A really creative puzzle concept, and the theming and dialogue really make it stand out.

Pretty addicting game. I would play a more fleshed-out version of this. I feel that the only things that need improving are the visuals and maybe the audio. Other than that, I found it really satisfying.

I really like this game, it is really fun if you like chess. The music, graphics and dialogue were spot on too!

I absolutely love the concept of this game, the puzzle elements are super fun. One of the best games I've played so far, great job.

I really enjoyed this game!! The art, the writing, and the gameplay were all super solid and tied together to create a super fun and unique experience. I also appreciate that it's not a game that requires prior chess knowledge, and that the player's possible moves are both tied into the writing and telegraphed on the board. The only things I would improve are somehow making the enemy moves more easily telegraphed as well, and creating a slightly clearer visual for the player's possible move (since the white pattern wasn't extremely obvious at first).

Really amazing job!!

I thoroughly enjoyed that. The last couple of levels are tough. Those pawn chains are brutal. Really have to learn to take advantage of the bonus moves. I may come back to beat that elusive last level someday :slight_smile:

This is really really fun, I played the game twice haha, really unique concept, and art, I feel like this could be a commercial product with more work.

Very good game, I like how you can see the next move so you can plan your attack ahead of time (kinda like real chess). The damage mechanic was also super interesting. Fantastic game.

Damnm you made it really hard. I like to think i'm a pretty good chess player but I still died a lot in the later lavels. Getting a huge combo on he last level felt super satisfying

Very good game! Combos were extremely satisfying, the themes and gameplay all tied together very well.

Woaw ! amazing concept ! Hard game but what an interesting idea !

Man, I really wish I had paid more attention during The Queen's Gambit...Fun game! I definitely struggled, but I really enjoyed the look, music, and the snippy bellhop. Very cool idea.

Fantastic game, I may be biased towards this game as I'm developing a very similar one (not exactly though!). I think you took this concept to an awesome level with the idea that taking a piece + capturing a square on the same move = bonus move, pulling off some chains of them felt great and rewarded thinking!
Also really like how much personality you gave to the pieces, really added to it!

What a great idea! It's one of the game I've appreciated the most in this Jam so far! Visuals and Sounds can be improved, but besides that everything is great!

I thought this wasn't gonna work since I don't play chess, but I was pleasantly surprised :). Cool creepy music too. I like how the main character looks cute :)

Interesting mechanics! I really have fun to play this game! Thank you) And so adorable graphic and sounds) Great job!

Cool concept, very addictive and fun! Colors on the field are pretty weird, started to hurt my eyes after a while and sometimes it's hard to see figures at the glance. Also music is cracking for me. Levels are good, had a blast! Would love to see this polished.

This is such a great concept for a game. I really loved playing this one

What in interesting idea! The only improvement i could think of is if it was a little longer, but given time constraints i fully understand.

Chess puzzles with a twist. Very addictive. Nicely packaged in a funny story suitable for the jam. Great game, i would like to see as a mobile game.

I really like this! I think the gameplay is very innovative, the hell theme and visuals are cute and fun, and the music was nice to! I was able to get a bonus, that felt really good. I think the mechanic of losing move options when you lose life works well as punishment.

Fantastic and innovative puzzle game. Love how it fit clearly into the theme while still being unique. Had a blast playing it - amazing job!

This is incredibly addictive and really fun. Great job!

Absolutely fantastic. Very well scoped game, lots of fun, great attitude, and challenging but fair mechanics. My only complaint is that the words would "jump" to the next line after being half-written. Great art, and great ending level too!

wow, great idea, and realization
GREAT JOB
6/5

What a great game. Simple approach but lots of complexity. Got too tough at level 4 for me though. I assume pieces spawn at random and not sure if there's certain pre determined possibility of their combos spawning. I got the pawn diagonal spawning on me few times which made it too difficult to get them all before they either turned into queens or just killed me since I had to place myself into wrong spot to prevent that. Yeah, probably I should master those combos more :)

Keep up the good work!

Superb concept ! very clever, i like it a lot! it lacks a bit of juice, but it's details

I LOVE this game. Perfect spin on chess. Wonderful job!

Got me hooked right away! Great concept and execution. Great job!

Really amazing game. I love it. The only issue I have is when you combo it shakes the screen a lot so the last level made me sick. Overal great game.

Great take on chess, a game that I'm garbage at, so I didn't get too far but I enjoyed what I played!

Amazing idea and implementation! I'm bad at chess, so I only was able to reach the 3th level :/
I will recommend that game for some of my non game jammer friends...they may be able to finish it :D

Wow, superb idea!
I love it. I really do! A fantastic idea and very well-executed. You really need to plan out your moves correctly.
The graphics are good, the audio is good as well. Great, great game. I slained the Queen!

Congrats!

funny that the final level is the easiest

Very fun game!!

At first it wasn't very clear how I got the bonus moves. But when I got it, it went nicely.
The character showing up between rounds added an interesting narrative touch to the game, aswell as the ending.
The audio accompanied the strategic mood of the game very well! Great voice acting too.
Very fun idea of joining chess moves with randomization.

Awesome entry!

OMG!! I want more!

It is not the first time that a game is inspired by chess pieces, but this time it is really well done.

The elevator man and all the rest of the atmosphere is really "horrifun".

I liked the last level (even if it is easy), because it pushes the game logic you previously stated to the limits.

The jokes are ... joky : Hell-pawns / hellspawn, Hell-evator. Ha ha ha.

I was a little confused by this phrase in the explanations : "Bonus moves are very important for clearing later levels, so use them wisely.​"

I thought that "bonus moves" was a sort of bonus that I could accumulate ot use it later. So I spent a part of my first try to search in the interface a indicator of accumulated bonus moves, without realizing that it was an "extra turn" that is used immediatly.

Overall : a great game.

This game was surprisingly a lot of fun, despite me being an absolutely horrible chess player! The game was just about everything that you could want from a game such as this, the art style was very well made, the music fit it super well, the entire concept of balancing between activating all the buttons to progress and getting rid of the pawns so you can actually progress was super involving! This really was a fantastic, and if there was more to this I would 100% play the rest of it!

This was a really fun puzzle game! The slightly melancholy soundtrack worked strangely well with the elevator operator's monologues, and really did set an interesting mood behind the entire piece! I also loved the very click-y sound effects you had when moving pieces around - It was really satisfying, as was the announcer's delivery of "Bonus Move!" and "Combo!".

I also really liked how you subtly explained how pawns move via the elevator operator, so that even players who aren't knowledgeable about chess could quickly grasp how their enemies would be moving.

The one place I felt a little bit let down was at the ending - With the melancholy mood, I was expecting things to tie up in a less slapstick fashion once I met the queen, but it's a game jam - Getting any ending in at all is a race against time! :)

Overall, great game! I really enjoyed this one, and had a lot of fun playing it.

Cool puzzles. The trade-off between killing pawns or pressing buttons was interesting to try to figure out.

Really fun puzzle game. Would be nice to see other types of enemies, but was a fun way to play with the rules of chess.

Really clever use of chess moves to create a puzzle game!

I liked the balance of difficulty. I'm horrible at puzzle games AND chess, but I was able to play this with no problem, haha. The enemy pawns getting "kinged" at the end and becoming MUCH bigger problems was so cool!

Awesome work!

Some really cool puzzles, good job.

Challenging and fun!

Wow clever idea ! It's very challenging puzzle game. By adding animations and effects you can make the game more juicy and more addictive. Rules are not easy to understand but the introduction help to learn. An interactive tutorial would be more efficient to help the player to understand the mechanics. Maybe the first level is little bit to hard, decrease the difficulty of first level and increase it step by step. The background music is too repetitive.

Congrats !

Wow! This is a really clever concept. I didn't understand that I had to move onto the buttons to "press" them at first, but other than that it was quite straightforward, but strategically interesting! My favorite design element was definitely the "life" system of reducing the number of options you had each turn once you were hit. Great job!

Daamn! This game idea is so cool. Would make a great mobile type game as well. You should go further with this idea. I love it! Great job!

One of my absolute faves from this jam! Bloody loved it! Theme and style were ace, puzzles were challenging and satisying, liked the difference with the final challenge (maybe a bit too easy, or maybe I was lucky on my first try!). Thanks for letting us restart from the last level too, nice touch in a game jam.

Cool stuff! I enjoyed playing that, the puzzles were great and I just loved the concept. Would love to see it on mobile!

:wave: Hi there! This game has been featured on the GitHub Blog:
[Ludum Dare 48 staff picks](https://github.blog/2021-05-19-ludum-dare-48-staff-picks/#chess-hellevator) :slight_smile:

[](https://github.blog/2021-05-19-ludum-dare-48-staff-picks/#chess-hellevator)