Monarchfall: Blood & Check

A chess roguelite engine with CLI-first architecture. Procedurally generated chessboards, dynamic rules, and permadeath progression—exploring the convergence of chess mechanics and roguelike design.

Current Status: Early playable foundation. Core board/piece/action logic and a minimal CLI loop (new, show, play) are implemented, with roadmap phases continuing in incremental slices.

Quick Start

For detailed setup instructions, see Local Development Setup Guide.

# Build the project
dotnet build

# Run the CLI
dotnet run --project src/MFBC.Cli

# Run tests
dotnet test

Repository Structure

• src/MFBC.Core/ — Core game logic and domain models (pure, testable)
• src/MFBC.Cli/ — CLI interface and presentation layer
• tests/MFBC.Core.Tests/ — Unit tests for core logic
• docs/architecture/ — Architecture decisions and system design
• docs/decisions/ — Architectural decision records (ADRs)

Development

• New logic requires tests in MFBC.Core.Tests
• Layering rule: MFBC.Core must remain independent; MFBC.Cli depends on MFBC.Core
• Architectural decisions go in docs/decisions/ — see ADR guide
• Design decisions use the ADR process and template
• English-only identifiers and comments

See .github/copilot-instructions.md for agent guidance.

For AI agents working on MFBC, see AI Prompt Crafting Guidelines for best practices on crafting high-quality prompts with grounding, verification checkpoints, and hallucination prevention.

Roadmap

The architecture roadmap for the next 2-3 releases is maintained in docs/ROADMAP.md.

Current directional phases:

• Phase 0: Scaffold
• Phase 1: Core Rules
• Phase 2: Procedural Generation

For architectural context, see architecture overview and decision records.

Technical Foundation

Before implementation, comprehensive technical decisions have been documented:

• Core Domain Model — Board, tiles, pieces, and invariants
• Core ↔ CLI Contract — API surface and responsibilities
• Move Representation — Action model and validation flow
• Rule Engine Design — Phased execution and rule categories
• Events, Effects, and Mutation — State change model
• RNG and Determinism — Seed strategy and replay
• Serialization — Save/load and versioning
• Testing Strategy — Test categories and determinism guarantees
• Dependency Boundaries — Layering enforcement

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Jira Conventions: See Jira Conventions & Process Guide for issue types, workflow, and best practices for creating and managing work items.

Jira Templates: See Jira Work Item Templates for copy-paste-ready templates (Epic, Feature, Task, Subtask) with filled examples.

Jira Board: https://jonv11.atlassian.net/jira/software/projects/MFBC/boards/1

Security

See Dependency Updates for information about dependency updates and vulnerability handling.

License

MIT — See LICENSE for details.