First public Playtest is Over

Well, the first playtest lasted two weeks and, in my opinion, went extremely well. I’d like to share some data from it: 6,430 people played the game, with an average playtime of 1 hour 38 minutes, and roughly 347 players per day. I think those are really strong numbers for a first run!

During the playtest, I released nine fix updates, added a bunch of languages, and with the help of the community found a ton of bugs. By the way, if you’re interested in the game, found a bug, or have good ideas then join our Discord server. I try to reply to every message there, and it’s the fastest way to reach me.

TODO list

Of course, throughout the playtest I collected all the feedback and pulled out the top 5 key areas I need to work on:

1. Adjust rating system and game difficulty.

2. Onboarding — tutorial, move hover hints, clearer boss ability descriptions (shoutout Antichess boss), simplify chess terminology.

3. Game pacing — streamlining slow moments, more dynamism in matches.

4. Readability — font/kerning across languages, toggle for chromatic aberration.

5. More “wildness” and content.

Beyond that, I want to add "quality-of-life" features like move-arrows and pre-moves.

Final Words

Huge thanks to everyone who took the time to play! A special thank you to the small community on Steam and Discord. Your bug reports and suggestions really help the game grow.

I plan to run at least two more playtests before the demo and full release. Stay tuned for updates, and add the game to your wishlist!