Support for alternate boards may be added. You will unfortunately not be able to use boards designed for older versions of Super Othello. Currently you can work around this by starting a new game in Player vs Player mode and then edit it using the cheating options described in the docs. Then save the game. I am also planning on adding network support, allowing you to play against another opponent over network. For more detailed info, see the FAQ.
Version history
2.3.1 - A few bugs have been fixed, notably the save prefs bug and glitch in the chip marking routines.
2.3 - Super Othello has gotten a completely redesigned interface, new 3D graphics, improved AI and a higher degree of threading. For more details, see the version history of item 2.3bx. Super Othello now has a registration dialog, which pops up every time Super Othello is started. Sort of like a shareware reminder. People will now receive a code to let them personalize their copies of Super Othello when they register.
2.3b98 - You can now click on the brain to change the intelligence level through a popup menu. The undo arrow is now disabled when it is not available. Undoing moves is also disabled after cheating. Fixed a number of memory leaks in the file save/read routines.
2.3b91 -> b97 - Several bug fixes, new icons and updated credits. New marked chip graphics have been added, and the marking now persists until another move is made by the opponent. You can now see what intelligence level you are playing at by looking at the brain located on the game sidebar.
2.3b9 - The Edit menu now disables completely when nothing can be selected from it. An autoskip feature has been added, allowing users to skip the hassle of doing it manually (no pun intended). A suite of advanced features have also been added, giving the player ultimate control over the board by, for instance, inverting it.
2.3b8 - The about box has been, once again, renewed. The AI has gone through some additional changes, and a number of bugs have been fixed.
2.3b75 - Minor update incorporating some changes to the AI super intelligent level.
2.3b7 - The about box has been changed quite a lot, and scrolling credits have been added. The animation now works flawlessly, since an annoying and stupid bug has been fixed. The bug caused all chips except the first in every flip to not animate completely. This was especially noticeable when flipping numerous chips at once.
2.3b6 - Minor change to the way the about box flip animation works. Almost all animation is now done using CopyBits transparent transfer mode, and some problems with the 256 color graphics have been fixed.
2.3b5 - The animation is now done using a wave-like pattern (the effect is best experienced when flipping several chips at once). Skipping moves no longer gives the opponent two moves in a row. The Settings dialog no longer has the option of switching between B/W and color graphics, since the feature no longer exists. Showing available moves under 256 colors now work, and selecting the Default settings now reset all the settings available from the Settings dialog. All the masks have been removed, as I have discovered the extremely useful transparent CopyBits transfer mode.
2.3b4 - The turn indicator has been implemented. Super Othello now surrenders more and more time to other applications if it just sits there in front doing nothing for more than 30 seconds. To see this feature in action, simply start a game and watch the spinning cube for a couple of minutes. You can also drag the cube to skip a move, drag chips to and from the board and drag chips around on the board. The application does more internal threading now, resulting in, among other things, that the cube keeps on spinning while you make moves, undo moves, etc. Try it out!
2.3b3 - An undo-move function along with the undo-arrow has been implemented. An annoying bug related to the chip cursors has been fixed. You can now also cheat by dragging red or green chips from the gameside onto the board.
2.3b2 - The new game button has been implemented, the chips animate correctly without trembling and a little glitch enabling the user to make several moves in one turn has been fixed. The glitch was related to the new threading incorporated in Super Othello. The cursor now changes to a chip when moved into the board area. Super Othello has been rebuilt using CW Pro 1 and a multi-target project, and is now fat binary (again). Not distributed.
2.3b1 - First version incorporating the new 3D rendered graphics. This version also supports an internal threading mechanism which enables Super Othello to better co-operate with other applications while in the background, and also lets you make menu selections, switch to the background, etc. while the chips are animating. Not distributed.
2.2.1 - Bug fix release. This version fixes a bug which would disable people with 16 color screens running pre-7.5 MacOS versions from playing. Really strange. It also comes with a correctly configured Register application.
2.2 - Finally! Super Othello 2.2 is ready. Super Othello has been completely rewritten in C using CodeWarrior 11 Academic Pro. It is distributed as fat binary. The following features have been added/changed since v.2.1:
• Ability to show available moves (color only)
• Chip marking (color only)
• A better about box and a much improved splash screen
• Saved and logged games format has been changed
• Color graphics and animations
• Improved AI
• Much better interface
• Saved and logged games can be dropped onto Super Othello/opened from the Finder
• Super Othello no longer supports alternate boards.
2.2b9 - The AI super intelligent level has been improved a bit. The weird double skip bug has been fixed. The computer no longer animates the chips while in the background. (This produces an interesting sideeffect, in that Mac vs Mac games now complete much faster in the background than in the foreground...) I’m working on finding more elegant ways to handle this, but that will probably not appear before version 2.3 or something (if I do decide to change it). A minor bug with the AI has been fixed, making it no longer skip moves when it is not really necessary. This didn’t happen too often anyway. The percentage statistics are now updated correctly when a new game is started, loaded or reviewed. I also added the option for marking where a chip is placed, and showing available squares to put your chips on. These features are available only on color capable Macs, and can be controlled from the Settings dialog and the Othello menu respectively. Super Othello is now distributed as a fat binary application. I think I have managed to fix the extremely annoying bus error. Super Othello no longer crashes when the current game is being logged and Super Othello is in the background at the time when the game finishes.
2.2b8 - Fixed numerous bugs, including a couple of bugs related to reviewing/logging of games. You can now drag & drop both saved games and logged games onto Super Othello. Double clicking saved/logged games from the Finder also works now. Super Othello now works correctly when running on Macs capable of displaying 256 colors but with monitor set to B/W. I get it now :-) The AI levels are more differenciated now, and I think they are more "in sync" with their level descriptions. The AI is now composed of three different AI engines, a lousy, a good and a better one. The saved and logged games format has changed slightly, so games from previous Super Othello versions is no longer supported. You can now press cmd-period (.), esc or the mouse button to abort a message like "It is not your turn", "You can’t place a chip here because...", etc.
2.2b7 - The tutorial is complete (it didn’t come out as fancy as I had hoped, though), and Super Othello has got a new splash screen. I’ve added a new item to the Othello menu called "Display rules for flipping", which does exactly that. Super Othello now checks your screen size before opening the game window. The opponent selection appears correctly in the Othello menu now. I have found out that the B/W version works on Macs which only have a B/W screen. It does not work correctly when run on a monitor set to B/W on a color Mac. I just don’t get it. Selecting Alternate boards in the Othello menu has been disabled, since this feature isn’t implemented yet (I’m sooo tired of FSSpecs).
2.2b6 - I'm really having trouble with the B/W version.
2.2b5 - Fixed a bug which would virtually disable Player vs. Player games. Also fixed monitor bit depth resetting - if it was possible, it would reset the monitor to 256 colors no matter what (even if you clicked no when asked to decide). Worked more on the tutorial (which really doesn’t look like much right now...). The about box has been finalized with some more crisp looking graphics.
2.2b4 - Added support for AppleEvents. Super Othello will now quit when it is asked to by the Finder (or other apps), and you can drag & drop saved games onto Super Othello to load them. Logging is also implemented now. It works too. The status percentages are now correct (they will always add up to 100). Atleast I hope so... Began working on the tutorial.
2.2b3 - Increased error checking on startup, including checks of the MacOS version and monitor setting. The Super Othello graphics now adapt to the current screen setting, using B/W graphics when appropriate. The about box has also been modified slightly. The splash screen is next...
2.2b2 - Network support has been disabled since it doesn’t work. I’ll try to get it working in version 2.3, 2.4 or something. Who knows.
2.2b1 - Added the two "corner" chips to indicate who’s statistics is on which side of the board. Super Othello can now save and load games. Also supported is the ability to change between B/W and color chips.
2.2a9 - Not released. I really hate network protocols, serial asynch completion routines, UPP’s and the like. Urgh.
2.2a8 - Not released. Made some very feeble attempts at implementing networking.
2.2a7 - The annoying computer skip move bug has been fixed.
2.2a6 - First public release (only released on the YLS web page). Support for skipping moves has been added. Super Othello is currently not FAT, but distributed as two different applications (one for PPC and one for 68K).
2.2a5 - A couple of bug fixes, better AI and stats that are being updated correctly.
2.2a4 - The rules are implemented. Redrew the sprites in color and added a working settings dialog and preferences file. A preliminary AI has been implemented.
2.2a3 - Everything is drawn correctly, except for the stats. Super Othello correctly receives clicks on the board.
2.2a2 - Board is being redrawn (not correctly, unfortunately). The about box is really cool.
2.2a1 - First implementation of Super Othello using C. Very scarce, menus hardly working and a blank window.
2.1 - Modified the saved game format to fix a potential error. You can still load saved games from version 1.6 to 2.0, though you will be getting a warning before the game is loaded. Improved some error checking in some of the routines to avoid bugs. I also changed the splash screen (note: it looks best if viewed on a screen set to thousands of colors).
2.0 - Flip animation and skipping moves now works properly, and the new super intelligence level is completed. The Settings card also had a little interface change.
2.0b1 - Skipping moves gives the other player an extra move (not fully implemented). Flip animation half-way completed and new super intelligence level added. Not released publicly.
1.6.1 - Update reflecting my new e-mail adress: stoedle@online.no.
1.6 - You can now use Two-pass Chip Checking, and a bug in the reviewing part of logged games has been fixed. The Super Intelligence has once more been improved. Percentages are now in whole numbers, not 34.47% (for instance). Added the Super Othello Docs file (which is not read-only, so you can change font and text size). Changed the font and text size in this field. A registration form has been included. Not released.
1.5 - Improved Super Intelligence, added the Othello menu and option to save and log games. You can choose which color you want to play. Not released publicly.
