Story: Imagine. You've tracked the Necromancer down to his haunted castle hideout. You're about to defeat him once and for all. Suddenly, a flash of green smoke. You open your eyes to see the wizard, in a daze across a great expanse... Wait, is this a checkerboard?
Objective: Navigate across the board to the Necromancer to reclaim his malfunctioned staff and reverse its effects, but watch out. The ghosts are very competitive at checkers. Every 10 seconds, they will take their turns and move the checkers across their ghostly checkerboard. You'll have to jump from checker to checker or you will fall through the phantom furniture!
Controls: WASD: Movement Space: Jump Reset: R Exit: Esc
Update Log: Update 2.0: Fixed error with game launch. Update 2.1: Minor adjustments to game balance and and appearance. Fixed collider issue. Update 3.1: UI and EndGame added. WebGL Port coming soon! Update 3.2: Jump and Camera Adjustments. Tried to fix bug in grab script. Update 3.3: Grab mechanic replaced with collider trigger. UI and Jump adjustments. Update 3.4: Fixed Esc bug.
I think I know why the game isn't opening for anyone other than you. You have probably misunderstood how to distribute a Unity game. When you export / build the game, there are some other files that generated aswell other than just the main executable. Export the game into its own directory separate from the project files and then share that entire directory
I did this exact same mistake back when I first used Unity
Yeah, you need to zip up everything in the folder where you built it, except for the _DoNotShip folder. (So the _Data folder, MonoBleedingEdge folder, .exe, UnityCrashHandler.exe, and UnityPlayer.dll all need to be included)
When building a game in unity, after selecting Build, create a folder and select it as build destination. Then enter that folder and select all items, right click and 'send to compressed folder'. It would be good to try and get a working build out.
The concept is good, but I'm struggling jumping from one piece from another one, and keep falling at each try. And in my case, I needed to restart the game for each try ! Otherwise it is playable for me :)
I could play the game. But the camera moves in a strange way. I fall in a jump to the infinite. Maybe it is a collision not detected with the board, you should make the board thicker to detect better the collisions.
I could play the game. But the camera moves in a strange way. I fall in a jump to the infinite. Maybe it is a collision not detected with the board, you should make the board thicker to detect better the collisions.
Friendly feedback: Jumping doesn't feel great, I don't know if it's bugged, but trying to jump to each checker feels pretty clunky. Falling through the board also feels like a bug, especially because we need to manually press R to reset or we fall forever into the abyss, checking the player's Y coordinate and resetting after they've reached -100 or something would make it much more convenient.
I managed to jump across to a few checkers, but I never got to engage with the idea where the AI moves platforms for me to cross, because the jumps felt so unreliable.
I didn't think to use the Y coordinate. I tried implementing the same feature through another method, and it failed, which is why I went with the manual reset. I'll try a Y coordinate reset if I decide to continue developing this concept!
It works now!! Enjoyed the first person 3D game, however I wished the camera was a little wider(?) I felt a bit tunnel visiony. I also wish the checkers were flat from a collision perspective. Despite these, the mood was awesome and it was a cool idea.
I’ll try fiddling with the camera and seeing how that affects gameplay and feel for the next patch.
I actually really like the uneven checker surface, but I’ll see what other players have to say on that one. I can see the pros and cons of both options.
Love the mood! The chess timers and the moving chimes add a lot (feels like you're in a grandfather clock hellscape).
I agree with what the other commentators said about jumping; I feel the gravity is slightly too high. The really interesting part of this game for me wasn't the jumping, but looking at the board state and trying to predict what a sensible next move would be, and planning my route based on that. So if that's the goal of the game, then IMO it makes sense to make it easy for the player to execute on that (which would mean simplifying the jump execution).
I love the idea of a board game where you play from the perspective of one of the pieces. Really neat entry :)
@poboy You make a great point about figuring out what the big point of interest is. I do want more focus to be on the puzzle aspect of analyzing the checkerboard, so I will see what I can do to make the jumps easier. Probably a combination of collider adjustments and gravity like you said.
Also I'm glad you like the hellscape vibe. That's definitely the intention.
@austin-sierra Thanks for letting me know. I don't know why the grab isn't working. The grab is supposed to exit the game, so that's why you're having issues. I'll look into it. I just added the feature this morning, so it hadn't been properly tested yet.
I was able to get across to far side of the Player A board a few times. I feel the precision needed was too great to be fun for me.
I think if the jump was a little bit floaty, as in falling slower and jumping higher, it would be much more playable. As it is, it feels like a very precision platforming game.
Thanks for the game.
P.S. Falling cause a checker moved out from under was unsettling.
The vibe is really cool, I think I would suggest expanding the fov it feels quite narrow and zoomed in I think it would make the jumping feel a lot better
I love the concept so much but i wish it wasn't so frustrating, the jumping feels a tad bit unnatural and I see what other people say about the FOV, it might help the player feel exactly where they are on each piece, the other thing I felt could change is that beginning audio queue- it felt like it was taunting me after the 40th time!! otherwise it was really good
I its still a little buggy - allso pressed E and I won, I fell through the table and I also won :D But I really like the idea, and I really like that I play some mini character on a huge boardgame. Graphics are well made also! Hope you can make it playable!
Hmm I think I won on accident, this game could definitely benefit from a tutorial! Overall though great atmosphere!! Really cool concept too and use of the theme
@thebutterapple24 Hm. I'm trying to think of what a tutorial would look like. I think it would have to be separate/non-canon, but that might be helpful. Great idea!
It'd be more challenging and more engaging if the necromancer also jumped on the pieces. As it is, I just wait for the first checker to move and allow me to reach the other side of the board and jump on the necromancer. After the first few attempts, I got used to the controls and have beaten the game in about ten seconds.
It'd be more challenging and more engaging if the necromancer also jumped on the pieces. As it is, I just wait for the first checker to move and allow me to reach the other side of the board and jump on the necromancer. After the first few attempts, I got used to the controls and have beaten the game in about ten seconds.
I love the vibe - the environment reminds me a bit of the Trapper boss fight in _Inscryption_.
I think the game would be a lot more fun if we played on top of a game of Go instead of checkers. As is, since checkers is a game about removing pieces over time, the current strategy is to wait for just one checker to move and then go for the necromancer as fast as possible - after a few pieces vanish, you're both more or less at the mercy of the ghosts. On the other hand, since Go tends to add pieces over time, you start out with a small amount of area (perhaps one where you can have a ranged battle with the necromancer), then you can go in for melee attacks as the game progresses and more pieces get added, and pieces can still be removed and fall out from under you if captures occur. The ghosts wouldn't even need to be all that great at Go for this to work.
@thehansinator I have never heard of Go before, so I’ll have to check it out. I think since it’s less common people would probably get confused.
You do have a good point though. Maybe another game that adds tiles/pieces would be interesting. Dominoes maybe? Othello does that I think?? I’ll keep thinking about it.
Nice work for a solo game jam game, as others have said I think your first priority if you wanna take this further is fix the, feels as though you have an invisible ceiling over you and the feels almost like you're floating down rather than gravity pulling you down. Maybe try adding some acceleration to how you fall back
The jump feels a little stiff, it is sort of hard to explain. If you jump straight up without moving in any other direction, it feels fine, but for reason when moving it become all jittery. I loved being able to jump on the timer, I am not even sure if competitive checkers is even a thing but so that definitely added to the humor for me. Great job to a solo project! Much better than my first solo project haha
@jesusonwheels first of all, congratulations on discovering you can hop on the timer. I left that in on purpose to see if players would attempt it. I love it when I try something strange in a game and it works.
I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as competitive checkers, but I wanted it to be kinda bizarre.
fun little game with cool graphics. I especially like the design of the necromancer! unfortunately i didn't have to wait for the checkers to move, i could just jump straight over to the other side and win the game. It would have been nice if you had to puzzle your way over more. But otherwise, solid entry! Good job!
@hengen Yeah if you're good at platforming it's possible to make the far jump. Most players can't stick the landing on the longer hops at the beginning. I actually had to make it easier lol. So nice job speedrunning it lol.
Comments53
I did this exact same mistake back when I first used Unity
And in my case, I needed to restart the game for each try !
Otherwise it is playable for me :)
Friendly feedback: Jumping doesn't feel great, I don't know if it's bugged, but trying to jump to each checker feels pretty clunky. Falling through the board also feels like a bug, especially because we need to manually press R to reset or we fall forever into the abyss, checking the player's Y coordinate and resetting after they've reached -100 or something would make it much more convenient.
I managed to jump across to a few checkers, but I never got to engage with the idea where the AI moves platforms for me to cross, because the jumps felt so unreliable.
I didn't think to use the Y coordinate. I tried implementing the same feature through another method, and it failed, which is why I went with the manual reset. I'll try a Y coordinate reset if I decide to continue developing this concept!
I’ll try fiddling with the camera and seeing how that affects gameplay and feel for the next patch.
I actually really like the uneven checker surface, but I’ll see what other players have to say on that one. I can see the pros and cons of both options.
I agree with what the other commentators said about jumping; I feel the gravity is slightly too high. The really interesting part of this game for me wasn't the jumping, but looking at the board state and trying to predict what a sensible next move would be, and planning my route based on that. So if that's the goal of the game, then IMO it makes sense to make it easy for the player to execute on that (which would mean simplifying the jump execution).
I love the idea of a board game where you play from the perspective of one of the pieces. Really neat entry :)
Also I'm glad you like the hellscape vibe. That's definitely the intention.
I think if the jump was a little bit floaty, as in falling slower and jumping higher, it would be much more playable. As it is, it feels like a very precision platforming game.
Thanks for the game.
P.S. Falling cause a checker moved out from under was unsettling.
But I really like the idea, and I really like that I play some mini character on a huge boardgame. Graphics are well made also! Hope you can make it playable!
I think the game would be a lot more fun if we played on top of a game of Go instead of checkers. As is, since checkers is a game about removing pieces over time, the current strategy is to wait for just one checker to move and then go for the necromancer as fast as possible - after a few pieces vanish, you're both more or less at the mercy of the ghosts. On the other hand, since Go tends to add pieces over time, you start out with a small amount of area (perhaps one where you can have a ranged battle with the necromancer), then you can go in for melee attacks as the game progresses and more pieces get added, and pieces can still be removed and fall out from under you if captures occur. The ghosts wouldn't even need to be all that great at Go for this to work.
You do have a good point though. Maybe another game that adds tiles/pieces would be interesting. Dominoes maybe? Othello does that I think?? I’ll keep thinking about it.
If anyone has ideas please feel free to chime in.
I'm glad you like the concept though. That tells me that the game might have potential once I get it cleaned up.
I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as competitive checkers, but I wanted it to be kinda bizarre.