It's been a while since Free Chess had some love so we thought it due time to do exactly so, but there's a bit to discuss along the way.
For anyone following our Development tale, you might know that we have a new game "Realms at War" which is heavily evolved around the core concept of Chess at it's roots, but there has been a lot we've had to work on and refine to get Realms at War working nicely, that made us realise Free Chess was missing a couple things. The benifits of learning!
So one of the major updates is our online readability, we are using Steams online services, which means we don't have to use our own dedicated servers, but doing this tends to skip being able to see EVERYONE online at once. We have attempted to fix this multiple times, however it isn't something that semes to be possible, you will only see current friends and a relatively local population on the servers at any time. This really sucks because currently we have a semi lively audience (according to Steam).
Lifetime total units | 98,403 |
Daily active users | 69 | (average, past 7 days) |
Lifetime unique users | 35,779 |
These numbers are super awesome in our opinion and we are really sad that you can't all see each other when you are online, hopefully one day in the future we manage to kick this issue in the butt and the world can openly see one another.
One of our major issues on Realms at War is exactly this, so we will be working on it!
So with that off of our chests, what's new with the game?
Update list:
NEW STOCK FISH AI UPDATE (This means our AI in game is far better then the version prior to this update, so prepare for better games against bots!)
New Multiplayer server menus
New map (Menu scene) now playable
New clock adjustment (You can now change the time for a match!)
Added password protected servers
New Free Free Chess set (Standard III)
New Free Free Chess set (Realms at War Set)
Added Bug Tracker
Unreal 5.7 engine update
Adjusted controls so picking up a piece fully raises it, removing need to hold left click and then right click while moving over piece (our biggest complaint in the reviews) [We may make this a toggle in the options if enough people request it]
Removed all stinky AI art we used in the photo frames because we thought they were funny, but now we are firmly against using AI trash in our games. Strange update, but we feel it important to state.
Removed foliage from Brutalist map (was causing crash & meltdowns on lower end PCs)
Updated Launch logo
Some additional addons coming very soon
Standard IV paid DLC set enroute
Dark Elven paid DLC set enroute
With our DLC, we have a few artists jumping onboard to create some work for the game, so expect to see a few more sets appear in time.
We really love that some of you guys are still playing this game as much as you are, it means the world to us and we hope that you all might see our latest game and love it as much as this one.
Until next time,
Stay Awesome.
-The GrimmGitz