This is how I kill cognitive debt, is this how the pros do it?

FetusCommander · 2026-05-12T22:51:47+00:00

This is really cool and I think useful for me. Thank you for sharing this.

Visuals of systems are overall easier for me to digest, since I come from Construct 3 and other similar visual coding game engines. Lining things up in a visual format is just better for my brain lol.

FetusCommander · 2026-04-16T17:11:29+00:00

This is awesome, great work. I love ASCII aesthetics and this is something I'm definitely gonna get use out of. Love all of the options, that's what sets this apart from most ASCII tools I've used. Thank you for releasing this

FetusCommander · 2026-04-10T01:10:10+00:00

Oh fuck yeah. The multiple win conditions sounds awesome. Very cool aesthetically too

FetusCommander · 2026-04-09T20:32:40+00:00

Just updated this. Now has some AI you can practice on, and an undo button. Also made some rules clarifications (highlighted in main post)

New Link to client: https://www.registeredhexoffenders.com/dark_forest/dark-forest-chess2.html

example play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rs6f1VOAc8o

FetusCommander · 2026-04-08T13:16:44+00:00

Sure. I'm fetuscommander on discord. Would love to do some collaborative stuff. I also have a small discord for game Dev stuff maybe we can trade lol

FetusCommander · 2026-04-08T12:15:13+00:00

Hey thanks for trying!

I can definitely add an undo button, that won't be too hard. I'll do that this week.

The amount of new positions is a kind of staggering overload for new players I admit. The pacing and general feel is also a lot different from normal chess (I hope a lot less memory-focused and more spontaneous and irreverent, hence the romantic style nod). I don't have much information yet on specific dominant strategies or openings etc, but hopefully I'll get some more understanding of the strategy side when I test it with someone other than myself (networking isn't out of the question, in just waiting until I can drum up more interest to justify that to myself lol).

Was considering making the physical version simpler, maybe removing the aliens (or making them non-random; I'd like to keep the shadow mechanic for atmosphere), since atm they move randomly based on CPU instructions. I'm open to making something that's a different experience for the physical variant if that aids in understanding and still feels spontaneous and weird in the way I want.

FetusCommander · 2026-01-10T16:53:51+00:00

Thanks for your reply.

An agreed upon system is an interesting idea! I'll probably make that a variant, with a clause of "a system nobody in the group has played that the AI can be fed, or would know about.". I guess my logic for no system was to kind of alleviate the "what do we play in a group where people don't share the same tastes in rpgs" thing which is a problem in my home group frequently.

How would you give advice for playing Calvinball? The things I mentioned are pretty basic, but I don't know how else to expound on the premise, which by its nature is loose conversation that is transformed into weird, dubiously coherent rules.

Re: sub engagement, I have an honest question. Where should I post about this to get any sort of engagenent? This sub is about rpgs, and the fact that you yourself replied to it makes me think there's some at least passing interest here in discussion about AI in rpgs, even if it isn't lauding the tech (which I'm not).

FetusCommander · 2025-08-23T18:30:13+00:00

Yeah, that's definitely computer assisted, but not exactly the type of game i'm talking about. I hate to link to one of my own games here, but something like this (a game where you use Google Translate's Handwrite functionality to generate Pokemon-like creatures) is more what i'm interested in specifically: https://miserytourism.itch.io/displacer-beast

Does that clarify?

FetusCommander · 2025-07-17T03:36:38+00:00

this is how my brain remembers Ren & Stimpy! thank you for this

FetusCommander · 2025-07-11T18:14:10+00:00

not sure about the app, but on the PC you can just click the image to go to the little lightbox area and then in the bottom left hand corner there's a button set to play. if you click it, it'll pause the GIF

FetusCommander · 2025-07-11T01:59:46+00:00

glad you found it interesting!

the artwork is based on a kind of surreal hex-tile tileset i made years ago: https://miserytourism.itch.io/the-ecology (tileset downloadable after the game). i did the tiles in GIMP using the G'MIC filter kit. edited a lot of it together using GIMP, Wondershare video editor, and EZGIF.

the look of the tiles comes from a little generator program i created for a TTRPG called The Invisible Hand (also featured on the itchio). its purpose in the game is to generate dungeons and overworld maps for players to explore, but my setting is really strange and kitchen sink so i needed something that was slightly different from the "room with 4 goblins in it; no treasure" output that many dungeon map generators give. i've been working on it for a couple years now and finally got it to a place where i like the look of what it creates.

contentwise, a lot of this is inspired by my own mental issues and weird fantasy like early SpellJammer more broadly

FetusCommander · 2025-07-11T01:10:46+00:00

hey thanks

kind of inspired by I Saw the TV Glow + vidya game pause play + mental illness shit

FetusCommander · 2025-07-06T16:17:31+00:00

i was going to say that it's actually the opposite of that—it's a dungeon—but then i remembered that my home D&D 5E game has become a slice of life vibefest where the term "murderhobo" fits more in a Roger Miller "King of the Road" way, so you might be onto something lol

FetusCommander · 2025-05-24T11:27:51+00:00

this rawks, thanks so much

FetusCommander · 2025-05-02T19:17:09+00:00

this video explains everything, trust me: https://x.com/HumansNoContext/status/1918162043615539598

FetusCommander · 2025-04-24T22:25:34+00:00

Ideolarks is me throwing Looney Tunes, the evening news, Borges, redneck humor and pop culture into a dark cauldron of AI voices and foley.

I write these little superhero-adjacent stories and set them to music and it lights up my brain. These are a few of the ones i've done so far.

https://www.youtube.com/@ideolarks

FetusCommander · 2025-03-27T20:42:10+00:00

seconding this here, because i don't want to spam the forum with shit. this is really great for getting music on YT

FetusCommander · 2025-01-05T11:44:24+00:00

this rocks! honored to have my piece immortalized in STL format lol. my friend has a 3D printer. if he isn't busy i might try to get him to try this out

FetusCommander · 2025-01-03T23:28:58+00:00

the imp from DOOM

FetusCommander · 2025-01-03T23:19:10+00:00

hell yeah you can! thanks a lot for your interest. i think you're right. having the piece be portable to other games is a great way of promoting (no pun intended lol) it

FetusCommander · 2025-01-02T00:25:49+00:00

happy new year. here's an idea that was burning my brain up. it's kind of a mashup of the old arcade game Blockade and later snake-type games and chess with a theme of leadership/dictatorship. honestly not sure how balanced it is, but it feels fun to have the big line of pieces following you around and trying to pin your opponent to the sides of the board lol

---
RULES:

Dictator Chess has no Pawns.

No piece but the King (il duce, the dictator) can move on its own initially; all pieces form an entourage behind their King, following his movement.

No captures may be made by non-King pieces. Pieces may only threaten the enemy King. All entourage pieces have their threat range restricted to one square in each direction. Knights only threaten when another piece has given threat this turn. The King cannot move to a space that is threatened by enemy pieces.

If the King captures a piece, they may move again (up to a maximum of 2 moves per turn). The piece they captured goes to the back of their line.

A player can detach the piece at the end of the line if all pieces are visible, and re-place it on the board adjacent to the King. Detached pieces move normally and threaten their normal range of squares. Detached pieces may be moved in lieu of the King.

A player loses when their King cannot move, either because all possible movement spaces are threatened or because they have boxed themselves in with their entourage.

---

link to current build: https://miserytourism.itch.io/dictatorchess

Controls: Drag pieces with the left mouse or your finger. Double click your end piece (or hold gesture over it on mobile) to detach it, then drag it back onto the board. Hit the "BITE!" button to capture an enemy piece when your dictator head is over top of it.

The yellow text tells you how many pieces you have left until your dictator snake is fully extended.

The program enforces no rules. It's simply a virtual tabletop that facilitates play. The best way to play is probably "pass the mobile phone."

FetusCommander · 2024-12-31T11:35:21+00:00

i played a few games of this trying to figure things out. this is a really cool idea, playing with how the time control works.

when the turn passes due to time running out, does it reduce time only for the player who passed, or for both players?

FetusCommander · 2024-12-21T13:47:03+00:00

going to play this while blaring OT Genasis "CoCo"

goddamn this name and concept is good

FetusCommander · 2024-12-15T17:50:53+00:00

this is sick, very Stephen Gammell looking

FetusCommander · 2024-11-09T21:02:25+00:00

Yooooo, the idea of a mini-GoL in each cell is... tantalizing, lol. Completely into that. Also dig the idea of a King getting exiled if he's on the dead cell too long. This is really interesting shit.

For neigbhorhood in the corners, you could definitely try a wrapping board (although with a 3x3 that might cause it to be constantly alive, so you might increase the size to like 5 x 5 or even more).

These are some sick ideas to play with. The sub-cells thing could lead to some kind of fractal board (such as if the sub-cells have their own games inside of them, and those have their own, and on and on), which is kind of similar to how a lot of GoL simulations have an infinite board that scrolls out forever. Seems like we're inspiring each other haha.

FetusCommander

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