Comment by stevage
2 years ago
>As explained in the post linked above, puzzle games are, in some sense, different from arcade games in that you can never just die.
I didn't finish the post because it went straight into strategy tips before I had even had a chance to play!
Also personally I'm not really interested in arcade mechanics. I'm not interested in global leaderboards or whatever either. Just interested in playing puzzles in my own time on my own terms.
Your thing is very cool! I like the way it is so constrained it's often possible to plan 6-7 moves ahead without much effort.
>but if you've never been into things like blitz chess, it's totally understandable
I'm massively into blitz chess. But this is a puzzle thing, and for me, there is no need for a timer in a solo game.
> Do you mind sharing what device/os/browser you're using, and if you're accessing echochess.com in a fresh browser tab directly?
FF/Android. I didn't understand your second question.
Glad you're enjoying the puzzle exploration. Curious if you've tried levels 11+ btw? Planning 6-7 moves ahead gets trickier later on, especially when you reach the highest levels of 'Classic' mode.
I get your point about solo games vs blitz chess. Puzzle games aside, when I'm playing solo I tend to prefer Turn-Based Strategy games like HOMM, King's Bounty, Civ, Eador, AOW, etc. a little more than RTS games like SC2, Warcraft, AOE, BfME, DOTA, League, and so on. In multiplayer, RTS can be a lot of fun. Of course the best solo campaigns are always real gold, whether timed or not.
The nice thing about good strategy and puzzle games is that they can be enjoyed in different ways by all types of players who appreciate puzzle solving.
Currently stuck on level 10.
Btw it's a bit odd that there are no instructions anywhere on the site? I keep wondering if there's a rule I'm missing or something.
You have these rules in the blog post, but I find the language quite messy and imprecise:
> You are playing White, there is no opponent. You must capture all pieces to win.
> You become the "echo" of any piece you capture. Captured a bishop? Become that bishop.
> You can’t pass through red obstacles. Find the best move order to clear the board.
For starters, "you" is used to describe both the player and the piece. And the last rule contains two different statements, the second of which is redundant from the first rule. It also doesn't mention that there can be more than one white piece, or that white pieces can capture other white pieces.
Maybe something like:
1. The goal is to capture all the black pieces, which never move.
2. Move one white piece each turn, using the basic rules of chess piece movement. You can't move through red obstacles. Pawns don't promote.
3. When you capture a black piece, your white piece turns into the type of piece you just captured.
> I'm playing solo I tend to prefer Turn-Based Strategy games like HOMM, King's Bounty, Civ, Eador, AOW, etc. a little more than RTS games like SC2, Warcraft, AOE, BfME, DOTA, League, and so on. In multiplayer, RTS can be a lot of fun
For some reason, I'm the opposite - I hate RTS against humans.
Nice. That's a good way to rephrase the rules. Only thing to note is this part:
> When you capture a black piece, your white piece turns into the type of piece you just captured.
The echoing mechanism actually applies to any captured piece. You'll see this mechanic in action starting 12+. By "you'll see", I mean the game progression and level design will purposefully force you into following a path which illustrates the new mechanic that needs to be learned. The lack of explicit text instructions, tutorials or handholding in is a feature of echo chess, not a bug. See the 'difficulty curves' section of the post.
> Currently stuck on level 10.
Yes, this is one of those levels that feel incredibly frustrating until it just 'clicks'. In my playtesting experiments, users either smile/laugh audibly when they finally get the solution to level 10, or they let out a big sigh of relief. Let us know how it goes :)
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