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 by mother 3! you can even see how the player character and lucas look pretty similar in terms of their head size, eye shape etc.

i fixed the spell compendium to show little previews of the spells when you've seen them / cast them

i've had so much fun playtesting happening over the past few days. people discovering unique, emergent interactions (and bugs) and providing suggestions that ive started implementing to round out the gameplay.

one person pointed out the balance discrepancy between certain spells and enchantments. some cards have really nice and interesting utility, but pale in comparison to stronger, simpler spells. he suggested some spells would be beneficial if they weren't consumed on use. i think i still want to keep the game having the chess feeling of finite material leading towards an inevitable "end game" situation, so i compromised and went with the idea of spells having multiple uses. 

this gives me three vectors to balance cards along, increasing the meaningful complexity of considering which card to add to your very limited deck.

the visuals will be changed to be less confusing later, and i'm still considering whether or not to move the consumed spell to the discard or back to the hand on use.

one of my friends suggested i add a pause button to the profile character animation. just one more example of a seemingly small but incredibly cool and easy to implement quality of life thing that you could easily miss without listening to people's ideas.

i also have been working on some more mid-game/late-game battles. upping the ante in terms of enemy strength and crazy spells causes the game to grow wayyyy past being just a funny chess game and feels like you're really playing against chaotic, rule-breaking wizards. i can't wait to show off everything when the game is closer to being done!

Checkmage! is still in active development. If you want to support me, please consider sharing with friends. The game will be released on Steam and Itch for sale when I'm done making it.

Checkmage! on Steam  - play the demo now!

Bluesky - more updates, videos and sneak peeks