The Many Faces of Go

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Go progam by David Fotland. See [ext] http://www.smart-games.com/manyfaces.html.


Author's Words

Many Faces has many extra features missing from other Go programs. It has a joseki dictionary that you can use for reference or to test your knowledge, with about 60,000 moves. It has a very good game editor that understands both .sgf and .go formats. You can easily add or remove variations, or insert missing moves, or even move stones that are on the wrong point. It has a great tutorial for beginners and includes all of the Go problems from Graded Go Problems Vol 1.

And it has the best, most realistic graphics.

-- David Fotland, Nov 2000


Variants

Many Faces of Go is also sold as AI IGO. A free 9x9 only version is distributed as Igowin.

In Japan, there is also a version for the NintendoDS (available here: [ext] http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-9g-47-froogle-70-16z6.html).


User Comments and Reviews

RiffRaff

Having been sold commercially since 1988 by David Fotland, Many Faces of Go has by far the greatest longevity of current Go software packages. Its development has slowed in recent years though, with Many Faces of Go 11.0 released in June 2002. Version 10 was released almost five years prior to that. Regardless, it is a very complete package that offers:

  • A strong Go playing program that was 2002 World Computer Go Champion, 1998 World Computer Go Champion, and ten time US Computer Go Champion. Its strength can be tuned from level 1 to level 10. All board sizes from 7x7 to 19x19 are supported. Many Faces plays fairly quickly, even at the level 10 maximum, so that you are almost never waiting on it. In simple tactical positions it will often respond almost instantly.
  • IGS client support
  • Excellent SGF editing functionality, with easy commenting, annotation, and addition of variations. Going through commented games is similarly easy, as you can press shift down arrow to skip ahead to the next comment or variation. Both .sgf and .go file formats are supported.
  • No game database per se, but a large number of games are included: 391 commented pro games, another 1369 uncommented pro games, and 1218 commented games from the Go Teaching Ladder.
  • Two Fuseki libraries: one collected from about 5700 pro games and another that additionally includes opening moves from around 29,000 strong amateur games. At each stage of the Fuseki it will display the overall winning percentage for those who played that move, and the rank of the strongest player to use it.
  • A hand-crafted Joseki database with around 45,000 moves (I'm unsure if this includes duplicates for different orientations). The fact that it is hand-crafted distinguishes it from Joseki study in other packages, which is both good and bad. Certain moves in the database are categorized as "bad move" or "trick play", when appropriate.
  • Over 2000 Go problems at all difficulty levels from 30 kyu on up, including all problems from Graded Go Problems For Beginners Vol. 1. While solving problems, it will automatically keep track of how often you're missing problems and adjust the difficulty accordingly when selecting the next problem to solve. The problems are also shown in random orientations. There's an option to check for and download new problems from the Internet, but... I've never seen any new problems posted in the past three years and am not really expecting to see any in the future.
  • A life and death problem solving mode ("Computer Solves Problem"), where you can specify a group of stones in a position and have it solve for their life or death. Variations are added to the game record for each position analyzed, along with the chances of success in that variation.

Many Faces of Go was my primary SGF editor for a long time as it is very capable in that respect, but I have lately preferred the freeware MultiGo software. One area Many Faces of Go beats out all other packages I've tried though is in game scoring, where it shows remarkable ability for correctly marking live and dead groups without user input. Only rarely do I have to correct mistakes in its life and death evaluation for game scoring, which is very convenient. I also use the problem solving mode quite often. The only weakness I've noticed with this is that there is no way to go through all problems at a given difficulty level, sequentially or otherwise, if for example you'd like to start at the bottom and work your way up rather than letting it select problems for you from different difficulty levels. The "Computer Solves Problem" mode has also been highly useful for analyzing positions from games where I feel like there's a possibility that a group can be forcefully killed (or made to live), but I'm having difficulty finding the sequence to do it.

Many Faces of Go is a well crafted, mature software package that I have never had a single problem with, have been using for years, and can highly recommend to anyone. Other software will exceed it in certain areas, but the overall package is a good value. The price is $90 currently, and can be purchased directly from [ext] Smart Games or any of its distributors. The most direct competitor to Many Faces of Go is likely the competitively priced SmartGo:Combo package, which covers a similarly wide range of areas. Igowin, a 9x9 only version of Many Faces of Go, is also available as a free download (and demo of the full package).

War Eagle

I think Many Face is a great program for beginners to 10ish kyu. Great all around program. There may be better programs for 1 specific application, but as a suite it is wonderful.

It offers:

  • Full game engine, can play any square board size from 7 to 19
  • Solves life and death problems
  • 100s of professional games with commentary
  • 1000 uncommented professional game records
  • Fuseki Library
  • Joseki Tutor, Includes joseki, near-joseki, trick plays, and responses to many bad moves.

Steve Rothman? 7K

I would have to agree somewhat. If one is trying to learn the game of Go, I think Many Faces is good for people from beginners through upper kyu players. It has a lot of instructional tools as well as multiple levels of play. If the purpose of your program is for editing games and creating demonstration games or lessons, there are limitations with Many Faces....

Chris Goldsmith? 6K

I have MFG version 10, and it's a very good way of learning to play the game, offering a tireless and patient opponent. I currently have it on level 10 and give it 3-4 stones, but now the cracks are beginning to show ... well not really cracks ... more things that I've realised about go. Many Faces seems to be good at building influence, and life & death - it still wriggles out from me occaisionally - but perhaps I'm overattacking. It doesn't do too well at using the influence it's built.

I think it has a better editor than the other playing programs I've used, but I still prefer CGoban2 for editing and viewing games - I like the tree view which I find intuitive. Though CGoban2 doesn't handle .go files.

I don't know much about version 11, but might be looking into an upgrade soon.

Thanks for a great program.

BTW I started playing go when I downloaded IgoWin this (together with Charles's "Play the Game" book) was an excellent introduction to the game.


This is a copy of the living page "The Many Faces of Go" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2007 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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