New widget!

OK, I have yet to deliver any real expansion of my BridgeKeeper widget for Dashboard (Mac OS X 10.4), but I have felt a lack of motivation that has mixed well with all I have on my plate (work is about to get busier, both with more papers to grade and committee work to perform). Nonetheless, I have adapted a game I developed ten years ago, and now it's a widget. I was going to post it as a beta release, but the lack of certain standard features forced me to back off of that and make it an alpha. I now have a beta version (standard Dashboard UI elements, complete code, and moderately improved graphics) about ready to go out the door.

In any case, since it is not yet a full 1.0 version, it is only available here at DashboardWidgets.com. The final release will be posted to other sites like Version Tracker, MacUpdate, Widget Developer, and Apple (maybe more, but the other sites have done little for BridgeKeeper and tend to have stiffer requirements for submissions).

This is a reworking of a Javascript version of Shih (yeah, I know what it looks like, but I got the name from Art of War because I liked the meaning), which is pronounced much like "sure," but with the "r" sound clipped. Those readers who have 10.4 (or 10.3.9 running the Amnesty widget browser) can give it a try. It currently has a single starting configuration and only the two-player variant, but then I have not taken a programming class in nigh in 26 years, and that was BASIC on a pre-C64 Commodore (just after the Pet).

Also, those non-Mac users running browsers other than IE should be able to download it (should look like a folder with a .wdgt extension) and run it in the browser. The rules are written in the HTML file. Any feedback would be great. Oh yeah, and if you happen to know how to write computer players for such beasties, we need to talk.

Update:
Apple and MacUpdate now have it for download. A couple more should be coming online soon.