With all testing, you'd think someone would tell the dev that a turn based game such as this should save its current state in memory after closing.
I just picked it up on account of being a Brough-like and I am very pleased with it so far. Apparently he did have a hand in the development of the game as he is credited, along with many others for the sprites. The game itself is a gem. You begin with the option of customizing the game to your specifications and then proceed to play an indefinite number of rounds with randomly selected pieces. Each figure moves in a predetermined chess-like manner that you discover as you play. The object appears to be to capture/destroy the two pieces at the center of the opponents edge of the board while protecting your own - a kind of two-king system. Unlike chess, movement has no barriers that I have encountered so far so you have the possibility of destroying your own pieces. Also the music and atmosphere are enjoyably tense and rhythmic. Overall, I am highly satisfied with the experience which truly seems to offer infinite replayability.
Guys found some weird mini game or something, go to the credits page, keep scrolling down past the credits, the screen will eventually go dark, keep scrolling down until you get to the title screen again, clicked on the screen and it took me to some weird game, can't figure out what to do past that. Let me know what you think #
Not quite. From the five minutes that I've put in, and by looking at the "concepts" by pressing the button on the bottom right in the menu, it seems the two middle pieces aren't necessary for victory but instead are worth 4x as much as a normal piece. This is unlike chess, where taking the king is obviously necessary for victory. Also some suggestions based on playing a couple of rounds: - Infinite mode should be the default game mode. My experience got much better when I found a non-timed mode. - AI, not PvP should be default when first opening the game - The concepts tutorial should not allow you to skip to the next one unless the current concept has been performed. The first time I ran through it, I skipped to the next concept after only moving each piece once and was left only more confused when finishing the tutorial. - As per my previous post, please allow the game to save its state in memory. Not a huge deal as games are so short, but would be nice. - An option to disable background animations could be beneficial On anther note, the art work is great and reminds be of the Oryx tiles for Brogue. They're clear and highly recognisable while looking great at the same time. Can see the Michael Brough influences throughout the game as well. I'm looking forward to spending a lot more time with this one as the sheer variability with the amount of pieces probably results in a deceiving amount of depth.
WOW!!! Instant classic. Seriously. This game is soooo freaking good. Presentation is great. It truly feels like a Michael Brough game. Sounds and graphics. All just clicks with me. And the game mechanics. Holy cow, pure genius! That's gonna be a keeper!
Okay, starting to get it. You have to eliminate a certain number of points worth of enemy pieces, with the light-colored pieces being especially valuable.
Great concept. I'm all about the discovery of the different pieces, but so far it's just been game after game of "oh that moves there, opponent takes it, I can't take any of his". Repeat. Then it's game over and I'm not sure why. On infinite mode most of the time.
I think it's quite easy to understand. And yes, the random factor is at play here. You first have to check out how your pieces will move. And you cannot use one piece only repeatedly since it will die after three moves in a row. But I feel like making progress with each game. One question though: how do I trigger online play? I just see Easy AI, Standard AI and Player, which is local. Hmmm. EDIT: Nevermind, my iPhone isn't logging into Game Center anymore. That's the problem. Weird.
Impressions Ok I decided to go in blindish for a change and size this one up. Here are my initial impressions: - Simplistic yet effective sounds and artwork - Mode selection is a bit deceptive: the store claims there are 3 modes and there technically is, but they only change the amount of time you have to make your move. I expected a bit more for a full price premium game. - Different board size options are nice, adds a bit of variety and allows you to tweak the game to your liking - Absolutely nobody is playing online right now, or at the very least I cannot find a match. I do not know whether the options in the menu actually change who the game tries to match you up with, or if you can even change the options in an online match. This was the main reason I got the game tbh, and I am disappointed that I might only be playing AI at this rate Now for the gameplay, design and what I think of it overall: Quick rundown for those who want to understand the rules - you have a chessboard with a certain setup of pieces depending on the size and such of the board. Each turn you can move one piece, but the catch is each piece moves differently, so you have to discover how the pieces move for every new game, and try and use them to take out your opponents pieces. There are different colored pieces (seems to always be in the middle of the bottom row) that are worth more points if you destroy them. The goal is to take your opponents "life points" to 0 by destroying his pieces (while also not trying to destroy your own!) Honestly, this game is maybe a bit above average, but it lacks that serious longevity or killer design of something like 868-Hack. Part of this problem comes from the rapid games - if you play one of the time modes this game can play lightning fast, and it burns you out of the game very quickly. The randomness is actually one of the strongest points of the game, but due to the way it works there are some really annoying cases where all the pieces can only move 1 or 2 spaces and so you don't have those power pieces to help you wipe the board quickly (these games also tend to drag). A couple of annoying issues arise due to the design... for instance, you can't undo a selection of a piece because selecting a piece gives you its movement style (which is how you learn how each piece on your board for that game is going to move). This is doubly frustrating with the fatigue system (you can only move one piece so many times before it destroys itself) and triply frustrating if you have to move the piece into one of your own pieces when you never intended to move it in the first place. I also feel like the pacing of the game (note - not turn times, but the amount of turns it will take to finish a game on average) is far too fast. This leads to one issue - by the time you have actually figured out how each piece moves (and sadly, you have to remember all of them for each game), the game is usually close to over by then. Maybe a bigger board size would solve this, but I just feel like I can't really create any strategy because by the time I have the knowledge to form one its too late. I do not know yet whether this is just a byproduct of my poor knowledge of the game or whether this is actually the case, but for now I feel like the game lacks strategy and is overwhelming due to the amount of things you have to remember each game. I am not very good at the game, so I don't really want to comment on the competency of the AI, but on the standard mode it beats me a decent amount, but I did play quickly without too much thought. Easy AI is what it says on the tin. Can't find any players so dunno what its like against a human. The absolute biggest problem by far with the game is the asking price for what you actually get. I do not think this game is worth the price they are charging, arguably even more so since its actually on sale right now (MAYBE if the sale price was the actual price it might be ok...) because I do not feel like the design is enough to win me over, and the graphics and sound are nothing to write to home about. It took maybe 20 minutes for me to see pretty much all of the game, so the real value is in the random piece movement every game and the way these movements combine, but I do not think the novelty will last too long. The game is in an awkward spot - the randomness isn't really going to appease the hardcore audience, and I don't think the strategy or design is good enough for a competitive scene, but it isn't going to appeal to a casual audience either due to its niche design and limited production values. I honestly think I need to see this game in action against someone who actually knows how to play or at least any other human being before I can make a final conclusion, but it isn't promising thus far EDIT: Should also mention, the "tutorial" is pretty bad and doesn't explain any of the major mechanics (like how each piece moves randomly). The tutorial shows the fatigue system of the pieces, but doesn't really explain it properly. You can move a piece 3 times before it destroys itself, but killing an opponents piece actually reduces this fatigue by 1 (you can use any piece). I imagine this is in place to prevent stalemates and to actually force players to try and take the opponents pieces.
There is supposedly a Game Center fix in the works, but IOS 9 broke it. I was really surprised nobody at Apple caught such an obvious one.
Aaaah, cool. Was about to completely set up my iPhone again. So that wouldn't change anything for now? Thanks for the info. Then I'll wait for the fix.
Cant finy any match online oh boy... This is actually very good to me Very exciting because every match will be different... Play for about 20 minutes Totally worth the price but inagree i enjoy hack 868 more since its not in the same genre This game is more like chess with random rules for the pieces
Couldn't find a game online either. Is the online multiplayer only real time or does it feature async as well? Pedroapan
Just picked this up. I'm drelbs on Game Center if anyone wants to play. (Still on iOS 8, so maybe online will work! )
This game is dead brilliant. Love the randomness, love the relatively fast pace (compared to other multiplayer board-type games), love the strategy (watching your opponent's move can reveal a piece's movement range without risking a move of your own, etc.), love other stuff. I managed to play a couple GC multiplayer games late last night, which seemed to be real-time rather than asynchronous--the timed nature of the game might require it to be real-time. I'm assuming that all on-line multiplayer games are for the default game mode, board size, and number of pieces. I have a feeling that there are depths to this game that are not apparent at first. For example, as another poster pointed out, taking an opponent's piece reduces your piece's fatigue by one. You need to figure out the movement patterns of each piece in each individual game while taking into account the constant concepts like fatigue and looping (which may have other unexplained mechanics). In short, highly recommended.
