5 x 5 Chess (Penta Chess)

About

Strategic chess variant featuring innovative dual-perspective synchronized boards solving UX challenges, built using JavaFX with comprehensive features including move logging, score tracking, and immersive sound effects

History

For one of the courses I took in college, Software Design and Implementation II (EE 422C), the final project was to create a game using Java. The type of game determined the scoring factor (easy game gets x0.5 and hard games gets x1.1) Chess was considered the highest complexity of x1.1 factor, so I gave it a try, but just making a chess is boring, so I made it a 5x5 chess. The reason I went with 5x5 and not 6x6 and so on, is to make sure 2 boards can fit on one screen without looking too weird. I wanted 2 boards for user-friendly experience because

• one static board is disadvantageous to the player playing the top side
• one board flipping each turn is bad for the player waiting because the player can't look at the board from the player's perspective

Since during a normal face-to-face chess game with a physical chess board, players get to see the board from their perspective, I wanted to make each board unique to the player. Hence, two 5x5 boards.

Minor Challenges

Implementing the chess rules itself was definitely a challenge, but having two boards, I had to make sure when it's not the player's turn, the player should not be able to interact with the player's board. But any move they make should reflect on the opponent's board, but flipped, since the boards are already pre-flipped.
I also added log system to keep players updated with what moves they made.

Concise Rules

The rule is exactly the same as the regular chess like the piece movements. The only difference is the size of the board. There's already a 5x5 chess variation that exists called "5x5 Mini Chess Baby Chess Version".
Wiki: Rules of Chess
Wiki: Mini Chess

House Rules

1. There's no invalid move. The King can be exposed to opponent's attacks if a player is not cautious.
2. The only checkmate is when the King is taken by the opponent's piece.
3. Both players can agree to draw, if they are only making legal moves and there's no way a player can win.

Disclaimer

The images and audio used in this game are not created by me. They are just organized and modified to fit this game.

Play Demo Video