Everyone’s working on their own thing

The conversation with Dragosh went well at the beginning. He liked that I was interested in educational games, but he didn’t know much about chess.

He told me about his journey publishing a game independently, and warned me of how difficult the whole process is. The conversation with him turned into a much needed reality check. I found out that:

1. My idea was perhaps interesting, maybe even good (hard to tell from a non-chess player’s point of view)
2. It would take a lot more than a good idea to make a video game
3. No indie game dev is interested in helping another one – they’re all working on their own thing

That being said, he did put me in touch with Leo, the programmer he worked with for his game.

I immediately sent him an email and agreed to meet for a video call. We met and I tried my best to explain the concept to him. It proved too complicated to explain. However, we kept meeting and exchanging emails about the core pillars and mechanics and gameplay loop, until we thought we had enough to start working on a prototype.

To begin with, I only wanted a build that would help me run some tests. Using my design ideas, he created a prototype of the chess team match system, where the NPC students would play each other.

I received the first build around the time my baby was born. I was so excited!