Comment by biomcgary
2 years ago
Fun write up and interesting game that repurposes known mechanics. I paused reading to solve your first fictional example and ended up using the exact strategy that you explain in the next few paragraphs. I don't play chess, but your write up and simple rules made the strategy part really intuitive (for the simple example). Excellent nerd sniping!
Yes! So happy to hear this. One thing I was really aiming for with the echo chess gameplay design is the ability for anyone to pick up the game without any prior familiarity with chess or other strategy games, while also offering a pretty exciting challenge for chess GMs and strategy veterans.
The fact that you directly got the solution to that fictional example kinda proves the point that 'type 2' folks (as described in that section of the post) can actually be at a disadvantage compared to the newcomers given their preexisting intuitions and heuristics. Curious to know if you ended up solving some of the main levels in 'classic' mode too.
> I paused reading to solve your first fictional example and ended up using the exact strategy that you explain in the next few paragraphs.
I did too, and really feel like it's the most natural strategy, even for regular chess players. I'm interested if OP has any anecdotal evidence that chess players would try to solve it by a "forward" algorithm rather than "backward." Even a natural chess player would get that this is a puzzle.
> anecdotal evidence that chess players would try to solve it by a "forward" algorithm rather than "backward"
I think the main point is less about the forward vs backward part, and more so about the assumed relative values of every piece, position, or configuration on the board. Anecdotally, playtesting did show that regular chess players tend to lean on preexisting heuristics that serve them really well in chess, but less so in echo chess.
Not sure how this data compares to other variants like Sovereign Chess. I bet there is a similar adjustment period required to unlearn some habits and learn new ones. Caveat to all this: after re-adjusting to the mechanics of a puzzle game and the specific implications entailed, I'm sure veteran strategy players would still outperform, on average. Even across broader genres like chess vs TBS vs 4X vs GS. There's likely some 'muscle memory' that the brain develops over time.