Chessplosion

Released: Sep 21, 2021
Platforms
Last updated: 14 Sep 2026, 08:56 GMT

Updates & announcements

20 posts

03 Jun 2024Developer post
Update v2824
Hello! Update v2824 contains one small change: the optional in-game speedrun timer now displays an asterisk next to your time if any assist mode features are enabled. Some speedrunners use the assist mode features to test out strategies, but it's easy to accidentally leave them o
17 Jan 2024Developer post
Gauntlet Hotfix - Update v2823
Hello! Update v2823 just contains one small bug fix: Gauntlet/Dungeon: fixed a credits wrongwarp caused by dying during a boss fight and reviving immediately afterwards (e.g. if the boss dies to the same explosion and gives you enough points for a heal) Thanks Gaphodil for findin
Hello! Update v2823 just contains one small bug fix:

Gauntlet/Dungeon: fixed a credits wrongwarp caused by dying during a boss fight and reviving immediately afterwards (e.g. if the boss dies to the same explosion and gives you enough points for a heal)
Thanks Gaphodil for finding this bug, and thanks for supporting Chessplosion!
Original post
30 Dec 2023Developer post
Update v2820
Hello! I just released update v2820, which contains a few bugfixes: Gauntlet (co-op): Bomb-throwing enemies now target a random player, instead of always targeting player 1 Gauntlet: Dying with coins on the floor and restarting the stage now makes those coins disappear, instead o
Hello! I just released update v2820, which contains a few bugfixes:

Gauntlet (co-op): Bomb-throwing enemies now target a random player, instead of always targeting player 1
Gauntlet: Dying with coins on the floor and restarting the stage now makes those coins disappear, instead of letting you grab them on your next run for some free extra points
Gauntlet/Dungeon: Fixed a bug where unlocking and selecting a high difficulty level in Dungeon mode then switching over to Gauntlet mode would let you play that difficulty level in Gauntlet mode without unlocking it, and vice-versa
Thanks for supporting Chessplosion!
Original post
20 Dec 2023Developer post
Update v2816
Hello! Update v2816 just makes one small change: the credits screen in Gauntlet mode now shows your difficulty setting and your bomb loadout. Dungeon mode shows this information too, if the speedrun timer is enabled. (I forgot to enable the speedrun timer during the run that I ju
18 Dec 2023Developer post
Gauntlet Mode Update (v2814)
Chessplosion's gauntlet update is out now! Chessplosion now contains Gauntlet mode, a new arcade-inspired mode where you score points by quickly chaining hits on enemies without taking damage. It's a bit like a linear version of Dungeon mode with no upgrades, no backtracking, and
02 Dec 2023Developer post
Update v2786
Hello! The latest update (v2786) just contains a single crash fix: pausing the game immediately after dying in a single player game mode and hitting Retry no longer causes the game to crash. Huge thanks to Anti_Pixel and limga_ssb for finding this crash and letting me know about
25 Jul 2023Developer post
New Font and a New Game! (Update v2784)
Hello! I've been very busy this year, so here's an update on what I've been up to. First off, I just released a new game! It's called Ducky's Delivery Service, and it's a 2D action game where you are a duck who uses a propeller backpack to fly around and deliver mail. If you like
27 May 2023Developer post
2023 Spring Cleaning Update (v2779)
Hi! This update (v2779) contains some quality of life improvements and bugfixes: UI: Pressing the back button (or Esc on keyboard) while on the main menu now opens the "Are you sure you want to quit?" box instead of taking you back to the title screen General: Fixed a bug that wa
Hi! This update (v2779) contains some quality of life improvements and bugfixes:

UI: Pressing the back button (or Esc on keyboard) while on the main menu now opens the "Are you sure you want to quit?" box instead of taking you back to the title screen
General: Fixed a bug that was causing some PCs to fail to create the save file folder
Online: Fixed a bug that could cause desyncs in games with ping higher than 1066ms. I hope no one was playing games with ping that high in the first place, but at least it's fixed anyway...
I found these issues while working on Ducky's Delivery Service, my propeller-powered duck delivery action game that's coming out in July. The demo is available now, so give it a try if you're interested!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2080970/Duckys_Delivery_Service/
I hope you're enjoying Chessplosion, and thanks again for supporting the game!
Original post
02 Dec 2022Developer post
Guildford Games Festival 2022
Chessplosion is featured in the Guildford Games Festival 2022 Steam event this weekend, along with lots of other games that were made in the town where I live. As part of the event, the game is 50% off! I'll be broadcasting some Chessplosion gameplay during the event to celebrate
22 Nov 2022Developer post
Quality of Life Update (v2775)
This update (v2775) contains some quality of life improvements and bugfixes that I've been meaning to make for a while: UI: The border of your selected menu button now flashes slowly, to make it a bit easier to tell which button is selected Training: Both players now have 2 healt
This update (v2775) contains some quality of life improvements and bugfixes that I've been meaning to make for a while:

UI: The border of your selected menu button now flashes slowly, to make it a bit easier to tell which button is selected
Training: Both players now have 2 health (was 1)
Training: Random stage switch is now accessible, like in the other game modes
Training (bug fix): Hovering over the 'random' stage option now displays each of the random stages, like in the other game modes
General: My name is now written as "C.T. Matthews" in the game (was "CT Matthews"), to make it a bit more clear that the "C.T." part is my initials and not some random letters
In case you're curious what else I've been doing for these past few months, I've made a bit of progress on a potential Chessplosion console port and a lot of progress on a new game! The new game isn't quite ready to be publicly announced yet (I still need to compose some music so I can make a trailer) but I've been showing off some development footage on my newsletter in the meantime.
Thank you so much to everyone who has supported Chessplosion so far. I'm blown away by how much support I've received, and it is what lets me continue to work on updates and new games. I hope you continue to enjoy the game!
Original post
22 Jun 2022Developer post
Spring Cleaning in June (v2767)
Hi! In the process of looking into potential Chessplosion console ports, I have been cleaning up the code and fixing some small issues that I found. It's mostly behind-the-scenes code changes that are invisible to players, with these two exceptions: Greatly improved analog stick
Hi! In the process of looking into potential Chessplosion console ports, I have been cleaning up the code and fixing some small issues that I found. It's mostly behind-the-scenes code changes that are invisible to players, with these two exceptions:

Greatly improved analog stick controls by making it much easier to walk in a straight line without accidentally stepping to the side (see notes below).
Slightly improved sound effects' audio quality while slightly lowering the overall file size.
An explanation for the analog stick changes: in Chessplosion, holding a diagonal direction on keyboard, dpad or analog stick will cause you to alternate between the two directions you're holding. For example, holding the up-right diagonal will cause you to move one square up, then one square right, then one square up again, and so on. This works great on keyboard and dpad, but on analog stick it can be much too easy to accidentally drift into The Diagonal Zone when you're just trying to walk in a straight line.
The fix to this was to heavily shrink down The Diagonal Zone from 45 degrees to 15 degrees, to make it easier to avoid if you're just trying to move straight up, down, left, or right. The diagram below shows the difference; if you want to move in a straight line on an analog stick, you have to keep your stick within the green area:
Hope this helps anyone who plays on analog stick, and thank you again for supporting Chessplosion!
Original post
30 Apr 2022Developer post
Update v2738
Update v2738 tweaks a couple of the quality of life changes from v2736: Dungeon: the semi-transparent icons on the minimap are now a bit more faded out, to make it easier to tell them apart from the regular icons. Dungeon: the Retry button in the pause menu was moved below the Ma
Update v2738 tweaks a couple of the quality of life changes from v2736:

Dungeon: the semi-transparent icons on the minimap are now a bit more faded out, to make it easier to tell them apart from the regular icons.
Dungeon: the Retry button in the pause menu was moved below the Map button. It now appears regardless of whether or not you are using the -dungeon_quick_restart launch option, although you have to go through an "are you sure?" prompt if you aren't using the launch option. But if you are using the launch option, the cursor will now immediately highlight the Retry button when you pause the game, making it even quicker to restart.
Original post
28 Apr 2022Developer post
Dungeon Quality of Life Update (v2736)
This update adds a few quality of life upgrades for a smoother experience when playing Dungeon mode. Here are the full patch notes for v2736: Dungeon: special rooms on the minimap that have already been completed now show a semi-transparent icon instead of no icon at all, so you
This update adds a few quality of life upgrades for a smoother experience when playing Dungeon mode.
Here are the full patch notes for v2736:

Dungeon: special rooms on the minimap that have already been completed now show a semi-transparent icon instead of no icon at all, so you don't have to remember how many hearts you've found and so on.
Dungeon: made the icon for the Exchange upgrade smaller, so it doesn't cover up the icon next to it in the HUD.
Dungeon: removed the Coin Collector upgrade for now, as it's pretty heavily underpowered. Hopefully I'll be able to replace it with a stronger item later, if I get the opportunity to get localized text for a new item description.
Dungeon: added the "-dungeon_quick_restart" launch option, which lets you instantly restart a Dungeon mode run from the pause menu.
Dungeon: floor 1 now tries to always start you next to a shop or a challenge room, so you can instantly get a glimpse at which random items are available on the floor.
Original post
29 Mar 2022Developer post
Small Dungeon Update
This update fixes an annoying save bug and reverts a nerf to the speed shoes in Dungeon mode. Here are the full patch notes for v2720: Dungeon: buffed speed shoes back up to a 20% speed increase. They were originally nerfed partly because they were so overpowered when it came to
This update fixes an annoying save bug and reverts a nerf to the speed shoes in Dungeon mode.
Here are the full patch notes for v2720:

Dungeon: buffed speed shoes back up to a 20% speed increase. They were originally nerfed partly because they were so overpowered when it came to the large amount of backtracking in speedruns, but this is no longer an issue now that you can instantly backtrack using the map.
Dungeon: fixed a visual bug where all of your items after the first one were displayed as a Bakewell Tart, after saving and loading mid-run.
Original post
14 Mar 2022Developer post
Update v2718
This is just a quick extra patch for the new Dungeon mode map screen. You can now access the map directly without having to go through the pause screen, by pressing Tab on keyboard or Y on gamepad. This button can be changed in the controls menu.
14 Mar 2022Developer post
Dungeon Map Update
Chessplosion's Dungeon mode now has a map screen! You can access it from the pause menu and use it to warp to any previously explored room. Edit: Update v2718 now lets you access the map directly by pressing Tab (keyboard) or Y (gamepad) Here are the full patch notes for update v
Chessplosion's Dungeon mode now has a map screen! You can access it from the pause menu and use it to warp to any previously explored room.
Edit: Update v2718 now lets you access the map directly by pressing Tab (keyboard) or Y (gamepad)
Here are the full patch notes for update v2716:

Dungeon: Map screen added. You can access it from the pause menu and use it to warp to any previously explored room.
Bugfix: Opening the control config menu from the adventure world map or the puzzle editor no longer softlocks the game.
Original post
09 Mar 2022Developer post
Update v2713
Update v2713 just contains a single bugfix: When you start stepping from one square to another, you can now plant bombs during the first 3 frames of the step instead of immediately losing your ability to plant bombs on frame 1. This has been a feature of the game since it first r
03 Mar 2022Developer post
Update Notes - v2712
Hello! Update v2712 is out, which just contains a quick couple of hotfixes for Dungeon mode: Dungeon: Upgraded bombs will now match your character's color, just like regular bombs. Previously they would always show as white in shops, and their explosions would always be orange. L
Hello! Update v2712 is out, which just contains a quick couple of hotfixes for Dungeon mode:

Dungeon: Upgraded bombs will now match your character's color, just like regular bombs. Previously they would always show as white in shops, and their explosions would always be orange.
Localization: Fixed a Korean typo.
Thanks for supporting Chessplosion. Hope you're enjoying Dungeon mode!
Original post
22 Feb 2022Developer post
Dungeon Balance Patch 2 (v2709)
An update to Chessplosion's Dungeon mode has been released! It addresses a couple of balance issues, and makes it easier for you to see when you run out of ammo and switch back to using regular bombs. Here are the full patch notes for update v2709: Dungeon: Picking up another cop
An update to Chessplosion's Dungeon mode has been released! It addresses a couple of balance issues, and makes it easier for you to see when you run out of ammo and switch back to using regular bombs.
Here are the full patch notes for update v2709:

Dungeon: Picking up another copy of a weapon that you're already carrying now causes the ammo to stack. For example, if you pick up Remote Kings (Ammo: 10) and immediately pick up another Remote Kings (Ammo: 10), you will now have 20 ammo.
Dungeon: running out of ammo now causes you to flash white and play a sound. It was common for people to run out of ammo without noticing, so this should make it a bit easier.
Dungeon: Total Reset upgrade no longer appears in post-boss rooms, and now only appears in shops. The Total Reset upgrade heals you to full health, at the cost of removing all of your upgrades other than increased max health. This is very unlikely to be a good choice right after a boss fight, because you've usually just healed 4 health immediately before entering the post-boss room.
Dungeon: Speed Shoes now increase your speed by 10% (was 20%). They just felt a bit too strong in most situations, and their speed could sometimes be slightly too annoying for some people to control. They also overshadowed the Crab Shoes, which give a 33% increase to horizontal horizontal speed but no increase to vertical movement speed.
Original post
18 Feb 2022Developer post
Dungeon Balance Patch (v2703)
This is just a quick patch with a few Dungeon mode bugfixes and balance changes. The balance changes aim to slightly lower the amount of maximum health you can build up if you find several health upgrades early in your run, as it was easy to end up with 10+ health and the ability
This is just a quick patch with a few Dungeon mode bugfixes and balance changes. The balance changes aim to slightly lower the amount of maximum health you can build up if you find several health upgrades early in your run, as it was easy to end up with 10+ health and the ability to revive back to 50% health on death.
Here are the full patch notes for update v2703:
Gameplay: If a tossed bomb lands on another bomb, both bombs now explode. Previously the tossed bomb would disappear, and only the bomb that it landed on would explode.
Dungeon: The room containing the boss key is now always at least 6 rooms away from the boss room (was 3)
Dungeon: Defeating a boss now gives you 50 coins on each floor (was previously 50 on floor 1, then +10 extra per floor)
Dungeon: Hanging Piece no longer instakills bosses who normally start with 1 health
Dungeon: Bakewell Tart now heals you for 2 health (was 3)
Dungeon: Chaos now gives you +2 max health (was +3)
Dungeon: Chocolate Mint now leaves you at 33% health when you revive (was 50%)
Original post