Click For Home

We're not the only ones who think this is cool.



users
What People Say “ ”

What They're Saying In The Newsgroups

Zillions is amazing...

Author: richardhutnik <richardhutnik@hotmail.com>
Date: 1998/12/31
Forums: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic, rec.games.board, rec.games.design, rec.games.programming

I finally got ahold of this PC game that plays just about every abstract
strategy type game out there. The type of game I am referring to is games
where you place, take, or move one piece on a board, and need to plan out
your strategy several moves ahead. Such games as Reversi, Spot (Attaxx),
Chess (and chess variants), Checkers, Pente, etc... would apply. What I am
amazed about is that it plays a large sort of game competently to the point
where I repeatedly get crushed at just about any game it has. This is the
same engine playing all these games. In addition, more games can be created
for it, by the owner of Zillions, and the game will also offer a challenging
game with it. The creating of the games requires a person to learn the
game's language for coding the rules of the game, and the language is
Lisp-like in nature.

Anyhow, I thought I would drop a line regarding Zillions. The package comes
with over 200 games and puzzles, so it is a good value that way also.
Again, my posting this message is only because I like the product, because I
have no associations with the company that makes it. I am looking to port
some of my games I created over to the product. By the way, anyone else
check this product out besides me?

- Richard Hutnik

By the way, FYI, it goes for $29 (excluding shipping), and also features an
Internet-play/network/modem feature. It looks like the ideal product for
designing abstract strategy games with for Net play, or solitaire puzzles.

The URL (I posted it before) for the product is: http://www.zillions-of-games.com

Re: Zillions is amazing...

Author: MLHowe <mlhowe@aol.com>
Date: 1999/01/01
Forum: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic

...
Zillions is a tremendous program. I love games like MOM, HOMM, Stars,
Warlords, etc., but Zillions is really the program I've been waiting for my
whole life.

fizzycyst

Re: Zillions is amazing...

Author: richardhutnik <richardhutnik@hotmail.com>
Date: 1999/01/03
Forum: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic

...
Zillions is not likeStars/Warcraft 2/Warlords/etc.... it is a full-blown 
development system that lets people create a large variety of abstract strategy 
games, and create totally different games with it, and have a competent AI 
for it. In anutshell, imagine Quake 2, but imagine you could turn Quake 2 
into a flightsim. This is how versitile the Zillions engine is. 
...

Re: Zillions: The universal abstract boardgame engine now out!

Author: MLHowe <mlhowe@aol.com>
Date: 1999/01/06
Forum: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic

>
>So has anyone played this yet? How is it?
>
>Russ (russw AT kinesoft DOT com)

Zillions is amazing. It plays lots of games, and once you learn the language,
which isn't easy (for me anyway), you can add your own. The graphics are very
attractivge, and the game plays an amazingly strong game, even of games it
hasn't played before. I don't know how they did it, but I'd say it's a work of
genius.

fizzycyst

Zillions, thumbs up (was Re: Zillions: The universal abstract boardgame engine now out!)

Author: richardhutnik <richardhutnik@hotmail.com>
Date: 1999/01/06
Forums: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic, rec.games.board

In article <76ttd2$ibd$1@remarQ.com>,
"Russ Williams" <russwOmitTheseWords@kinesoft.com> wrote:
> So has anyone played this yet? How is it?
>
> Russ (russw AT kinesoft DOT com)

Well, I got it and have been fiddling with it for a week or so. I give it a
big thumbs up and recommend it to anyone who either likes to create abstract
strategy games or play them. It comes with nearly 300 abstract strategy
games and puzzles (and you can download more off the Zillion's site), and you
can create nearly any Chess, Checker, Pente, Othello, Spot or whatever
variant. The game seems limited in that it can't do cross the board with a
line of pieces variant, and I am having some problems getting the game to
understand win conditions for chess variants for more than 2 people. I think
also, games of chance are limited with Zillions, such as Parchesi or
backgammon (doable but the AI is a bit hamstrung). Also, the games do have a
bit of a generic feel to them, due to the "Swiss Army Knife approach" to
these type of games.

In a nutshell, this is the only abstract strategy universal game engine out
there and it handles a lot of things well.

Ask yourself: is it worth $29 + shipping for a bundle of nearly 300 abstract
strategy games and puzzles, that comes with a competent AI, let's you create
and add more games (the files are under 20K downloads most of the time), and
also features Internet play? If you say yes, then get Zillions. Hey, it is
the only package that let's you play obscure chess variants as Tibetianchess.

- Richard Hutnik

--

Visit DocReason's Strategy HQ for free games, reviews, and
support and opponent finding for obscure/orphan games at:
http://www.geocities.com/timessquare/fortress/7537/

Re: Zillions, thumbs up (was Re: Zillions: The universal abstract boardgame engine now out!)

Author: Dick Dillehunt <ddillehunt@lightside.com>
Date: 1999/01/06
Forums: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic, rec.games.board

Ditto to Richard's comments. Zillions of Games is a remarkable
achievement and an excellent value for the money. Of course there are
some enhancements that I would like to see implemented, but this is just
the first release of this product. I found some of my original "wants"
when I spent more time studying the language reference and existing game
files. Who knows, I may find more of them are already included.

Best of Luck to the folks at Zillions Development.

Dick

richardhutnik@hotmail.com wrote:
> 
> In article <76ttd2$ibd$1@remarQ.com>,
> "Russ Williams" <russwOmitTheseWords@kinesoft.com> wrote:
> 
> So has anyone played this yet? How is it?
> 
>
> 
> Russ (russw AT kinesoft DOT com)
> 
> Well, I got it and have been fiddling with it for a week or so. I give it a
> big thumbs up and recommend it to anyone who either likes to create abstract
> strategy games or play them. It comes with nearly 300 abstract strategy
> games and puzzles (and you can download more off the Zillion's site), and you
> can create nearly any Chess, Checker, Pente, Othello, Spot or whatever
> variant. The game seems limited in that it can't do cross the board with a
> line of pieces variant, and I am having some problems getting the game to
> understand win conditions for chess variants for more than 2 people. I think
> also, games of chance are limited with Zillions, such as Parchesi or
> backgammon (doable but the AI is a bit hamstrung). Also, the games do have a
> bit of a generic feel to them, due to the "Swiss Army Knife approach" to
> these type of games.
> 
> In a nutshell, this is the only abstract strategy universal game engine out
> there and it handles a lot of things well.
> 
> Ask yourself: is it worth $29 + shipping for a bundle of nearly 300 abstract
> strategy games and puzzles, that comes with a competent AI, let's you create
> and add more games (the files are under 20K downloads most of the time), and
> also features Internet play? If you say yes, then get Zillions. Hey, it is
> the only package that let's you play obscure chess variants as Tibetian
> chess.
>
> - Richard Hutnik
>
> --> 
> Visit DocReason's Strategy HQ for free games, reviews, and
> support and opponent finding for obscure/orphan games at:
> http://www.geocities.com/timessquare/fortress/7537/

Chu shogi mating problems

Author: Steve Evans <trout@NETSPACE.NET.AU>
Date: 1999/01/09
Forum: fa.shogi

I have a dual purpose in writing this message.

The first is to give a plug for a new piece of commercial software that
among many other things, plays shogi and the 5x5 variant mini-shogi.
Zillions-of-Games is billed as the first universal gaming system, and
seems to live up to this tag. The commercial package combines a powerful
game playing engine, with capacity for playing board games over the
internet, and comes with 292(!) different games  (including shogi). The
other attractive feature about the package is that it provides a
reasonably simple programming language that allows users to write their
own games.

You can find out more about Zillions of Games from their home page at:

http://www.zillions-of-games.com

This brings me to my second reason for writing.

I recently decided to write a chu shogi driver for the Zillions engine,
and have now finished this exercise. The chu rules file I've written
should shortly be available for download from the Zillions web site (it
needs the Zillions package to run).

I decided to use Zillions to implement a chu shogi program for a few
reasons:

1) to see how easy it was to write a complex game for the Zillions
engine;
2) to make freely available a chu playing program that plays a much
stronger game than any others currently about (including my own Shogi
Variants program);  &
3) because I wanted to adapt it to solve some of the 120+ ancient chu
shogi mating problems given in George Hodges' Middle Shogi Manual for
which no solutions have ever been recorded.

Yesterday evening I finished my mating problem adaptation of the program
and decided to test it on one of the problems for which the solution is
known. For the exercise I chose a problem by Ito Sokan I from his
collection published in 1678.

The problem (in modified Forsyth Notation) is as follows:

3, S, 1, PH, K, G, 4 / 4,+dk, 1, DE, 2, S, 2 /  2, +DK, ln, 5, FL, 2 /
5, C, 2, P, 3 /
3, P, 2, +dh, ky, 4 / 4, +VM, 7 / 12 / 2, +vm, 9 / 6, FK, 5 / 12 / 12 /
12 /

This is problem B1 in the Middle Shogi Manual (for those who own a
copy).

The solutions given in the manual are:

1. +VM-10e, K-5b (if 1. ..., +DKx10e; 2. Lnx7a, DEx7a; 3. +DK-6d,
+VMx6d;
4. +DH-6c, +VMx6c; 5. Kyx5c+ mate) 2. +DHx3b, FLx3b; 3. Kyx4d+, K-4a;
4 +Ky-2b, K-5b; 5. Lnx7d mate.

The program found the first of these two solutions in about 3 minutes,
so when I've tested it a bit more I hope to tackle some of the unsolved
problems. While I suspect that problems with solutions deeper than 6 or
7 moves will be beyond it, I'm hopeful that some of the unsolved
problems will have shorter solutions than this. I can also use the
program to verify and test some of the published solutions to these old
mating problems, and as a tool to assist in solving some of the longer
problems.

If I have any success I'll announce it on Shogi-L.

Regards,


Steve Evans

Re: Zillion Games

Author: Chuck Smith <boardgames.guide@MININGCO.COM>
Date: 1999/01/18
Forum: fa.shogi

 
George and all others interested,

I got a copy of Zillions for evaluation and development and I must say it
works really well! The Shogi intelligence leaves something to be desired
but it is pretty impressive since it's a generalized AI opponent rather
than a specialized Shogi computer player. I also heard Steve Evans has
written Chu Shogi for it as well. Can anyone tell me if it's available for
public use? I guess I could look on his webpage but I'm in a hurry at the
moment...

Their webpage is at http://www.zillions-of-games.com/ and I plan to write
an article about it in the upcoming months.

Hope this helps,
Chuck

>Somebody plugged the program Zillion-Games.
>Can somebody tell me anything about it. It sounds interesting.
>-George (geo709@aol.com)
>
Chuck Smith
http://boardgames.miningco.com
I mine the Net so you don't have to.
Reply subject "subscribe" to sign up for my free board games newsletter.

Zillions of Games CD-ROM and Chess Variants

Author: Mmcckk <mmcckk@aol.com>
Date: 1998/12/27
Forum: rec.games.chess.computer

I just bought a CD-ROM (Win95/98)that may be of interest to computer
chess players. It's called Zillions of Games. It has standard chess,
but what is more interesting are all of these variant forms of chess-
    Extinction Chess 
    Kinglet Chess    
    Take-All 
    Losing Chess
    Double Move-Capture or Checkmate 
    Monster Chess-4 or 8 pawns
    Cylindrical 
    Knightmate 
    Non-Prise Chess 
    Pocket Knight
    King vs. King 
    Pawn Odds 
    Knight Odds 
    Rook Odds
    King and Pawns 
    3 pawn 
    Trapeze 
    Shuffle
    Small Chess-5 variants 
    Fairy Chess-8 variants 
    Thai Chess-2 variants
    Burmese Chess-8 variants 
    Chinese Chess 
    Korean Chess-4 variants
    Shogi-2 variants

It has 292 board games and puzzles, and new games can be
plugged in later. It costs only $30. More info at-
www.zillions-of-games.com

Michael McKee

Zillions Development
About Zillions Development
Dealer Inquiries are welcome here.


Copyright 1998-2024 Zillions Development Corporation
Zillions Privacy Statement