A new demo version is out! While most of my and community's efforts go into testing and improving the alpha version of the game, I had to move some of that improvements back into the demo version of the game.

If you want to join the community or check out the alpha join here: https://discord.gg/HYV8Zz8V2Q.

What happened?

• 🤵 All previous avatar sprites were removed. With help from my talented friend Lorenzo, we updated all of the avatars in the game. Aging of characters finally makes sense.
• Many QOL improvements were added like threat detection, material count, promotion etc.
• Numerous bugs were squashed

What's next?

• I'm working on the alpha version of the game non-stop. Community at discord is hard at work finding and reporting numerous improvements/bugs
• I've added a lot of logic around tournaments and looking into creating save games next
• This amazing work around avatars wouldn't be complete if I wouldn't return the Player creation screen

Last but not least

Have I mentioned that my free Opening Repertoire app is available on Steam? https://store.steampowered.com/app/2755460/Chess_Opening_Repertoire_Builder

I'm improving it from time to time, but Master of Chess is where most of the efforts go. Take a look at it if you're interested in chess openings.

It's time to give a freebie to the chess community. After several people suggested, I decided to do it, and created a separate app from Openings feature of Master of Chess: Chess Opening Repertoire Builder or CORB.

If you want to talk chess or game development, join here: https://discord.gg/HYV8Zz8V2Q.

What does it do?

• 📰 Lets you make a graph of your chess opening knowledge.
• 🤵 Gives you option to quiz yourself on your openings knowledge
• 📚 Gives you option to search through Openings DB

It's available on Steam from February 26th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2755460/Chess_Opening_Repertoire_Builder/

It's 2024, it's the year MoC comes out. And if everything goes well it should be out in couple of months. It's weird writing those words when there's so much more to do, but I'm excited for it. Future is bright!

If you want to talk chess or game development, join here: https://discord.gg/HYV8Zz8V2Q.

What's new?

It's been so long since last demo version that it's hard for me to list out what has changed. Better question would be: what hasn't!? You'll find threats detection feature (you'll know it when you see it), a much improved AI, more polished UI, improvements in UX, more translations. Everything changed. (for the better, I hope!)

What's gone?

I've added as much as I've removed to deliver a more focused and polished version of the demo. So the demo no longer contains:

• 📰 Separate Tutorial screen. It's now built in the first match.
• 🤵 Player creation process. I wanted to let the player see the game in action as soon as possible. You're immediately presented with pre-created player from France - Matteo Martin.
• 🔑 Key Moments simulation. I don't have good explanation why, it just was too buggy after I added many AI improvements in the game and I decided to cut it out for a moment.

What's the plan?

There's two threads I'm trying to follow.

First and foremost I'm looking into creating an alpha build of MoC. There's plenty of work to do, but I think I'm getting close. It will be rough, but it will be first real insight into the full game.

Secondly, I'm working on releasing a completely free app about chess opening repertoire creation. When folks saw the opening graph screenshots, a lot of comments were about how they would be interested in something like that, even if it was standalone. Now they can have it!

So a lot more work left. Check out the new demo and let me know what you think!

Heya! It's 2024. It's the year Master of Chess gets released.

Safe to say I'm really excited for this year and my projects. If you're not visiting here often you might be wondering what's the latest state of the game. So here it is:

The Plan​

• I'm working on a FREE chess app about Chess Openings that I've extracted away from Master of Chess. It's called Chess Opening Repertoire Builder (CORB) and I plan to release it in February. It's my way of saying thank you to the chess community while simultanously getting experience with releasing games on Steam.
• I'm upgrading the Demo. The newest update doesn't bring many new improvements but is more focused on polishing the existing experience. Expect an update in January.
• I'm preparing first alpha build of Master of Chess which I'll release on Itch.io. It's the biggest milestone of the game and I'll do my best to deliver it this month. This work is on hold right now because of some workstation issues but I should continue working on it soon.

Big thanks to everyone that have reached out and gave me their piece of mind. It's of great help in shaping this game. I'm loving it, I'm excited for what future holds. Lets stop the blunders!

BRANE

Steam Next Fest is long gone and it was an amazing ride!

• ✅ Hundreds of new wishlists (wishlist the game if you haven't!)
• 🎥 1600+ people at one point watching me stream the game
• 📢 Amazing feedback from the new players

Join discord here: https://discord.gg/HYV8Zz8V2Q to get daily updates on the game and provide your feedback!

What next?

With that wind in my sails it is time to work on getting this game over the finish line. I worked past two weeks on creating the tournament experience. Couple of thousands tournaments later, I'm quite happy with the way it turned out (it will get a lot better after players get their hands on it)

So even though tournaments do need more love, I'll focus on the Match AI next as that was the biggest pain that the players experienced. After this work, I hope ELO will reflect more the strength of the AI you're facing.

At that point I'll release the new and last (I hope) version of the Demo.

From that point onwards all my efforts will be to get an early build of the full game out. This means finally adding the Openings feature, Finances management, redoing all the avatars in game, balancing the progression, fixing bugs (and those that I introduce on the way) and adding couple more smaller features.

All in all, it's exciting time for the game and I'm really happy with the way things are going. Let's make chess fun for everyone!

Heya! By this time next week there's going to be a new version of the Demo out.

What's great about it? The game will be translated in couple of languages! MoC community stepped in and it seems we'll have the game translated to (at least) Russian, Polish, Swedish, Portuguese, French, Serbian, Vietnamese and German!

Join the party

If you want to improve the existing translations or you'd like to contribute your own language join us on our discord https://discord.gg/HYV8Zz8V2Q.

What's next

1️⃣ As mentioned I plan to update the demo one more time before Steam Next Fest. It's a big event for me and for the game. We're both first time there.

🖼 So there's many improvements to UI/UX to make the game cool for the new folks.

But talk is cheap, I'll go back to working on the game and I hope you'll be there next week to test it out on your own.

Let's make chess fun for everyone!

BRANE

The biggest update to the game since the day I opened it to the testers is here! Try it out on Steam or itch.

Join the discord to give me some feedback:https://discord.gg/HYV8Zz8V2Q. Every bit of information helps!

The New build​

Version 0.2.1 is out!

It includes:

• 🔑 Amazing new feature Key Moments Simulation: let your character play all the moves except crucial moments in the game

• 🧩 Total rewrite of Puzzles Training feature: It's fast, it's bug free (prove me wrong! :P), there's 10 Puzzles to solve now. There's puzzle streaks to accomplish.

• 👨 Total redesign of Create Player Screen: again enjoy in selecting the skills of your player and even the most requested feature of having the male character with long hair is there.

• ✉ Personal screen looks completely different too

• 🖼 Probably every part of the game got a little bit of love, an animation here, a colorful icon there - it is all going towards a unified vision I have for the game.

What's next?​

I started work on the Openings feature (the cool graph you can see in the game screenshots). It's the last big feature that I plan to add to the game. I'll also look into improving and fixing smaller bugs on the demo before it reaches Steam Next fest.

We're one step away from the demo finally being on Steam. The new build is 0.0.8 and it's awesome.

The demo drops on 26th July on Steam. Set those reminders!

If you can't wait to get your hands on it, there's an early build ready. Join the discord to get it or if you want to have a chat:https://discord.gg/HYV8Zz8V2Q.

The New build​

I'm guessing most of the people interested in reading this already have tried the demo out. If you're one of those and want to know if you should refresh your experience, here's what is new:

• Added time increment logic (Fisher time). Not having enough time shouldn't be a problem any more.
• The sliders have been redesigned. I know it sounds trivial but it was a nightmare and I'm so happy with the improvement.
• Upgraded the display of moves on match screen, making it easier and prettier to follow the match
• Added more tooltips on the Tournament and Match Result screens for that extra bit of insight.
• Squashed a bug messing with the move line color on the board. It's a cleaner, bug-free experience!
• Many other smaller tidy ups that bring the game closer to what I have in mind
• I also again degraded the AI experience, it's again too strong. But I hope to get to the bottom of it soon enough.

What's next?​

The Steam release of course! Demo will be out on 26th of July, Wednesday. I'm excited, slightly nervous and full of expectations. I hope it goes well and gets some new players with fresh feedback.

You'll here from me again in three days. In the meantime, try out the demo and let me know what you think. Let's make chess fun for everyone!

The latest version of the Demo is out. It's 0.0.7 time, baby!

I planned for this to be the last 'hidden' build before I move the demo to Steam.

I've had absolutely amazing feedback from a lot of players and that makes me truly happy, but you can't make a great game if all you have are praises. That's why I want to get as much critique as possible.

Join my discord to give me your worst opinion about the game: https://discord.gg/HYV8Zz8V2Q.

The Critique​

1. What sucks the most?
2. What is the one feature that is really missing from the game that you really need?
3. What's the one feature that is there but it just shouldn't be there or is so poorly implemented it's driving you crazy.
4. What looks totally out of place?
5. What made you quit the game in anger while slamming your hand on the keyboard?

If you have answer to any of these questions post it on Steam community, post it on Discord, hit me on Twitter, Reddit, it doesn't matter. I'll get to it eventually. I'm not promising I'll change anything, but I can promise you I'll read it and take it into account while developing this game. And I also promise you I won't take it personal, so please do your worst!

New features​

New demo build brings some new features, some long awaited improvements (and also some deletions, but if no one notices it's like they were never really there).

Tip mechanism​

This s a feature that will change a lot about how the match played. For players that played the game before the change I'd really like to know if they consider it a step into right direction. Get a tip about your move and lose some energy as the result. It's simple and I think a quite good addition to the match experience. Let me know your thoughts!

I think it needs a little bit of balancing and nuance but it really changed the gameplay for the better.

Export PGN​

A small but handy improvement, based on feedback I got on Discord (I can't find who reported it, sorry!). Click on the export PGN button and it will copy the PGN content to your clipboard.

Improvements​

• Most of the time was spent on fixing and upgrading the AI. I think it's a lot better (realistic) now but it's probably still to strong for my liking. Let me know if it's any better!
• Create player screen got some love too. You can decrease your ELO now, and maximum ELO is only defined by players year of birth, not his selected month and day.
• Added Scotland, Wales and China
• Some blurry sprites have been improved (while not all of them are extinguished, but I have a great list compiled by my discord community master - Zokaper)
• Cursor has been changed and is more responsive (meaning it changes colors when he is over something interactable)

And many little ones that people probably do not care about that much.

What's next?​

It's getting closer to the day I release the demo on Steam. Last time I tested it via Steam launcher it crashed only couple of seconds after I started! I hope that won't be the case any more.

So in order to do that I wanted to tidy up all the assets I have around marketing. Go and check which streamers, youtubers and bloggers I can contact about my game and try to fix a few nasty bugs that remained.

So in about two weeks (a little less I hope), when another blog drops here, I hope it will be from a guy that has a demo released on Steam. It's a big thing for me!

Thanks for reading and I'm looking forward to your opinions. Let's make chess fun for everyone!

As I plan to tackle the issue of badly balanced AI difficulty this week, it's a good time to do a write-up of how AI works right now. It will probably help me and some people might find it interesting too.

When I started, what problems I had to solve?​

Firstly, AI had to know how to play chess. I used an existing strong engine for this, named Arasan. It's not Stockfish but it's closest to it in strength (Arasan is rated 3419 ELO at the time of the writing. https://ccrl.chessdom.com/ccrl/4040/) while being under MIT license (that allows me to sell the game).

Now comes the hard part, the AI strength must be scalable in some way so the game makes any sense. This isn't that hard to do actually, you just select non-optimal moves here and there. The real complexity emerged when I attempted to correlate the AI's non-optimal move selection with the player character's abilities. At present, Master of Chess features two primary skills, Strategy and Tactics, that players need to improve as they progress through the game.

How do Tactics/Strategy influence this 'non-optimal move selection'?​

To answer this question I have to introduce few more concepts.

• First off, we have Evaluation. Every move produced by Arasan comes with an evaluation, represented by a number denoting how many centipawns the current player is ahead or behind the opponent. To put it simply, an evaluation of 0 cp (centipawns) signifies a balanced position, while an evaluation of 1000cp implies the player making the move is a queen and a pawn ahead.
• Now, let's introduce Player's Evaluation. This value is essentially the sum of Arasan's evaluation and a semi-random figure, which I call Variance. The Variance is integral to the AI, influencing the eventual player's evaluation value that's displayed on the screen.
• How is variance calculated? Well, that's where Tactics/Strategy skills come into play. Each move the player plays, there's a possibility he will blunder or make a good move. A high Tactics skill increases the odds of the player making a good move, while a high Strategy skill reduces the likelihood of blunders. To illustrate these dynamics, I've created the following diagram:
• On every turn, red and green surfaces are calculated based on given players characteristics and a random point on the line is selected.
• After spot is selected, based on the position it ends up, variance is calculated. Blunder would mean huge variance, good move would mean very small variance.

Example​

If you managed to read thus far, it is probably quite confusing. So let's go through a scenario.

It's White to play and he's pretty bad. This means his red/blunder surface on the graph above is big, and green surface is small. We randomly pick a spot on the line and it falls on the red/blunder surface. ❌

As mentioned, every move that Arasan feeds to AI gets it's own Player's Evaluation value. Landing in the blunder region means that the variance value is high, which in turn results in a considerable discrepancy between the Player's Evaluation (which is Arasan Evaluation + variance) and the real evaluation. Because of this player's character has wrong idea about the given position and he (probably) makes a mistake. Not always though. Even though the variance is huge, just by sheer luck the semi-randomized Player's Evaluation can end up quite close to the real evaluation.

⏱️ - Also, as the player spends time in the given position, Player's evaluation gets closer and closer to the 'objective' Arasan evaluation. I believe this fast convergence is one of the primary issues with the current AI implementation - it ends up making the AI play too accurately even at lower strengths.

Conclusion​

I hope it made at least a little bit sense. When I started the game, my mission statement when designing the matches was:

• Must be winnable for players of any real-life chess strength against any of the in-game opponents
• Winning should be more challenging if your in-game player is weaker than the opponent.
• The experience should be considerably different than playing chess online.
• Above all, it must be fun.

I think this implementation fits the statement quite nicely. It also allows the in-game attributes to affect the overall match quality which had to be there for the game to make sense. I'm not happy with how this is communicated to the player yet, but that's a different discussion.

As I continue to refine and improve the game, your feedback and questions are invaluable. Catch me on Discord: https://discord.gg/HYV8Zz8V2Q. Let's make chess fun for everyone!