BGA Gomoku was developed years ago, so there were rooms for improvement here and there.
Recently I took over as the maintenance developer to fix bugs and add highly requested features.
- Confirmation
Confirm/reset buttons are displayed after placing the stone.
Even a player places 5 stones in a row, the player must confirm the move to win the game.
Red actions (confirm and swap) are irreversible.
Confirmation uses BGA undo framework, so placing a stone and retracting it later will be displayed to the opponent while they are online.
Many abstracts implement confirmation through BGA undo and I hardly see major objections.
Players can switch this option from player preference panel below game screen. The default is 'No' now.
If this option is off, placing the last stone of a turn (equals every stone except swaps' first two stones and swap2's fourth stone from the second choice) or 'End Placement' button from the second turn of swap2 are also irreversible.
- Variants
Plenty of players asked to remove or separate Caro variant from Gomoku (and I personally agree), but it was explicitly declined.
Hence, I added description labels on initial game page, table lobby screen, and game screen.
Plus, Caro variant will allow overline win as well as unblocked 5 in a row.
Freestyle mode (Gomoku which allows overline victory) is also added.
The default option is the same as before, Standard.
- Board sizes
9x9, 13x13, 15x15, 19x19 (previous default and the only option) are available.
9x9 is available in only training mode.
Since worldwide official Gomoku organizations have switched to 15x15 long ago, the new default option will be 15x15.
- Opening rules
Current 'Tournament' option is renamed as 'Pro'.
Also, long pro, swap, swap2 openings are added.
No opening rule/pro/long pro will be unavailable in normal mode due to the first player advantage.
With these deprecated rules white cannot win unless black blunders.
The new default option will be swap2, which has been the official opening rule for decades.
- Statistics
New statistics regarding swaps and win ratio are added.
- Highlight last move
Red outline and gray box highlight last move. They can be turned on/off from user preference.
A sad news: Arena mode and ranking will be closed after this season.
While working with Gomoku I found and received some complaints about engine uses.
Indeed there were an influx of players whose moves exactly match lines of strong engines, and they went to dominate ELO and Arena.
However, adding opening rules and new board sizes does not solve the problem.
I have sent a few chosen active Gomoku Arena players a private survey form to address this.
As the result, Arena mode and ranking will be closed and associated trophies will be retroactively removed.
I apologize for any inconvenience of genuine players this may cause.
Normal mode games and ELO will be still available, without any ranking trophies.
Recently I took over as the maintenance developer to fix bugs and add highly requested features.
- Confirmation
Confirm/reset buttons are displayed after placing the stone.
Even a player places 5 stones in a row, the player must confirm the move to win the game.
Red actions (confirm and swap) are irreversible.
Confirmation uses BGA undo framework, so placing a stone and retracting it later will be displayed to the opponent while they are online.
Many abstracts implement confirmation through BGA undo and I hardly see major objections.
Players can switch this option from player preference panel below game screen. The default is 'No' now.
If this option is off, placing the last stone of a turn (equals every stone except swaps' first two stones and swap2's fourth stone from the second choice) or 'End Placement' button from the second turn of swap2 are also irreversible.
- Variants
Plenty of players asked to remove or separate Caro variant from Gomoku (and I personally agree), but it was explicitly declined.
Hence, I added description labels on initial game page, table lobby screen, and game screen.
Plus, Caro variant will allow overline win as well as unblocked 5 in a row.
Freestyle mode (Gomoku which allows overline victory) is also added.
The default option is the same as before, Standard.
- Board sizes
9x9, 13x13, 15x15, 19x19 (previous default and the only option) are available.
9x9 is available in only training mode.
Since worldwide official Gomoku organizations have switched to 15x15 long ago, the new default option will be 15x15.
- Opening rules
Current 'Tournament' option is renamed as 'Pro'.
Also, long pro, swap, swap2 openings are added.
No opening rule/pro/long pro will be unavailable in normal mode due to the first player advantage.
With these deprecated rules white cannot win unless black blunders.
The new default option will be swap2, which has been the official opening rule for decades.
- Statistics
New statistics regarding swaps and win ratio are added.
- Highlight last move
Red outline and gray box highlight last move. They can be turned on/off from user preference.
A sad news: Arena mode and ranking will be closed after this season.
While working with Gomoku I found and received some complaints about engine uses.
Indeed there were an influx of players whose moves exactly match lines of strong engines, and they went to dominate ELO and Arena.
However, adding opening rules and new board sizes does not solve the problem.
I have sent a few chosen active Gomoku Arena players a private survey form to address this.
As the result, Arena mode and ranking will be closed and associated trophies will be retroactively removed.
I apologize for any inconvenience of genuine players this may cause.
Normal mode games and ELO will be still available, without any ranking trophies.