Chess But Better

Chess But Better is an online chess mod game made for a project in GDIM 41 at UCI with professor Constance Steinkuehler. In the assignment, teams had to modify or build on core elements of chess to achieve a specific purpose. Our group aimed to increase the chance that a novice could edge out a victory against an expert player by introducing randomness into the chess experience. To accomplish this we added randomly spawning items. When the player moves a chess piece onto a tile with an item, a random power will be immediately invoked. Ranging from freezing all pieces nearby to temporarily transmuting a piece into the "Monster" piece (a queen-knight hybrid piece), the items added to the game can punch holes into rigid strategies and force novice and experts alike to play differently. For controls, players must move pieces by dragging them with their mouse. To start a game, players must create a room with some keyword as its name, another player must join that game by inputting that original room code into their join room  input field and submitting it. Players are advised to not minimize the game mid-match to prevent desync issues.

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Game Design Credits:

Alondra Marr - Artwork

Ali Hassan - UI Design

Eric Patrick - Programming & Design

Essay Portion Credits (Not included in this itch.io page):

Hector Covarrubias - Reflection Paragraphs

Jaydee Chhouk - User Test Paragraphs

Grace Zhen - Mod & Goal Paragraphs