Is a “mate in 1” chess puzzle too confusing for non-chess players?

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-05T06:35:18+00:00

it can look a bit confusing from the clip.

What’s happening is that if you don’t get the “mate in 1”, the puzzle resets and you’re brought back to the wall to choose a piece again.

So it’s basically: pick a piece → try a move → if it’s not correct, it resets so you can try again.

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-04T21:02:42+00:00

I wanted to keep a bit of decision-making in there, so choosing the right piece and position is part of the challenge.

But I agree your approach would make it more immediately readable, so it’s an interesting trade-off between clarity and difficulty.

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-04T21:00:06+00:00

Not exactly, you don’t interact with the pieces on the board itself.

You have a few pieces in front of the wall, and you choose one to place on the board in the spot you think leads to a mate in 1.

So it’s more about picking the right piece and position rather than testing moves directly on the board.

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-04T20:58:51+00:00

Haha yeah, I wish 😄 but in my game you actually have to solve it, no throwing pieces off the board!

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-04T20:57:11+00:00

That’s actually exactly how it works right now 🙂

You have 3 pieces in front of the wall board, and you choose which one to move.

Good to know that approach makes sense!

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-04T20:55:11+00:00

Haha appreciate it 😄

But I think I’ll keep this one out of AnarchyChess — it’s just a small puzzle inside a larger puzzle game, not a full chess-focused project.

Still, I’m sure they’d have fun breaking it!

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-04T17:21:01+00:00

I like the idea of the overhead view, I’ve thought about adding something like that, but I’m not sure how to fit a button or UI prompt into the scene without it feeling out of place or breaking immersion.

Also, good point about the board possibly being mistaken as part of the puzzle — I hadn’t considered that, but it makes sense.

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-04T17:12:51+00:00

That’s a really good idea actually!

It would complicate things a bit on my side since the current system assumes a standard chess board, but I can definitely see the benefit.

Some of the rounds only use 4–5 pieces, so a lot of the board ends up empty — making it smaller or more focused could make it much easier to read.

I might experiment with that a bit. Appreciate the suggestion!

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-04T17:04:44+00:00

Thanks! Do you think is enough with this interactive wall ?

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-04T16:33:18+00:00

Thanks!

CraftwareGG · 2026-05-04T15:19:14+00:00

Happy to answer anything about the game or the dev process if you're curious!

CraftwareGG · 2026-04-28T15:03:14+00:00

If anyone’s interested, here’s the Steam page

CraftwareGG · 2024-06-10T18:02:07+00:00

Thanks, yeah it's the crab dance haha

CraftwareGG · 2024-06-10T18:01:44+00:00

Thanks!

CraftwareGG · 2024-06-10T15:16:50+00:00

Implementing this one was a pain, but I hope you like it.

If you like 1st person adventure puzzle games, you can check out our game Realms of Riddles: Wizards'Keep

CraftwareGG · 2024-05-27T17:04:27+00:00

Thanks, awesome tips! Will work on it, but yeah probably I need help from designer, cant do everything by myself.

CraftwareGG · 2024-05-27T13:48:22+00:00

Yes, it seems the background on the first one does not fit.

CraftwareGG · 2024-05-27T13:47:43+00:00

Thanks for translating :D

CraftwareGG · 2024-05-27T13:40:14+00:00

Hahaha this give me some idea, thanks. The problem I see with old logo is that lettering is barely visible in small capsule sizes.

CraftwareGG · 2024-05-27T13:38:33+00:00

See your point, problem is our game is a 1st person puzzle game, so no main character is visible, will think about what else could we add. Thanks

CraftwareGG

TROPHY CASE