Things had happened a lot these weeks, huh.

First of all, big kudos to people who've tried the "closed beta" version of the game. The feedback you've given these weeks had kickstarted a lot of changes within the game, either mechanic, storyline, the game's deliver, even the game itself is now becoming a bit different compared to its 1.7 counterparts. A wholly different game level of different.

Speaking of different, last week, I've decided to give the game another name because the "Chessmaster" name served no justice to the game at all, let alone the concept of "chess" it had incorporated since 2019. After making some changes in the storyline and the core game loop, and after discussing with some good fellows in a Discord server, the name for v1.8 has been decided:

The "Archivist" comes from the former Hall of Pawnsmoor's proprietor, who led a revolt that resulted in his termination from Library and existence. The Hall itself, while it harbors unique collections and gives numerous contribution to the Library, it also bears a curse for those foolish enough to approach it on purpose or by accident. The player, dubbed Riftwalker, will take a play on escaping from the Hall.

Archivist's Curse in and of itself bears a lot of similarity with the previous builds--game mechanics, the unlockables, even the "Chessmaster" is still there as a final boss--but the Dark Alley exploration I've mentioned months ago makes a lot of difference. For example, now there's an intro story in the game, giving a gist to the player about what's to come.

Also, there's a Tutorial which is a different game mode, where players can take a crash course about the meat of the game: the battle.

The v1.8 build is currently in closed beta, although the latest one is going to be the release candidate for the game's new iteration. Like always, the game's getting a lot of stuff over time and then there's some other coming in near future. For now, the closest milestone is releasing the game directly here on itch.io; expect it'll come in a couple of days.

If you're interested, you can check Crescent Sun server to get the game's latest build (which is essentially a bunch of nightly builds) or DM me for the link.

That's all for now. Cheers!