Chess Redesign | Chuck Backus

Research

For my final project of the semester in my second fundamentals class, I have been tasked with redesigning a new narrative for the game of chess. Since chess is a game played by two players this is a collaborative project where one person designs one half of the game while the other person designs their half. The rules and mechanics of the game are not changing, just the pieces and their designs. The goal is to use the elements and principles learned to create a narrative between the two opposing sides. While also reconstructing the pieces to have each tell a story and give off the feel of what their mechanics are. Each piece will only be represented by shape so the goal is to use shape and form to help display the movements and story that each new piece will contain. The objectives of this project are to analyze an interactive system by researching the part and their relationships, evaluate opportunities for storytelling in a new form and narrative. Find some sort of conflict within the chosen narrative, apply the design elements and principles to support the concept of the narrative. As well as to work on intentional craft and abstractions, and build upon the harmony of these concepts using craft.

After reading the brief and fully understanding the project it was time to get started. First, I started by learning more about my partner to help us work better together. While learning more about our design and creative selves we researched the game of chess in its entirety. We learned about all the mechanics of the pieces, special moves by certain pieces, their role in the game, and how significant they each are. I learned that every piece has something unique to it in role and movement. This led me to start thinking about how I can use shape and form to represent these differing ways of movement. After learning about the game it was time to start thinking of a narrative. We both individually brainstormed and came up with ideas and then we came back together to talk about our ideas. We both first came up with the idea of Star Wars. It’s got a load of characters and two very split sides that have created a great narrative in the past and present. We also brainstormed other ideas like different shoes using positive/negative space to distinguish them. Also, we thought of logos, from fast food logos to dine-inn. We felt that we could not make a strong narrative with the other two ideas as opposed to Star Wars. So we decided on that and I decided to represent the good side otherwise known as the Republic or Alliance and he took the bad side, the Empire. Now with a determined narrative, it was time to brainstorm characters, vehicles, and planets to represent not only the Republic but the chess pieces and their roles. My partner and I decided that with Star Wars being such a huge universe we were not going to represent each piece with a character. Rather we wanted to pull from every corner of the narrative to represent something different. For my brainstorming process, I went to a database of all things Star Wars and pulled out some of the most important characters, weapons, planets, and just listed them all down. I then went ahead and went through the list and matched each character with a piece I felt they filled the role of and after that I went backward to determine what piece would be depicted by what Star Wars reference.

Iterations

Concept Statement

For our chess redesign, mine and Jarret’s goal was to create a chess set based on the world-renowned series of Star Wars. Through the use of cardstock, bristol, and chipboard, we depicted various characters, objects, vehicles, and locations that are seen throughout the Star Wars movies. Using only the front and side silhouettes, we created a 32-piece chess set. We used contrast in the colored cardstock and the black and white bristol to represent the opposing sides, the Empire and the Alliance. We chose the subject for each piece based on the similarities between the chess pieces and the character/object/vehicle/location. We incorporated unity and harmony into our composition through the use of similar subjects for each piece (Weapons=Rooks, Locations=Kings, Vehicles=Pawns, Characters=Knights, Bishops, & Queens). We chose to place each subject on a stand made from chipboard, marked with the matching logos for the empire and Alliance, to create stability and add balance (visually & literally). When looking specifically at Darth Maul, the E-11 Blaster, and Coruscant, we used negative space to help identify the subjects more easily. Finally, to secure each piece to their corresponding stands we used hot glue, which adds integrity and strength to the pieces adding greater longevity.

Production

With the ideation stage done, I created illustrator sketches that were done as a test run with a representation for the X-Wing. These forms were slowly abstracted and refined and the final product for each illustrator file can be seen below. Doing the test run for every piece was extremely beneficial when we went to cut our final forms on the laser cutter because we knew where to put the slits and keep pieces connected if the slit was going to cut it off. *

Finally came the construction of all of them and the use of chipboard to add a factor of support to all of the pieces. So all the pieces had a front and side view, but there was no top view. So we thought it would be a cool idea to throw the logos onto all of the chipboard pieces to add almost a third dimension to all of the pieces to build the narrative of Empire versus the Alliance. After all the construction we ended with two complete sides to a chess game with a whole new twist and narrative added upon each redesign of the pieces.

So for determining each character here is the thought process I went through along with the final product for each piece:

X-Wing: The X-wing is a fast tactical piece that really only moves forward, just like a pawn. Just like the pawn can move two spots from its starting position, the X-Wing can take off at a moment’s notice and come to a cruise. So their movement and representation are both smooth and simple to connect the pieces

DL-44: The rook is a piece that only moves vertical and horizontal. So, we wanted to use a weapon to represent this piece and I decided on the DL-44. As a blaster it only shoots in the direction it’s pointed so the movement of the laser is straight. It cannot bend and curve hence the connection to the rook. This is why the gun is crafted as a very pointed piece to use form to draw emphasis on the movement of the rook. Also, the rook and pawns also work hand in hand in supporting each other, and in a lot of the Star Wars movies while the ships are battling the weapons are being used right behind them as support. So this felt like the only logical connection to use from the Star Wars series as a representation of the rook.

R2D2: I decided to use R2D2 as the knight for many reasons. The knight is a chaotic piece that can be moved and manipulated in all sorts of unpredictable ways. A lot of the same can be said about R2D2 as well. He is always swooping in bailing out the heroes in the film and I feel the knight acts in the same way. To depict this randomness of the knight I designed R2D2 at an angle to emphasize the L-shaped movement of the piece.

Yoda: Yoda is another character that could’ve been used to represent the knight, but due to his wisdom and sneakiness I used him to represent the bishop. The bishop is a sneaky piece because of its diagonal movement and Yoda’s sneakiness can be compared equally to that. Yoda is a simple character though, I needed a way to show the movement which is what I used the lightsaber for. The lightsaber is angled diagonally to help directly correlate the movement between Yoda and the bishop.

Luke Skywalker: Luke Skywalker is considered one of the head people serving the Alliance. He is one of the strongest characters in the Star Wars universe and with that being said it was only fitting that he represented the Queen. A piece that can move any direction limitlessly and is considered the strongest piece it makes sense to connect it to the strongest character. Luke and his lightsaber are both depicted in a power stance to make that connection between the power and strength of both the character and the piece itself.

Note: Luke’s lightsaber fell off when transporting him so in the front view is partially missing

Coruscant: The king is the most important piece, but with that being said it is not the strongest. So it felt right to connect it to the home planet for the Alliance, Coruscant. Just like the king if this planet is compromised it is all over for the Alliance and the chess game. With the planet just being a circular form I used line and negative space to represent the planet in its entirety and give it an ultimatum. The king has very limited movement in the game, only one space in any direction at a time. A planet is the same way in its limited movement a planet cannot really move which is another great connection between the two.