Thanks for those links, D, that's awesome. Even better to see them posted February of 2008! Seems there's still interest, which is fantastic. I just got the game reinstalled, and am reminded again that it's a remarkable program. I never did bother to look for user-made content, but I'm totally going to download all this stuff.
We should have a chess day some weekend or something, could be good times. Maybe we could even get idol to finally play a game against a human being, too.
EDIT - I ran across another fun game today. It's called
Majestic Chess, and it's not nearly as hokey as it sounds. Basically, you've got a standard chess game in which you can play against AI personalities (though these are quite limited compared to what you'd get in a more robust game), an online component that's no-frills (and by now is surely dead well beyond dead -- the game came out in 2003), and the cool part: the adventure mode.
The adventure mode is basically a gussied-up tutorial, but it's cooler than that because... well, it's almost like this was
Puzzle Quest, except with chess. And also before
Puzzle Quest existed. It's got a silly little fantasy plot, and you're this king who goes around the countryside fighting monsters and maniacs to try and regain your kingdom. Or something along those lines. So certain encounters teach you basics, others ask you questions, and others are puzzles to actually play. Some of these are actually scaled-down full games as well, where you'll play what would be a real game except you and the other guy only have about half the pieces you'd normally have. It sounds stupid, but it's actually quite cool. You have to actually "earn" or purchase chess pieces to use in the encounters, and you can buy other things to help you out like scrolls to give you a hint on the best move, or a potion that lets you take back a move. So while these things are really just vague extensions of the usual tutorial formula, they work because you feel a sense of actual progression. You unveil a map which is actually quite nicely detailed, get a little bit of "story" as you go, and the game starts to give you progressively more difficult scenarios with greater degrees of complexity that feel more like new insights rather than lessons. You feel like you're gaining knowledge that'll help you beat the next challenge, not like they're just teaching you stuff. It sort of transcends that "lesson" feeling through these extra little things. And it moves at a pretty brisk pace, too, expecting you to get the idea without a whole lot of jawing. No real penalty for failure, and it's just tricky enough that if you don't give it any respect ("Oh, I can play chess, I don't need this tutorial crap"), it'll surprise you by actually giving you something that requires a minute of thought. The AI is pretty decent, so I can see beginning players taking a little while to get past some of the early challenges which pit you against other "armies". So far, like I said, these have all been under half the actual chess set, and the opponent always has less material than you do, but it's smart enough that if it sees a stupid move, it'll still nail you to the wall with it.
So even as someone that plays chess but is looking to refresh his memory, this is actually quite a fun way to do it. The game is visually quite pleasant, the AI seems to be functional (and the review says it's quite good on the whole), and the little touches of this adventure mode I think would be great for anyone that's been away from the game for a while. It's entertaining enough to get you through the really basic basics, and once it gets to the more interesting stuff that you've probably forgotten, the package feels pretty complete.
Anyway, could be worth checking out if it sounds fun to you. I was pleasantly surprised after not expecting much.
