Post all your general feedback on the prototype version here!

ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS; plz never stop developing this. <3 I have no useful critique just well wishes. 

Also it would be nice if the Easy difficulty had more levels to play, since I'm not very good at chess and I always lose on Medium difficulty.

Can you get to work on making it save? Because I really want to see that mechanic in action so that I can play this anywhere without having to start over. I know game designing is difficult, but you are still amazing at making games! I love everything you have made (that I've tried) and will continue to play games from you! Keep up the great work.

IMO the mark of a good game (or good game concept) is that it inspires you to think about it and it's mechanics. I feel like with what you have here already I can see a great game. Some ideas I've had while playing:

-Have pawns only be able to move in straight lines and attack diagonally, similar to real chess but not limited by direction. Right now, pawns are very often more dangerous than anything short of a queen, which seems wrong. 

-Have some sort of limit on the number of traits a unit can have, and make it possible to cancel or remove gained traits. It seems way too easy to just stack every good trait on one queen and use that to win every game. Also, it'd make specializing/balancing units a more important consideration.

-Units with shared traits get a weaker version, e.g. an unit in a relationship with one that has "sleepy" would only get +1 health; which makes the initial trait a unit has more important and influences how the play builds relationships.

-Maybe have separate "light" and "dark" square bishops? Not sure how this would balance out, but it would be interesting.

-Definitely do... something with kings, to make them more important. Probably not like in actual chess,  since that'd get a little silly, but maybe have them give some type of buff to the rest of the team while they're alive, or heal units next to them, idk.

Went out of my way to make an account on this site, which I've never been on before, to leave a message for you because I absolutely love this game. I've found chess hard to grasp at times, but this actually has helped me to visualize moves in the game better. The art is darling, the music is soothing, the gameplay is engaging and makes you happy to work towards the next step. Over all the concept is inspired, and I really would love to see this game taken further.

Actually, to go on a little bit: I especially enjoy the interactions of the characters between moves (bonuses and such), the ability to "build relationships" and share traits. I love the very eerie differences between the "white" pieces and the "black" ones--the black design is just too friggin' awesome. I kind of hope that this is developed to a point where I can save games, and maybe even play some of the opposing side of the board. (I'd probably even dig it if you got dialog or interaction between your summoned characters eventually, but that might just be me.) That being said, if there's a story, plot or worldbuilding you wanted to build, I'd be all for it. If there wasn't, it's still a very nice turn-based RPG game.

Thanks for the opportunity to play it, friend. I'll hope to check back in if there are any new developments!

I'd love a list of what all the traits mean. It also might be interesting to have certain traits be incompatible or make it harder for a relationship to form.  
The kings and the pawns are  similar in their strengths, there should be a way of balancing that. I think pawns should be weaker but with with the ability to become stronger. For instance, making the movement as in normal chess, but if they reach the other side they can gain one random trait.
A very interesting game for sure!

i hope it will be usefull for the next update :D

i love chess and i love fantasy and this is such wondefull game. this game has such fantastic art and music, im lucky this game popup in mw recomended screen. i hope the next update will be.

-new difficulity, not only adding more pawn

-new character like a priest after the jam please :D

-1 king could kill everything if it is only pawn cause only 1 pawn is chasing the king

-more traits means more fun i think :D

i add a new topic only for those who post video (https://itch.io/t/229056/just-a-video-gameplay), so this post is specialized for feedback only

Nice game

Hi! I enjoy the game so far and I have some suggestions and also reminders of things to add in later on:

1. Naturally, Saving and Options (It's a prototype build, but thought I'd just mention every-thing I can note.)
2. I highly suggest making the units you summon in the tutorial be fixed, since I noted I had a lot of fun on my first play with my first summons being a Queen, Pawn, and Knight. However, when I played the game again, my Knight, Knight, Bishop summon was MUCH harder to control. Perhaps you should do: King, Knight, Pawn. The King would show-case buffing (Atleast that is what I interpret will be added later to balance him) and the Knight+Pawn combo will show how to lure or trick enemies. This doesn't need to be said though, apart from how the King buffs. The player will likely figure out the 'combo' part on their own.
3. Be more clear about the relation-ship building in battle. It took me some time to realize 'in range' means one of them could move into the other or are next to each other. But that might just be my bad understanding.
4. Traits are interesting, but I feel some could be balanced better. Such as the 'talkitive.' But I haven't progressed very far to know if its useful or situational.
5. I'm wondering if Kings are sometimes meant to have (what I assume are) female portraits? Dunno if thats intentional or not. It's fine either way.
6. Should or shouldn't enemies have traits? On one hand, it gives some un-predictability to the game and each match. On the other, there was an immortal enemy pawn since I could not out-damage it (Only had allies with 1 attack.) So, with that said: There should be a limit to what traits they can take. No regen every turn (Since if you loose a >=2 ally, then you cannot kill them. Regen every other turn might be nice? Maybe every two turns, that would make killing an enemy with 3 HP and regen take about 4 turns if you always can damage them. I honestly would pefer no enemy regen at all) and limited to only non-social traits. Otherwise, the poor introverted enemy is gonna get their face kicked in. Maybe give them a 'Null' type of trait that does nothing. From what I gather, 'corrupted' could be a cool trait for them.
7. Perhaps enemies of every type that is there should move? It'd force the player to be more careful about place-ment and watch other enemies rather then focus down the one the computre keeps moving. Since it IS a chess-based game, a part of chess is thinking ahead of your opponent.
8. Just a question: Power Creep and such. What will a player do if they have multiple summons but have a party that they think is fine? Perhaps turn the summoning power into a currency instead. 'Power orbs' or whatever. Otherwise, they will have a large amount of 'summons' with no use.
9. I'm assuming the characters are randomly generated from a set amount of portait parts. If so, then perhaps let the player re-name them?

That's all I can really think of right now! Also, maybe remove the battle button when you get to the party part. I'll bug-test a little and see if I can find anything.