Purple Software's Chess, Backgammon & Chinese Chess


These are actually two packages; Chess is supplied on its own, while Backgammon and Chinese Chess come together. Both are from Purple Software, although the chess engine is licensed from Oxford Softworks, and the backgammon one from EMCC. Purple Software have been responsible for many previous products for Psion machines, including the Cyclone floppy disc drive (a new S3c version of which has just been announced), Dataview, Toolkit, and some third party items such as the commercial marketing of the wonderful Notepad Deluxe. Purple also includes Right Hand Software, who produced games such as Homerun, supplied with the later versions of the S3a. As well as Palmtop, Purple Software seem to be one of the two commercial software producers worth watching. Currently they are concentrating on games, with a compilation pack of five including Homerun, and versions of Draughts and three other games also out.
All the ones I'm looking at here are updated from the S3a/c versions, and Chess was the first commercial application to appear for the S5.

Installation
Each one comes on a DOS format floppy disc, which means that the high cost of distributing software should have been cut. Indeed package costs have dropped by 15-20% now that SSDs don't need to be used. The downside is that everyone seems to assume that all software will be installed from a PC, and the floppy comes with PsiSetup (a Windows 3.1 application that does all the installation). Needless to say this is useless to anyone without access to a PC, but all is not lost. The documentation doesn't explain how to install it manually (an omission I have suggested Purple might remedy), but it is very easy.
Each disc contains a file with an extension of CTL. This is actually a text file listing the directories each file goes into. All that is needed is to load that into Edit, StrongEd, Zap, or the like, transfer the appropriate files to the S5, and then put them in the right directory. As the Comms application cannot access sub-directories in the System directory, I create a directory with the right name (e.g.Chess) in the root directory, save everything into it, and then cut and paste it into System\Apps. All the files associated with PsiSetup take up some 430 kb of each floppy, whilst Chinese Chess occupies 180 kb, Chess around 290 kb, and Backgammon 240 kb. Installing manually is actually a lot quicker than firing up Windows and using PsiSetup! The package also contains a very smart, clear manual in English, French, German and Italian, covering the S5 and WinCE versions.
All three games have a very similar feel, so if you've played one you'll easily adjust to the others. Control is by keys, pen or fingernail (not official, but it works very well), and I find myself using a combination of them all depending on how I feel, the setup I'm using for the game, and whether I'm eating a packet of crisps at the time! A serious point about games that use dragging with the pen to move things around the screen is that it is disturbingly easy to scratch the screen permanently if there's any small piece of grit on it. I managed to do that last year while playing something else, and it's not an enjoyable experience!
Prices
Each package costs £49·95 inc. VAT plus £2·50 P&P direct from Purple Software at PO Box 7535, London, NW1 2WF, tel. 0171 387 7777


Go to Chess review or to Backgammon & Chinese Chess review.


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