I’ve currently got what I hope is a strong beta for ParserComp 2022. It’s – about chess, as Fivebyfivia was. But I’d like to think it has, or plans to have,
- actual chess
- a story behind the moves
- the ability for the parser to understand moves (this includes explicit parser error help if you mis-type.)
In particular I need someone to abuse the parser and try things. The “right path” is eight moves through, but there are narrative branches for doing things the wrong way. You should only need to know how basic chess pieces move.
Experienced players may already know the puzzle right away, and their input is helpful, too.
If anyone’s interested, PM me for links to the private Itch.io site. Thanks!
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What a nice game that seems! @.@
Can’t wait to play it! : D
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A question about the game if you don’t mind, hopefully it doesn’t spoil the puzzle. How graphical is it? When I think of parser-based chess, I can’t help but imagine a board drawn with ASCII art or some such. I get the impression that your “chess-ish” game is not like a straight game of chess on a board, but more like a puzzle which uses elements and knowledge of chess. If the latter, I’d be interested to test it, even though I’m pretty rubbish at chess really. Posting this publicly in case someone else has a similar question.
Best of luck for the comp!
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It’s text-map based, though I think I should add a screen-reader feature that says “Your king is on X. Your enemy king is on Y. (redacted other-piece spoilers here.)”
There may not be time for a testing turnaround. I’ve gotten some good feedback before I slowed down, but I’ll definitely keep you in mind if I feel the bugs I fixed need a second look!
As for the position on the board, it’s an endgame study, and it sort of has to be, because even with very few pieces on the board, it’s still hard to program all the special cases, and I wanted the player to be able to solve it by trial and error!
If you’ve seen Magnus Olsson’s Zugzwang, this is in that vein. Zugzwang is downloadable from IFDB. While it’s a quick jokey April Fools’ game, the joke is well-done.
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That would be useful, although probably a little difficult to make that a full and concise feature at such a late stage, so it’s all good.
Totally fair, I came in pretty late. I’ll still be giving it a go as best I can when it’s released, it sounds interesting.
You know, I’ve had it for years and never even opened it. Thanks.
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