Here is a great page detailing specific rules - captures, victory conditions, etc. It also has diagrams.

I should note that the game is very historic, and as such, there is not an official recollection of the rules. What we know about the game is mostly extrapolation. The above site says Hnefatafl is played on a 13x13 board, but this is actually debated. Most versions I've seen use 11x11. (including the one I'm planning) Some versions don't include the more advanced capture rules; like shieldwall. I'm trying to make a version that is as thorough as possible.

I don't have all the assets completed - just what you've seen in the thread so far. AP is currently looking into coding it, so I don't want to bring anyone else in on the project unless they consult with him, as well. It might be awkward if multiple people took a stab at it, and coded several versions at once.

Current shots:

What do you think about this? (using 5x5)

An 8x8 version would be great, but the entire board wouldn't fit on a single screen. I'm not sure that would work too well. The player really needs the ability to ascetain the entire board at once.

The 4x4 idea I have so far seems okay. You can discern all the different pieces. The only trouble now is creating the unique board tiles. That's difficult in monochrome - even if I used 5x5 tiles.

I would give them a little more time to investigate it. They probably want to search for connections to your name and your works so they can verify your claims before taking action. If you can get in contact with the admins directly, (maybe the site has a "Contact Us" link somewhere) you can give them more detailed info: Your website URL, where your files are hosted, etc. Suggest they check the upload / modification dates on your copies of the files, and compare them to that of this user. Metadata is probably the most useful method of verifying the origin of a file; though even that can be manipulated...

Personally, plagiarism doesn't bother me so much. I make it a habit to release any of my works under a license allowing others to redistribute or modify the work. As long as people are able to enjoy my work in some shape, form or fashion, then I'm satisfied to have contributed something that will have influenced, entertained and / or inspired them - my reputation notwithstanding; though, I can understand how a reputation might be important to someone who wants to create an active fanbase, and reach out to many people at once. It guess it would be difficult to maintain a certain kind of profile when other people are usurping your aliases and passing your works off as their own.

You know, I don't think I have any kind of online reputation... I'm more of a "hit-and-run" kind of guy when it comes to my Internet activity.

I was thinking about an off-topic thread I started a short while back about A.I. cheating in computerized board games. The game in question was Hnefatafl. A lot of people showed interest in playing the game; although there really aren't many (maybe one or two) computer renditions of it available. Actual boards are also hard to find in this day and age, given the historic context of the game.

I was curious if anyone might be interested in coding a fairly simple version for calulators using BASIC. (or possibly using xLib, Celtic, or even Axe) Since I know quite a lot about the game, I could put together the necessary assets, along with detailed descriptions of the rules and all available moves. As a basis for comparisson of coding difficulty: The game is not strategically as complex as Chess, but the logic in how the rules and moves would be coded could be a bit more difficult. Hnefatafl pieces have very basic movements, but there are so many different ways to capture a piece. This very often depends on the arrangement of several pieces relative to sections of the board itself. (with certain tiles of the board having special properties of their own) Secondly, there are two different objectives of play, depending on which side is played: One side is tasked with simply escaping the board, while the other is tasked with preventing escape, or capturing / cornering all opposing pieces. It's very different from games like Checkers or Chess, which provide you with similar pieces and equal forces. In Hnefatafl, the defending army is always outnumbered. Regardless of which objective is played, completely wiping out the opposing side will still result in victory either way.

I could also propose some strategies that the A.I. would use. Defining a flexible computer logic for this might not be possible. It would probably be necessary to define very deterministic strategies and moves the A.I. would deploy when it examines the placement of opponent pieces on the board. Randomized moves most certainly would not work. The A.I. would just be crushed.

It would be necessary to provide a text file with the game detailing these rules. I think trying to cram all the necessary text assets into the actual game would kill a lot of memory. I could draw-up a suitable document, along with images to show examples of movements and captures.

One other thing: Would it be possible to use any grays? This would make the board and piece designs vastly easier to draw. The board is not your standard checkered ordeal. I have to make several tiles look unique, as well as distinguishing both forces, and the king's piece. An 11x11 board is most certainly going to require that each tile be 4x4 px. (unless uncommon resolutions are allowed; like 5x5, 6x6, etc. - that would definitely help) In monochrome, there won't be eough leniency to distinguish everything.

Working concept: (still in progress)

Most people I've played with did the "jackpot" Free Parking rule. It was a nightmare, because the game never ended. There were hotels popping up everywhere, people were being taxed an excess of $500+, and no one was going bankrupt because of the endless Free Parking jackpots.

About the only time the game ended was when the bank, itself, had gone bankrupt, and no additional assets were present. Whenever someone won something from Chance or Community Chest, they couldn't even get their pay-out.

Could be because it sounds similar to "dominoes" - which, incidentally, are also polyominoes.

Kind of funny that I mentioned that, since I was recently learning how to play dominoes. ("All Fives") For some reason, that game seemed really complicated. Took me 40 minutes just to understand the mathematical parts.

(then again, anything involving math tends to be my bane)

Oh, no. It's not a port of anything. It's based on some ideas from Tetris Flash, (in fact, some mechanics are also borrowed from Columns) but is otherwise an unrelated game. I can understand the confusion, since I compared it to Tetris about a hundred times. It's just easier to reference existing games as examples of specific gameplay mechanics, as opposed to explaining them in unique details.