Zombie Chess: Counter Artwork and Developing UI

In November 2016 we had our annual 12 hour Hackathon, the younger sibling of our week long Hack.

During that time we created Zombie Chess for Github's Game Jam; where the reanimated corpses of rock legends battles the most charismatic icons of dance music. 

Although the final result is really impressive, there are still some teething problems and loose ends with regards to the game art and interface. 

I'm looking at how to improve and put the finishing touches on the project.

I've been reviewing the UI / UX of our Zombie Chess project from last year's Hackvember, with specific focus on the counter art.

Currently one of the main issues I've found with the current UI is that players struggle to differentiate which counter is which (e.g. king, queen, rook .etc) during gameplay.

To combat this, I've been experimenting with alternative ways of identify each counter. Some of the more successful solutions are as follows:

- Accompanying the larger artwork with small versions of the original chess counters recreated in a pixelated style

- Using Letters / abbreviated names (K - King / Kn - Knight) with an accompanying Key to the side of the game board

- Overlaying the above on white / black shapes to increase visibility and define which team the counter belongs to

Visibility and aesthetics are still proving to be an issue however and this requires further development.

I've created further counter art for the Rock / Black side of the chess board. Janis Joplin will be used for the Rook counter art and Angus Young for the Pawn.

This style is slightly more detailed than the previous work, so I may revisit the older counters at a later date.