Kung Fu Chess v1.02

[Moderator]

Orcnet

17:52, 15th Nov 2013

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Kung Fu Chess (Tested Version 1.00) Rate Score Percent Letter 5/5 91-100 A Rate Score Percent Letter 4/5 81-90% B Rate Score Percent Letter 3/5 75-80% C Rate Score Percent Letter 2/5 70-74% D Rate Score Percent Letter 1/5 50-69% F Overview: Gameplay "This is extraordinary and well themed, I like how you end up doing free moves without the specific move rules of Chess which is really good, however there was some bug or so I end up getting another Queen when I reached one of my pawns to the enemy player's 2nd lane." Terrain "No much terrain involved except for that board which looks very decent and fair to an actual chess game." Management "Overall map can be useful." Total Score: (Gameplay[x/5] + Terrain[x/5] + Management[x/5] / Total Score[15] * 50 + 50) Rate Score Percent Letter 9/15 80% C

 

[IcemanBo]

I tested it with a friend and all worked properly. I've never heard of Kung Fu Chess before so it was really unusual for me to play chess like this.
Even I think, I prefer normal chess this also was a funny game. But anyway, I guess there can't be enough variations... so good job! +rep

Suggestions:
- I don't like that you cant block an enemy for defending other units (but I guess you won't change this)
- Maybe you could add an alert if your king is going to be attacked, or something like this

 

[demonlord5000]

Glad ya enjoyed the game. Mechs not around right now so I'll reply for now.

Regarding the first suggestion, we made it so that pieces take pieces that intercept intentionally since that was in the original kung fu chess. That makes you have to be quick if your going to use a piece to block, because if they get the click off then they will do some damage. Likewise if we changed it so you could block, I could see that changing the game drastically, because then you could easily trap major pieces in a pawns range. It was an interesting thought, but I don't think we should change that.

As for the second suggestion, we could possibly do something like that, but I'm not completely sure about it. I'll give it some thought.

I will say we are planning to add modes and come up with our own unique variations of the game eventually, so look forward to some updates! Also, if any glitches come up let us know. We tested it extensively because there was some odd bugs in the unreleased version, but I'm hoping we got rid of all those.

 

[Legal_Ease]

Sounds Awesome!!! I want to see some screenshots!!! +REP
[edit]
This game is really sweet!!! 5/5 Only suggestion is that you use normal wc3 models and allow full animations like battlechess.

 

[Mech_Warrior]

IcemanBo,

Regarding the first potential mechanics change, consider how the game would play out, if you could block. For instance, I send my Bishop toward your Queen, and you block with a pawn advance. Which unit dies? If it's the Bishop only, then nobody would ever take units except at point blank, which would lead to a frustrating stalled out game. If it's the Bishop and the Pawn that both die, then people would still constantly abuse pawns to block diagonals, making Bishops considerably less useful, and Knights considerably more so (since they jump over units and cannot be blocked). If it's that the Pawn dies, but the Bishop does not continue its path, then more powerful units such as the Queen and Rooks could be baited into a potential King capture, only to be blocked by, say, a knight, and then captured in retaliation. I think it's honestly best kept as it is, with dodging allowed, but after-the-fact blocking being detrimental.

Your second idea is a good one. Should I use floating text, game text, or a ping + a sound alert? I think the last option might be the best. Maybe a "Warning" sound + a ping at the oncoming unit?

Legal_Ease,

If I used Warcraft models, which ones would I use? Peasants for Pawns, Priests for Bishops, etc? Also wouldn't that cause a certain amount of confusion among players who are not as familiar with the standard chess setup, but would recognize pieces by visual cues? I think it would be ideal if the chess piece models I was using had some sort of moving animation, but I'm not sure how realistic that is. Thanks for the idea anyway!

I appreciate the feedback, both of you.

-Mech

 

[IcemanBo]

Your second idea is a good one. Should I use floating text, game text, or a ping + a sound alert? I think the last option might be the best. Maybe a "Warning" sound + a ping at the oncoming unit?

I don't know... yes maybe this warning sound of wc3, or change vortex colour of king to red for the times its attacked, but im sure you will find a solution^^

And yes maybe better keep that system without blocking

 

[Weng]

Played it public and it's Fun²+8

Meet a chess-pro and i get bullied

I still don't understand, is there a system let the observer play? Or the observer just observer?

Btw - Not bad for the map size , found no bug 4/5

 

[demonlord5000]

You can swap people in and out as well as change your view via the escape menu. Basically one player goes into the escape menu, chooses to resign their color, and then an observer can choose to take over that color.

There is some info about the escape menu in the quest log, but do you think we should make that more obvious?

 

[Legal_Ease]

Legal_Ease,

If I used Warcraft models, which ones would I use? Peasants for Pawns, Priests for Bishops, etc? Also wouldn't that cause a certain amount of confusion among players who are not as familiar with the standard chess setup, but would recognize pieces by visual cues? I think it would be ideal if the chess piece models I was using had some sort of moving animation, but I'm not sure how realistic that is. Thanks for the idea anyway!

I appreciate the feedback, both of you.

-Mech

I think you could use standard wc3 pieces and make it work. My guess is that non-chess players will not really like this game anyway.

Player 1 (or maybe for each race)
Adjust sizes according to Chess Standards (tooltips might help non-chess players).

Pawn = peasant
Castle = tower
Knight = Knight
Bishop = Priest (or breaker 0.8 size)
King = Uther (maybe add a crown attachment and remove hammer)
Queen = Sorceress (2x size)

Orc?

Peon
Tower
Raider (0.6 size)
Troll Doc
Chieftain
Female Blademaster (custom)

UD ?

Well, you get the idea.

Maybe it would help to remove their stand animations. That way they would look more like pieces and less like warriors.

Also, I'm not saying you should change this one. You should make a new one called WarCraft III BattleChess. It would be exactly the same but with new models.

 

[IcemanBo]

Or the players should choose. In a dialog before the game starts they could choose between classic- or warcraft-style!

 

[Weng]

You can swap people in and out as well as change your view via the escape menu. Basically one player goes into the escape menu, chooses to resign their color, and then an observer can choose to take over that color.

There is some info about the escape menu in the quest log, but do you think we should make that more obvious?

It's clear enough, just that i dunno how it work.
I think you can make it change player automatically, replace the loser with an observer if there is.

Add a variable that count all player played time, always take the observer that plated the least to replace loser.

(If you do this, please don't count play time for winner, they will just stuck once they lose)

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I had no problem with the model, not voting to change it. But you can still create a poll ;P
This is a solid map, i'll host it and play when i feel like to

 

[Mech_Warrior]

Icemanbo/Legal_Ease - Great ideas, thanks again. What I'm thinking of doing is having a unit with "Game Options" for Player White. One of the options available will be wc3/standard chess units.

Weng - Thanks for the feedback. Believe it or not, I actually had planned to have an "Auto-replace Loser" mode as an option for Player White to enable. I still have to figure out exactly how the logistics will work (as far as how you select the mode, and how exactly it chooses the new player). Your idea for the player who played least is good, but it could lead to a few issues. First, as you mentioned, once a player who went on a winning streak loses, he could not be selected for a long time. Second, it could be possible that a player would not want to play in the next match, but gets selected anyway.

I think to address both of those, maybe I could have a way for players to volunteer to be selected in new matches (maybe an option that they turn on/off), and then it chooses a player semi-randomly partially based on how many matches they have played.

Also I could make an "Auto-replace Players" mode wherein all players are replaced at the beginning of each round (assuming there are 4 or more people in the game).

Things I'm considering for the next release:

1) A warning animation/ping/sound when your King is under attack (credits to Icemanbo).
2) I might make a Co-op mode, where the game is teamed, with shared unit control, as an additional option.
3) Eventually I am going to add a simplistic AI that can be played against.
4) Adding more description to the map regarding the Escape menu.
5) Adding modes that can be toggled on/off and selected between.

Thanks again for the feedback.

 

[Legal_Ease]

Re: 3) AI is going to be tricky. You will need to create a system that understands chess. If you can pull this off, it will be simply amazing!

I really want to push for animated pieces though, I think it would be the biggest improvement to this already EPIC game!!!

Again, Great Work!

 

[Tal'Rarity]

Fix your leaks! don't forget =P

3/5 for now.

It's good so far, and its unique which is why a 3/5 is fitting and the 4/5 will appear when you finish up that Ai I had to help you fix a bit. =)

 

[Tanasren]

Omg REALLY FUN !!

I had to wait 20 min and no one came but second time i hosted I could try it !

That was very fun.
But maybe you should reduce movement speed ? or just put a command where you can adjust it yourself -movespeed #
200 could be good for beginners (or even less)

Also all the pieces have 6.75 sec cooldown, why not different cooldowns ? well it's simpler and maybe it's better I don't know

And why not making 2-4 boards so players can play without just watching, then they can exchange slots ?

EDIT : why not allowing blocking ? It feels totally logic when playing but i still lost 2 pieces in one move XD

 

[Mech_Warrior]

Hey Tanasren,

Hey, that's actually a really good idea regarding the Movement Speed. I could add a mode at map init that allows Standard Movement or Variable Movement. In Variable Movement Mode, Player White could decide on the movement speed for units that match. Thanks for the idea!

As far as pieces having the same cooldown, it's not necessarily about simplicity so much as balance. I don't want a scenario in which a piece arrives to a location, and another piece can move into range and then kill it before the original piece gets another move. It seems very unfair, and I wouldn't know which pieces to give lower/higher cooldowns to at any rate.

As far as the idea of having many boards... that would be ambitious for me. It would take a lot of restructuring, I'm not sure I'm up for that quite yet. But definitely a good idea for later.

Also blocking is not allowed for reasons previously mentioned. I will repeat it, since I don't think you saw my initial comment on the matter.

Consider how the game would play out, if you could block. For instance, I send my Bishop toward your Queen, and you block with a pawn advance. Which unit dies? If it's the Bishop only, then nobody would ever take units except at point blank, which would lead to a frustrating stalled out game. If it's the Bishop and the Pawn that both die, then people would still constantly abuse pawns to block diagonals, making Bishops considerably less useful, and Knights considerably more so (since they jump over units and cannot be blocked). If it's that the Pawn dies, but the Bishop does not continue its path, then more powerful units such as the Queen and Rooks could be baited into a potential King capture, only to be blocked by, say, a knight, and then captured in retaliation. I think it's honestly best kept as it is, with dodging allowed, but after-the-fact blocking being detrimental.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Tanasren]

"If it's that the Pawn dies, but the Bishop does not continue its path, then more powerful units such as the Queen and Rooks could be baited into a potential King capture, only to be blocked by, say, a knight, and then captured in retaliation. I think it's honestly best kept as it is, with dodging allowed, but after-the-fact blocking being detriment"

I thought this would be logic.
I think it would lead to good strategies but hmm you decide. If you didn't try it you could put a test mode one day and test it.
However when i looked for "kung fu chess" on wikipedia it didn't mention we couldn't block.


And one guy told me "Why cant we do rouchade ?", well never heard of this word before but it's when you swap King and Tower if there are no Knight and Bishop blocking the way (first King's move).

 

[Mech_Warrior]

Technically I do deviate a little from traditional Kung Fu Chess. However, the no blocking rule is still in effect, in a sense.

To read more about the mechanics of original KFC: http://kfc.kunuk.dk/rules.htm

Also he meant what casual chess players would call "castling." I have not added that to the game, and I'm not entirely sure if I will.

 

[funAlways]

fun game, sometimes funny how new player got trapped because he/she think of a free victory XD
Some Suggestion:
Rename Armor to Points, and Armor's default description to something like "This unit give X Points",
Loses at multiboard (and rounds), it is annoying to find that people win and lose a lot but bragging too much because only win is shown (And maybe move Wins from gold to Food, so it will be Win/Lose, and Gold for Rounds Played?)
some command to vote force resign, incase someone went AFK?

Some Setting per player (or per round, set by white player)? like:
Movement Speed, so an experienced player can "go easy" on newer player (if per-player setting)
Color with custom Red Green Blue value? (dont know if this is possible but it will be cool if possible), my friend complain because blue-teal can be confusing (well i actually have no problem at all)
some random mode like drunk mode where cam will shake, Warcraft 3 mode where unit will be replaced (like some suggestion before) with warcraft units, etc etc for fun XD

 

[Orcnet]

Map approved, see moderator comment on top.

 

[meatfactory]

The game is nicely made with mechanics working and all. Not very original though (I've seen other chess games).

 

[Mech_Warrior]

Hello Orcnet. Thanks for the review! Please keep in mind that in Chess, when a Pawn reaches the other team's end of the board, you get to choose a piece to put back on the board in its place. In Kung Fu Chess, due to the real-time mechanic, there isn't time for players to choose the type of piece to put, and therefore, by default, you will get the highest possible piece (a Queen). This isn't a bug.

@meatfactory: Did you test the map or read the description? This isn't "just another chess game." The map is played in real time, hence the title "Kung Fu Chess." It is based on an online game years ago that went by the same name; players move in real time, with piece dodging, multiple piece moving, combos, etc. The game is not played as a regular chess match, in turns. Thanks for the comment, though!

 

[meatfactory]

@meatfactory: Did you test the map or read the description? This isn't "just another chess game." The map is played in real time, hence the title "Kung Fu Chess." It is based on an online game years ago that went by the same name; players move in real time, with piece dodging, multiple piece moving, combos, etc. The game is not played as a regular chess match, in turns. Thanks for the comment, though!

Description? Wtf is that? jk... by the godz man! of course i read the fucking description. Real time or not it's still chess. I have a strange sense for originality don't make me go in to detail. Can you make one turn based version with AI ?

 

[Mech_Warrior]

Map updated (now with somewhat functional AI).

Sorry for the epic delay time on the update, I got frustrated with this map for a bit and took a break to make other things. Just recently came back to this map, and decided to update.