There is a paradox among chess players. Most serious chess players use two dimensional pieces when playing on a computer, yet they play with figurines in person. There can only be two explanations for this. Either the look of the pieces is not convincing, or it's the lack of depth perception. (Chess 2 adds depth perception by supporting stereoscopic 3D, but that's a subject for another post.)

There are two basic contributions to the look of something in the game. First, is the silhouette, and second the lighting. Just how important is lighting? Take a look at this image.

From early on I believed that great lighting would be one of the most important places to invest time and energy on in Chess 2. The result? Chess 2 is the only chess program where I prefer to play with figurines.

To divulge how we achieved this look on the OUYA, we'll be splitting this post into three parts: