GMTK Game Jam 2021

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A jam submission

United We ChessView game page

Divide and conquer in this twist on Chess

Submitted by SilversMind (@thesillyswede) — 16 hours, 6 minutes before the deadline

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United We Chess's itch.io page

Results

Criteria	Rank	Score*	Raw Score
Originality	#138	4.148	4.148
Overall	#290	3.864	3.864
Presentation	#391	4.000	4.000
Fun	#751	3.444	3.444

Ranked from 27 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

How does your game fit the theme?
You have to join together two pieces to move.

Did your team create the vast majority of the art during the 48 hours?

Yes

We created the vast majority of the art during the game jam

Did your team create the vast majority of the music during the 48 hours?

No

We used pre-existing audio

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Comments

Viewing comments 21 to 2 of 21 · Next page · Last page

HussainSubmitted3 years ago(+1)

Wow the game is just oozing with polish! I find it so hard to prioritise and implement nice transitions or effects but straight from the menu to selecting and moving pieces looks and feels great! As everyone's mentioned a really interesting concept that seems like it really changes up the meta of chess. Good work done in a short time!

p.s. isn't chess AI notoriously difficult to do? Not looked into it myself but I've always thought it was a complicated system (maybe because I don't play chess much myself '^^)

Submitted

SilversMindDeveloper3 years ago

I know having the AI planning a few moves ahead takes a lot of computing power, but I'll just go simple and have it make a single decently good move. It doesn't need to be smart, just appear to be~

While I could look up how to do it, my current idea is just to simulate every move the bot can do and give each a score, then pick the one with the highest score to execute.

MFauzanSubmitted3 years ago(+1)

nice game and good concept.

Submitted

Get Out of the Dungeon

DarnSubmitted3 years ago

I managed to play this with someone and it's a highly interesting chess variant. There's a lot of cheeky offensive moves you can do, and you also need to be careful not to leave your own pieces stranded. Nicely done!

Submitted

FlederedSubmitted3 years ago

It's a shame you didn't include a VS computer mode, I can't test it because I have no friends

Submitted

SilversMindDeveloper3 years ago

Yeah, I ran out of time, but I had filed that under "if I get time". I'll probably make something after the jam is over and I got some freetime again.

satchitnsSubmitted3 years ago(+1)

This is brilliant, I love all the feedback you get when moving/attacking, makes it very satisfying to play. I did play myself so didn't really explore balance etc. but I feel like just figuring out the meta is part of the gameplay for something like this. Nice job :)

Submitted

SilversMindDeveloper3 years ago(+1)

The feedback of moving pieces was something I definitely wanted all along. I've seen chess games where the piece simply teleports, which is fine when playing hot seat, as you can follow along, but not as fine when going against the computer having to figure out waht move just happened and decipher what RX -> 2B or whatever means.

In this there is no ambiguity that you just smashed something to bits.

PsychpsyoSubmitted3 years ago

I sadly have no one to try this against but I'd be interested to see how this actually mixes up the chess gameplay.

Submitted

SilversMindDeveloper3 years ago

Don't let that stop you from playing against yourself. Or if you got some online buddies, I've suggested sharing your screen on Discord.

tranquilmageSubmitted3 years ago(+1)

this is a really cool concept and something I can definitely imagine becoming a polished game to play against friends. I had this saved up to play for a while and im so happy i took the time to play it, this version of chess offers a whole new dimension to thinking about your moves and i really love it! There could be more feedback as to which of the two figures selected will do the move and which one will follow, I mixed it up a few times or accidentally moved somewhere, I didn't want to go and at times I think you have to think too far ahead (which some people like), but i would love to see a version of this game, where moving in pairs is an option, but not a necessity because it opens up a whole pool of new strategies and interactions!

Submitted

SilversMindDeveloper3 years ago(+1)

I thought about making the first one selected be marked in some special way (currently its possible moves are the larger circle), but unfortunately it's something I thought of after submissions closed. Had I had time to work on the game Sunday, it would definitely have made it in.

I'm hesitant on allowing single piece movement, partly becuase of the Jam theme, but also because I like the "united we stand, divided we fall" thing, which is one of the possible victory conditions. Like I mentioned in another comment, I have multiple ideas brewing (including playing against the computer)

dallystudioSubmitted3 years ago

This was a very nice take on the theme. After playing through, I do think the pieces should maybe retain their ability to move individually because it was fairly easy to get completely stuck from lack of moves. You might even be able to take it further and have it where 1+ joined pieces can move in tandem; and you could move a 5 pawns forward, for instance. Depending on where it proceeds, I don't think it even needs to be strictly Chess related.

Submitted

Neighborhood Snap

SilversMindDeveloper3 years ago

I was thinking about expanding the board size to 10x10 or so and add more pieces to each side. As for linking more than 2, I might allow for 3, but maybe limit how may times you can do so.

Thanks for giving it a try :)

Amruth VarshanSubmitted3 years ago(+1)

The concept is brilliant, I tried playing against myself, but turns out I'm a sore loser. Will definitely try and get someone to play with, well done!

Submitted

SilversMindDeveloper3 years ago(+1)

So far, I've only also managed to beat myself, but I did play against a friend over Discord via sharing my screen.

llivolSubmitted3 years ago

Really cool concept. I am waiting to have someone to play this with.

Submitted

Final Boss Battle

Jake LawrenceSubmitted3 years ago(+1)

This is a very interesting concept! Unfortunately I wasn't able to assess how interesting new tactics and such are as I didn't have anyone to play with, but I also really love it in terms of presentation! It made it effortlessly clear which pieces you had selected, and the fact that the piece the move is based on had a larger circle is a nice touch, just adds even more clarity. The smashing sound effect when you took a piece felt very crunchy too. Really liked this!

Submitted

ZombiedanceSubmitted3 years ago(+1)

It's always cool to see a jam-theme spin on a well established game! I really enjoy what you did here and think it fits perfectly in a jam, exploring a funky idea and all.

Feels you knew what you were going for early and were able to hit it spot on

Good job!

Submitted

C.O.M.P.R.E.S.S.I.O.N.

SilversMindDeveloper3 years ago(+1)

I was at work when the Jam theme was announced, so I had a few hours where I could brainstorm, including limitations (especially since I had work Sunday as well, severly limiting the amount of time I could spend making it. I'm a hobbyist board game designer, which I think helps in solid rules and mechanics.

Squid SquadSubmitted3 years ago(+1)

Nice twist on a classic game. Good job

Submitted

FiltraxSubmitted3 years ago(+1)

I'm not much of a chess player and I didn't have anyone to play this with, but I did win against myself rather easily :p
It's well polished and the effects when taking pieces are a nice touch. I can see this being an interesting twist on chess, that makes you play it completly differently.

Good job!

Submitted

Chained to the Beat

cachandlerdevSubmitted3 years ago(+1)

Like Tuatarian said, please don't make an installer in the future. It's makes it a pain to uninstall, and almost resulted in me skipping this game altogether. As for the game itself though, the visuals are fantastic.

Submitted

Suspended account3 years ago

Show post...

Liar! You didnt create the art

SilversMindDeveloper3 years ago

While the icons were taken from game-icons.net (which is in the credits), a lot of the other elements I had to make myself (chessboard, explosion, bits, buttons, etc.). Overall I had to make more custom art than icons.

Shiiro10PsiSubmitted3 years ago(+1)

It's interesting to see how someone else goes about the same concept.

I do like how you have the pieces start on the left and right. It definitely makes it easier to understand both sides while always setting up the same way.

Submitted

SilversMindDeveloper3 years ago

I felt that having white on bottom makes more sense if you are playing by yourself (vs computer or over internet), but for hotseat gameplay this made more sense, not giving bias to any particular side.

TuatarianSubmitted3 years ago(+1)

Didn't rate, but in future please don't make an installer for a jam game, it's harder to install and remove.

Submitted

Some Puzzling Pictures

SilversMindDeveloper3 years ago(+1)

I'd love to, but last time I did a simple .exe, it refused to start. Both for me and whoever downloaded it.

Apparaently it's a common "bug" with Game Maker games, at least for Studio 1.4

TuatarianSubmitted3 years ago

I see, that's unfortunate

cleeverz3 years ago(+1)

Might be worth giving the Godot engine a try. It has a lot of drag-and drop components, and has it's own coding language with python-like syntax similar to GM. Not as easy to pickup as GM, but not anywhere near as involved as Unity. The types of problems you're describing are part of why I moved on from GM. :) It's also free and open source so can be tried with no money risk.

TuatarianSubmitted3 years ago(+1)

Seconded. Godot is fantastic, I used it for a while before moving on to raylib/no engine

dallystudioSubmitted3 years ago

You should be able to upload a zip folder with the following 3 files.

SilversMindDeveloper3 years ago

I'll have to do that after the Jam. The rules are particular about uploading during the rating process and I don't want to accidentally disqualify myself.

LemonProphetSubmitted3 years ago(+1)

This is a brilliant game! Loved playing it.

Submitted

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