Life In 19x19

I have tried my hand at writing a client library for IGS in C#. This project was shelved due to Coursera.

Here is what I would advise: download NNGS, any Linux distro., VirtualBox, Telnet (for recent Windows versions) and Wireshark. Play around.

Where the protocol differs, the changes are not dramatic. A little reverse engineering is necessary but it is hardly difficult.

Such a client library would have to be kept up to date and modified when Pandanet change their server. This is why it must be Open Source. Once said client library is built, anybody can use it to develop any client according to their own, personal tastes.

I don't think Pandanet will change their server very much, in the future - there are too many clients in the wild, they risk alienating thousands of users. Most eastern users seem to use ancient clients - the "...enjoy a great game" one, for example.

I have no official confirmation that custom client development is allowed or endorsed by Pandanet but they don't seem to suppress such development and even publish some old documents on their protocol for use by developers.

Is it possible to have it start a different browser other than the default browser? I want to have it in a Chrome (srware iron is a chrome fork) app window, that is without toolbars etc...
At the current state I first close the browser window which is opened by Pandanet2, then double click a link with this command line:

Uuugh why don't you just play online with GoPanda2 and if you want to do advanced stuff, you save the sgf and open those with SmartGo which is an amazing go client, just sayin.... I haven't heard any mention of SmartGo here which seems strange considering it's a premier go application. Scratch that, you can play IGS on Smartgo too, really if you want advanced functionality then that is exactly what you want in a go application. If you want minimalistic with wonderful looking interface, board, and stones, then you want GoPanda2. Really, you just have to decide what you want out of your client, because we have both options at the present time. I've been using Smartgo for the last year and a half. SmartGo Kifu for Ipad is amazing though the Windows client is the customizeable and advanced (not to mention more powerful version), and SmartGo Books is just the greatest thing ever. When it comes to playing online though I prefer a simpler interface and a nice aesthetic. If I want to do advanced stuff later, the pattern, joseki, and fuseki matching etc of SmartGo is a great way to go over your games later on.

It's understandable viewing the interface of GoPanda2 which looks beautiful, that it is minimalistic. This means functionality can be included, but I wouldn't expect things that are "small luxuries", or stuff that is useless to the average user. Similarly, very few designers are going to take pride in creating a beautiful looking app and then let you circumvent those visuals for your own. Sounds are a possibility as that isn't very farfetched. You won't be seeing rows and rows of buttons to press in GoPanda2 and honestly, I think that's a good thing, stylistically it goes against what they are after here. Obviously though, what they choose to include should be extremely well executed upon and streamlined for users. For example, you have a game information box you can bring up... I haven't tried looking for one but are there hotkeys for stuff like that? Being able to press "I" to toggle the game info box etc are great ways to maintain your minimalist look while still providing functionality/info without requiring clicking through menus.

Funny, the 'bug report' feature is not working. When you press OK to send the report nothing happens. Cancel button works just fine )).
Sent the report by e-mail (it was about switching rooms and updating players/games lists not working properly).

Sry, had neglected that forum far too long...

I just stumbled across this thread and want to give a few comments/answers to the stuff mentioned here:

- Pandanet doesn't like people to write their own clients - they rather want everyone to use the official ones. If you still do it, they won't sue you - but not help you either. And while you can find a lot of documentation about the older stuff on the web, all newer IGS features are "secret".

- GoPanda2's primary target are users who want to "just" play Go in an easy way without having to know too much about the server. So it's for the "button clicking" users, not the "command typing users". So we made several design decisions in order to simply things, for example hiding the difference between open and looking, or the difference between chatter and kibitz. And yes, only a subset of the actual server commands are implemented by now. Some because we didn't find the time for it yet (e.g. trail), some because we just don't think they're useful. But GoPanda2 does include a console now, so experienced users can still do pretty much what they want.

- The bug report bug has been fixed So go ahead, report everything new you find with that tool - that will reach us much sooner than this forum does

ahamay wrote:The bug report bug has been fixed So go ahead, report everything new you find with that tool - that will reach us much sooner than this forum does

Has a faulty bug report feature for SIX MONTHS then rolls eyes about somebody reporting it on this forum. Go figure.

I was rolling eyes about me not having visited the forum for months, not about people reporting here...

ahamay wrote:I was rolling eyes about me not having visited the forum for months, not about people reporting here...

Fair enough. Sorry for misunderstanding your intent. Good luck with IGS in 2014. I learned to play go there, more than a few years ago.

ahamay wrote:I was rolling eyes about me not having visited the forum for months, not about people reporting here...

Hey Benni, you can do something about it. We'd like to have you here more often anyway

I love the way the client looks. It's nice to look at. While KGS is simple and functional I think it would benefit form an ascetical upgrade as well.

On that note the only think I can think of that would make IGS 'better' is better menu navigation/information....after years of MMO's and computer programs it just feels clunky in that respect.

wineandgolover wrote:Fair enough. Sorry for misunderstanding your intent. Good luck with IGS in 2014. I learned to play go there, more than a few years ago.

Thanks, I guess I should've been more clear in the first place. I have high hopes for IGS this year, but we'll see

Rowen wrote:I love the way the client looks. It's nice to look at. While KGS is simple and functional I think it would benefit form an ascetical upgrade as well.

On that note the only think I can think of that would make IGS 'better' is better menu navigation/information....after years of MMO's and computer programs it just feels clunky in that respect.

Thanks Could you elaborate more on how the menu could be improved? My MMO experience is pretty much non-existing

I will respond shortly with examples. I want to explain it all correctly.

Okay, here it goes:

1.Rooms Tab: Right now clicking on a game in progress (left or right click) makes a pop-up appear to ‘observe’ the clicked game. Most menus’ I’ve navigated allow you to left click on the game, this highlights the game and would allow the user to click ‘observe’ in the menu at the very top of the application. Furthermore right clicking would highlight the game and initiate the popup to select ‘observe’, or just make the popup appear of already highlighted.

Left clicking on a name would just highlight be player in question but do nothing. Right clicking would bring up the menu.

Perhaps splitting the game menu in half could be beneficial. The top half could be games in progress, allowing users easy access to observe a game. The bottom half could be for created games awaiting players.

I know there is a ‘challenge’ feature in place, this would just be in addition to that feature.

2.Play Tab: I’ve not seen it active. This tab should always be active. When a player clicks on it, it can work one of two ways: First is bring up a menu to set up a game for others to join. Second would be to open a new page with the same set up options. (Each works well, but I’m not sure which would be easier).

3.More options to manage your account via the client. Clicking on my own name shows the same info I see on everyone else. I should be able to change my starting rank, reset my password, change my email address. More integration would be amazing for making this even better.

4.Review tab – This should also be active so I can review games I have played. Again, I’m not sure when this tab is active but it would be very handy to click that tab, choose a previous game I’ve played and review it.

5.Also – not menu- related- and I’m not sure if this was on my end but there is a delay when placing the stones. I click where I want it to go and there is a 2-3 second pause before the stone is placed.

If any of this is not clear let me know. I can photoshop some examples with a screen shot of the interface. I hope some of my suggestions help.

EDIT: I see now that the upper tabs highlight when you are actively performing the activity (ie. playing a game, the 'Play' tab is highlighted)

Also, How do I reset my Rank? I'm showing 12k? but I'm only a beginner and getting game requests for games I have no chance in.

Hi ahamay, Happy 2014. Questions:

• In gIgo, we could set the default time control to, for example, Canadian 1 minute + (30 minutes for 20 moves), then use this setting for all the match requests. How to do this in the new GUI in GoPanda2 ?
• In gGo and gIgo, the stone clicks have a very nice, deep, and thick tone. GoPanda2's new stone click sounds like plastic on a very thin board. Could you add a better and thicker stone click (as an option) ?

Thanks.