hi, its austin.

im still recovering from the holidays with a persistent cough.

i want to provide an incentive for players to visit previously completed stages. i want to subvert the player's expectations of the linear nature of the game and provide myself some opportunities to flesh out the world, while still locking some exploration behind linear progression.

the way i've tried to implement this is through giving every stage an "initial" setting and a "revisit" setting. each stage will use the same scene in its initial and revisit setting, but there will be some minor changes and new secrets to uncover.

this way, the player gets an initial experience with the stage and characters in a linear fashion. When they visit the stage later on in their campaign, they get to see the students in a new place doing new things in whatever order they prefer. my hope is that this will make the world feel alive and moving in a way that differentiates it from the source material i'm inspired by. i also plan to have students from other stages "cameo" in different locations, un-battle-able but with fun dialog snippits.

this isn't the best example, but its one of the few i have implemented so far. in the first visit of the library, clauble is pompous and sitting alone. gwendolyn is busying herself re-organizing the bookshelves. but in the revisit it is revealed that the two of them have a book club where they regularly meet and discuss novels over coffee.

in addition to new dialog, the students have updated battle strategies that play off of their initial gimmick.

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pieces have effects listed underneath their movement type in the inspector window. this is the standard way checkmage communicates information. i think this is good, however, its also cold and computerlike. every piece is itemized and reduced to a set of parameters and variables when listed out this way.
 

ive been considering how rigid this will make the finished game feel. a part of me is compelled to break the trust in the player by including a few secret effects that are initially not listed in the inspector.
so i did that! there are some pieces whose personalities are bolstered by having hidden "discoverable" effects that are revealed via experimentation. 



the quarter (an immobile piece) will permanently transform into a dollar upon reaching the other end of the board. this will give the player an alternative goal to checkmating their opponent, they can now generate money during battle (provided they know this little secret).

i will use this sparingly as to not cheapen its impact, and i won't show any other hidden effects to avoid spoiling too many secrets. :)

Checkmage! is still in active development. If you want to support me, please consider sharing with friends. The game will be released on Steam and Itch for sale when I'm done making it.

Checkmage! on Steam  - play the demo now!

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