Tsumego Pro : Go problems for Android + iOS

[Dalmas]

I recently released Tsumego Pro, an app for solving go problems, with currently more than 4,000 problems for all levels ! Each problem contains all valid answers and a lot of bad variations, to help you know why you are wrong.
It has many unique features :

- 6 daily problems of 3 different levels
- A challenge mode : Automatically get problems of your level and track your progress
- A training mode : try to solve all problems of each pack

iOS : http://goo.gl/5C6cZZ

Android : http://goo.gl/E4TkDM

All problems are of a high quality, with detailed solutions and wrong variations. There may be less problems than in some other apps, but I wanted to focus on quality over quantity.

Feel free to tell me if you have any questions or suggestions

[oren]

Where are the problems from?

[Dalmas]

Most problems comes from a partnership with a popular chinese website. I sort them by level and remove those of low quality. I made some of the easy ones myself (maybe around 20%), trying to figure out all of the variations seems to be a nice way to improve

The daily problems are randomly picked and are therefore less filtered, that's why sometimes there may be an easy problem in the hard ones, a weird problem, or something like that. I will improve it soon.

[Unusedname]

This app is awesome. I haven't really tried any other Tsumego Apps so I wouldn't know how to compare it.

But even the "easy" level problems are kicking my butt haha.

You say there is 1000 problems but I only see 90, I'm assuming the next sets unlock after I get 100%?

[walpurgis]

I tried this out and it looks pretty good. There's one thing missing though: Free navigation. I mean the ability to try out my own variations in a given problem, even when it's not the correct one. Now if I want to play out a variation with a different response than the app automatically gives, I can't switch it. If I go back a move I again can't deviate from the app's choice. I can only try random moves after I get a problem "wrong".

[Dalmas]

This app is awesome. I haven't really tried any other Tsumego Apps so I wouldn't know how to compare it.

But even the "easy" level problems are kicking my butt haha.

You say there is 1000 problems but I only see 90, I'm assuming the next sets unlock after I get 100%?

Well, I realized that the problems are a bit too hard, even the "easy problems" aren't so easy. I think I will add a lower difficulty between level 1 and 2.

About the 1000 problems, you should look at the "Get more problems" button.

I tried this out and it looks pretty good. There's one thing missing though: Free navigation. I mean the ability to try out my own variations in a given problem, even when it's not the correct one. Now if I want to play out a variation with a different response than the app automatically gives, I can't switch it. If I go back a move I again can't deviate from the app's choice. I can only try random moves after I get a problem "wrong".

Thanks for the suggestion. I will add it in the next update.

[Unusedname]

This app is awesome. I haven't really tried any other Tsumego Apps so I wouldn't know how to compare it.

But even the "easy" level problems are kicking my butt haha.

You say there is 1000 problems but I only see 90, I'm assuming the next sets unlock after I get 100%?

Well, I realized that the problems are a bit too hard, even the "easy problems" aren't so easy. I think I will add a lower difficulty between level 1 and 2.

About the 1000 problems, you should look at the "Get more problems" button.

Aha yes I noticed it the other day!
Bought a couple of the packs of problems. :]

I look forward to the theme'd problem sets.

[Drew]

This app was a nice surprise. Thank you for your hard work!

[kyosaku]

I have tried a lot of android tsumego apps and this one is simply the best, by far, for what I'm looking for in such an app. And I'm not saying that because I'm french too
Let me explain why (in bad english sorry).
The first thing I appreciate is the rating that the app is given us when doing some random tsumegos and then auto adjusting the difficulty of the tsumegos. It's the way tsumegos become entertaining for me.
(some Chess apps do the same with some specific Elo ratings for problems but it's very rare in go).
I'm not sure if this rating is very accurate or not but it doesn't matter a lot in fact, a rough estimate of my level is enough. We can select some difficulty level or theme to work with.
It would be even nicer if Tsumego Pro would include the challenge mode that Elygo have (with some improvements) : I would like to be able to set a x minutes session of doing tsumegos or to set a time session (let's play 30 tsumegos each day or resolve tsumegos for 20 minutes for example). With a history of the scores and time spent each day it would be awesome (Tactic Trainer in chess https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.thecvsi.tactictrainer&hl=fr tracks history and progress in a nice way).
I also like the 6 daily problems that Tsumego Pro is loading each day : it's a nice way to commit us to do some more.

At this point of development the only real feature that I'm missing a lot is the (non) ability to mark some problems as favorites and put them in a specific group.
Another improvement, as already said, would be the analyse mode (but I really like the fact that no solution is given in ranked tsumego).
I would also like a level 0 tsumegos for learning the rules of go and with very easy problems for the kids and the beginners because that's the way I teach go for the beginners and it's a killer (kids love to do some simple and progressives tsumegos on the tablet).
Beginners section of Gochild site is just perfect for example (http://gochild2009.appspot.com/ , all the site is great btw).I am not sure if, at the moment, Tsumego Pro is able to handle some longer questions (how to capture the 2 white stones instead of black to play for example).

Let me recap theses suggestions in (my) order of priority :
-ability to mark favorite problems and put them in a pack to be able to work on
-challenge mode of Elygo with time session and number tsumego session with scores history
-tracking of time spent each day solving tsumego (time/numbers)
-level 0 pack for beginners
-analyse mode
-a check mark on the daily tsumegos when we have resolved them
-achieve section (cf Tactic Trainer for examples)
-more tsumegos pack with themes
-ability to load personal tsumegos
-a widget for the daily tsumego as suggested before
-english translation of the app
-quick help file to remember what the rank of the levels problems are and meaning of the categories (Facile seems include basique and elementaire for example)
-exit button

Some of these could also be paiements options (analyse mode, widget) if it could motivate the developer

Thanks for this great app.

Buck Rudder, first post on this great forum but reader since GoDiscussions

[quantumf]

This app is easily my favourite Android app, never mind my favourite go app.

[kyosaku]

Analyse mode, check mark on the daily puzzle, new tsumego packs, what a cool and fast update
(But now not seeing the rank evolution while playing is missing to me)

[Dalmas]

Thanks for your detailed feedback kyosaku. As you can see some of your suggestions were just released a few days ago.

I agree with you, seeing the rank variation and history like in Tactic Trainer would be nice (by the way if you like chess, I will publish a chess problems app soon, very similar to Tsumego Pro).

I'll think about your other suggestions, for some of them I have to see if it's not going to be a hassle for most users (like the level 0 pack or the bookmarks). My main goal is to keep is the app simple, even if it means sacrificing a feature or two. Maybe it would be better to make a separate app exclusively for beginners

[kyosaku]

An app for beginners would be nice. Teaching the beginners is the way to have more go players (and more app buyers
It's a little strange for me that federations do not help that much such initiative.
The strength of Go, unlike chess, is the simplicity of the rules, just like draughts.
An app taking time to explain the basic rules and basic captures in a fun and progressive way would be fine (with a lot of exercises before dealing with the more difficult concepts of eyes, ko and life and death).
Go School app is in this spirit in the first lessons but the ergonomic is not that good imo.
Speaking of new apps the international game of draughts (on a 100 squares board) is lacking of combinatorial apps (none of them exist in android, Iphone or PC). This game is full of
nice and difficult problems just as go or chess (examples here). But it's a niche market (even if draughts are played in the world mind games) so I dunno if it would be valuable to develop.

[Dalmas]

I know some of you requested it, so Tsumego Pro is now available on the Amazon app store !
Don't hesitate to tell me if you find any issues.

Speaking of new apps the international game of draughts (on a 100 squares board) is lacking of combinatorial apps (none of them exist in android, Iphone or PC). This game is full of
nice and difficult problems just as go or chess (examples here). But it's a niche market (even if draughts are played in the world mind games) so I dunno if it would be valuable to develop.

I like draughts too and I already thought about making an app, so it's something that I may do in the future.

[kyosaku]

I like draughts too and I already thought about making an app, so it's something that I may do in the future.

That would be awesome.