Chess Combat Platformer

Enemies move like Chess Pieces

Hello, I'm James, and I'm turning Chess into a 2D Action Platformer!

Chess leaves the board and enters a weird world, where each piece acts on its own and tries to kill you. You, a lonely weak pawn, must fight through waves of enemies to defeat the evil King. 

Each piece moves like their over the board counterpart, but with a few unique twists and turns to keep you on your toes

Dynamic Enemies

I have always been fascinated by enemy behaviour in video games because of how it manipulates player behaviour. I believe that good enemies force your movement, take your attention, and organically put you in weaker positions which then creates fun. 

Every enemy in Chess Combat Platformer is designed to force your movement in some way.

Pawns take your attention, they're weak on their own but can distract you from more powerful pieces. Bishops control the air, making jumping over enemies a challenge, and performing surprising missile strikes from off screen. Rooks control the ground lanes, making fighting other enemies (such as those weak pawns I mentioned earlier) much harder.

Turning 3 Enemies into 9 (and more down the line)

Chess only has 6 unique pieces so how do you escalate tension throughout the game?

By giving each piece variations with unique abilities!

Each enemy in Chess Combat Platformer has variations with upgraded on their movements and abilities, keeping the game interesting hours in. A Level 1 Pawn just moves towards you. A level 2 Pawn dashes before attacking, making it harder to predict and avoid, and a Level 3 Pawn will promote if it successfully strikes you.

The game is broken up into Sagas with each Saga having it's own theme. Currently planned themes include Medieval, Superhero, Wild West, and Cyberpunk, each one coming with it's own twists on enemies. 

This is going to be the ultimate chess game!

Adding Boss Fights to Chess

The over the board Chess game does not have boss fights... but Chess is now an action platformer so it does

Each Saga ends with a boss fight against the Queen, a powerful opponent who has the mixed abilities of all other pieces. She strikes like a Bishop, before immediately switching to a Rook ground attack. A difficult fight indeed...

Many levels will also end with higher level variants of enemies, creating memorable encounters throughout your journey. You'll battle Rooks across moving platforms, survive ambushing Pawns, and many more scenarios you'll just have to wait for.