Shogi Variants - Version History
--------------------------------

Version 1.55a (of 14 May '98) - 

	- Fixed the problem of the program occasionally incorrectly identifying 
	  'Check' as 'Checkmate'.	

	- Corrected the problem of a player being able to leave their King in
	  check if giving check themselves.

	- Fixed the move of the White Tiger on the Dai-Dai Shogi piece help screen.
  

Version 1.55 (of 30 April '98) 

The changes include:

	- Added the capacity to replay moves that have been previously taken back.
	
	- The code for taking back moves has been completely rewritten and improved,
	  and a further user option for taking back moves has been added.
 	  
	- The player can now toggle the moves of a game forward and backwards using the
	  TAB and BACKSPACE keys, or jump straight to the first or last move by pressing
	  SHIFT+DEL or SHIFT+INS.  
 
	- An option has been added to display the influence and threats of all pieces and
          keep the influence map on screen until a key or mouse button is pressed. This option
          is activated by the tilde '~' key.

	- Fixed some problems with the configuration settings of loaded games.

 
  
Version 1.54 (of 23 April '98) 

The changes include:

	- Fixed a number of bugs that occurred only when the 'Show Legal Move'
	  option was set to off. These included the fact that the computer did
	  not correctly detect check and checkmate, errors in the move of the
	  Emperor and in application of the Lion protection rules in Chu Shogi.
	  (Thanks again to Rikard Nordgren for the report) 

	- Continuing problems with the computer occasionally leaving its King in
	  check have now been totally cured. (The earlier fix in version 1.53 only
	  reduced the incidence of the problem).  



Version 1.53 (of 19 April '98) 

The changes include:

	- The bug that allowed a player to move a King next to the 
	  opponent's King has been fixed. (This move is now only possible
	  if a player has more than one King-type piece)

	- The speed of the flashing of the last moved piece is not now
	  dependent upon CPU speed (ie: the piece will now flash at the
	  same speed on a 486 as on a Pentium II)

	- A bug that caused the computer player to occasionally ignore the
	  fact that its King was in check has been fixed 

	- There have been a number of changes to the AI. The most significant
	  of which are that the computer will generally promote a piece even
	  if it considers that it will be immediately lost, and it should now
	  be less likely to make some of the foolhardy attacking moves it made
	  at the higher playing level in version 1.52   
  
	- The kanji (Japanese characters) of the 'Horned Falcon' and 'Soaring
	  Eagle' on the Tai Help Screen are now the right way around. 
	  (Thanks to Rikard Nordgren for reporting this problem)

	- It is now possible to effectively pass a turn with a Lion powered
	  piece by double-clicking on it. (Thanks to Rikard for reporting this
	  oversight as well)

	- The name of the executable file has been changed to "ShogiVar.exe".
	  This name will be retained for future versions to assist with
	  upgrades.	

   
Version 1.52 (of 13 April '98)

The changes include:

	- Full implementation of the move of the 'Emperor' in Tai Shogi and
	  Maka-Dai-Dai Shogi

	- The addition of a computer opponent for the Tai and Maka-Dai-Dai 
	  variants (leaving Tenjiku Shogi as the only variant that does not 
	  support a computer opponent)

	- Fixed a bug in Dai-Dai Shogi that occasionally caused the computer
	  player's pieces to promote inappropriately.

	- Added an option that makes a moving piece flash for several seconds
	  after the computer has made a move (to assist the beginner in following
	  the game) - Thanks to John Bailey for the suggestion.

	- Pressing the space bar during a game at any stage will also now highlight
	  the last moved piece.

	- Fixed a bug in the AI for Shogi that hindered the development of the 
	  computer's pieces.

	- Increased the randomness of the computer's moves (to produce more variation
	  in the game of the computer opponent). 	    

	- Improved the AI when dealing with multiple exchanges in the bigger games.

	- Various other small bug fixes and changes.


Version 1.51 (of 27 March '98)

Fixed a significant problem with the AI in the 25 March release that caused
the computer to make unfavourable exchanges of pieces in the higher difficulty
level. 


Version 1.5 (of 25 March '98)

The changes include:
	
	- The addition of two new variants 
		- Christian Freeling's Yari Shogi  &
		- Judkin's Shogi (also known as Mini-shogi Plus)
	
	- Increases in the speed of the computer opponent at its basic level
	  by 3 to 8 times (depending on variant)
	
	- The addition of a higher level of computer opponent (this 
	  level is only partially developed and will be enhanced in future
	  versions)

	- The program now stops the game on checkmate (rather than requiring
          the capture of the King, or whatever). 

	- Completed games can now be saved and reviewed.

	- The program files are now distributed as a self-extracting archive
	  with all the data files in a separate directory from the main program

	- Pieces in check are now shown in 'red' on the move influence screen 	

	- Fixed some problems in the games with multiple king-type pieces

	- Fixed the crashes that occurred in Version 1.45 if certain menu
	  selections were made during the computer's move

	- Fixed the move of the Vermillion Sparrow in Tai (thanks to Dave
	  Oliphant for the bug report)
	
	- Fixed the move of the White Tiger on the Tai Help Screen (ditto)

	- Corrected a minor problem with the implementation of the special
	  Lion capture rules in Chu and fully automated the validation checks
	  for Lion moves in this variant (However, the restriction on not being
	  able to capture a Lion on a second square if the first square is a Pawn
	  or Go-Between has not yet been implemented).

	- Added a computer opponent for Chu Shogi, Dai Shogi and Dai-Dai Shogi
          (only the weakest level of play is currently available for these
          variants)

	- Various other bug fixes and minor changes


Also new bugs added!

	- The computer versus computer option is broken (I will fix this as
          soon as possible)

	- The Evaluation option no longer works as it should (ditto) :-(         




Version 1.45 (of 10 Nov '97)

The changes included:

	- Initial support for a computer opponent for the games up to 
	  Wa Shogi (11x11) 

	- Other improvements and options resulting from the addition of a 
	  computer opponent such as Suggesting moves, Evaluating game 
          positions, etc

	- The program saves game preferences on exiting. 
	
	- The program recognises (and prevents) pawn drops that would 
	  result in checkmate.
 
	- Many other minor & cosmetic changes.


Version 1.41 (of 18 Oct '97)

Fixed a few bugs in 1.4 in particular the one that made Wa unplayable except
with drops.


Version 1.4 (of 7 Oct '97) 
Contained a number bugfixes/changes from Version 1.3

The changes included:

	- Program now recognises 'Check'. (Finally!)	

	- Added provision to show all pieces threatening or protecting any
          given square or piece on the board (This is activated by a right
          mouse click on the square or piece).

        - Added the capacity to analyse the influence of friendly and 
          enemy pieces on all squares (Left Mouse Click on any vacant 
          square to activate).
 
	- Improved graphics for Shogi itself (& the smaller variants using 
	  shogi pieces).

	- Changed the scoring notation to be in line with the usual notation
          for shogi (ie: the starting square not given unless more than one 
          piece of the same type can reach the destination square).

	- Changed many aspects of the game interface to reduce the number
	  of intrusive dialog boxes.

	- Added an auto-promotion option for shogi and some variants.

	- Improved the text diagrams creation routines (diagrams can now be
          produced in a format identical to that recommended for use in posts
          to the Shogi-L discussion list)

	- Added the option to produce smaller format text diagrams.

	- Added the option to dump the game score to a text file, and
  	  changed the format of printed scores.

	- Fixed some further small bugs associated with the "take back moves"
	  option.

	- Fixed a serious (fatal) bug in the game set-up "move piece"
          routines.

	- Changed the 'Add Pieces' set-up routines so that ALL pieces are
          available to be added.

        - Made a number of small cosmetic changes to the graphics.

	- Finally dropped the label "Beta". (Not because there are no more
	  bugs (there are plenty), but because the program has been around
          for too long to get away with using that particular excuse
          for its shortcomings)

	  
Version 1.3 Introduced the variants Whale Shogi and Micro/Poppy Shogi, and
fixed several minor bugs (such as correcting the move of the Heavenly
Tetrarchs in Tenjiku, and improving the Take Back Move routines).
This Version also included provision for saving board positions as text.
 
Version 1.2.1a fixed a couple of minor bugs. Most notably problems with 
graphics in Wa on certain machines & a fatal promotion bug for one of the
pieces in Maka-Dai-Dai, and an incorrect move in one of the pieces in Wa.  

Version 1.2.1 fixed a bug (introduced in version 1.2) that caused graphics
problems on some systems when the program was run in 256 colour mode.


Version 1.2 contained several bugfixes/changes from Version 1.1.

The changes included:

	- another variant (Mini-Shogi) was added.	

	- the capacity to rotate the board was added.	

	- minor errors in interpretation of the ranging piece moves in 
          Tenjiku were fixed.

	- bugs causing problems with the move of the Lion and Fire Demon in
          in Tenjiku were fixed.

        - errors with move of the Emperor in Maka-Dai-Dai and Tai Shogi were
          addressed.

        - alternative moves for the Lion Hawk in Tenjiku and the Teaching 
          King in Maka-Dai-Dai and Tai Shogi were added. 	

	- several other minor cosmetic changes were made.

	
Version 1.1 contained a number of amendments from Version 1.0 and was
released in April 1996.

The changes included:

	- errors in the initial set-up for Middle Shogi were fixed.
	
	- errors in recognizing the end of the game when Crown Princes and
	  Kings/Emperors are in play in the larger variants were fixed.

	- 2 more variants (Heian Shogi and Little Shogi) were added to the
          program.

	- a new improved opening screen (with load game options) was
          included.

	- The game clocks could be turned on and off.

	- A number of other small bugs were fixed and cosmetic changes made.


Version 1.0 was released in January 1996.

     

        
 
