See it running
The short version
- Chess-inspired turn-based tactics built in 1 week for Queble Jam 2026 by a team of 4.
- My role: Godot programmer on move mechanics, plus UI/2D assets under jam crunch.
- Pieces split into Attackers and Supporters; clearing a wave unlocks new abilities.
- Clean art/code split let the team ship a playable build under jam crunch.
- Lesson: scope discipline and clear art direction beat feature count in a week.
- Released on itch.io.
What it does
- Turn-based combat on a board with Attackers and Supporters
- Each piece has unique roles and abilities
- Waves grant a new ability after clearing, opening new strategies
- Built in 1 week for Queble Jam 2026 by a team of 4
The thought
Pawn's Gambit asks a simple question: what if a chess-inspired tactics game played nothing like chess? The pitch is "you are a pawn who defies fate" - small teams of pieces with distinct abilities clear waves, and the challenge is making that readable and characterful under a one-week jam deadline.
Mechanics
Turn-based on a board. Left-click-drag to aim a move, right-click to cancel, and click End Turn to pass. Each piece acts once per turn: one attack and one ability. Pieces come in two classes, Attackers and Supporters, each with its own role. Clearing a wave grants a new ability, so your team grows stronger as the run goes on.
Systems
Encounters are wave-based: each cleared wave unlocks new options, and the first turn alternates every wave so neither side gets a permanent edge. Hovering a piece shows its stats and role. A debug shortcut (Backspace destroys the hovered piece) was left in on purpose so judges could skip to the ending.
Under the hood
Built in Godot by a 4-person team in one week, with a clean split between art and code. My programming work focused on the move-mechanics layer in GDScript, making piece movement and ability resolution resolve correctly under jam crunch, plus general bug fixing to keep the build stable. All art and UI were drawn in Aseprite and wired into the Godot scenes.
My role on the team
Godot programmer on move mechanics, ability resolution, and combat feel under jam crunch — plus UI and 2D assets so the board read in a week.
What I would do differently
The takeaway from the week: a clear art direction plus correct core mechanics beat a long feature list, and the art-plus-code split across four people is exactly the pipeline I want to keep working in. Next time I would scope tighter to ship a finished build rather than an ambitious but broken one.