Checkmage!

Devlog

• Checkmage! weekly devlog 27
  March 06, 2026 by posshydra

  1

  hi! its austin. this past week, i chipped away at some of the remaining battles. each student should have a unique strategy to their battle. the easiest way to do this is by giving them different card... Continue reading

  
• Checkmage! weekly devlog 26
  February 26, 2026 by posshydra

  2

  hi! its austin, here is what ive been doing this week. i've been going through the meticulous task of putting in dialog and polishing and testing interactions. i'm an ideas guy! i like coming up with... Continue reading

  
• Checkmage! weekly devlog 25
  February 17, 2026 by posshydra

  1

  hi, its austin! here's another slightly delayed weekly update on the game. when working on checkmage, i try to focus on the parts of the game i feel passionate about working on. there are pros and con... Continue reading

  
• Checkmage! weekly devlog 24
  February 08, 2026 by posshydra

  2

  hi, its austin. i haven't made a devlog in a while. i'm working on a bunch of cool stuff that happens at the end of the game. it involves a lot of scripting and fun sprites to draw, so i've kept busy... Continue reading

  
• Checkmage! weekly devlog 23
  January 23, 2026 by posshydra

  3

  hi, its austin. this week, i implemented the pre-battle view. i talked about my intentions for why i thought this was necessary in weekly devlog 13 . in the demo, players had to leave a match to chang... Continue reading

  
• Checkmage! weekly devlog 22
  January 16, 2026 by posshydra

  1

  hi, its austin. this week, i worked on the beginning and end sequences to the game. i'm moving to a point in development where i'm wrapping up the scope of the game. i have a general deadline set in m... Continue reading

  
• Checkmage! weekly devlog 21
  January 07, 2026 by posshydra

  1

  hi, its austin. im still recovering from the holidays with a persistent cough. i want to provide an incentive for players to visit previously completed stages. i want to subvert the player's expectati... Continue reading

  
• Checkmage! weekly devlog 20
  December 31, 2025 by posshydra

  1

  hey, its austin. happy holidays! i have not worked on checkmage the past week on account of visiting with friends and family. i also caught the flu, which i fought off while watching movies. since i d... Continue reading

  
• Checkmage! weekly devlog 19
  December 24, 2025 by posshydra

  3

  hi! its austin. this week, i put in some curious features. when playing longer matches and running out of cards/spells, mana starts to accumulate. the max it can reach is 10. with nothing to spend the... Continue reading

  
• Checkmage! weekly devlog 18
  December 16, 2025 by posshydra

  2

  hi, its austin. i don't know how to write dialog! i have a lot of fully complete sprites for small cutscene segments of the overworld, but dialog is one aspect of game development that is difficult fo... Continue reading

  
• Checkmage! weekly devlog 17
  December 10, 2025 by posshydra

  2

  hi! its austin. this week i was productive! i worked on reed's mechanics. he is an alchemist, and so of course he's gotta have a workbench and some potions. they all have interesting effects on the bo... Continue reading

  
• Checkmage! weekly devlog 16
  December 02, 2025 by posshydra

  2

  hi, its austin. thanksgiving time with friends and family! not much development has happened this past week. this post i wanted to show some old character sprites. i also wanted to show how things hav... Continue reading

  
• Checkmage! weekly devlog 15
  November 23, 2025 by posshydra

  2

  hi! its austin. has it been two weeks already? oh... a friend shared with me a video by mantron, where they give a nice overview of some games and demos from the last steam nextfest. checkmage was inc... Continue reading
• Checkmage! weekly devlog 14
  November 09, 2025 by posshydra

  4

  hi, its austin. i've been making a lot of progress on the stages! constructing them to be a lot smaller and designed destination-first has helped out a lot. i've learned how NOT to set up an overworld... Continue reading

  
• Checkmage! weekly devlog 13
  October 28, 2025 by posshydra

  1

  hi, its austin. this week i worked on a few small pieces to get back in the groove of developing the game. the overworld was missing a few elements to make it a true point and click experience, so im... Continue reading

  
• Checkmage! weekly devlog 12
  October 20, 2025 by posshydra

  1

  hey, its austin. i didn't post an update last week because we were out and about at some meetups and going to some conventions. Thanks to the generous folks at PIGSquad, I had Checkmage! showcased at... Continue reading

  
• Checkmage! weekly devlog 11
  September 30, 2025 by posshydra

  1

  hi, its austin. this past week, jusentari and i have been polishing the game and fixing bugs with the new undo system, so there isn't anything super interesting to show gameplay-wise. as of today, che... Continue reading

  
• Checkmage! weekly devlog 10
  September 24, 2025 by posshydra

  1

  hi, its austin. this last week has had jusentari & i brainstorming some finer details of the game. jumping off of last week's post, we spent some time implementing an "end-of-match" state for the game... Continue reading

  
• Checkmage! weekly devlog 9
  September 16, 2025 by posshydra

  1

  hi, its austin. strikes are going away. ive done a lot of thinking with jusentari on the games identity, now that its been played and tested by a good number of people. i found that the 3-strikes chec... Continue reading

  
• Checkmage! weekly devlog 8
  September 09, 2025 by posshydra

  3

  hi its austin. i did some things last week. jusentari implemented saves, and i designed a little profile card so you can load and delete data like a lot of small things in Checkmage, it was inspired b... Continue reading

  
• Checkmage! weekly devlog 7
  September 02, 2025 by posshydra

  1

  hi, its austin. the Checkmage! demo is out on itch and steam! it's so playable right now. there are absolutely zero bugs. if you're reading this and you haven't tried it, please do and let me know wha... Continue reading

  
• Checkmage! weekly devlog 6
  August 26, 2025 by posshydra

  3

  hi, its austin. this is the 6th week ive made one of these! i made a background, trying to replicate the background from a few levels in cave story. heres a lil process video! its not the exact same,... Continue reading

  
• Checkmage! weekly devlog 5
  August 19, 2025 by posshydra

  1

  hi, its austin. this last week ive worked on implementing a few spells and pieces, as well as building the strategies that will be used by opponents in the mid-game and late-game. the volcano piece fr... Continue reading

  
• Checkmage! weekly devlog 4
  August 11, 2025 by posshydra

  3

  hi its austin, this week i worked on some fun things. some time was spent on the profile screen. the profile screen is a place to check out your stats & other progress through the game. i drew lots of... Continue reading

  
• Checkmage weekly devlog 3
  August 04, 2025 by posshydra

  2

  hey its austin. this week i implemented some pieces i had planned to implement since the inception of the game over a year and a half ago. the fffrogggule i want to start by breaking down the deceptiv... Continue reading

  
• Checkmage! weekly devlog 2
  July 28, 2025 by posshydra

  hey, its austin. this week, ive done some fun visuals and implemented a lot of character sprites. i stuffed them all into one test area and made sure you could interact with them correctly. everyones... Continue reading

  
• Checkmage! weekly devlog 1
  July 21, 2025 by posshydra

  3

  hey, its austin. i'm gonna start doing a weekly devlog leading up to the release of Checkmage!. ive been adding some cool stuff to the game this past week and getting a lot of the long-form content wo... Continue reading