Deep Brew

Deep Brew is the label I use for my draughts-playing computer software. The first version of Deep Brew (available from this site) is Windows based. It plays a reasonable game of draughts (I used to make outrageous claims as to its strength, until I had the humbling experience of testing it thoroughly against top programs like Cake and King's Row!).

The next version will be much stronger; hopefully at some point it might be considered as a serious offering. It will be a portable GPL-licensed draughts engine, to be available on a range of platforms.

Project Goals

• High-performance, strong, GPL-licensed draughts engine
• Native engine and UI support for a range of platforms, including at least Linux (probably via KCheckers/XCheckers?), Windows (via CheckerBoard) and Palm (bespoke)
• Server-side web-based implementation for "universal" support

Deep Brew doesn't deliver too much of that at the moment; right now, we've got a (legacy) Win32 version which plays an acceptable game (beats the pants off me).

You catch us at an awkward time, really. The "old" version of Deep Brew hasn't been changed for a long time; it was previously closed-source, but has been released as Free Software to mark the transition from program to project. The legacy version of Deep Brew can't really sustain the aims of the Deep Brew project. For a start, it's written in Delphi; while it may be possible to port the codebase to Kylix, platforms of interest (eg Palm, OS X) would remain out of reach. Also, it really probably wouldn't be worth the effort; Deep Brew was built in a hurry, and the design and implementation shows the inexperience of the author (I can say that, because it was me). So, the source is available because it can't hurt; on the other hand, there isn't much point to pursuing it.

Naturally enough, then, one of the project's first goals is a brand-new Deep Brew engine, written in nice, portable, fast C; it will incorporate loads of ideas and experience from Deep Brew and similar projects.