Real potential but room for improvement
The good:
* The basic modes you would expect are there (play online, puzzles, learning, Pikafish analysis, and so on), though I am not sure how many people are actually online
* The interface feels very slick and modern, and Game Center integration is in place. More than can be said for other apps.
* Easy to get to the manual AI board if you want to work through scenarios yourself
* I really like that you can enable Chinese notation and pieces without making the whole app Chinese language
The bad
* Learning content is meager and you can’t skip around (e.g., you have to sit through tedious lessons about how pieces move even if you know that already and wanted to see later content)
* No organization of puzzles into themes, only endless mode
* No iPad support
* The way puzzles work is different than other apps like Xiangqi.com or Tian Tian Xiangqi: even if your solution would work it can be rejected for reasons that aren’t explained. I’ve surmised that at least in some cases my solution is more moves than the one that’s being sought, and fair enough, but I wish failure would differentiate between “there’s a better solution/one that takes fewer moves” and “that actually doesn’t work.”
* Lighter on bonus modes such as shuffled chess, though introducing too many modes without growing the player population might be unwise
* The basic modes you would expect are there (play online, puzzles, learning, Pikafish analysis, and so on), though I am not sure how many people are actually online
* The interface feels very slick and modern, and Game Center integration is in place. More than can be said for other apps.
* Easy to get to the manual AI board if you want to work through scenarios yourself
* I really like that you can enable Chinese notation and pieces without making the whole app Chinese language
The bad
* Learning content is meager and you can’t skip around (e.g., you have to sit through tedious lessons about how pieces move even if you know that already and wanted to see later content)
* No organization of puzzles into themes, only endless mode
* No iPad support
* The way puzzles work is different than other apps like Xiangqi.com or Tian Tian Xiangqi: even if your solution would work it can be rejected for reasons that aren’t explained. I’ve surmised that at least in some cases my solution is more moves than the one that’s being sought, and fair enough, but I wish failure would differentiate between “there’s a better solution/one that takes fewer moves” and “that actually doesn’t work.”
* Lighter on bonus modes such as shuffled chess, though introducing too many modes without growing the player population might be unwise
Show more
Response from developer
Thanks for this detailed review, this is really helpful! You're spot on about the lessons: the current content is a first version, and we're right in the middle of a full rework, more content, and you'll be able to jump ahead instead of sitting through the basics. Puzzles are next on the list after that, with better feedback when your move isn't the best one. iPad support is on our radar too. As for bonus modes, we reason exactly like you do: we'd rather grow the player base first before spreading it across more modes. Thanks for taking the time to write this up.
很厉害
我是非常不擅长的 挺好的 分析棋盘我不太会看比如良好漏子这些是具体哪一步呢
希望出iPad界面版
整体很喜欢 色调很统一 不会扰乱专注 界面也很简单 希望可以出iPad界面版 可以参考Lichess.org网页和xiangyi app 横版看着很舒服 加油！