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Show HN: Chess on a Donut/Torus and Deep-Dive

(mchess.io)
24 points mannymakes | 2 comments | 29 Nov 25 17:48 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source

Hey there! I just finished a youtube video explaining our donut chess in detail: https://youtu.be/iRcfHCPFgkM

So I thought it'd be cool to show it off here too- it can be played around with at mchess.io/donut - you can also set up an AI or online game on the site.

This is all indie dev work from a couple friends and myself.

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wavemode ◴[04 Dec 25 21:36 UTC] No.46153422[source]▶
Took me a while to realize it was a 3D torus and I had to drag around to see the whole board lol

Maybe when the page loads the torus should rotate around a bit

replies(1): >>46155550 #
1. mannymakes ◴[05 Dec 25 00:59 UTC] No.46155550[source]▶
hmmm good idea, maybe we should have an auto-rotate that stops when you interact
replies(1): >>46162099 #
2. quuxplusone ◴[05 Dec 25 14:55 UTC] No.46162099[source]▶
Better than an automatic smooth continuous motion would be an "idle animation": after a few seconds swing the torus somewhat less than 45 degrees in a random direction and let it relax back into the original position. This suggests "the torus can move" without suggesting "the torus moves [only] in this specific way." You need contradict not just the user's intuition "Torus stationary" but much more importantly "Torus non-interactive."

Likewise, if someone thought the pieces couldn't be moved, you could idly wiggle the king pawn as a hint to pick it up.

Now, how anybody could look at a chess board and think the pieces were immovable, or look at a 3D torus render and think it was unrotatable, is beyond me. But if it's a real problem, I think idle animation is a good fix.