Big Update: Improved Tutorial, New Features, and Bug Fixes!

Hello Everyone!
Firstly, thank you to every one of you who has taken the time to play the demo and provide feedback—it means a great deal to me and has been very helpful! I read every comment and consider the community's input as much as I can.

With that said, let's dive into what’s changing in this update:

The Tutorial

Based on your feedback, I noticed that the tutorial didn’t explain the movement mechanics well enough, which caused some confusion and frustration. To address this, I’ve added a Movement Tutorial that will pop up before the main tutorial.

This new tutorial is designed to better demonstrate the spacing needed for certain jumps and provide more clarity on how jump failures work. If you’ve already mastered the mechanics, you can skip the movement tutorial, and it can also be revisited from within the main tutorial level for additional practice.

Separating the movement mechanics from the main tutorial has allowed me to add new boards to the main tutorial, giving players a better idea of what to expect from the game.

All high scores achieved on the previous version of the tutorial have been archived and are still viewable in game under the tutorial high scores.

Custom Settings

Custom settings have been added to Adventure Mode!

What does this mean?
You can now adjust the following settings in Adventure Mode:

• Stockfish ELO Level: Choose between 500–2500.
• Board Type: Select from Casual, Normal, or Immortal. (Each difficulty has unique chess positions, with Casual being the easiest and Immortal the hardest.)
• Jump Failure: Toggle this feature On or Off.
• Reset Type: Choose between resetting by Each Section or Entire Level.

💡 Note: Playing on custom settings disables the ability to set high scores on the Steam Leaderboard.

Gameplay Updates

Stockfish ELO Rating Adjustments

The base Stockfish ELO rating has been increased as follows:

Adventure Mode:

• Casual: 800 → 1000
• Normal: 1000 → 1300
• Immortal: 1300 → 1600

Stacks Mode:

• Base ELO: 1000 → 1300

Additional Changes

• Increased Jump Failure Timing by one tick to improve playability.
• Boards outside the section you are currently in are now locked. Entering a section with your pawn unlocks the appropriate boards for that area.

Other Improvements

• Improved the respawn/reset camera functionality for smoother gameplay.
• Optimized respawn/reset board loading efficiency and added a loading screen.
• Added descriptions to cosmetics to indicate how to unlock them.
• Updated Checkmated board color to stand out more.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where releasing the jump early in the safe area resulted in a lower-than-expected jump.
• Checkmated boards in previous sections now reset correctly.
• Fixed a glitch where gameplay could continue despite pressing the pause button.

Thank you all for your continued support! I’m excited for you to try out these updates, and as always, I look forward to hearing your feedback. For more feedback and updates on the game join the discord here https://discord.com/invite/Y3HN89FaQu

-- Doug