Play MEGACHESS
MEGACHESS's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Judge's Choice | #1 | n/a | n/a |
| Overall | #9 | 4.417 | 4.417 |
| Gameplay | #11 | 4.348 | 4.348 |
| Originality | #43 | 4.374 | 4.374 |
| Presentation | #49 | 4.529 | 4.529 |
Ranked from 155 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Judge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous.
- Fantastic game, feels very fleshed out, could be a steam release tomorrow
What do you like about your game?
I genuinely enjoy the concept of the game and the general feel, and I feel that I need to dig way deeper. I am beyond excited to showcase it to everyone !
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Comments
Very nice game!
Wow, this is wild. There's so much content, a truly insane amount of replayability for a jam game.
I managed to win my first run (as Vampire), which took me well over an hour, but I'll definitely have to come back to play some of the other classes & try to beat it.
It's not the first chess-based roguelike I've ever seen (that would be Chogue) but it definitely takes the concept much further.
One complaint I have is that during my first playthrough I feel like I ran into a lot of issues due to rules not working how I thought they would (the little pictures weren't always clear about certain things, the mega-pieces sometimes couldn't move how I expected them too or I had trouble moving them to a place they definitely should have been able to go, etc), but I was still able to win on my first run so it can't have been too unfair. It also took me a while to realize that enemies never make non-capturing moves, which makes the strategy much easier. But I understand that making a strong, more chess-like AI would be a big ask for a game of this complexity, especially in such a short timeframe.
The balance seems pretty fair. There were several levels where my first thought was "wow, how am I supposed to do this?" but then I figured out a way to handle things that worked out fine. That type of feeling is one of the main goals of a roguelike, IMO.
Overall, an extremely strong contender for the win!
Haven't heard about Chogue! Sorry for the targetting and mega issues, i'm still figuring out how do I want the pieces to move in the board (having pieces move on their own with some AI would make puzzle design much more difficult and less predictable which is kind of the vibe i'm going for)!
Wow very impressive for 2 weeks, I can't even imagine how much time you spent! I definitely enjoyed it even though I lost lol
The scope of this game is massive, and I loved playing it. As others have mentioned, its definitely worth expanding into a release title. This jam release on its own is better than most games these days.
So many new chess pieces that I ended up basically sticking to the ones I already knew. I also thought enemies would move and the enemy would change positions after attacking, but its like a few of my pieces can just free fire on the mega pieces.
Really cool how you got so many levels done though, and so many classes too. I could easily play this for longer if there weren't other games I wanted to check out.
Great game! Art, gameplay, juice, and sound effects, are all really awesome. I see only two weak points.
1. The soundtrack is somewhat disconnected from the aesthetic.
2. There is a lot of gameplay to unpack, and I think the game could be slower and more intentional about teaching each piece(this point could easily be a result of my own stupidity though lol)
Not an issue from you, definitely something I might maybe probably work on if it's getting further
This would be an amazing game outside of a game jam but the fact that this was made in only 2 weeks is kind of unreal to me
This would be an amazing game outside of a game jam but the fact that this was made in only 2 weeks is kind of unreal to me
Really cool idea and execution!
My only feedback would be to have some more visual readability. There were a few times where I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do next, for example I didn't realise the ability button was down the bottom right. Another example would be differentiating the enemy pieces from your own.
One of the best games i've played on this jam! Well done!
I see this as what streamers will play in upcoming years. Really good stuff, fantastic even.
Man this is fantastic. The drum sfx, the gameplay variety, just five stars all around.
My only real compliant is that some of the gaps and movement indicators make it kind of hard to read where pieces can move.
Finished the game, nice game with future potential, there are so many things that can still be added in the game and it already has a lot going on in it. Custom Pieces, rooms and a little store to take a break and spend your earnings which also resets the retry to $1, +1 piece steal is OP, the others are somewhat lackluster, I just save for reset fights, but still nice to haves if you don't plan to even lose a fight.
At first, I was expecting the enemies to have AI, but that was just me, depends on what you are going for. In my opinion, AI will make it more like a tactical game, w/o AI will make it more like a puzzle game. I just realized while writing this, it is a weird combination, when using the store, you are preparing for a puzzle, "what am I going to do in my resources so my future rooms can be solved", "am I going to use this piece that I'll be buying" and you don't know what you are going to prepare for, it gives an impression that the enemy pieces are out to get you, but you decide that yourself. I think the softlock issues is part of how it is designed currently.
I have to be honest I really like the predictability aspect of having no AI.
The thing I was going for at first was an area selection before the shop. Some areas would have more mega units, some would be better suited for close combat, some would feature something interesting in the level like a hole in the middle, a lot of walls, special enemies with very strong effects that makes you rethink the whole floor....
The predictability comes from the fact that I suck at chess. I want a game where I and only me get to do the plans in order to win a fight. If I lose, it is my fault and not some RNG. It is not well executed at the moment, but I feel that AI would not go into that favor.
I'm thinking about how to make the more interesting and have multiple directions I could go for, I'm starting to like the idea of getting the game developped further but am very scared of the scope (and a little bit of impostor syndrome + perfectionnism which would just freeze my ability to publish anything that isn't perfect). I like the game, it has issues, technical ones and some more design heavy. If I come across some clean solutions it could really become a game on it's own and not some kind of clone!
I completely agree with you that I love that it feels like a puzzle game and the planning that goes into choosing pieces. That being said, many of the levels do feel a bit static. Maybe instead of an AI, some pieces could just have set movement paths, even if it was just in a circle or back and forth. One of my favorite levels was the giga bishop precisely because I could just maneuver around it. It was COMING FOR ME.
I really hope you do take this game farther. I enjoyed it so much!
This was great! I definitely lost track of time playing haha!
Very nice game!
Great game! Very original and also well polished. :)
Amazing game! From the starting story part, the tutorials, the concept of capturing the first kill, and then all the starting factions! Wow! But more than the new units (only tried the Vampires so far) what I really enjoyed was the titles you had for each level hehe.
Congratulations, amazing game! And so nicely fitting to the theme!
Very good!
I had played this before the rating began, and I just remembered to return to give my thoughts!
I like the gameplay loop, and the "muted" audio makes the game feel more... intimate? I like the mood established by it!
Good luck with the jam!
Loved the concept, gona try and beat it with all delvers >:)
Very enjoyable. I found myself thinking very carefully and planning things out. Good difficulty level in my opinion. Also feels like a full game! My nitpicks pretty much come down to some issues with clarity (pits/walls, turn sequence, long diagonals, as others have already stated). Quality of life suggestion: When I try to drag a piece onto a square that's already occupied, swap those pieces positions, or swap the already placed piece into your reserve if you just dragged the new piece out of your reserve.
Excellent points, I struggle so much with UI and of course playtesting and every little things makes a massive difference for games like this !