The latest bugfix update for Shinogi Chess Club is here!

Update Details

Patch Notes (1.2.1)

• Fixed a Fortress multimove bug found by an Australian Vampire

This issue may have been the result of chess system refactoring from the 1.2.0 update, so I apologize for the inconvenience if that was the case. In certain situations, trying to "multimove" an adjacent piece stack using a Fortress would result in only one of the pieces getting moved and the game entering a weird broken state for a bit. Thankfully, a failsafe that I wrote early on in development catches this and resumes play after ~10 seconds, but obviously this is not ideal for the player. Thanks to a certain streamer showcasing the game, I was able to notice this issue and come up with a solution fairly quickly. The issue is now resolved and the "Drag Adjacent" feature should work as expected now! In completely and totally unrelated news, please check out Lord Vernon Crowe's Twitch Channel for a new series which aims to complete a playthrough Shinogi Chess Club 1 and 2! Feel free to join in on this journey as we watch a vampire's mind melt LIVE. As always, feel free to check out my Twitter for the latest news and updates! Thanks for playing! - Matt

[ 2023-11-28 17:48:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

After an 18 month wait, the sequel to Shinogi Chess Club has finally arrived! You can get Shinogi Chess Club 2 here!

Synopsis

In the wake of the Typhoon Initiative's collapse, a new threat has risen to challenge the city's obsession with Shinogi Chess, a board game variant which has taken hold of countless schools across Japan. With the Spring Championships behind her, Himiko Masaki continues the search for her mother, and will stop at nothing to acquire power in pursuit of this goal. As she investigates new leads and unravels a sinister conspiracy, Himiko is driven down a path of vengeance, and discovers just how far she's willing to go for the truth.
Meanwhile, Yoshino High School has finally recovered from last semester's shocking events. The Shinogi Chess Club struggles to stay afloat when new arrivals, including aspiring poet Kenshi Okawa, shake the group to their core. As Himiko learns more about the other members, such as Kaito Sakuma, a brilliant student with suspicious connections, she realizes that more lies beneath the surface when it comes to her friends. Amidst these complications, rival clubs at Yoshino High have also caught wind of Himiko's activities, and seek involvement for the safety of the school.
In this next chapter of Himiko's journey, you'll uncover the truth behind the disappearance of Yuko Masaki and unveil new mysteries within the school! If you haven't yet, you can pick up the game here!

Thank you

Huge thank you again to everyone that supported this series, and I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions to this continuation :) As always, you can keep up with the latest news on my Twitter @RobProductions. Stay well, and I hope you enjoy the game! <3 - Matt

[ 2023-11-16 17:50:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

The new update for Shinogi Chess Club is now live and available for download!

Update Details

Update size:

• Windows: ~22.6 MB
• Mac: ~13 MB
• Linux: ~13 MB

Changelog:

• Added sound effects when toggling Himiko's Power
• New option: Debug Cam Key
• When Debug Cam Key is on, you can activate debug cam without risk of hitting other debug keys
• Fixed AI null reference error by only allowing match restart if it's your turn

A crucial bugfix was deployed which is meant to stop a rare case which caused an error in the AI decision functions. Though this error didn't seem to have serious consequences for impacting the game logic, I figured it's better to be safe than sorry, and implemented new logic to disable the "Restart" button at certain times. Now, you can only use the Restart button in the pause menu when it's a human player's turn in a Shinogi Chess match. This fix had one downside though in that if you set up a Practice Match with 2 AI players, you'll never be able to restart since one of them will always have the "current turn" status. However, you can still use the match setup button to create a new match with the same parameters so I figured this was an acceptable tradeoff. Besides that, I included a new sound effect to better indicate when you turn on or off Himiko's Power. This should help avoid accidental misclicks and further clarify what you can affect when its your turn. In Shinogi Chess Club 2, further improvements will be made to the board effects so that feedback is provided when you capture a piece or preview enemy movements. Finally, I added a new option called Debug Cam Key which enables use of the "P" key to enter Debug Camera mode. This mode was previously available, but you would've had to enable Debug Keys in order to utilize it, and the Debug Keys option also enabled buttons which start a random match, exit out of scenes, and change the skybox, all of which can mess up the experience if used incorrectly. This new option is meant to act as a user-friendly way to access the debug cam without worrying that it will break the game. Feel free to enable it and enter/exit the mode at your discretion! That's all for now, but in case you missed it, the sequel to Shinogi Chess Club is now Coming Soon on Steam! If you're able to give it a wishlist, that's one of the best ways to support the game. I did a bit of a write up on what you can expect from this next title here! As always, you can follow me on Twitter for the latest news about the new project. Thanks for playing, and I'll hope to catch up again with some more announcements soon! -Matt

[ 2023-09-10 17:38:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

From the moment that the original Shinogi Chess Club released, I've had concrete ideas to continue the story and dig deeper into all of the questions raised by the first game. After a brief experiment with a different genre, I returned to the shared world of Burden of Proof/Shinogi Chess Club to tell the true story that I really wanted to achieve when this series first started. 8 months later and after a whole lot of effort, Shinogi Chess Club 2: Resistance is finally nearing release! If you're interested, you can check out the Shinogi Chess Club 2 Steam page using the link below! Wishlists really do help a lot and I appreciate everyone that has taken the time to support me! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2299430/Shinogi_Chess_Club_2_Resistance/

Development

Over the course of this past year, I've worked hard to not only anticipate expectations for this game, but exceed them. You'll see improvements in animation, rendering quality, stability, performance, and writing. I've tried to hone in on more consistently entertaining dialogue which balances plot, humor, and insight into each character. But beyond that, so much more has gone into the development for this project. In a nutshell, here's what you can expect from this new title:

• A continuation of Himiko's journey as she tracks down her mother
• An answer to nearly every question which was raised by the first game
• A direct look into Himiko's backstory and further development of the lead cast
• Largely the same exploration gameplay as the first game, but even more streamlined with less confusing levels and clear goals
• Enhanced Shinogi Chess controls and new variations in board setup which make certain matches play out differently than the first game
• UI polish across the board (literally and figuratively)
• Difficulty-related achievements are tracked per chapter and no longer require you to play through the whole game in one shot
• New easter eggs, hints, and lore about the state of Burden of Proof's characters and plot threads
• As usual, a whole suite of new music which expands upon themes from the first game and many scenes are now uniquely scored as well, utilizing motifs from each opponent/situation and playing with them in exciting new ways

Story Details

In the wake of the Typhoon Initiative's collapse, a new threat has risen to challenge the city's obsession with Shinogi Chess, a board game variant which has taken hold of countless schools across Japan. With the Spring Championships behind her, Himiko Masaki continues the search for her mother, and will stop at nothing to acquire power in pursuit of this goal. As she investigates new leads and unravels a sinister conspiracy, Himiko is driven down a path of vengeance, and discovers just how far she's willing to go for the truth. Meanwhile, Yoshino High School has finally recovered from last semester's shocking events. The Shinogi Chess Club struggles to stay afloat when new arrivals, including aspiring poet Kenshi Okawa, shake the group to their core. As Himiko learns more about the other members, such as Kaito Sakuma, a brilliant student with suspicious connections, she realizes that more lies beneath the surface when it comes to her friends. Amidst these complications, rival clubs at Yoshino High have also caught wind of Himiko's activities, and seek involvement for the safety of the school.
That's all for now, and I'd like to once again thank everyone for supporting me and keeping up with my work. I know everyone has been patient waiting for answers, so I think you'll be very satisfied to see everything that gets explored in this new title. For fans of Burden of Proof, I know this game will only provide a small taste of updates for BOP's plot lines, but I do believe you'll still find a lot to love here. Again, please wishlist Shinogi Chess Club 2: Resistance on Steam as it really helps a ton, and keep an eye out for new updates in the next few weeks! Thanks for playing, -Matt

[ 2023-08-31 18:11:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

The latest update for Shinogi Chess Club is now live! With the release of Shinogi Chess Club on other storefronts, incremental changes have been made which fix small issues and improve the platform integration logic. This update is partially to get Steam up to speed on these minor improvements, but also to roll out a bigger fix regarding the Capture/Checkmate effect that would sometimes occur multiple times in a row. Without further delay, here are the details!

Update Details (Version 1.1.3-1.1.6)

Update size:

• ~38 MB

Changelog:

• Fixed Capture/Checkmate effect playing multiple times in the same turn
• Improved position assignment & previous move indicator logic
• SDK Bugfixes
• Tweaked account window & tooltip
• Tweaked tooltip UI & descriptions
• Internal SDK improvements
• Added EGS integration
• Improved Steamworks SDK support

In addition to the Capture effect fixes and tooltip UI adjustments, I also fixed a barely noticeable issue with the way pieces are moved around the board (data-wise). In summary, I noticed that if a piece was able to move to a position that was already occupied with 2 pieces (this can happen if a multi-move action i.e. transport adjacent onto a stack that will also move once the action is done) it would first be added to the position before the previous pieces are removed from that position. In other words, that square would temporarily gain 3 pieces before the other two are removed and moved properly. This didn't make much difference in SCC1 because the data structure lets any number of pieces occupy a space, but for SCC2 I've been more careful about managing my memory allocations and more strictly defining the data structures. With this update in place, pieces are now removed from the board before multi-move actions are considered and then added back in later rather than simply swapping (data) positions once the move is complete. That probably made little sense to anyone keeping up with this but just know that this should improve performance in those few cases and sets up the logic more properly for the improvements coming in Shinogi Chess Club 2 :) this also had a side effect of simplifying the "previous move indicator" logic which is also a tiny bonus for performance. That's all for now, but if you'd like to be updated on the latest news about Shinogi Chess Club 2: Resistance, feel free to follow me on Twitter! If you missed it, I also now have an official website up which you can check out here! I'm making good progress on the story of SCC2 and will soon shift focus to building more levels, characters, and cutscenes in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for more announcements and thanks again to everyone that's supported me in this journey! <3 -Matt

[ 2023-04-30 18:50:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

Featuring over 4 hours of original music, the Shinogi Chess Club OST is finally available to the public!

Get the soundtrack here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1919300/Shinogi_Chess_Club__Soundtrack/

Content details

This is the complete soundtrack for Shinogi Chess Club, written and produced by Matt Enad, solo developer at RobProductions. Includes nearly 4 and a half hours of original music from the Shinogi Chess segments and novel scenes! This release also contains the full versions of tracks made for cutscenes and marketing, portions of which were previously unheard in the final game. Mp3 files are provided in addition to high-quality FLAC exports for all songs. This OST features a variety of moods and themes which accompany Himiko's story as she explores the school and battles opponents across each chapter. The motifs of certain characters are repeated across multiple songs during key moments of the game. Many references from previous RobProductions games are also showcased, including full remixes and remasters of original music from those titles! Disc 1 contains story and cutscene music from all 4 chapters, along with the menu and credits themes. Disc 2 contains the Shinogi Chess tracks from all opponent matches and tutorials. Download size: 650 MB, or 2 GB for HQ FLAC audio The Soundtrack is 10% off during this first week, so grab it quickly if you're interested!

My Music Journey

In the realm of music production, I've come a long way since my first Steam game! Skyway featured only a few original music tracks and they were quite out of place compared to the rest of the experience. It was only when Burden of Proof started development that I devoted time to crafting a consistent theme to accompany the game's tone. So I played around with some themes on the piano and came up with a few songs to accompany the testimony scenes for the game. Expanding off of those, I tried to keep the same instrumentation and key for the investigations and things seemed to fall into place from there! These songs were pretty simplistic compared to what I'm able to do now, but they worked well to provide a solid mood for the trials. However, I was still only able to make about 50 minutes worth of songs which wouldn't truly cover all of the game content, so I had to pull from freely available song libraries as well. Iron Reckoning was the first game I worked on which featured a completely original soundtrack. This is where I really started to bring in my "listening music" composition techniques to my "game music" tracks. I'm talking about audio mixing, EQ, sidechaining, reverb effects, and layered instrumentation. I tied in many of the songs through a few key instruments - the organ, a background string section, certain synths. I really worked hard not only to improve the quality and complexity of these songs, but the quantity too. I created over 2 hours of music which was just barely enough to provide unique tracks for all the levels and cutscenes. But it was at this point that I realized associating melodies with specific characters or ideas would yield huge payoffs when they used across multiple songs. For Shinogi Chess Club, I really considered this OST as an extension of the principles I took on for Iron Reckoning. You can probably hear the similarities when it comes to the organ and synth choices, but I also tried to bring back the core of what BOP set up by introducing some new hip-hop elements to the mix. "Persistence Clarified" ended up being the first true song for this game, and most of the other tracks are based on some way off of that. I really loved the main theme played by the single violin and after reusing it so many times, it resulted in a key idea which I felt was practically overused in the OST haha. Wanting to challenge myself, I tried to come up with new ways of using the violin theme without making it sound exactly the same. Examples: the piano version played in "Fate of the World", the 3/4 version played in the "Performance" set, the chord version used in "Fracture Individualized", and the Iron Reckoning-infused Monarch theme version in "Cultivated Suppression". I'll probably talk more about how I use the different themes in a future post, but it goes without saying that I tried very hard to perfect my craft and improve on what came before in every aspect.

Motif Revivals

Since Shinogi Chess Club ties in closely to Burden of Proof, I knew I had to go all out and return the themes and instruments of BOP while still updating them to demonstrate what I've learned since then. I ended up remixing entire songs such as the Cross Objection theme and the Theory theme! Making these tracks has been a blast, and it was so fun to experiment with familiar motifs in new ways, such as the chord progression switch halfway through "Panic Absolution", or conversion of the 3/4 testimony theme to a 4/4 version for the "Panic" set. The musical connection to Iron Reckoning is also highlighted with "Cultivated Suppression" and even the final Shinogi Chess theme: "Summation Destabilized". Speaking of that song, it is probably the ultimate example of everything I've learned making music for games. It starts with a brand new theme that stays true to the "sound" of SCC, and slowly transitions through almost every single Shinogi Chess theme before mixing straight into the main theme of Iron Reckoning! That gives way to a revival of the introduction and a closing chorus infused by IR's most recognizable instrument - the arp synth. I'm very proud of the Shinogi Chess tracks as a whole, and I think they demonstrate the biggest ideas going through my head as I wrote the OST: association/reference, consistency, and intensity.

Closing Thoughts

As you can imagine, this soundtrack was the result of many, many hours of work. I've done a lot to improve my skills over the years and I hope that it has paid off, since many people have expressed interested in my songs for previous games. There's always more to learn, and I'm certain that I'll be coming back to these themes for Shinogi Chess Club 2 and future projects. But I'm also hopeful that new ways of thinking about music for my games will come to light. So if you're able, getting the soundtrack from Steam is one good way to send a little extra support my way! Thank you again to everyone that has played the game and listened to my music :) I may post some partial mixes featuring these songs on YouTube in the future so keep an eye out for that! That's all for now and I truly appreciate all the support and feedback that you've given over Twitter, YouTube, and here in the Steam forums. Enjoy the soundtrack! -Matt

[ 2022-08-23 18:49:13 CET ] [ Original post ]

The latest update for Shinogi Chess Club is now available for download!

Update Details

Update size:

• Windows - 27.4 MB
• Mac - 19.8 MB
• Linux - 20.7 MB

Changelog:

• Updated some systems to use new InputSystem mouse position
• Added mouse hover tooltip system
• Added tooltip descriptions for Main Menu & options menu
• Added tooltip descriptions for Shinogi Chess & Novel Mode
• Fixed script images not being loaded when loading a save file

The main change you'll probably notice is the addition of the tooltip system which will show small text boxes when you hover over important buttons! This system works in the options menu to better understand what each item does and also in the Novel and Shinogi Chess modes. The best part is that it'll also detect your current input settings and show the correct button to press as yellow text! With this change, it's now easy to simply hover over a button you don't understand and immediately get the hotkey for it and a simple description. This further help clarify the available actions and win conditions. Besides these changes, I've been able to tackle a bug involving the "background images" shown sometimes in Novel Mode. Previously these images were not stored in the save file and no system was in place to reload them when loading a save file, but now that has been corrected. Unfortunately, I don't think older save files will get the fix as they weren't storing the active image in the first place, but this is just a small visual bug at worst so it shouldn't impact the experience much. All save files from 1.1.2 onward will store the correct data for this to work.

Community Highlight

YouTube creator Visual Novelty has started a playthrough of the game and you can watch the first episode here: [previewyoutube=sPEs9jADZyE;full][/previewyoutube] Twitch streamer CorruptedMidnight has also made it to Chapter 4 and uploaded the full VODs on YouTube! Here's a link to the first episode: [previewyoutube=BEVxQGSpq9M;full][/previewyoutube] Huge thanks to everyone for checking out the game! That's all for today, but feel free to make a discussion post if you have any questions or uncover any issues with the game! As always, you can follow me on Twitter for the latest updates. Hope you enjoy the new update and happy gaming! -Matt

[ 2022-07-19 17:53:24 CET ] [ Original post ]

It's here! What's likely going to be the largest update for Shinogi Chess Club is now available for download. Many of the post-launch ideas have been implemented and more significant improvements are being bundled in this version, hence the direct 1.1 label. So let's get into it with an overview of the update content!

Update Details

Update size:

• Windows - 31.8 MB
• Mac - 24.7 MB
• Linux - 25.3 MB

Changelog:

• Fixed some typos
• New option: Hold Navigation (default on)
• New option: Select Blocked Squares (default off)
• Controller: When Hold Navigation is on, hold stick to quickly move square selection
• Controller: When Select Blocked Squares is on, navigation to blocked squares is allowed
• Controller: Fixed issue where navigation highlight disappeared on entering new turn
• Added shadow sprite to square highlight effect
• Improved selection color contrast for some Main Menu & Settings Menu buttons
• Added Hard Mode difficulty option
• Fixed a softlock that occurs while loading a game with the Datapad open
• Fixed an issue that allowed Spawn mode during the wrong tutorial sequence
• Added Calvin's Outtakes in the Extras menu, unlocked after completing the game
• Added piece appearance selector in the Tab Menu
• Added 5 piece appearance sets, unlockable by completing story chapters

Several significant issues have been resolved with this update, including a potential issue within the tutorial system and another one that affected loading save files. In order to fix the latter problem, the "loading screen" transition now happens on unscaled time, which means it is no longer blocked by situations which have caused the game to pause. EDIT: The 1.1.1 hotfix was also just released to solve a major issue that I noticed today. It contains only 1 change:

• Fixed an issue that allowed Exiting scripts during matches after restarting

The issue is now resolved and the update is ~1MB in download size. Appreciate your understanding and apologies if anyone was affected by this! *NEW* Hard Mode Difficulty You can now select a 4th difficulty option at the start of a new game or at any point during your playthrough from the Datapad menu: Hard Mode!
To sum up how the game difficulty modes work: Story mode makes opponents forfeit all moves. Easy mode makes them only search 2 moves in advance and extra mistakes are injected to make them more prone to errors. Normal mode lets them search 3 moves in advance and a varied amount of mistakes are injected to hone in realism, with later opponents receiving a lower chance of mistakes to ramp up the challenge. In update 1.1.0, the Hard Mode difficulty lets opponents skip the mistake injection altogether and play purely based off of the value calculation. This doesn't make them impossible; far from it! There are still certain scenarios which the AI can never account for and that was done on purpose to give newer players some headroom and make calculation times faster. But I do think that chess experts will appreciate this option as it allows the opponents to not "hold back" so to speak and provide a significant challenge for those that want it. Swapping between Normal Mode and Hard Mode will not invalidate your session from acquiring the "Expert" achievement. However, changing to Easy or lower will still work as before, so be careful about your difficulty selection before closing the Datapad! *NEW* Customize Piece Appearance You can now customize the look of your chess pieces from the Datapad menu! Navigate to the "Match Settings" tab and you'll find a new UI selector at the bottom. Simply click on a color scheme to set the appearance at any time, even during a match!
There are 5 appearance styles to choose from, and the later ones will be unlocked as you complete the game. You only need to complete the desired chapter on one save file in order for it to unlock on all save files from your account.


*NEW* Calvin's Outtakes Enter the Extras menu from the Main Menu after completing the game to find a special surprise! This unlockable mode allows you to hear some unique voice lines as an extra reward for finishing the story. This mode works similarly to Nomad's Outtakes from Iron Reckoning. Controller and Accessibility Updates There are 2 new options that can be found within the interface pertaining to "navigation mode" within Shinogi Chess. Navigation mode refers to either controller input or WASD selection to select and move your chess pieces. These options allow you to enable or disable "hold navigation" or selecting "blocked squares". When Hold Navigation is on, you can hold a direction to quickly move across many squares. When Select Blocked Squares is on, you can navigate and hover over the circular block objects that appear in the middle of the board. There's also increased contrast for the "highlight" which appears when selecting squares, and across some buttons throughout the menus as well. Finally, an issue was fixed which allows the highlight to properly retain its position after the opponent has made their move. These QOL updates are meant to improve the usability on controllers. I'll continue to monitor the situation so don't hesitate to reach out if you have a suggestion here. There are several other changes I would like to make for the next update which should improve this further, including more uses of the B button to back out of menus and more usage of the bumpers to navigate tabs. Closing That's all for today's patch! This version has been a huge undertaking so I'm happy that it's finally available for everyone to try. I hope you enjoy the new features and are looking forward to further updates within Shinogi Chess Club! I still have a few more QOL improvements I'd like to try so you can expect those to arrive within the coming weeks. As always you can keep up with the latest news on Twitter @RobProductions! I appreciate all the support I've gotten throughout the release of this game and I'm excited to begin work on my next big project soon. So once again, thanks for playing and I hope you enjoy the game! -Matt

[ 2022-06-16 17:27:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

As more people make their way through the game and post videos online I've begun to feel somewhat dissatisfied with the AI move decisions and had a few quick ideas to iron out specific issues. Though I originally intended to release a larger patch with many more features, I decided to rush these initial fixes out quickly since they're extremely important to the gameplay and some players are still in the middle of their playthroughs. So without further delay, here's the new changes!

Update Details

Patch Download Size

• Windows - 30.7 MB
• Mac - 23.2 MB
• Linux - 23.8 MB

Changelog

• Added extra detail objects for interior hallways
• Fixed rendering bounds for a few characters
• AI: Now factors in board state for Spawn Pawn weight
• AI: Chance of Spy sacrifice reduced further; based on board state
• AI: Makes less mistakes on Normal mode as more pieces get lost
• AI: Further adjusted King capture and Spawn weights on each opponent
• Added Checkmate indicator UI icon to player status banner

The goal of these AI changes is mainly to make the opponents act more like a human without drastically increasing the difficulty. In doing so, however, this patch probably does make matches a little tougher, particularly towards the endgame as it does a better job saving its King. Like version 1.0.2, this is another breaking change for match guides or walkthroughs. Previously, certain move types such as Spawning a Pawn would be weighed based on a constant value, adjustable per opponent. This was done for performance and algorithm simplicity reasons, as doing a whole minimax algorithm on these moves would increase the waiting time. But this resulted in some funky moves, particularly when the AI was sure to lose a piece since the average value of all moves becomes negative. In such a scenario, the AI preferred the constant value since it wasn't based on any board state. This resulted in terrible moves which can even ignore King danger and may even cost it the game. With version 1.0.3, the AI now precalculates an average board weight value by running standard minimax, which is reused for all these "constant value" moves. This is possible thanks to new code that allows for "no move" turns as part of the initial search. So once this search completes, the AI stores that value as a baseline to use for Pawn Spawning and the previous 1.0.2 system that guards against poor Spy moves. This means that if an opponent is about to lose their King, that negative weight is still applied to the Pawn Spawn possibility and it becomes more likely to favor a saving move. This also applies for any sort of piece loss too, not just the King, making the summon Pawn move only likely when the AI deems it is safe to do so. Finally, there's a new UI icon that pops up under a player banner once they have acquired Checkmate! This should help add clarity to the state of the game and more clearly display which player is ahead in objectives. That's all for today, and thank you again to everyone that has tried out the game! The launch week is now over but I'll continue to monitor the game for issues and start work on that larger update. If you run into any bugs or have any questions, feel free to post here in the discussions or contact me on Twitter! Enjoy the update :) -Matt

[ 2022-06-07 18:43:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

As the Shinogi Chess Club launch week continues, so do the fixes and updates! Thanks to more people trying out the game and recording footage I've been able to identify a few important weak points which I wanted to quickly address while players are still in the early chapters.

Update Details

Patch Download Size

• Windows - 23.8 MB
• Mac - 16.3 MB
• Linux - 17.0 MB

Changelog

• Improved scene timings in Chapters 3 & 4
• Added new match debugging tools
• AI: Minor performance optimizations
• AI: Less likely to make poor Spy moves
• AI: Adjusted Spawn move and mistake weights
• Ambient world sounds no longer play during loading screen
• Improved animations for character: Daisuke
• Added blinking animation to character: Daisuke
• Added tower highlight UI in Shinogi Chess

To start with the presentation updates, I can talk a bit about ambient sounds. Since Burden of Proof actually did not feature any ambient world noise, this is a somewhat new problem I've had to solve for Shinogi Chess Club. My earlier solution was simply lower the ambience when a script or cutscene causes the scene to fade out, but that ended up splitting my volume logic across multiple places and left me unable to easily adjust it for other scenarios. This new version now relies on a more centralized code block that detects the current game state and acts accordingly, with overrides in place to still allow external control. With this new change, loading screens now affect the volume of ambient noises which helps to improve the overall polish. I found that the character Daisuke was lacking a bit in unique animation sets, so I included a new pose and added the blinking layer to his eyes like most other characters use. This should help make him feel more alive and animated in the scene, but there are still a few more characters that may need better treatment in the future too. I also had the idea to make the Tower mechanics more clear in Shinogi Chess by highlighting which squares you need to utilize to get a Capture. So I added in a little icon at low opacity which should do the trick, but further tweaking may need to be done in the future.
Finally, I was a bit unsatisfied with the decision making of AI still and wanted to correct a few issues. This part gets really complicated so I won't say too much, but the easiest thing to explain would be the performance improvements. AI moves may not actually be faster due to the added features but the memory allocation of the algorithm has been reduced, leading to more efficient move making. The likelihood of AI spawning a Pawn was a little too high, so it was reduced for most matches. Sadly this can still result in some bad moves due to this being a constant, but a larger overhaul on this was out of scope for this update. The bigger change comes with handling of Hidden Pieces. Previously, the AI wouldn't account for subtypes at all, and this is still mostly the case to make balancing easier and lessen the performance hit. But with this update, it will now recognize situations where it may needlessly throw its Spy away by trying to capture something other than a Pawn or King. In previous versions, this was a pretty awful move that a human would never make, even for beginners. Hopefully the adjustment eliminates this from occurring as often, but there are always crazy board states that happen which can throw things off. In addition, this is a new customizable weight setting for each individual opponent, so there is still a small chance for early enemies to make this mistake - call it pity if you'd like. Later on, I plan to talk more about the technology behind the AI and how that impacts guides & strategies within the game. This update would be a breaking change for anyone relying on guides or walkthroughs, but I haven't seen any so far. There are still quite a few shortcomings in the AI that I couldn't overcome this time around, but I've got many ideas on how to improve the algorithm in the future. Apologies if that was a long and boring writeup!

Community Showcase

Today I'd like to highlight this awesome playthrough of the first chapter by Sixkilla Gaming! [previewyoutube=PP1jXvtruSo;full][/previewyoutube] That's all for today! Thanks again to everyone that tried out the game and I'm so appreciative of all the continued support for this project. Don't hesitate to reach out here on the discussion page or on Twitter @RobProductions if you have any questions, and I hope you enjoy the update! -Matt

[ 2022-06-06 16:32:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

Huge thanks to everyone that tried out the game so far and gave feedback! I'm humbled by the support and will continue to improve upon the game with new features in the coming weeks.

Update Details

Patch Download Size

• Windows - 21.7 MB
• Mac - 13.1 MB
• Linux - 13.0 MB

And here's the changelog!

• Fixed some typos
• Improved scene timings in Chapter 4
• Improved speech animations for some characters
• Improved seated poses for some characters
• Added UI button animation for Move Mode during Shinogi Chess
• Fixed incorrect script order for an inspection spot in Chapter 4
• Fixed missing tutorial label text in the Chapter 1 investigation
• Improved lighting for a few scenes
• Fixed save files not refreshing when entering the menu too quickly

The main goal of this update was to quickly fix a few outstanding issues such as typos and other minor bugs. I also went a step further to fix animation quality for some characters that were not set up properly. For example, some characters had bespoke speech animations but you were never able to see the full quality of the rig moving since their "mouth layer" animation mask wasn't using the right data. That problem is now resolved for the most important characters and I'll be looking to fix a few more cases like this in the next update. Also added is a new UI animation to make it more clear when you've entered Move Mode in Shinogi Chess. It also seems as though execution order for certain scripts was unaccounted for and that resulted in missing tutorial text during the first investigation in Chapter 1. That should all be resolved now but do keep me updated if anything else looks out of place. Finally, there were some important scenes which looked a little underwhelming due to the awkward lighting angles and placement of characters in the levels. This resulted in heavy or unnatural shadows covering most of their faces which don't mesh well with the anime-style shading. So my solution was to manually activate some extra lights during those scenes that help keep shadows to one side of the face. This change adds a lot more depth to their appearance and shouldn't take too much of a toll on the game performance. That's all for now! Again, thank you to everyone playing and enjoying Shinogi Chess Club right now. Don't hesitate to reach out if you encounter a bug by posting on the discussion page or contacting me on Twitter. Happy gaming! -Matt

[ 2022-06-03 16:32:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

After a year and a half of development, Shinogi Chess Club has finally arrived! Get Shinogi Chess Club here!

Synopsis

Shinogi Chess Club is a hybrid-genre experience that combines Visual Novel storytelling with free-roaming 3D exploration and a playable strategy game! Uncover the secrets of Yoshino High School, compete against various AI opponents in the Spring Championships, and join the Shinogi Chess Club! This game is a spiritual follow-up to my previous VN game, Burden of Proof. It advances the world and game mechanics, and even connects the two stories thematically in significant ways.
What will you expect playing SCC? Like Burden of Proof, the game is primarily a visual novel. During certain segments you will be able to walk around freely and explore the campus. The Shinogi Chess Club meetings allow you to talk to each club member and discuss aspects of the evolving story across each chapter. You will encounter opponents though, and when the time comes you will get to actually play Shinogi Chess against their various AI personalities! What is Shinogi Chess? In this world, the entertainment craze of the future is a brand new variant of traditional chess. One key difference is the addition of new objectives and new piece types, which add a whole new layer of strategy for each turn. But the main feature of Shinogi Chess is piece stacking. Place pieces on top of each other to create a stack, which allows you to move both pieces at the same time!
Face off against various opponents who are introduced through the story segments. Learn their strategy by studying their personalities in order to effectively counter their moves. Discover new features of the game by experimenting with different stack types, plan your approach with move highlighting & a full reference book, and employ mind games to psych out other players with Hidden Pieces!

Support

If you have any technical questions or concerns, feel free to make a discussion post in the Shinogi Chess Club community page! You can also check out this post for common steps on how to resolve issues. If you'd prefer, you can also contact me on Twitter @RobProductions! I plan on supporting the game as long as I can so please don't hesitate to let me know if issues pop up.

Upcoming Features

As it goes with any development cycle, there were ideas that popped up after the main mechanics were already set in stone for release. Last minute bugfixing also pushed back some QOL items like mouse-hover labels and extra detail for some interior hallways. Between delaying the game for these small ideas or releasing it without them, I felt that it was better to have it ready for people to play. This shouldn't hugely impact your play experience, but I realize that based on the feedback I've received from play testers it would be better to include these eventually. So in the coming weeks I will work to update the game with these features, as well as fix any reported bugs that get found. Here are the planned updates:

• A new "outtakes" extra menu that unlocks once you've completed the game
• Minor animation improvements
• Adding more VO lines
• UI & controller navigation features
• Possibly some extra chess interface options
• & More

There's no exact timetable on this yet but I will keep everyone updated as these features are worked on. Again, this will not impact the core story experience or the chess gameplay in any meaningful way, so feel free to start your playthrough now! That's about it for this update! It has been a hectic week but I'm glad that this story is finally available for you all to play! Again, huge thanks to everyone that supported me and I hope you'll all enjoy the game. You can find all of my latest news and updates on my Twitter! Happy gaming everyone! -Matt

[ 2022-05-31 17:43:53 CET ] [ Original post ]