I wasn't suggesting that you buy a tablet and modify it, I meant you should read about how they work and consider using those methods. They wouldn't be used if they weren't cost effective. You could actually get a busted one and use the parts from it, but I just meant to imitate the methods. The most common kind uses a grid of wires, and the pen has a magnet, as you may know when you move a magnet over a wire a current is induced. You can't get a piece to a location without moving it. Then you just detect like battle ship, if wire C and wire 5 had current induced then a piece moved over grid space C5. For the optical glyph tracking code, theres a lot of user created stuff out there, but what I looked at was a C++ 6.0 library. I don't recall the name but I found it pretty easily with a Google search, and if you want another format you can probably find it.
I didn't think of modifying the game in such a way that required the pieces to maintain contact - by staying in one place or by being drug, to a surface to keep track of location information. This would be a possibility. I did come across a model that was able to keep track of multiple locations at once. I supposed that the moved piece could be identified by elimination in the program because it was not any of the stationary pieces. The game is not sophisticated enough at this time to require data lost - due to the game being bumped, to be recovered. This could be useful, but I was not thinking of any other output of the game information besides the game pieces themselves to communicate data to a user - and this information would be about status and not locations. I didn't look for a used model because I couldn't imagine one having dimensions larger than a sheet of paper - and I would like for the game surface to be between one and half - and two feet, square. Also, there is still the issue of communicating electronic information to the pieces to be displayed. As far as I know these pads are used only as input and not output devices. If anyone knows differently, please tell me - because I am not prioritizing researching these pads. I suppose the type of interactive part that I am looking for might be found in a preexisting game. However, there are so many computer games on the market that are not classified by parts that I can't imagine a productive way to start searching for one of these games to use. One reason why some of the models are cost effective might because they are produced in high volume and also have a different functionality - as far as I know.
Though it may be off subject, if anyone knows what types of abstract data types pattern recognition programs use, I would be interested. I imagine that arrays might be used - that store visual information related to the charactristics associated with the data acquisition mechanism, the shape of a screen, and/or color. However, in pattern recognition I suppose that a lot of information may not be necessary to store and maintain for representation purposes - and this might make another type of data structure useful.
Last edited: