Hey lemmy folks, some of you might know me as the developer of RDX for Reddit an open-source, free, ad-free Reddit client that is quite popular here.
Two months ago i release. an offline-first, ad-free chess puzzles app that hit Hackernews #1. I thought I should share it with you people too.
Presenting OffChess, Built by me because I got frustrated with needing WiFi just to practice chess, thought, why not train anywhere: on planes, trains, even in sketchy tunnels. So OffChess aims to be a clean, distraction-free way to sharpen your tactics, even when fully offline.
Here are the main highlights:
100,000+ real-game puzzles, neatly curated.
Offline first: no connection required to play puzzles.
Adaptive difficulty: as you improve, puzzles get tougher.
Would love feedback, bug reports, feature suggestions from you all. Especially what you like / dislike in similar apps (and how OffChess could try to stand out more.
Edit: One more thing you get 7 free puzzles every day for as long as you want, if you want to unlock all the puzzles there is a one time purchase(no subscription) of $3.99 that unlocks all the puzzles in the app forever. You can even share it on your other devices if you use the same apple/google account by just hitting restore purchases.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for all the support so far.
dissed @feddit.nu - 3mon
Overall it’s really good! Some feedback:
I don’t feel the same snap as a do in the chess.com app, feels a bit more sluggish which is something I think could be improved but maybe that is due to the underlying chess.js engine?
The ability to turn off text hints was very nice also, as I think it often gives me too much information to solve the puzzle.
The placement of the board theme button was unexpected, I would have expected it to be a part of the other settings and is pretty different in functionality from the other buttons in the same container.
You managed to squeeze in a lot of information on the screen in a tasteful way, nicely done. Some small improvements that could be done but
I got the unlimited version right away either way to show support
1
overdevs @lemmy.world - 3mon
Maybe because the move speed is slow? Other than that it loads fast enough also are you on Android?
Text hints also halve your rating points gain when enabled
Purely a desgin choice, the checkboard there looks sexy to me so I kept it there
People keep asking me to add more stats/buttons etc but some sacrifices had to be made to make it look slick.
1
Luvs2Spuj @lemmy.world - 3mon
Looks good to me. Is there a plan to keep the puzzles updated? Not that 100k puzzles isn't enough for me, but if you get very specific with the puzzle type and rating that number soon dwindles. That would also answer my next question about increasing the opening repertoire options and endgame types.
Are you able to include a setting for movement speed? The pieces move slowly for someone used to playing online and/or premoving and I could see me getting frustrated with that.
One feature that nearly all puzzle apps lack, is 'no tactic' study. Knowing there is a move goes a long way to simplifying the thought process. If you can include a study type where you have to figure out if there is a tactic in the position or not, if there isn't you select a no tactic button instead of playing a move. I appreciate this is a lot more complex, but in terms of training it is the most valuable in my opinion.
The puzzles types look good, I might suggest one type that lichess has which is quiet move. It is similar to the no tactic I mentioned above. Something like that would be great
Lastly, I noticed you included a menu item for 'join r/offchess'. What would it take for you to switch that out to join c/offchess ;)
1
overdevs @lemmy.world - 3mon
I settled for 100k because it provides enough puzzles for all rating options and keeps the app size small enough, I can replace them in the future maybe
2-3 people have complained about the speed, I kept it slow for making it easier for beginners, I might increase it a bit and see
That would be another app of course but nice idea
I will try to add this category
Maybe we can shift them here from r/OffChess sometimes later :)
overdevs in chess
OffChess - Offline-first Chess Puzzles App
https://offchess.com/Hey lemmy folks, some of you might know me as the developer of RDX for Reddit an open-source, free, ad-free Reddit client that is quite popular here. Two months ago i release. an offline-first, ad-free chess puzzles app that hit Hackernews #1. I thought I should share it with you people too.
Presenting OffChess, Built by me because I got frustrated with needing WiFi just to practice chess, thought, why not train anywhere: on planes, trains, even in sketchy tunnels. So OffChess aims to be a clean, distraction-free way to sharpen your tactics, even when fully offline.
Here are the main highlights:
Download on:
Would love feedback, bug reports, feature suggestions from you all. Especially what you like / dislike in similar apps (and how OffChess could try to stand out more.
Edit: One more thing you get 7 free puzzles every day for as long as you want, if you want to unlock all the puzzles there is a one time purchase(no subscription) of $3.99 that unlocks all the puzzles in the app forever. You can even share it on your other devices if you use the same apple/google account by just hitting restore purchases.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for all the support so far.
Overall it’s really good! Some feedback:
I don’t feel the same snap as a do in the chess.com app, feels a bit more sluggish which is something I think could be improved but maybe that is due to the underlying chess.js engine?
The ability to turn off text hints was very nice also, as I think it often gives me too much information to solve the puzzle.
The placement of the board theme button was unexpected, I would have expected it to be a part of the other settings and is pretty different in functionality from the other buttons in the same container.
You managed to squeeze in a lot of information on the screen in a tasteful way, nicely done. Some small improvements that could be done but I got the unlimited version right away either way to show support
Looks good to me. Is there a plan to keep the puzzles updated? Not that 100k puzzles isn't enough for me, but if you get very specific with the puzzle type and rating that number soon dwindles. That would also answer my next question about increasing the opening repertoire options and endgame types.
Are you able to include a setting for movement speed? The pieces move slowly for someone used to playing online and/or premoving and I could see me getting frustrated with that.
One feature that nearly all puzzle apps lack, is 'no tactic' study. Knowing there is a move goes a long way to simplifying the thought process. If you can include a study type where you have to figure out if there is a tactic in the position or not, if there isn't you select a no tactic button instead of playing a move. I appreciate this is a lot more complex, but in terms of training it is the most valuable in my opinion.
The puzzles types look good, I might suggest one type that lichess has which is quiet move. It is similar to the no tactic I mentioned above. Something like that would be great
Lastly, I noticed you included a menu item for 'join r/offchess'. What would it take for you to switch that out to join c/offchess ;)