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This Is Not Chess

 
November Update (231120)Nov 19, 2023 - Community AnnouncementsG'day folks, I've been stuck in a kind of limbo with TINC: It's time to update, but there's not much to show! But spending any more time on anything big will take too long to update! And so I'd dig around and try to do minor fixes, often proving a fruitless endeavour. Rinse, repeat, with a lot of days where I just don't make the time. I've recently just had things flip over, again too. So I hope this time I can refresh myself and focus on developing the chapter. As for now, here's a little treat of what I have got ready. New skirmish maps: LilCave, Sandstone Cross, Sandy Sundae, Forest Tour and Spiral Labyrinth New Unit: Node. Temporarily available from the start until more from the next chapter is ready. The map preview displayed on skirmish/quest can now handle larger maps. Thanks for reading, take it easy everyone!June Update (230604)Jun 3, 2023 - Community AnnouncementsHi folks, Thing I discovered about infrequent chances to work is that it's easy to lose focus, and thus several things got worked on but few which are in a good enough state to show off. Rather than remain silent for even longer, I decided to at least bring out some small changes. I might finally get some stability in the coming months and so I'll have to adjust my work habits so that This Is Not Chess can get the attention it deserves. For now though, please enjoy the following changes: New skirmish maps: The Pit, Volcanic Island, House in the Woods and Furnace. Now uses a fancy mouse cursor! Can be turned off in the options menu. Units different styles can now override the unit's portrait! Bugfix: Stone now correctly shows up in the unit list when a certain level is completed! Bugfix: Added missing sounds to Stone. Thanks for reading and take it easy!Feburary Update (230210)Feb 10, 2023 - Community AnnouncementsG'day, g'day, Before I knew it we're two months into the new year. I hope it's been a good start to you all out there. The situation hasn't really changed here and I'm still in a sort of limbo state, however I'm still chipping away at This Is Not Chess and hope to see it completed this year! With that said, nothing relating to TINC has given me so much trouble as the fourth chapter boss: character concepts, animating moves, making the fight actually fun. So I'm glad to say that it's finally complete! Neat stuff: Level 20 completed. Two new challenge levels: Rats in the Basement and Sandwitches. Bugfixes and tweaks: Fixed an instance where a missing folder would make the game go berserk. Made the Homepanel protection last two turns instead of just one, to prevent instant-cap on turn two anyway. Units now stop playing channel animation when their move was blocked. Event-Transformed units now properly drop any technique being channeled. Warp movement now properly prevents units teleporting to spaces they shouldn't be. Thanks for reading and take it easy!October/November Update (221101)Nov 2, 2022 - Community AnnouncementsG'day folks, With my situation being the way it is (that is to say, a bit misshapen), I've lost the routine that allowed me to get stuff done on This Is Not Chess. It seems there's some stability in the near future, so maybe I can work a new routine around that. Time will tell. As for now, it's a small bit in comparison to the usual, but progress is progress! Neat stuff: Level 19 cutscenes are in place. Chapter 4 cutscenes have their own unique music. New challenge map: Cyber path. New skirmish maps: Murky Waters, Banana Island, Snake Way Pier, Chess Castle Bugfixes and tweaks: Event errors now handled better, instead of crashing and burning. Fixed instances of units not having their score tallied at all. Thanks for reading and take it easy!September Update (220902)Sep 4, 2022 - Community AnnouncementsG'day, g'day! Added the ability to skip preparation and going straight to executing techniques. Currently I've added two buttons for attacking (one for the normal means, the other for the auto-execute) that show up when confirming a technique. You can also hold the right-click button when left-clicking to activate as a shortcut. The AI has been a tad more aggressive as well, preparing attacks on open spaces, at least possibly blocking your path. With this, the AI also takes into account movement, using moves that are likely to move them closer. I'm sorry to say it, but the slated release state would've been in two months time. That would be two updates away. That's...not happening. That approximation was made with the assumption I'd be just making content for the campaign, challenge and skirmish modes. But since then I've been dedicated some time to features and game improvements. Those improvements have made this game far more livelier and user friendly than when it first came out in early access. So, normally I'd say it might take another couple of months, but... My current circumstances are undergoing changes that mean I can't focus as much on This Is Not Chess as I'd like. I will continue to work on This Is Not Chess, especially when I'm this close to completing the little silly adventure that is the campaign. However, my priorities will be changed and This Is Not Chess won't be near the top. This means future updates will either be less frequent or contain less content and it's possible some features won't be realised in the end. That said, I love working on this and hope to bring more to the table in future. Neat stuff: Can immediately execute techniques now (techniques tutorial has been changed to reflect this) Level 18 added to campaign. Level 19 added to campaign, albeit without cutscenes. AI is now more aggressive and prepares attacks even if there's nobody in range. Bugfixes and tweaks: Fixed Interruptions tutorial not moving on to Squad Preparation next. AI should now also stop wasting time thinking if it can't see any moves (like when all its units are frozen and paralysed) Grass tiles properly renamed. Fixed instances of ravestones not making noise. Roots now have proper graphics for their long range attack. Thank you for sticking by, let's take it easy and see where the future takes us!July Update (220722)Jul 22, 2022 - Community AnnouncementsG'day folks, New level in chapter 4, with two new characters available (They will not unlock until this level is beaten). The music is still a placeholder as I struggle with this chapter's theme, but otherwise meant as another song to be used in skirmish mode. With plenty of content added this chapter, there should be enough to put the next two levels together easily. The boss level might make it if things go well. I'm also considering the ability to just spend actions to act immediately, rather than having to prepare and then push an attack. Especially if said attack would take several actions at once. Neat stuff: Campaign level 17 added New Units: Hex and Mouri Four new squads added to skirmish mode. Bugfixes and tweaks: Cutscenes now correctly play immediately after one another. Event animations should now play properly. Lowered Ravestone Zone of Control from 5 to 2. Seriously, anything above two is painful. Increased speed and volume of Ravestone's audio. Fixed instances where the player could change the target of a technique while it's halfway done. Camera now properly scrolls to the correct location for various events. Some description fixes on the editors. Blue Bogans renamed to Blue Brigands Red Ruffians's are now a lot more red. Icons for all squads have been revised to be more interesting. Icons used in campaign levels are left untouched for the moment... Results screen text enlarged. Fixed instances of status effects not being recorded for stats. Resized Rail Tank's defeat animation. Thanks for reading and take it easy!June Update (220620)Jun 19, 2022 - Community AnnouncementsG'day folks, Some new units weren't ready in time for the update, so the next level of the fourth chapter misses out this time around. Instead I made do with some side goodies: More skirmish maps, another challenge map and a new unit that DID make it through. I've noticed I made a map or two intended for more than four squads, up to eight, even. I think I'll double the number of starting squads and change the icons to be more diverse. With that said, I intend the next update to focus on the fourth chapter and another challenge level or two. Neat stuff: More cutscenes for level 16 New Unit: Regular Zombie. New skirmish maps: Cave Cross, Crash Landing, Haunted Valley. New Challenge map: Forgotten Graveyard. Bugfixes and tweaks: Fixed instances where only one sound plays when multiple were meant to play at once. Bigger font for the bigger buttons! Removed instances where level clear records were saved when the player lost the battle. Level completion indicator now correctly displays if all possible levels have been discovered, if the level was completed at all. Fixed campaign records being saved even when the player lost. Revised logic so that events that trigger on a squad's defeat activate before ending the battle. Fixed instances where Unit Ids were randomised on battle start, causing events listening to certain characters to never activate. Thanks for reading and take it easy!May Update (220517)May 17, 2022 - Community AnnouncementsG'day folks, Got started with the fourth chapter, giving us a cutscene or two with a new level. Admittedly using placeholder music...for now. I've fully implemented campaign levels having multiple destinations, basically allowing for branching paths. Although there aren't any levels which use this feature yet, I thought it'd be a neat thing to have bonus extra levels in the campaign should certain criteria be met. As such, campaign levels will be marked with silver or gold ticks indicating whether the level was simply completed, or if every potential branch in the level was discovered. That said, the ticks won't show up if you completed them before records were implemented (ie last December's update). Finally, the AI's gotten an improvement as well: no longer should it waste turns trying to heal opposing units, and it should take status effects into more consideration just as much as raw damage. More progress should be made on the fourth chapter over the coming months. Neat stuff: Level 16 and chapter 3-4 interlude added. Campaigns now support branching paths. Campaign select now indicates if a level has been beaten before, and if it has any undiscovered paths left. Bugfixes and tweaks: Fixed berserk status effect using the wrong icon. Fixed an instance of "why was that animation even missing?" AI doesn't waste time turning units before deploying them unless it has to. AI should no longer try to heal enemies. Better consideration about status effects. Minor aesthetic changes to the example addon squad's cursors. Fixed exploit that allowed a unit to bypass the confusion status effect. More noises made to various menus. Bootcamp music revised. Thanks for reading and take it easy!April Update (220412)Apr 12, 2022 - Community AnnouncementsG'day mates, Once again we've got a few more units. Are they for the next chapter, or the challenge mode? Like before, they're immediately available for now, but as the levels they get introduced in are added, you'll have to beat them to unlock them again! Neat Stuff New units: Boombox, Ravestone, Party Zombie and Phone Zombie. Added a tutorial lesson about adding units to challenge mode. Bugfixes and tweaks Fixed instances where animations would jump to the wrong frame when looping. Fixed animations for special effects not properly rotating. Removed some cases where sounds were spammed in the editors. Thanks for reading and take it easy!March Update (220307)Mar 7, 2022 - Community AnnouncementsG'day mates, Light update again! Chapter 4 is underway, with dialogue planned out and some of the maps prepared, but no units completed yet. Changes Unit editor shows point values of styles and techniques. Squad prep screen now displays homepanels and dots as deployed units. Cutscenes can now have Foregrounds, letting users impose one image in front of the other. Some maps from the tutorial were added to skirmish mode. Maps in skirmish now with icons showing where they come from (ie tutorial/challenge). Some juicy life added to the menus. Fear status effect now properly stops unit targeting the source, and not just targeting at all. Take it easy!January Update (220128)Jan 28, 2022 - Community AnnouncementsG'day mates, Minor update this time around. Just some better UI in the editors and miscellaneous fixes. There were attempts to add music to bring more variety around but nothing I've made so far I can consider serviceable. Neat Stuff Levels with unit limit set to zero now allow unlimited adding of units. Two new skirmish maps: "Two to Plunder" and "The Watering hole" Squads on the campaign preparation screen now display icons, colours and (most importantly) team colour. Unit editor now updates more often (particularly the unit's perceived value) and displays more technique details. Bugfixes and tweaks Fixed defeat audio not playing when the AI wins matches. Fixed instances of units added to enemy teams being added to player teams. Popup window now relocates if it should go offscreen at all. Patrol Bot victory animation revised. Fixed instances of map editor being unable to scroll through the entire level. Hope the new year is treating you all well. Take it easy!December Update (211229)Dec 28, 2021 - Community AnnouncementsG'day mates, hope you're having a wonderful holiday as the year comes to a close! As hoped, the AI has been improved to stop attempting the more wasteful moves (especially ones that are simply impossible). While tweaking things I realised a core feature I meant to include wasn't there yet: High scores and unit values! Now there are fun little records for every level: The squad and unit with the highest scores are retained based on the most recent completion, the highest score and the quickest completion. These scores can be seen on the campaign select screen. Also new is the feature that every unit is given a numerical value based on their stats, techniques and size. This will never be a clear indicator of balance but it does help point out which units are getting the short end of the stick. More importantly, this unit value is taken into account in the challenge campaign levels (and any campaign level that will allow adding custom units): Now there is a (admittedly arbitrary) numerical limit to each level, but if you want to increase the limit, you can add units to enemy squads. I plan to get started with chapter four, but there are some things that need modifying in the wake of the unit values being visible now. Neat Stuff Units now have a point cost tied to their stats and techniques. Challenges now use this point cost to limit how many characters the player can add. It can be raised by adding units to enemy teams. Can rename guest units on the level preview screen. High scores for missions are kept - records of highest score, fastest clear and most recent success are displayed on the campaign select screen. Buttons on the Battle screen now use icons rather than words. It is now possible to rotate units as you're deploying them by right-clicking one of the flashing squares representing their shape. Bugfixes and tweaks Level music associated with campaign chapters now need to be unlocked through the campaign before being used in Skirmishes. Fixed issue where units had shared IDs, causing the game to get mixed up. AI should now no longer attempt to try to do moves that would place them in an obstructed spot. AI medibots now no longer try to "repair themselves" by healing the spot where they were standing. Swordsman damage was increased to make up for a lack of status effects. Fixed some animations that were missing or warped. May the next year be a good one. Thanks for reading and take it easy!November Update (211127)Nov 26, 2021 - Community AnnouncementsG'day folks! With level fifteen complete, the third chapter is done and I can focus on either the next chapter or making the editors more intuitive to use. The AI is still a concern with wasting moves, and the editors are still far from robust, so perhaps I'll fix things up before jumping into the next chapter. Neat Stuff Level 15 added, bringing in another boss fight. Additional levels added to challenge mode. Thus, more maps to use in skirmish mode. The first turn on a skirmish will focus the camera on the squad's first home panel, or failing that, their first unit. Or if none are deployed, to the middle of the map. This might cause some campaign missions to have janky starts as cutscenes and initial camera settings fight for control. If the player is defeated in a campaign/challenge level, even if there are AI players, end the match. Bugfixes and tweaks Text on the objectives popup are now no longer overwhelmingly huge. Fixed instances of techniques not actually healing status effects Fixed cutscenes doubling up on skipping ahead when the user clicks to move on. On that note, fade effects in the cutscenes now finish despite the user skipping past. Events now immediately load one after another in the campaign. DefeatUnit event now focuses on the unit being defeated. Fixed instances where the player could add units to an *enemy* squad in challenge mode. (In retrospect, maybe letting people do this would be neat). Fixed instances where the player could not actually add units to a challenge map. Missing sounds added to RailTank Fixed instances where a squad was defeated just before their turn came up would soft-lock the game. Thanks for reading and take it easy!October Update (211017)Oct 17, 2021 - Community AnnouncementsG'day folks! Chapter three is still going, with only the boss level remaining. I hoped to have it done, but I had spent far too much time making a particularly complex level 14! It's looking to be the most elaborate level of the lot, and as much as I quite enjoy playing through it, it took one heck of a while to complete. Later levels probably won't be that complex, but perhaps I can think of a way to keep them interesting. Along with the end of chapter three, I want to look into improving the AI (stop attacking nothing, dangnabbit!) and perhaps make level creation easier. Neat Stuff Two more levels for main campaign. Two new challenge levels: Assault from Up High and Pirate Raid. New unit: Rail Tank Youya, Stalkers and Heaters can now walk on electric tiles. Bugfixes and tweaks Screen now tries to scroll to the center of a technique, showing as much as possible. AI computes less when it has less units to work with. Fixed instances of units passing through obstacles. UniqueTechniques now properly rotate when executed. Fixed animations and sounds for High Tech Gate. Thanks for reading and take it easy!September Update (210910)Sep 10, 2021 - Community AnnouncementsG'day folks! With two new levels (and a connecting cutscene) added, now the robots have made their proper appearance to the story! On that note, now that the third chapter has properly begun, the new batch of units have been locked behind the campaign. Hope you enjoyed trying them out! There'll be a delay between the this update and the next as I take a break, but I should have the rest of chapter three primed when it comes! Neat Stuff New Unit: The Patrol Bot, a tanky robot with an electric stun rod. New Unit: The Slot Machine, a repurposed gambling machine that doles out pain with its winnings! Two new levels added for the main campaign. Youya's moveset updated. Their daggers are now a lot more exotic and increase their options rather than stick to the plan of "awkwardly keep away". Bugfixes and tweaks Fixed instances where players could ignore the poison status. Tesla Turret's Zone of Control lowered to 2. Turns out large ZoC is annoyingly obnoxious. Some windows now fit more snugly. Some text in the editors were revised to be more intuitive. Missing audio for pretty much most of the cast added. Thanks for reading and take it easy!Minor patch for AugustAug 11, 2021 - Community AnnouncementsTweaks and bugfixes: Fixed issue where large sprites were cut off the screen strangely. Dummy Beatdown: Added an upper limit of 1000 point lead so if you handily overlap the opponent, you don't need to play the full twenty turns. Revised Telsa Turret's shocking attack to be S shaped rather than cross shaped. Fixed missing victory animation for Tripod Added sounds that were missing for Eric and a certain tree. Level editing options: Added UnitTeleportation event - moves the unit without using the walking animation. Added MoveCamera event - focuses the camera on a particular position. Levels can now properly set the direction of undeployed units. UnitTransform event now properly implemented - nearby units will be pushed away if the new shape is larger. July Update (210716)Jul 16, 2021 - Community AnnouncementsG'day g'day! Another smallish update this time, as creating character animations is frustratingly time consuming! That said, now there's three new units added to the roster! For now all of them will be unlocked by default, but once the third chapter's levels are in, they'll be locked behind the campaign! The challenge missions are now unlocked in a linear fashion similar to the main campaign. However, now it's possible to unlock the challenge mode maps now unlock for skirmish when they are beaten! More goodies and options! However, this means that some maps that are used in the challenge mode now need to be unlocked. I've made a few more maps to make up for this. Now that there are some new units, there'll be focus on getting some levels in and making good use of them! Neat Stuff New Units: Heater, Tesla Turret and Medibot. Challenge mode now unlocks levels one by one. Completing challenge levels unlocks maps for use in skirmish The AI now considers homepanels owned by others if they are capable of deploying through them (an ally for example). Units can now be declared obstacles, preventing them from rotating at all. Bugfixes and tweaks Fixed the Giant Dummy not having audio. Fixed moment where victory music would not play if the match was a team victory. Fixed Root deploy animation being lobsided. Increased size of Youya's animations. Fixed Youya's Laser Dagger inflicting an empty status ailment. Damage was increased from 12 to 20. Fixed issue where a squad would be declared defeated even if there was a homepanel that they could deploy a unit from. "Last Cutscene" button removed from skirmish mode. "Give up" button removed from campaign mode. Fixed a crash in the level editor where a colour could be chosen when no squad exists. June Update (210611)Jun 10, 2021 - Community AnnouncementsG'day everyone! Bit of a lightweight update this time. Although there's some progress on chapter three of the campaign, there's plenty more that needs to be done. It's now possible to unlock units and maps through campaigns, allowing players to play as bosses in skirmish once they've beaten them! Unfortunately, you will have to beat the second boss again in order to unlock it this time. I'm thinking of locking most of the current mobs behind the campaign levels for pretty much for the same reason of hiding the bosses: to prevent players spoiling themselves by jumping into skirmish mode before the campaign, and having new players start off with a humble roster of units. Also, I'm considering of hiding the challenge missions behind each other rather than letting the player see them all from the start. I've spotted a number of bugs that need fixing for the next update, but hope to have a few levels ready for the next chapter too. New stuff It's now possible to unlock units for skirmish. Colour picker implemented! Now it's easier to set and preview colours for squads. No more hexadecimal numbers! Seven new maps added to skirmish mode: Port A, Skybridges, Tiny Tunnels, Deserted Path, Desert Spiral, Hash Island and Hash Island Extreme Animations can now have some frames ignore the unit's direction. Good for some effects like explosions. Bugfixes and tweaks Some squad colours revised. Minor changes and fixes to some skirmish maps. Gradient on squad names should be lighter and thus easier on the eyes. Cleaned up the results screen a bit. Fixed bug not unlocking a level if the level doesn't currently exist. Revised some dialogue and images in the tutorials. May Update (210514)May 13, 2021 - Community AnnouncementsG'day everyone! A sizeable change to how homepanels work in this update. Homepanels were protected from capture on the first turn, but there was no visual indication. Now there's a square barrier that surrounds the panel. Furthermore, now homepanels are captured so long as a unit is on top of it, instead of having to explicitly move onto it (resulting in awkward moments where you'd tell a unit to move onto its own space to cap). For the next month I intend to focus on starting the third chapter, while improving the main menus. Core changes Homepanels are now visibly protected on the first turn. (Neutral homepanels are unaffected) Capturing a homepanel now plays an animation. Interruptions tutorial added. AI now thinks about where to place its starting homepanel, rather than throwing one randomly across the map. Can now capture homepanels from movement via techniques. This includes those pushed by attacks! Added Golden Scorpion (a lucky variant of the regular scorpion) Added several challenge mode maps Customisation Can now override the squad's name colour in a level. Event trigger added: When the squad captures a specific homepanel. Addons can now properly reference their resources using an id tag in their filepaths - To see an example, check out the unit and squad that comes in the Template addon. Levels can now set a Battlemode: Standard, Points and Mission (no clear victory until toggled by an event.) Bugfixes and tweaks Challenge maps now don't require the AI player to place their homepanel. Poison and Shocked animations now properly play at the end of a squad's turn, but before the next squad begins. Squad icons changed for chapter two enemies. Fixed a bug where cutscenes would not replay if a technique was included in the actions. Fixed issue where squads were being skipped over if their units were added after the battle started. Fixed issue where a level's battlemode was ignored and instead went with the default Battle. Waspice now properly plays sound. Animations for the Wannabe Bandit in the tutorial fixed. ZAQ's audio was fixed. Jester was given a proper golfing animation. Delay on Bourbon's attacks lowered by one turn. Bourbon's Buckshot's damage was increased. April Update (210415)Apr 15, 2021 - Community AnnouncementsG'day all! With this update is the completion of the second chapter of the campaign! Most of the time was spent getting the boss done. Animating is no joke! As for the next round of updates, I intend to focus on making some more challenge and skirmish maps before starting on the next chapter of the campaign. To sum up: Added Silk Worm unit to the roster. Added three more levels, one being a boss battle. Default music selection for skirmish changed from "None" to "Random". Skirmish now chooses a random map upon first opening the game. Various backgrounds updated to be less blurry. Banners for the campaign were updated. Fixed bug where generating a random map would break the game.

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