Megachess.io is a casual IO MMO chess game (Massively Multiplayer Online) where lots of players
can play on an oversized persistent chess board - meaning it's one big game that
lasts forever and you can come and go as you please.
Just turn up and start playing, there are some plans for developing a members section and a hall of fame system. So don't forget to check back later on.
It's a miracle, that's what it is. Really, if I so much as look at the code base the wrong way the lights in my house sometimes stop working!
Okay, so not quite. I'm not a professional programmer or anything, but I do like making things like this and I want it to be as free as possible to play. It's a causal game based on chess.
It's something I've been interested in doing for quite a while. Chess is an ancient game of deep thinking and strategy. I've tried to balance that concept with the modern rise of IO games. So I built this MMO version of the game. I've managed to preserve the perfect information aspect of the game and, of course, the behaviour of the pieces was easy to transfer and adapt. Queens, for example, move just like they can on a normal board and with no changes the natural outcome is that they are very powerful and fast moving pieces with large areas of coverage. I think that the pieces remain true to their normal chess counterparts, which I am happy about - although with the advent of being able to move all your pieces in a given turn a lot of the old tactics have gone out the window.
The plus side to this is that Megachess.io has become its own thing, and I feel now that it might be right to let it evolve in its own direction, even if it takes it further away from what it was originally based on. Suggestions from players and comments and chat have given me the impression that a whole new set of rules and strategies are bound to emerge from this new game. 'Discovered moves', a term coined by the infamous 'TheTroll', are a series of moves that reveal threats that would exist in regular chess. Although this is just the tip of the iceberg and a facet of getting used to a new set of rules, I am sure that there are much deeper strategies yet to be found. So, that's fun. I consider this project to have been worthwhile just for that.
There isn't much of an origins story behind megachess.io. It lived in my head for many years. Then I found myself with time to learn how to do it and make it happen. And that's what I did.
I expect the Hollywood movie version they'll inevitably make will be a tad more compelling.
But, that's enough about me. I found fun in it and I hope you do too.