Pushmate - First-Person Chess Brawler

You’re a mischievous ghost sprinting around a floating chessboard lit by drifting candles.

Possess pieces, push them in real time, and rack up points with captures and center control. No turns, no long think time - just grab, aim, launch, and try not to yeet your king into trouble.

Current features (v0.0.1)

• Solo vs COM: Pick your opponent:
  • Sleepy Specter (easy) – meanders, vibes, forgets to be scary.
  • Vengeful Wraith (hard) – faster, hunts center, loves big captures.
• Timer control: Set round length - or set Time = 0 for no timer (free haunt).
• Win rule: Kingbreaker:
  • If the timer > 0 and expires, the next capture ends the match.
  • Or the match ends instantly when any king is captured.
  • Winner = whoever has more points at that moment.
• Board setups:
  • Royal Standard – classic starting layout.
  • Shuffled Court – back ranks randomized (mirrored) for improv chaos.
• Promotion options:
  • Mystery Promotion (on): pawns promote only to pieces you’ve captured.
  • Off: pawns auto-queen on the back rank.
• How to Play panel: quick controls + objective (in game).

Scoring (prototype): Pawn 4, Knight 13, Bishop 14, Rook 19, Queen 36, King 40

Roadmap & wild ideas

If players vibe with Pushmate, I’ll keep shipping updates. Planned experiments include: Three-Check: check the king 3 times to win; the attacking piece shatters when it checks. Atomic: every capture explodes, blasting adjacent pieces (including the attacker). More board setups (Double board, Almost/Chancellor), variant rules (Wrap/Infinite, Fog of War, Hidden Queen), and cosmetic ghost hats because of course. No promises on scope - community resonance decides the project’s fate.

Why release now?

This is a one-month challenge build: finish a playable core, ship it as-is, then iterate in public. I’m a 3D artist by trade, so I’m prioritizing readability, feel, and finishable scope over a gigantic feature list.

Feedback I’d love

• Short, honest notes help a ton: Was the claim → aim → launch flow clear?
• Any camera or readability issues?
• Which settings did you prefer (timer vs no timer, Royal vs Shuffled, Mystery Promotion on/off)?
• Did Sleepy Specter feel easy enough and Vengeful Wraith hard enough?
• One thing you’d add; one thing you’d cut.

Drop thoughts in the comments (clips welcome)!

Known quirks (prototype)

• AI can still do a few “huh?” moves under pressure - intended chaos, but I’m tuning.
• Edge cases around simultaneous claims may resolve in favor of the earlier hold.
• Balance on cooldowns and center ticks is in flux.

Status: playable prototype (built in ~1 month) Version: v0.1
Modes: Local/Solo vs COM
Win Rule: Kingbreak

Army + UI

Possess + Aim

Center Control

Main Menu

How to Haunt

Game Over