Would it cost you a lot of effort to program the variant?
It probably would. Because, as you say, the rules are rather unusual. So it is not just a matter of using an existing program, and telling it how large the board is and how the pieces should move this time. Not having Pawns, or allowing captures only from a limited board zone is not so much of a problem. But having a neutral piece that can be moved by both players goes completely against the logic of any program I have. And that it is the royal piece makes this ever so much worse. So I would pretty much have to start from scratch.
To implement Duck Chess, which is also quite unusual (but in a completely different way) took me about 3 weeks. I considered that acceptable because it is a variant that already enjoys a large popularity on several chess servers. And because as a spin off it would also give me Blue Chip Chess and Refusal Chess, which are similar. But for a unique variant, that perhaps no one will ever play...
It probably would. Because, as you say, the rules are rather unusual. So it is not just a matter of using an existing program, and telling it how large the board is and how the pieces should move this time. Not having Pawns, or allowing captures only from a limited board zone is not so much of a problem. But having a neutral piece that can be moved by both players goes completely against the logic of any program I have. And that it is the royal piece makes this ever so much worse. So I would pretty much have to start from scratch.
To implement Duck Chess, which is also quite unusual (but in a completely different way) took me about 3 weeks. I considered that acceptable because it is a variant that already enjoys a large popularity on several chess servers. And because as a spin off it would also give me Blue Chip Chess and Refusal Chess, which are similar. But for a unique variant, that perhaps no one will ever play...