My new game: Battlechess

[Kevin]

Long time no see , I really want to share the game I'm currently working on.

Game download: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2hlYt...jJqbkdwZ1U




This is a chess game where pieces have cooldown before they can move again. It is turn based, but your turn will quickly be skipped if you don't move. It doesn't play anything like chess, but it's fun in another way . I haven't intensely tested the gameplay though. Anyone interested in playing with me?


For 2 player match, it's pretty simple. One guy 'Start Server', port 12345 is used (like LF2), the other guy 'Connect' (the localhost text is actually a text field where you should type the IP Address). The server can then press F3 to start a new game. There is also 2 vs 2. If you want to edit the starting position, read the readme.txt :P . Currently the game is hard coded to load the piece images for 4 players, so you can't have more than that, but just tell me if you need more because it's easy to change.





You must make your move before the blue marker, otherwise your turn will be skipped. Win by destroying the enemy's King. If a piece is captured, you can't move it anymore, it will be destroyed. A piece blocks even before it arrives (look at the background color of each tile to see if it is occupied by a piece) and can be captured before they arrive at the destination. Piece flash means it can move again next turn.


The animation is designed to make it exciting, but it actually makes it very challenging to see what's going on. I'm planning to replace the chess pieces with some spaceships , maybe add some deployment bases and controlling some tiles will give income to spawn more units, like Advanced Wars if you know.


You can press F10 to mute the game.

[A-Man]

Looks fun, but why no AI =(

[Kevin]

Exactly! I want to make it PvE, I'm trying to figure out how! Any help???

My idea right now is with enemy pieces moving every time their cooldown is finished, which means the enemy can move multiple pieces at the same time. It's easier to balance (like avoiding exploitable AI weakness) and hopefully just as fun to play. And even a rather primitive AI would do pretty well, at least I guess. What do you think?



The other big things I am interested in:
- bringing in spaceship sprites, they could have rotating and maybe engine fire animation.
- design new pieces (ships :3). E.g. ranged attacks, even with some HP system, ships have certain firing ranges and continues to fire until the target moves away, status effects like freeze and burn (piece dies after some time unless frozen). The game is programmed with those possibilities in mind, so it shouldn't be too hard anymore.
- multiplayer connection screen, board editor, the server can edit, save and load starting positions. But this is less interesting because for the moment I'll bypass them with some unobvious shortcuts and text file config xD



But I suck, I live in a student dormitory where we use VPN to connect to the internet, I have no public IP and no permission to port forward. I can't open a server, if someone wants to play with me, he has to be able to open a server ;\ . Hamachi is old and doesn't seem to work, maybe because I'm already behind a VPN? Other VPN softwares just breaks my internet connection, probably because it messes up with the VPN that provides me internet access.

[Bamboori]

when i click on "start server" the game freezes up D: why could that be?

[Kevin]

Hmm because the game is crap . It freezes until someone connects to you.

So it's like LF2, but Waiting for Opponent (Start Server) also freezes the game ;p .

To test, you can open two instances of the game. On one of them you start server (it opens port 12345), on the other connect to localhost (it connects to port 12345).

[Bamboori]

aaah now it works
i suggest faster moving animations and longer turns.
also right now its possible to move several pieces in the same turn, is that intended?

[Kevin]

It's 1 x num_player seconds per turn for each player but it takes 7 x num_players seconds for pieces. So up to 7 pieces can move at the same time per player , so it's on purpose to make the game looks epic, but at the same time the animation makes it hard to see which piece is where, so I wonder if I should change that...

But each turn, you can only initiate one move, right? It's just the move is not finished yet before the next turn arrives.

[A-Man]

lol, I hope the spaceships will still resemble their respective chess pieces in their design at least. But yes, I remember playing 3-second turn chess rounds, and they were sort of fun, but it almost always ends up in a draw (which didn't help in settling any disputes or decisions we played to settle). My life is too messy right now for me to coordinate an online match with anyone so =(.

But yes, having opponent move every time their pieces cool down suggests you want to remove the turn based element from it, which would make gameplay very chaotic. Players will tend to abandon most of their pieces and focus on a few (rook) to get other opponent pieces while they're cooling down. Having any sort of auto-play for pieces to aid the player would make it a tower defense. Is that how you imagine the game playing like when against a computer?

[Kevin]

lol, I hope the spaceships will still resemble their respective chess pieces in their design at least. But yes, I remember playing 3-second turn chess rounds, and they were sort of fun, but it almost always ends up in a draw (which didn't help in settling any disputes or decisions we played to settle). My life is too messy right now for me to coordinate an online match with anyone so =(.

But yes, having opponent move every time their pieces cool down suggests you want to remove the turn based element from it, which would make gameplay very chaotic. Players will tend to abandon most of their pieces and focus on a few (rook) to get other opponent pieces while they're cooling down. Having any sort of auto-play for pieces to aid the player would make it a tower defense. Is that how you imagine the game playing like when against a computer?

Player will still only be allowed to move one piece at a time. If I make computer players then I will make levels too, beginner levels will give the player only a few simple pieces (like it can only move to adjacent tiles) so he can handle it. I believe with some practice controlling a full chess set is manageable, it's 2 seconds per move after all.


But well, I guess I will try to make a fair and square computer player. But if I dramatically change the pieces, then the AI.... I can't imagine it xD . But making it try to defend his King, promote and prevent promotions 0_O . I'll see if I even get close to that.

King+Rook vs King or King+Pawn VS King is a drawn endgame because you are never required to move XD .

If anyone wants to play, please check me out on facebook or skype.
Skype: kevincentius
Facebook:

[Simoneon]

Just had some rounds on this game with Kevin, LeoGautama and MangaD. Gotta say it was pretty fun and enjoyable. Especially when you get to play a 4p game. Lots of sneaky attacks and things to consider. Found it a bit confusing, but if you are good at blitz chess definitely message Kevin and try this one!