Veiled Dominion is a 4-player chess variant that reimagines the board not as a battlefield of conquest, but as a classroom for restraint. One player controls Rebirth, a piece dangerously overpowered by design — her challenge isn't gaining strength, but learning to exist on the board without breaking it. The other three players control opposing Mortal Factions under standard rules.
Status: Early open prototype (v0.1). Core rules and architecture are documented; engine implementation is in progress. See ARCHITECTURE_OVERVIEW.md for what's built vs. planned.
This repository is the actual Veiled Dominion game engine (C#/.NET, Unity) — game design, rules, and architecture.
If you're looking for the candidate coding exercise (TypeScript, used for hiring and VRS-supported training), that's a separate, self-contained repo: github.com/Loptr-Lab/training. Nothing in this repo requires or uses that exercise's TypeScript harness, and nothing in the exercise repo requires this repo's C#/.NET codebase.
- The Radius of Ruin — Rebirth emits a 1-square aura. Any piece that ends its turn within it becomes Veiled: stripped to pawn-level movement for one turn.
- The Sanctuary — Death, Rebirth's mentor, provides a 1-square safe zone immune to the aura.
- Martyr's Boon — sacrificing an ally grants a token that can disable the aura for a turn.
- The Soul Reservoir — every 3 friendly pieces lost unlocks Rebirth's ability to phase through other pieces.
- Victory is possible three ways: standard checkmate, Rebirth reaching 10 Leadership Points through merciful (non-capturing) play, or the Mortal Factions winning collectively if Rebirth Veils too many of her own pieces.
Full rules: RULEBOOK_v0.1. Full design doc: docs/design/GDD.md.
| Doc | Covers |
|---|---|
RULEBOOK_v0.1 |
Complete playable rules |
docs/design/GDD.md |
Master design document |
ARCHITECTURE_OVERVIEW.md |
Engine architecture, turn lifecycle, snapshot contract |
docs/CONTRIBUTOR_SKILLSET_AND_RESOURCES.md |
What you need to know before contributing engine code |
docs/variants/ |
Thematic variant proofs-of-concept |
Veiled Dominion's visual identity relies on extreme contrast (void-black vs. amber glow), which creates real risk for photosensitive and vestibular-sensitive players if not engineered carefully. We're treating this as a first-class engineering problem, not an afterthought:
docs/ENGINE_ACCESSIBILITY_A11Y_PARADOX.md— rendering/temporal-safety rulesdocs/ENGINE_ACCESSIBILITY_AUDIO_AURA.md— non-visual play design for blind/low-vision playersdocs/ACCESSIBILITY_GRANT_POSITIONING.md— current build status against these specs
These docs track implementation status honestly (planned vs. built) — check there before assuming any given accessibility feature is live.
This project follows a Code of Conduct. See SECURITY.md to report a vulnerability.
See CONTRIBUTING.md for engine contribution guidelines and docs/CONTRIBUTOR_SKILLSET_AND_RESOURCES.md for the skills and architectural patterns this codebase expects (it is not standard 8x8 chess logic — read before writing code).
Interested in contributing but new to the codebase? The training curriculum is a structured on-ramp, including a hands-on graded exercise that mirrors this engine's actual movement/reaction architecture.
Loptr Lab is an independent creative studio. If you'd like to support this project's development: see SPONSORS.md and SPONSORSHIP_STRATEGY.md, or use the Sponsor button on this repo.
See LICENSE.md.
Loptr Lab — questions@loptrlab.com