I'd like to tell you more about SokoChess Black and how it differs from its predecessors.
In SokoChess you played as the white pieces and you'd push the black ones into their destination, however they would actually fight back and would capture your pieces if given the chance. Generally speaking, this is something you had to avoid, but sometimes you'd have to actually use your own pieces as a bait.
SokoChess White removed the black pieces completely and instead it was all about moving and pushing your own pieces. The black side was instead replaced by a new set of obstacles that you had to overcome. There were also the bombs, which would require you to push something into them, sometimes your own piece.
SokoChess Black returns to the very first game but switches things around! This time you control the black pieces and you have to capture the white ones. That's right, it's revenge time! However, they will not resist at all, well, at least not actively.
I really enjoy the bait/sacrifice part of SokoChess. It is an integral part of Chess itself after all. So I was thinking about how to bring it back. The answer was surprisingly simple. I just make sure the values of the pieces matter. So, if you capture a rook with a rook of your own, only the white rook is removed. However if you try to do the same with a pawn, both the white rook and your black pawn will be removed from the board.
As you can see on the image above, we have a little value helper in the top left corner and there is also an icon that signals what will happen.
It's very straight forward. A dagger means only the white piece will be captured. A skull means only your piece will be removed and as you can already tell, the skull and dagger means both pieces will be removed.
You might be asking yourself, under what circumstance can only my piece be removed?
Remember when I sad the white pieces will not oppose you actively? Well, some are shielded! This essentially means the piece needs to be capture two times. The first one your piece will be removed no matter its value and the shield itself. After that you have to capture it again and then the value of your piece matters in determining whenever it will stay on board or not.
Old ideas, new executions
You might actually recognize the shield from the original SokoChess. In that game the shield would actually help you. If you moved a piece on it, the shield would become shielded and could not be captured until it moved again.
Another element I remade in SokoChess Black is the promotion field.
Previously it was a stationary field that only pawns could be promoted on. This time it's one time use and any piece can be promoted thanks to it. There's also a reverse version of it which actually demotes your piece. This time they don't promote your pieces straight to a queen, instead they increase/decrease the value of the piece by 1.
Here's a later level where you have to use both the promotion and demotion fields and you have to plan your path accordingly since you only have a single queen. There's a couple of levels like that and I really enjoyed making them, I hope you like playing them as well!
Familiar faces
As you can see on the screenshot above, the cracks are returning as well. These did not change in anyway. There's few mechanics I am bringing over from SokoChess White that aren't changing since they compliment SokoChess Black's gameplay greatly the way they already are.
Speaking of familiar mechanics, do you remember the locks from SokoSolitaire? Well fun fact, they were actually first implemented in SokoChess Black and I liked them so much that I brought them over to SokoSolitaire. I am glad I did because everyone who talked to me about the locks seems to have enjoyed them as well. Also, please excuse the lock placeholder art, Julieta is already working on a new, proper art for it!
I want to keep at least a couple of mechanics a secret, so that's all for now. When SokoChess White came out, people were glad there is a new SokoChess game but they also told me that it didn't make the original redundant. This is what I am aiming for with this one as well and I hope you feel about it that way.
Demo coming soon!
The demo version will be releasing on September 14th, I hope you will enjoy it playing!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2482820/SokoChess_Black/
