Announcing Chess 2

The digital version of Chess 2 is coming out Q4 2013 as a timed exclusive for the OUYA console (other platforms will follow later). It will be shown at the OUYA installation during E3 in two weeks.

Game Design

Chess 1 was a big hit, no question there, but a few issues have cropped up over the years. First, the original game ends in a draw uncomfortably often. Second, memorization (rather than on-the-spot intuition) ended up being much more important than the original developers intended. Even top players such as Fischer and Capablanca complained about this. Third, because it has no hidden information, the ability to capitalize on reading your opponent is more limited than it could be. And finally, the first version offered only a single army and one matchup.

Chess 2 addresses each of those concerns. (And the rules pdf is here.) A new win condition (in addition to the old one) allows a victory if your king crosses the midline of the board. This practically eliminates draws, and it also cuts down on having to walk through book-solved endgame situations, and eliminates the need to concede far before the game really ends. In Chess 2, there's action right up until the end, and the end is unlikely to be a draw.

A double-blind bidding mechanic when you capture pieces allows for some "yomi" or mind reading of the opponent's intentions. It also greatly disrupts scripted openings allowing for more emphasis on intuition. It's also quite skill-testing in measuring how much each player values each piece. If your opponent has an incorrect opinion about how much a particular piece is really worth in this particular game situation, you can capitalize on that by making him bid incorrectly in an effort to save that piece.

There are six armies to choose from, creating 21 matchups rather than just 1. While each army has its own twist, none are completely alien to chess. Each army modifies only a few (significant) things so that remembering what everything does isn't too hard. The six armies are: 

1. Classic (back by popular demand)
2. Nemesis (favors pawns)
3. Empowered (favors knights, bishops, and rooks)
4. Reaper (favors queen)
5. Two Kings (favors kings)
6. Animals (wild card!)

Digital Version

The digital version of Chess 2 is being developed by Ludeme Games. You can follow them on twitter @LudemeGames and #Chess2 for updates. Ludeme Games would also like to thank their families, dogs, and legal counsel for making all this possible.

The production values of the game are really coming along. Ludeme Games created wonderful looking sculpts for all the interesting new pieces in the game. I'm not quite sure, but I think Chess 2 might end up being the best looking title that comes out near launch on the OUYA. That's one of the advantages of doing a "small scale" game: fewer elements means it's easier to polish the production values. (Easier to focus on the game design too!)

I'll leave you with this shot of the Reaper queen, who can teleport to almost any space on the board:

Asynchronous Games and Codex

Asynchronous play means that your opponent doesn't have to be around at the same time you are. You can take your turn, then later on your opponent will take his turn at his leisure. This is increasingly more important now that mobile games are a bigger and bigger phenomenon. You can take your turn in some game while waiting at a bus stop or whatever even though you wouldn't be able to play an entire (synchronous) game in that same situation. So it's not just a "feature" when a game can be played in this way, it's transformative in that it allows you to play games in different real-life situations than you otherwise could. It also means you can play 10 different sessions of the game against 10 different people, all taking their turns here and there at bus stops or other free moments here and there. Synchronous games can't do that.

Although I play some simple asynchronous word games, when it comes to "real" games I generally scoff at asynchronous stuff. People ask if Puzzle Strike or Yomi could support such a thing and they pretty much can't because they are both so INTERACTIVE. I tend to put as much interactivity into my games as I can: the more the better, and the less the worse. The games that most lend themselves to asynchronous play are the ones with so little interactivity that you can do a whole bunch of stuff on your turn and the opponent can't even react. That said, allowing asynchronous play is still a huge win in convenience and maybe these days people don't want a "better" and more interactive game, maybe they want a game they can actually get around to playing. Often, that means an asynchronous one. (And does asynchronous really have to mean worse anyway? See below.)

Codex

One day I thought, "Can my card game Codex be altered to support asynchronous play?" It's actually ludicrous to consider. The opponent can react about 9,000 times per turn to stuff you can do. It would be like playing MtG asynchronously, where the number of back and forths waiting to see if they other person does anything is so large that you'd give up on it before getting through a single turn, probably. That said, it would be such a big win if it were possible…somehow.

The thing that made me consider this at all is

Click to read more ...