Some Chess Updates!
Hello, my friends! We've been somewhat busy here at Cardgames.io with regular behind-the-scenes updates and secret projects, but in between that I managed to sneak in a few updates to the chess game!
History Preview.
The first is a history preview feature, which allows you to see the last few moves of the game in a small panel on the right side of the screen (or underneath the board on mobile). This is useful for reviewing your own moves, or for seeing what your opponent has done in the past few turns.
The history panel can be turned off either by clicking 'hide' on the panel itself, or by going to the "options" menu and unchecking the relevant option. That way if you find the panel to be a bit distracting or take too much space you can simply remove it and carry on your merry way. The panel can of course always be brought back from the options if you decide to change your mind.
Some better time management.
The second update is an integrated chess clock in multiplayer games, now always visible next to your avatar. Previously we had an invisible timer that would time out players if they took more than 2 and a half minutes to make their move, but sadly we've had reports of people misusing that feature to slow down games to a crawl.
The clock is now visible to both players, and while players still have the same 2 and a half minutes to make their moves players now also have a maximum of 15 minutes to finish the entire game. As usual if you run out of time on either clock you will lose the game, so make sure to keep an eye on your time and don't let it run out!
We understand that the introduction of a hard time limit (and the fact this does make all games into fast-chess) might be a bit stressful, so of course players can always turn off the timer as usual via the speak options. Likewise I hope you give it an honest go and won't be afraid to send feedback or complaints to us at support@cardgames.io.
For compatibility reasons the clock is only available in the web version of chess, and not in the mobile app (yet). While the app lags behind the web version any games involving an app player will use the old system, not the new clocks. Once we release this feature to the apps then the new way will be used for all multiplayer chess games.
Both of these features are generally considered somewhat standard in chess games, but for one reason or another we never got around to implementing them until now.
I hope you enjoy these new features, and as always please send us feedback if you have any suggestions or complaints. We are always looking to improve the chess experience and make it more fun for everyone!
