Rook

Instant Classic.
Never fail to impress.

It's hard to get the hang of it but it's still challenging.

Cheers

@Lokior Thanks a lot! :)

Hey a godot friend ! Gameplay simple and addictive, Very efficient ! Amazing job on IA too. GG !

@RocketRanger Thanks! It was actually my first Godot jam, transitioning from GMS2

Glad you liked it! And thanks to Godot, I might be able to make an android version easily :D

This is one of my favourite entries of this Alakajam. Excellent job! The low karma does not do this game justice at all.

@cbballs Thanks! I need to start playing games to get the karma up! :)

I really like the concept, music/etc. I have one issue. It was really hard for me to tell what unit was what and how it might move.

Music is great, I love the monochrome pixel art, gameplay is entertaining and I really enjoyed playing this game. Use of theme is awsome, really nice!

Great work!

As always, I really like your entry @Raindrinker :).
Maybe a lack of feedback (like when you take a piece and you increment your score), or a reminder of where a piece can move, but your core loop is pretty strong. Could be a very good mobile game :).
Congrats, buddy!

Very well done. The concept is so simple and easy to grasp, and the mechanics just work. It feels so elemental, like this game should always have existed. Art and music are subdued in a very pleasant way and fit the chess theme very well. Well done!

It all makes me wonder how well the other pieces would work, Bishop seems like the only one which wouldn't go too well since you can't switch colors.

@Tipyx @Kleinzach Thanks a lot! yeah I might make an android version. I need to decide what is worth changing/adding. I thought about other pieces too, yeah, even making your piece able to change somehow.

Bishop would work with two bishops, maybe, but if a bishop or a rook/queen pins them, you just lose. I would need to test it

Thanks for playing!.

Awesome game! It's super simple but suuupper addictive. Played it for a good bit longer than I thought I would, you should totally release it on mobile or something. I guess my only "complaint" would be that the pawns behave a little differently than in regular chess, which threw me off a tiny bit. Anyway, fantastic job!

Just wonderful idea and execution! Definitely a game that would be endlessly played on mobile.

At first I thought you had to be quick with the other pieces moving at random moments, but once I got that it's turn-based this was fun to play! Couldn't quite figure out what determines the other pieces' movement yet though, and made a stupid mistake in the end.

So Cute! A nice idea for the theme, I would love to have it on my phone, the gameplay is simple but can ask some reflexion and not just do random move. Love it!

This is absolutely lovely! I'm mostly going to comment on gameplay because graphics and audio are spot on.

What confused me initially:

1. You play as black, but you sit on the white side of the board. (This only matters until you notice point 2.)
2. Pawns can move sideways and reverse, and can capture in all 4 diagonal directions.
3. The queen has a + on top, so she looks a lot like the king.

You could fix all three in one fell swoop if you highlight the piece that's about to move, plus the squares that it can legally move to. Also acts as a mini tutorial for those who don't know chess rules.

It's also a bit slow at the start; sometimes you can take several turns before the first opponent piece appears. Might be worth coding an exception to always have a piece appear if the board is empty. Similarly if there's only 1 pawn, because you can't capture it anyway.

@thomastc Okay, this is really really helpful.

I can't highlight which piece is gonna move cause it's not decided until you move, and it's random unless there is a killing move.

The queen thing I'm definitely fixing.

The pawn issue I was thinking of just making pawns spawn on the top half/row and follow proper chess rules, and promote to queens or a random piece when reaching the bottom, maybe. I will test it.

Forcing a spawn when the board is empty I will aslo do.

I don't get the thing about "if there's only 1 pawn, because you can't capture it anyway".

Thanks a lot!

I can't highlight which piece is gonna move cause it's not decided until you move, and it's random unless there is a killing move.

I mean right before it moves, just highlight it for 0.3 seconds or something. It might take away the pace a bit, but I don't think it'll be much of an issue.

The queen thing I'm definitely fixing.

They usually have a spiky crown like ^^^^^ without any other ornaments.

I don't get the thing about "if there's only 1 pawn, because you can't capture it anyway".

If one pawn is on the board and no other pieces, I can't capture the pawn, because it can evade me forever. Only after more pieces appear, I have a chance to line them up to force the opponent to give up a piece.

@thomastc One pawn can evade you forever? Pieces don't try to run away from you (except the king) so you should be able to capture a lone pawn in two moves, always. Just dont get right next to him.

I'm not sure I can do the highlight thing, It will get old quickly. I might just go with normal pawn chess rules.

Thanks a lot!

Just dont get right next to him.

Hah, that's the trick! Baiting the AI like that is higher-level gameplay, I'm not that good yet :)

I'm not sure I can do the highlight thing, It will get old quickly.

You could check out how Into The Breach does it. In that game, all opponent pieces get to move in turn, and even then it doesn't feel too long. (I highly recommend ITB if this is your type of game, by the way.)

I might just go with normal pawn chess rules.

Would be easier to learn for chess players, but pawns would be severely underpowered. Now if you also added promotion… ;)

@thomastc Yeah I have played ITB quite a bit. I dont wanna highlight all threatened squares, I think ti would make the game too easy.

I think promotion would give pawns a lot more personality and add another layer on top of the game. I'll test it.

This is a very creative idea. Both in the mechanics and how you chose to use the theme. As always, the artwork is good. I really don't have much to say since there weren't any major flaws and the game itself is pretty simple.