here:
[https://github.com/binarymax/kriegspiel](https://github.com/binarymax/kriegspiel)

~~~
pekk
Hey, I just want to say: good for you to develop your thing and show it off on
HN and make the source available. It takes a little bravery.

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MichaelAza
Awesome game, but you could make two imporvments:

1\. Add a turn indicator or a "waiting for opponent" message of some sort.

2\. Make it clear in-site that you can refresh and still get the same game.

~~~
hrjet
3\. Clarify the timeout. I have 3 games running in which the opponent is not
responding. Do I win? Also, is there a score?

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leoc
The up-front requirement to create an account put me right off.

~~~
diggan
Well, at least it doesn't require an email so it's just the username and
password.

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rb2k_
German here:

You're technically missing an second s:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kriegsspiel_(wargame)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kriegsspiel_\(wargame\))

~~~
binarymax
Yes you are right. You know us crazy Americans. My apologies for the
misspelling! The chess variant is typically spelled with one 's':

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kriegspiel_(chess)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kriegspiel_\(chess\))

~~~
Perseids
Does anybody know the etymology of "Kriegspiel"? All I find are references to
"Kriegsspiel" but nobody explains where the 's' went. Was it just a
misspelling by those who popularized it?

~~~
philsnow
It's a lot harder (for me) to say Kriegsspiel than (the incorrect) Kriegspiel,
because the first 's' is voiced (IPA /z/) and the 'sp' is unvoiced[0].

I'm not saying that's _why_ this alternate spelling has arisen, but it could
be a transcription of a mispronunciation.

[0] IPA /ʃp/ rather than /sp/ because initial 'sp' in german is pronounced
that way. I don't know if this rule has a name... "post-alveolarization"?

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Perseids
No no, actually the first s is /s/ i.e. voiceless as in "sea" or "pass", so
the complete transcription should be /kʀiːksʃpiːl/. The transition between the
/s/ and /ʃ/ is then just making your lips round for the /ʃ/ after the wide and
flat /s/. It is still not as easy as just leaving it out, but it is whole lot
more doable.

~~~
philsnow
I must be extremely out of practice with German :\ I definitely thought that
the 'g' in 'Krieg' was /k/ but the 'g' in 'Kriegs' was /g/.

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valtron
I started working on a similar thing last year [0]. In my version, your pieces
can see any spot on the board they are allowed to move to.

[0] [https://github.com/valtron/fog](https://github.com/valtron/fog)

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joelthelion
Too bad you didn't finish it :)

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dzuc
See also: [http://r-s-g.org/kriegspiel/](http://r-s-g.org/kriegspiel/)

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1337biz
This needs some easy way to try it out. Or at least some screenshots right on
the landing page.

I don't really know what kind of game this is just by going to the url, and I
am surly not registering at some site without having some solid idea that I
will use it more than once.

~~~
ZoF
It explains it decently well on the landing page... registration doesn't
require email validation just use random atrings.

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kriro
Nicely done.

"AI a Modern Approach" has a nice section on the game if anyone wants to read
up on AI a bit.

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joelthelion
That's really cool. I wish I could see the game unblinded when it's over
though.

~~~
binarymax
Thanks! Replays will be back up eventually - DB server is tiny and having
memory trouble. Can't mess with it now since it will interrupt the games.

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EGreg
I used to play Kriegspiel, Bughouse, Crazyhouse, Loser's Chess and many other
variants at the ICC. Anyone remember that?

My favorite, however, was Kung Fu Chess, at kungfuchess.com . Whatever
happened to that?

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itry
really really nice! thanks for creating it. the problem with the "hanging"
games must be fixed though. you definately need clocks. so the enemy canmot
think forever.

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phaer
Is it related to the old Prussian game, or Guy Debords game?

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stefan_kendall3
I was having fun, and then I timed out trying to make a move.

Clean interface, fun concept.

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brimstedt
@asdfasdf, get back there and finishbour game ;)

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kashif
I am hooked.

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senorgomez
very fun, thanks for making this.

