aisleriot games need to be more consistent, also a question on Union Square

[Vincent Povirk <madewokherd gmail com>]

I've sort of contributed to this problem, but there are some
"conventions" that aren't consistent across games. Here are the ones I
can think of:
-Where appropriate, double-clicking on cards should send them to the
foundations.
-Where appropriate, double-clicking on foundations should autoplay the
foundations (if this is a good idea for klondike, it's probably a good
idea for all of the games).
-Where appropriate, the status bar should show the number of cards
left on the stock, number of redeals (if limited), number of cards on
reserve (if this isn't visible), and the base card (if it varies).
-Hinting should be supported on all games (I'm not sure if there are
any without hinting).
-Should scores be supported on all games, if a scoring system can be
devised that makes sense?

As it is, many of the games do not support some of these conventions,
and only one of them does the double-clicking to foundation. So I
think it would make sense to go through the games and bring them into
line (maybe along-side adding the highlighting).

In fact, going through the games, making sure they do all of this, and
submitting patches where necessary would be my idea of a good time;
I'd just sort of like to do it in a somewhat more official manner that
allows other people to do the same thing and avoids unnecessary
duplication of work.

The issue I have with Union Square is that it's not obvious while the
game is being played which king you're on. That is, if a king is on
the foundation, do we need to put a queen or a king on there next.
Since cards cannot be moved from the foundation, you can't peek under
it. Technically, this problem exists across all suits, but it's worst
with the kings.

So it seems to me the thing to do is have a visual hint to somehow
indicate where we are. Possibilities:
-Create two foundation slots, one 1/3 to the left of the original but
on top of it. The bottom (right) pile will hold the ace-king build and
the top (left) pile will hold the king-ace build. So when you've
played two kings, you will see two kings. Placing it on the left
minimizes the dragging weirdness by making sure the closer pile with
cards on it is the one we want to drag to (related suggestion: when
we're looking for piles to drag to, we should still check the corners
if the center is on an empty slot that we can't drag to).
-Make the foundations extended slots. There aren't any other
foundations that do this, and I don't like the idea.
-Allow the player to "peek" under the king (let him drag it), but
don't let him drop it anywhere. I don't like this: it might mislead
players into thinking foundations are in play.
-Flip the first king when you play it to the foundation. The meaning
isn't immediately obvious, but it works.
-Leave it the way it is.
-- 
Vincent Povirk aka MadEwokHerd
Primary email: madewokherd gmail com
Secondary email: madewokherd comcast net
Tertiary email: vrp5000 psu edu
Jabber: madewokherd jabber org