Why is the chess board in Video Chess distorted?

[Mind Master]

...why is the board stretched vertically? And why are the pieces constructed of little dashes instead of having each piece be a solid sprite?

[Christophero Sly]

Well, I guess I'll edit this for a third time.

 

http://www.atariage.com/2600/archives/desi...l?SystemID=2600

 

A nice article on 2600 game design. Includes a section discussing some of the technical aspects of Video Chess. Interesting stuff.

 

There, that's better

[Snider-man]

Oh wow. You just asked for a crash course in sprite display. I just saw a 10-minute discussion on this game's display on Steall at 20 Vol. 2. Can somebody condense it into a single post? I remember it has something to do with displaying 32 seperate chess pieces on one game board. That's why the pieces are slightly off-set from each other. Like this:

 

PAWN 1

PAWN 2

PAWN 1

PAWN 2

PAWN 1

PAWN 2

PAWN 1

PAWN 2

 

EDIT: Whoop. just got answered above.

[Spector]

I don't mind the low-res sprites, but I can't stand that multicolour flashing every time the computer makes a move. It almost ruins the game.

[bcostin]

That's an interesting article. Does anyone happen to have the original illustrations?