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!

Today I've uploaded a new build of Master of Chess demo. If you're interested in testing it, join discord here: https://discord.gg/HYV8Zz8V2Q

This build marks a great point in development: Demo is feature complete.

Is it perfect? No. Is it bug-free? No way. But it's a valid reference point to what the demo will look like when it hits Steam.

The Latest and Greatest: What's New in the Demo?​

• Create your player feature is integrated completely. Feel free to start up the demo and create your own player.
• Match preview screen got a complete overwrite. The placeholder UI is now replaced with a full overview of both players strengths and winning percentages.
• 'Game crashes randomly' bug fixed! (or so I hope, I can't reproduce it any more!) It seems to be related to the way async code was handled in Godot and in the newest version 4.1 I had to switch the way async code is handled and even clear out some of the async logic.
• As mentioned, game is now migrated to beta version of Godot 4.1. We're running it bleeding edge as far as Godot is concerned. I'm really happy that Godot will hit stable 4.1 in the approximately same time as my game starts seeking stability too.
• A linux build! I decided to have a linux build because a) people asked for it, b) I hoped it would give me more insights into some game-crashing bugs.
• Numerous little bug fixes and tidy ups. I plan to write this up in a more professional manner in the future so I can list those out easily.

A Few Dragons Still to Slay: Current Issues​

• Chess AI Improvements: Chess AI received a lot of comments, with some finding it too challenging and others finding it not challenging enough. This feedback isn't contradictory; it points to the inconsistencies in the AI, which I'm aware of. Over the next week (and even month), refining the AI will be a major focus of my work.
• Enhancing User Interface: The user experience on the match review screen isn't the best. Navigating through a completed match should be a breeze, and I agree that there's room for improvement. I'm committed to making this experience better. Some UX issues, bugs still exist on the main match screen too. These need to be addressed.
• AI Responsiveness Issues: Some of you have encountered a problem where the AI stops making moves. This was an issue I tackled in early builds, but it seems to have reappeared. It's time I dive into it and ensure it's permanently fixed.

What's next?​

As mentioned, the Demo is feature complete and all that's left is to polish it up. If I could get the AI to be decent enough in the next week and add some Quality of Life improvements then all would be ready for a Steam release of the Demo in early July.

I'm so excited!

What's happening with the game?​

Last weekend I posted a short video announcement about Master of Chess Demo. It blew up on reddit, tripling amount of people on discord and doubling the wishlist count!

Join discord here: https://discord.gg/HYV8Zz8V2Q as it had a big revamp by two community masters to which I'm extremely thankful: @Taxtibe and @Zokaper

With all the new people that arrived there's been a lot more bugs reported, a lot more discussions about features and the look/feel of the game. At times I was overwhelmed but mostly I was extremely happy.

I'm happy because I'm finally sure: I'm not crazy. This game has real appeal to people who love chess as much as I do and I'm right in trying my best to deliver an awesome chess simulation game.

Enough with the pep talk. What's going on with the game?​

• Full focus is on fixing bugs and adding some UX niceties.
• I'm testing and figuring out the issues of the demo on Steam (it's still crashing fairly often)
• I'm updating to version 4.1 of Godot engine because it might resolve some of the bugs (and hopefully not introduce new bugs)
• I'm adding the Create your player screen and ditching the precreated campaigns

What's the plan for the future​

• Stabilize the demo (eradicate crashes)
• Fix more bugs
• Release a new demo build on itch.io next week
• Prepare a linux build (I am hoping this will give me more insight into why the game crashes, I'm still not sure!)

This gamedev journey was and continues to be a great ride! Cheers!

If you're interested in testing it out, join here: https://discord.gg/HYV8Zz8V2Q

Hey @everyone, it's been two weeks since MoC demo has had its first public testing. I want to thank everyone for the amazing feedback and especially @Dieu#2536 for some very constructive ideas! The demo is getting more polished with each iteration. Let me know how good it is and if you find any issues with it!

I'm in the process of getting the demo approved on Steam! It should be there soon and I believe it's going to be available in the first half of June.

New feature: Tournament overview screen

Gameplay improvements:

1. When energy is under 20% the player no longer gives out his opinion on moves. @Dieu#2536
2. Character does not lose energy when he isn't calculating @Dieu#2536

Usability fixes:

1. Displaying ranks and files on the board @Qu11k#2305
2. Icons are no longer blurry @Zokaper#7964
3. Chess pieces are no longer blurry @Zokaper#7964
4. Chess avatars a little bit more consolidated @Zokaper#7964
5. Energy icons/animations improved
6. After match is simulated a more intuitive text is displayed @Taxtibe#5548
7. Skip tactic functionality

Bug fixes:

1. Premature resignation no longer happens @robs#1932
2. Board does not flip any more (I am not sure I covered all the cases but I can't reproduce any more) @Dieu#2536
3. Opponents stops playing from nowhere @Dieu#2536

And bunch more less noticable stuff and issues.

Demo of my game is still hidden from the public eye but some awesome folks tried it. If you want to test early builds then checkout discord: https://discord.gg/HYV8Zz8V2Q

So the demo is out and being played by strangers for the first time. It's really hard to get that out of the way as you don't want to scare people away by giving them too raw experience.

I'm happy that people really had fun and deemed it worthy to spend time not only playing but also providing valuable feedback. A lot of great ideas were generated in the first playthrough and this really gives me new motivation to continue making the best chess game out there!

I appreciate people giving feedback (the good and the bad!) so I decided to create a small public page where all the bugs reported can be seen and progress on them can be monitored. (this was also a suggestion from Discord :) )

https://www.imbrane.com/master-of-chess/tasks

What next?​

• I've decided to ditch selectable campaigns for inital release of the game. It's just going to be your custom chess prodigy. Enter: Player creation screen:

• I've compiled Godot Engine from source in an attempt to catch and eradicate a game breaking bug that has sneaked in the game. It's very hard to diagnose what's wrong so I can fix it.
• When the bug is fixed, I'll start readying the build for Steam
• Release demo on Steam! I'd love to do it as soon as possible, I hope by the end of May, but it is going to be tricky if this bug keeps bothering me.

Until next time!

What would a Football Manager game look like for chess?

I started making this game with that question in mind. It looked simple enough in the beginning.

Football Manager ⚽	Master of Chess 👑
You manage your football team 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦	You manage your player 🙍‍♂️
You win leagues, cups and promotions🏆	You win tournaments, get titles, and rise the ELO ratings ladder🔝

But the real attraction for managerial games comes from adjusting game mechanics for optimal gains. In FM you bring new players, adjust your tactics, develop young talents and you enjoy seeing them succeed and flourish under your expert guidance. What would equivalent of that be in Master of Chess?

You develop your in-game player skills in MoC, and your opening repertoire becomes richer as time passes. This is good but isn't deep enough to keep the player engaged. That's why I decided for a more hands-on approach.

You play the moves on the board, but your in-game character 'validates' them. The better the character is the more precise he is in his calculation.

In order to design proper match experience in the game I decided for following restrictions.

All the matches in Master of Chess:

• Must be winnable for players of any real-life chess strength against any of the in-game opponents
• Must be harder to win if your in-game character is weaker than opponent
• Must be considerably different to playing chess online
• Must be fun

What affects match outcome​

• Moves the player choses
• Player attributes (strategy, tactics and endgames)
• Play intensity of the player in the match
• Openings that are chosen (how familiar each of the players is with it)
• Element of luck/randomness like in any chess match

What is play intensity?​

• It is an in-match setting that can be adjusted
• If intensity is high, character calculation speed and precision increases
• But energy depletes faster if the intensity is greater
• When energy is low blunder possibility rises (precision degrades considerably)

These are the main pillars of the chess match experience.

On top of this the game then builds tournaments, opening repertoire development, getting chess titles, solving chess puzzles for faster improvement, getting prize money, having chess coaches and bunch of random events that happen throughout the game. You guide your player character through the chess world.

I think it's cool, and I enjoy developing it. Next week I plan to open up a demo to all the folks in Discord. If you're interested, join here: https://discord.gg/HYV8Zz8V2Q

If you have questions about the game or you want more info, you can join the discord: https://discord.gg/HYV8Zz8V2Q

More than a month since last progress log. What was I up to?

Tactics/Chess Puzzles Mechanic​

With time my game is moving away from its managerial roots and focusing more on the simulation part. It seems that with every game design decision I make the player gets more hands-on approach.

That's why it seemed very fitting to introduce the mechanics of solving chess puzzles in order to get more Progress Points to improve your player. It is different to solving chess puzzles on lichess or any other chess site.

In the game, you use the 'Select one of the 4 possible moves' mechanic that is closely related to 'Candidate moves' mechanic of the chess matches in the game.

Redesigns​

Last progress log was all about how I added tutorial for the match. Now I know that was a stupid decision.

I basically redesigned the whole match experience and I'm now working on redesigning it even more. It is all connected to that notion of giving the player more of hands-on experience if he wishes so.

This is a big change in the way matches work. So I had to redo the tutorial all over again and I'll probably have to do it couple of times more! The whole tutorial system is now visually connected to the look of the puzzles window.

Playtests​

I've had other people than me play the game. It's very exciting! I worked on something for months not knowing if anyone will enjoy it (myself included).

It now seems there's a great probability someone will have fun with it! I got lots of feedback and I hope to squash most of the issues before I open the test builds of the demo for everyone. I plan to do it on itch.io initially and expand to Steam later when I make the game more stable. My guess is that will happen in first part of May.

What's next?

As mentioned, I am basically addressing issues that were found during playtests, some were obvious mistakes, some I am still not sure how to solve. They are mostly related to the way chess matches are played. Then the only remaining things to solve are some usability issues and it's ready for public demo!

I had a great suggestion on my Discord to maybe create a Roadmap of the game. I created one this week because:

• The players would like to know when can they finally have their hands on this game and what it will take to get there
• It makes me question my plan for the game more and helps me scope it properly
• It reminds me of how much more things I need to do.

I've had couple of great ideas on that Discord but it's generally still a dead place because I got no idea how to run it and I'm usually too busy working on the game. If you still want to join, I do read and reply! - https://discord.gg/HYV8Zz8V2Q

Picture says 1000 words so I am going to keep it short. This is my ideal trajectory for this awesome game I'm building. All players should keep in mind that:

• I work on this game before and after my regular 8h job. That's 1-4 hours per week day and 1-20 hours on weekends.
• This is my first commercial game
• I'm doing almost everything myself (I do ask my wife and a my gamedev best buddy Lorenzo for suggestions and I am pretty sure some awesome people will come and test the game when it's ready).
• Burnout can kick in at any time and this roadmap may be extended. I do my best to keep that from happening.
• Most of the time I have no idea what I'm doing

In all it's awesomeness I present the roadmap for Master of Chess, a game in which you guide a young chess prodigy from his first tournament to eternal chess glory!

If you want to chat about the game, I created a Discord that I'm still not actively promoting anywhere, but there's few people with awesome ideas already there: https://discord.gg/HYV8Zz8V2Q

Focus​

In the previous progress log I outlined my plan for the demo of the game:

1. You create your chess player
2. You go through small "How to play a match" tutorial
3. You enter a chess tournament and play it out
4. If you do good you acquire Candidate Master (CM) norm.

And this week was all about number #2. I encountered a nasty bug in Godot (the game engine I am using for MoC) that totally crashed the game multiple times, and that wasn't much fun. In the end I managed to circumvent it and I do have bare-minimum tutorial about playing a match. Here's a short GIF:

Don't mind the weird numbers and confusing display, it's all to help me debug and to show what's going on under the hood. UI/UX is going to have a major rehaul before it goes in front of players. I hope the gif can also be useful to further shine light on the way the game will be played.

Another important thing I worked on in the past week is the main game start screen. It's still not as good as I wanted it to be but it's good enough, with an obvious reference to Netflix's hit show (and the biggest chess advertisement ever, probably) - Queen's Gambit:

What's next?​

Even though there's that bug that set me back and the tutorial isn't as good as I'd like it to be, it's time to set the tutorial aspect of the game away and focus on the game loop. This is the thing that makes or breaks the game so that's where I see myself spending the rest of March. It's mainly concerned by the #2 in my plan for creating a demo:

• You enter a chess tournament and play it out

The good thing is that most of the pieces are already implemented: the tournaments are there, the players are there, the match can be played. The bad thing is that everything is still too disjointed to get a proper feel of the game. It's time to make things fun!

Additional Notes​

• There was an awesome idea on my Discord from J1ngleJ4ngle about incorporating Chess Hustlers in the game. I am seriously considering adding it in the game as it:
  • Can provide more fun characters
  • Can provide additional source of income for the chess player
  • Seems to be relatively easy to implement with current game mechanics
• There was an awesome idea on Discord from osirf to have some kind of roadmap, I plan to dedicate some time for that too so players will have better understanding of where the game is and I'll recommit myself to finishing this game in due time.

I always thought about, always wanted to do it, but always put it off for later. Well not anymore!

It's time for my blog.

I'm not sure what will end up here, but I aim to document my struggle and journey from your average gamedev to still an average gamedev that has a game released on Steam:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2248900/Master_of_Chess

I'm not sure if it will be good, I am not sure if it will be helpful but I'll give my best to make it both. Let the journey start here.