ShadowChess

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  Splash screen shown in reddit homepage

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  Choose side screen

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  Gameplay [2]

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  Gameplay [1]

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  Scorecard

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  Game analysis screen - Best game

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  Scoring system

Inspiration

For a while now, I've wanted to make a multiplayer chess game and this was my attempt at making one! A big part of making it multiplayer would be to make it asynchronous. To make it asynchronous, all the rules of chess have to be rethought of and new rules had to be established. It was a daunting yet interesting task to take up, but I think the end product turned out well!

What it does

ShadowChess is a daily massive multiplayer online chess game where all redditors compete to help their team win. A new board is created everyday inspired from even positions of GrandMaster games. Redditors continue from these positions to play 5 pre-moves with no knowledge of what the opponent has played. These 5 pre-moves will be pitted against every pre-move set played by opponents. For every such game that's simulated, the score is calculated as follows:

The game mechanic in play here is that users have to think 5 moves ahead and to capture and win pieces. There are multiple strategies here, one could go all attack and try to capture the most number of pieces. One could play all defence and try to get the opponent to make an illegal move! This game tests the concept of collective intelligence and a users judgement of how intelligent the public is!

After the user submits the game, a scorecard is displayed showing the users average score across all the games that were played. In addition to this, the user can also view their best and worst game being played out. This allows the user to analyze, introspect and get a better understanding of game mechanics and its strategies.

A new game position is created as a post everyday. Using pro game positions would give it enough variation to ensure that the same strategy will not work for all games.

Why redditors will love it!

• Chess is a global game and it sees a lot of engagement on reddit in addition to a high user base
• The game lets redditors play as a GM, allowing them to reminisce and relive popular games
• The game can be played in under 10 seconds. Users can then spend as much time as required analyzing the game they had played.
• Brings a sense of community, where users of one team can discuss the best moves and strategies in the comments

Reddit Hooks!

• An attractive splash screen with an interesting chess position that nudges users to click Play!
• Allowing users to choose their side, bringing a sense of community
• The fact that the game score and winning side updates over time gives users the incentive to come back and check on the same game later on in the day
• Showing a detailed scorecard unlocks a lot of scope for discussion in comments
• Users can see their best and worst game, post which they are prompted to post a comment tagging their opponent and discuss about the game played between them
• User flairs highlighting the number of wins and losses will encourage users to be regular participants in the subreddit!

What's next for ShadowChess

To make things interesting for me, I connected the planned enhancements to the game directly to the different tiers in reddit developer funds -

Built With

• devvit
• javascript
• react
• typescript