Shinogi Chess Club 1.1.0 Update

It's here! What's likely going to be the largest update for Shinogi Chess Club is now available for download. Many of the post-launch ideas have been implemented and more significant improvements are being bundled in this version, hence the direct 1.1 label. So let's get into it with an overview of the update content!

Update Details

Update size:

• Windows - 31.8 MB

• Mac - 24.7 MB

• Linux - 25.3 MB

Changelog:

• Fixed some typos

• New option: Hold Navigation (default on)

• New option: Select Blocked Squares (default off)

• Controller: When Hold Navigation is on, hold stick to quickly move square selection

• Controller: When Select Blocked Squares is on, navigation to blocked squares is allowed

• AddedControllerFixed issue where navigation highlight disappeared on entering new turn

• Added shadow sprite to square highlight effect

• Improved selection color contrast for some Main Menu & Settings Menu buttons

• Added Hard Mode difficulty option

• Fixed a softlock that occurs while loading a game with the Datapad open

• Fixed an issue that allowed Spawn mode during the wrong tutorial sequence

• Added Calvin's Outtakes in the Extras menu, unlocked after completing the game

• Added piece appearance selector in the Tab Menu

• Added 5 piece appearance sets, unlockable by completing story chapters

Several significant issues have been resolved with this update, including a potential issue within the tutorial system and another one that affected loading save files. In order to fix the latter problem, the "loading screen" transition now happens on unscaled time, which means it is no longer blocked by situations which have caused the game to pause.

EDIT

The 1.1.1 hotfix was also just released to solve a major issue that I noticed today.

It contains only 1 change

• Fixed an issue that allowed Exiting scripts during matches after restarting

The issue is now resolved and the update is ~1MB in download size. Appreciate your understanding and apologies if anyone was affected by this!

*NEW* Hard Mode Difficulty

You can now select a 4th difficulty option at the start of a new game or at any point during your playthrough from the Datapad menu: Hard Mode!

To sum up how the game difficulty modes work: Story mode makes opponents forfeit all moves. Easy mode makes them only search 2 moves in advance and extra mistakes are injected to make them more prone to errors. Normal mode lets them search 3 moves in advance and a varied amount of mistakes are injected to hone in realism, with later opponents receiving a lower chance of mistakes to ramp up the challenge.

In update 1.1.0, the Hard Mode difficulty lets opponents skip the mistake injection altogether and play purely based off of the value calculation. This doesn't make them impossible; far from it! There are still certain scenarios which the AI can never account for and that was done on purpose to give newer players some headroom and make calculation times faster. But I do think that chess experts will appreciate this option as it allows the opponents to not "hold back" so to speak and provide a significant challenge for those that want it.

Swapping between Normal Mode and Hard Mode will not invalidate your session from acquiring the "Expert" achievement. However, changing to Easy or lower will still work as before, so be careful about your difficulty selection before closing the Datapad!

*NEW* Customize Piece Appearance

You can now customize the look of your chess pieces from the Datapad menu! Navigate to the "Match Settings" tab and you'll find a new UI selector at the bottom. Simply click on a color scheme to set the appearance at any time, even during a match!

There are 5 appearance styles to choose from, and the later ones will be unlocked as you complete the game. You only need to complete the desired chapter on one save file in order for it to unlock on all save files from your account.

*NEW* Calvin's Outtakes

Enter the Extras menu from the Main Menu after completing the game to find a special surprise! This unlockable mode allows you to hear some unique voice lines as an extra reward for finishing the story. This mode works similarly to Nomad's Outtakes from Iron Reckoning.

Controller and Accessibility Updates

There are 2 new options that can be found within the interface pertaining to "navigation mode" within Shinogi Chess. Navigation mode refers to either controller input or WASD selection to select and move your chess pieces. These options allow you to enable or disable "hold navigation" or selecting "blocked squares". When Hold Navigation is on, you can hold a direction to quickly move across many squares. When Select Blocked Squares is on, you can navigate and hover over the circular block objects that appear in the middle of the board.

There's also increased contrast for the "highlight" which appears when selecting squares, and across some buttons throughout the menus as well. Finally, an issue was fixed which allows the highlight to properly retain its position after the opponent has made their move.

These QOL updates are meant to improve the usability on controllers. I'll continue to monitor the situation so don't hesitate to reach out if you have a suggestion here. There are several other changes I would like to make for the next update which should improve this further, including more uses of the B button to back out of menus and more usage of the bumpers to navigate tabs.

Closing

That's all for today's patch! This version has been a huge undertaking so I'm happy that it's finally available for everyone to try. I hope you enjoy the new features and are looking forward to further updates within Shinogi Chess Club! I still have a few more QOL improvements I'd like to try so you can expect those to arrive within the coming weeks.

As always you can keep up with the latest news on Twitter @RobProductions! I appreciate all the support I've gotten throughout the release of this game and I'm excited to begin work on my next big project soon. So once again, thanks for playing and I hope you enjoy the game! -Matt