Pinnacle
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1129
Registered: 06-10-2004
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Smitemaster's Chess is a game for two players on an 8x8 board that looks like this:


These rules are an untested concept, and typed up rather quickly, so they're probably incomplete.

General Rules:
The object of the game is to either kill all monsters your opponent controls OR your opponent's smitemaster.
On your turn, you move one piece you control one space orthogonally or diagonally (unless that piece specifies otherwise), or, for a smitemaster, slayer, or aumtlich, turn that piece 1/8 of a turn.
If your move is blocked by a unit, you attack that unit, destroying it. The attacker then takes that unit's place (with the exception of the golem, see below.)
Smitemaster's Chess has no concept of check or checkmate, the game ends when one player's smitemaster (or all his or her monsters) is killed.

The Pieces:

Smitemaster - The "king" equivalent. A smitemaster cannot kill another smitemaster, only a monster can (professional courtesy).

Roach Queen - instead of moving, you may place a roach adjacent to the roach queen. (this ability may need some limits, playtesting would help.)
Aumtlich - A unit in the Aumtlich's beam (other than an Aumtlich) cannot move. A perpendicular sword freezes the Aumtlich in place.
Roach - Moves normally.
Golem - When attacked, leaves an immobile rock pile. The attacking unit does not occupy the golem's space.
Wubba - cannot attack or be attacked.
Goblin - Goblins may move twice, but their second move cannot be an attack.
Slayer - Slayers can attack with their body or their sword
Fegundo - Fegundo do not move normally. In addition to your normal move, you may move a fegundo one space in the direction your sword is facing.

Any ideas to add to this? New/different units, alternate board layouts (maybe asymmetrical ones?). etc.?


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Once (adv.): Enough.
Twice (adv.): Once too often.
~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

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[Last edited by Pinnacle at 02-27-2015 01:57 AM]

Jutt
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 863
Registered: 06-29-2007
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Very interesting. I posted a similar idea for Drod based chess a long time ago over here. Never really gave it any more thought, but I'd still like to try playing a chess like game with Drod monsters.

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Dischorran
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 3408
Registered: 09-10-2005
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So between golems, the wubba, two aumtlich-frozen enemies, and presumably a sword and a hook, it seems reasonably straightforward to block one's smitemaster off in a corner along with another piece, leading to a nice easy draw. Might it be better to eliminate most of the defensive pieces in favor of more roaches?

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Aquator
Level: Smiter

Rank Points: 405
Registered: 10-25-2014
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Very interesting, indeed.
Of course, the rules are just basic concepts as of now and would require many tweaks or even overhauls based on tons of experiences made actually playing the game.
One of the most game-breaking issues I can see right now would be a player's ability to force a draw really easily by protecting his/her smitemaster and a monster by surrounding them with golems (and their remains), aumtlich gazes, wubbas and swords/hooks, thus preventing their enemy from ever being able to win.

Some other questions:
Can you turn a unit so that its sword/hook overlaps with one of your own monsters? If so, would you have to sacrifice the monster to do so? If not, is there an exception if the blocking unit is your own wubba?

Can aumtlichs kill an enemy unit they are not currently facing or do they have to be looking at their target to be able to attack, sort of like in drod?

Is the fact that the players' fegundo/wubba are reflected on a horizontal axis while the slayer/smitemaster are reflected on the center point intentional?

Does a sword/hook block the aumtlich's gaze even if it is not perpendicular, like in drod?

EDIT: Did Dischorran already point out the whole "easily force a draw" thing by the time I came back to post this? Actually, the answer to this one is yes.

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[Last edited by Aquator at 02-27-2015 02:11 PM]

blorx1
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 920
Registered: 07-18-2009
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Giving a stick to one of the sworded characters might do something for the easy to force a draw aspect.

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skell
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 3734
Registered: 12-28-2004
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But you lose if you get your smitemaster killed OR lose all monsters, so even if you hide yourself in the corner sooner or later all of your units will be killed (except for indestructible wubba) which will result in your loss.

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Aquator
Level: Smiter

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skell wrote:
But you lose if you get your smitemaster killed OR lose all monsters, so even if you hide yourself in the corner sooner or later all of your units will be killed (except for indestructible wubba) which will result in your loss.

Right, that's why both me and and Dischorran mentioned you have to hide your smitemaster and a monster in the corner.

Aquator wrote:
(...)force a draw really easily by protecting his/her smitemaster and a monster by surrounding them(...)

Dischorran wrote:
(...)to block one's smitemaster off in a corner along with another piece, leading to a nice easy draw(...)

The stick would certainly be a way to prevent this, while also adding a potentially very complex mechanic.
Edit: Of course, this may essentially boil down to both players being super protective about their piece with a stick, since as soon as you lose it your opponent can then turtle up.

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[Last edited by Aquator at 02-27-2015 02:58 PM]

skell
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 3734
Registered: 12-28-2004
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Aquator wrote:
Right, that's why both me and and Dischorran mentioned you have to hide your smitemaster and a monster in the corner.

True I missed this, as well as the fact you can (you can, right?) use your sword for blocking .

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Pinnacle
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1129
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The stalemate problem is definitely an issue. One possibility is removing the defensive units, but I think adding in a few counter-mechanics could be better. A guard with a stick could be one of them, but if we rely on one unit to counter a broken strategy, that unit becomes too powerful.

What about wraithwings, with the ability to move 2 spaces, jumping over a unit if necessary, but only if it starts its move adjacent to another wraithwing? This would be much harder to block.

Of course adding more units would probably require there to be a variable setup mechanic, but that's fine.

____________________________
Once (adv.): Enough.
Twice (adv.): Once too often.
~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

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[Last edited by Pinnacle at 02-27-2015 04:27 PM]

Dischorran
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 3408
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I wonder what the game would be like if it were all roaches and aumtlich and a Halphking. With aumtlich being able to freeze aumtlich, of course.

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The spitemaster
Level: Smiter
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I think that a good rule for the wubbas is that if an attacking player starts and ends a turn with a sword on the wubba then it is destroyed.

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lopsidation
Level: Master Delver

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Possible fix for stalemate: instead of moving, you may explode your fegundo. This works like in DROD, but also destroys the fegundo.

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DezzTech
Level: Smiter
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File: chess.png (13.5 KB)
Downloaded 69 times.
License: Public Domain

heeey guys

So let's assume I may or may not be working on a game implementing this idea. (wink ;) )
Also let's assume I'm a lazy buttface. (just so you don't get your hopes up too much)

So I see there's been some discussion on the game rules provided in the first post but I can't be bothered to think what changes should I make myself. Right now I'm implementing rules as they are described in the first post. If someone has some other idea about how the game should work, feel free to post it here and I'll implement that too.

EDIT:
oh my god
what am i doing
i should stop programming at 2 AM


this is totally readable code, right?
well, if it's not readable, at least it's certainly art

EDIT 2:
So, um, I'm actually almost done.
Just need to fix a bug that exists because I refused to think ahead while programming. And maybe add some gui of sorts or something.

You can expect me to release something tomorrow erm, let's be realistic, this week. this month

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[Last edited by DezzTech at 11-09-2015 01:51 AM]

DezzTech
Level: Smiter
Rank Points: 327
Registered: 03-31-2009
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Download for version 0.001 pre-pre-pre-pre-alpha:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/37580635/DROD/chess/drod_chess_v0.001.7z

If anyone cares I can keep working on it.

Right now it's in a pretty barebones state. There's no menu, to restart the game just press 'R'.

To move your units first click on the one you want to move, then either click any of the highlighted squares or press 'Q' or 'W' to turn it. To use a special move, right-click on a highlighted square.

Special moves are:
Roach queen - spawn a roach egg. You can't spawn another egg if there's one in the process of hatching already and you can't have more than 4 roaches at any time.
Smitemaster - move to the selected tile and also move your fegundo in the direction your sword is facing.

Source code is included and it's hilariously terrible art in its purest form.

You'll need SFML and C++11 compatible compiler to compile it.

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