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 ]

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!



In the far future, the world has been plunged into an economic depression. One prefecture in Japan has managed to stay afloat by investing in a new board game variant called Shinogi Chess. Companies, governments, and institutions have all shifted their focus towards getting their best representatives to play for public amusement.


Yoshino High School is one such institution. Their Shinogi Chess Club is on the verge of being able to compete in the Spring Championships, an annual competition bringing fame and fortune to the city's best players.

In the midst of this huge event, an upcoming competitor, Himiko Masaki, attempts to improve her skill in the game in order to chase down leads and stop a dangerous organization that's threatening the school. But when she acquires a mysterious supernatural ability, her sense of self is put to the test. With the help of the Shinogi Chess Club members, Himiko must navigate these challenges and discover just how far she is willing to go for the truth!



Acting as a successor to the acclaimed Burden of Proof, Shinogi Chess Club advances RobProductions' iconic visual novel hybrid style. Free roam the 3D environment throughout the story as you explore Yoshino High School in third person!

• Discover vital clues as Himiko investigates a dangerous organization
  
• Explore the Shinogi Chess Club Room and other key locations around the school
  
• Compete with the best of the best in the Spring Championship tournament

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!

• Full standalone story experience set in the world of Burden of Proof
  
• Meet the members of the Shinogi Chess Club & solve a series of mysteries at the school
  
• Battle a variety of opponents in fully playable Shinogi Chess segments
  
• Test your skills & play custom battles in the flexible Practice Mode
  
• Explore Yoshino High School using the 3rd person controls
  
• Challenge your friends to Shinogi Chess with local multiplayer via Practice Mode
  
• Adjust the AI difficulty to your liking or use the Story Mode setting to skip the challenges entirely
  
• Revamped visual novel interface with adjustable text size & autoplay
  
• 4k screen support & compatible with any framerate
  
• Native versions for Mac OSX, Windows, and Linux
  
• Support for common input hardware, including the Xbox & DualShock controllers
  
• Complete subtitle support and other common accessibility features
  
• Full original soundtrack & album release