CHECKEMOUT - Chess Variants!

A Cute Little Chess Variant Engine I've been Obsessively working on lately.

Right now this Version lets You play Chess, either against a Computer or against another Local Player.

However, due to how Dynamic and Modular the Architecture of the Engine is, expect to see Tons of new Variants in the following Weeks. We're talking Megachess, Microchess, Risky Chess, Shuffle Chess, All in 1, 2 and 3 Dimensional Boards! Play Variants for 2 Players, 4 Players or 8 Players, which can Include as Many Bots as You Want, All to Your Heart's Content! There's also Psychedelichess, and possibly even Quantum Chess and Metachess planned on the Horizon...

Here's a rough Roadmap I made for Development to give You Guys and Myself an Idea of What will come before What:

0.1 - 8 May 2025 - Working Local PVP Chess - Completed After Three Days of Work, the First of which a few Months Prior.

Created a Functioning Chessboard Simulator for Local PVP and Fairly Proud of it; an Improvement on the Old Engine for sure.

Some of the Code isn't as Elegant as I would like it to be but it's certainly more than in the Previous Iteration.

Just need to follow through with the remaining Versions, I have a long way ahead of Me.

0.2 - 14 May 2025 - Working PVE Chess - Finally did it! This took Me about 4-5 Nights of Coding, but now We have Full Support of PVE Chess, and a Main Menu!

The AI comes in four Difficulties, Random, Beginner, Novice and Intermediate, which aren't particularly Hard to beat. I'm still making Them more Efficient and Deadly, and although I can still beat Intermediate, expect Harder Engines in the Future.

On to the Variants...

0.3 - 18 May 2025 - Working Microchess, Megachess, and Semi- and Hemi- Variants - Finally, Chess Variants! I'm excited to announce that I've added 15 new Variants beyond regular Chess, with Board Sizes in any combination of 4, 8, 12 or 16. Each is intense in its Own way, and it's fascinating to compare just how different they can be.

Stumpy Boards (meaning the Semi- Variants, as in 4x8, 4x12, 4x16, 8x12, 8x16 and 12x16) tend to be more Sharp and Tactical, while Slender Boards (meaning the Hemi- Variants, as in 8x4, 12x4, 12x8, 16x4, 16x8 and 16x12) tend to be more Positional and Strategic; Smaller Boards (mainly Microchess, 4x4) allow You to think much more deeply about each Move, giving a bit of a peek into how more advanced Players think, while Larger Boards (mainly Megachess, 16x16), give You much more Complex Positions to analyze, leaving more room for Mistakes!

I hope You enjoy the increasing Variety, I intend to increase it further to Sizes of 20x20 (Macrochess), 24x24 (Ultrachess), 28x28 (Jumbochess) and a whopping 32x32 (Gigachess), and of course All the Rectangular Variants too.

I also added early Versions of Harder Engines, including Difficulties Adept, Advanced, Expert and Master; though most of these are really slow on All but the smallest of Boards. I intend to improve them more in the near Future. Let Me know What You think!

0.4  - 6 June 2025 - 1D and 3D Variants - At long last, We have a Variety of One-Dimensional and Three-Dimensional Chess Variants! A total of 4 1D Variants and 40 3D Variants, to be precise, making the Total Number of Variants in Checkemout a Grand 60! That's right, any Board Size from 4x4x8, to 12x16x4, to simply 16, is now Available to Play. The AI is still Slow at the higher Difficulties, but expect that to change in the Future.

When We reach 0.7 We'll have an additional 4 Options for Board Size, increasing the 1D Board Count to 8, 2D to 64 and 3D to 288, meaning a total of 360 different Board Sizes! Taking 4 Player and 8 Player Variants into account We'll also have 8 2D 4-Player Variants, 64 3D 4-Player Variants and 8 3D 8-Player Variants, leading to a Grand Total of 440 Variants (not counting Variation in Player Order or other Effects like Shuffle or Risky). Hope You're excited!

P.S. The Reason this took Me slightly longer than the Previous Updates is because there's another Side-Project I'm working on that's connected to Microchess (the 4x4 Variant that I'm very Proud of)... More on that later...

0.5 - 11 June 2025 - 4 Player and 8 Player Variants - We got 4 and 8 Player Variants now! Crazy Stuff, a Total of 4 2D 4 Player Variants, 16 3D 4 Player Variants and 4 3D 8 Player Variants. As mentioned Earlier, this will be expanded to 8 2D 4-Player Variants, 64 3D 4-Player Variants and 8 3D 8-Player Variants in 0.7.

Also redesigned the Board and Pieces a bit! Say Goodbye (for now...) to the Sickly Green for White Tiles on the Board and medium Contrast for Sprite Shading among Pieces, and hello to Smooth Brown for the White Tiles and a more Contrasted Shading for Pieces! Also note the Various Colors of Pieces in the 4 Player and 8 Player Variants... We've got Red and Gold joining the Fun in the 4 Player Variants, and Green, Blue, Brown and Silver joining the 8 Player Variants in Addition! Hope You enjoy these new Variants, We've got big things planned soon enough...

Also fixed a Bug where the Main Menu Dropdowns would give You the Option to select Board Sizes 20, 24, 28 and 32 even though Those aren't ready yet. Sorry about that!

0.6 - Shuffle and Risky Variants

0.7 - Super- to Giga- and Generalized Variant Generator

0.8 - Engine Improvements and Quality of Life Stuff (used to be Main Menu and Quality of Life Stuff but I already made the Main Menu)

0.9 - Psychedelichess! ...And maybe Quantum Chess, and Metachess?

1.0 - Online PVP!

We're currently at Version 0.3, so let Me know if there's any Features You'd want to see First! (P.S Get ready for 3D Variants!)

Hope You enjoy! I want to hear Your Feedback, so don't be shy to drop a Comment in the Comment Section!