Kingdom Chess News

After some testing, I noticed players were spending too much time managing their inventory. And I wanted to fix it with a simple idea - team based inventory. It was a lot more complicated than expected, but few more things have been improved.

Features added last month:
- Team based inventory allows you to move items without switching between your characters.
- Inventory is now more flexible by allowing characters to have different inventory sizes.
- Battle loot appears once you win an encounter.
- Interaction with objects can be done through your team.
- Increased range of interaction for pick up objects.
- "Take Everything" button allows you to pick up everything from the ground with a single click.
- Switching characters in inventory doesn't select them any more.
- Inventory UI received few minor polishing touches.
- A number of inventory related bugs have been fixed.

Finally a new trailer has been created. It's better then previous one, but I'm not too happy about it. This month I'll be polishing experience based on recent feedback. Also I'll keep promoting the game by showing the game more often with smaller and more casual videos.

Features added last month:
- A lot of testing and bug fixing took place. 3 game breakers has been patched with some minor ones.
- It's not a game feature, but Kingdom Chess appeared on Indie DB: Indie DB and YouTube

A lot of effort has been dedicated to improved online features. Hopefully there will be some players available to play against. Now It's time to promote the demo.

Features added last month:
- Demo has been released with a new load up screen.
- Beta keys have been banned. Unfortunately, it was required for the demo to be accessible. Also, all playtest users should switch to the demo otherwise they won't be able to connect with the demo players in online games.
- Online connectivity has been redesigned. Instead of hosting or searching now both actions are taking place at the same time.
- Friends lobby has been recreated. Only someone from friends list can join the game. It allows more flexibility, especially with time options and it won't affect their ranking. Friend invites are not available yet, so all the players are required to create a lobby.
- Ping system stops the game when a player gets disconnected and determines the winner.
- Player online ranking system. Just a basic one and not even showed in the game, but heavily used in testing online connections.
- 5 achievements added to the campaign.
- 5 leaderboards have been created: 3x puzzle and 2x campaign. Currently it can be accessed only through the steam community page.
- Fog of war has been improved. Hopefully it won't cause any more glitches or crashes.
- Hints have been used in the campaign to provide more information about mechanics not covered in the tutorial.
- Another improvements and bug fixes for the quest system.

Unexpectedly a holiday break has sneaked in and all the work suddenly came to pause. Unfortunately, not much has been added last month. It will be easier to include it in the next update, so let's get back to work.

Minimap being the biggest feature of the last month? It sound's like a joke... A lot of effort has gone into testing and fixing which are very important, but not exciting at all. Unfortunately, there is a lot more work to be done before pushing out the new trailer, so keep your fingers crossed for this month.

Features added last month:
- Quest system has been upgraded to work with the minimap. It might not work properly with a quests loaded from a saved game. Resetting the quest or starting a new game might be required.
- Minimap has been added and tutorial has received minor improvements.
- Mouse sensitivity now can be adjusted in the settings menu.
- Low level fatal error, quest bug and free camera have been fixed.
- Promotional materials have been updated. Screen shots retaken, information rewritten and initial roadmap laid out.