Changelog
What has changed on Cognivo, newest first, in plain words. Only what you would notice; the behind-the-scenes work is left out.
Last updated
Every change you would notice as a player or a maker, newest first. Work that happens behind the scenes, such as tests, tooling and infrastructure, isn't listed. What's coming is on the Roadmap.
October 2026
16 October
- Endless and Daily in Ember and Delve. Finish a game’s first world and its menu opens Endless, levels one after another that get harder each stage, with three lives for the whole run, and the Daily, one level a day that is the same for everyone. Every level is made by the game and checked to be fair before you play it. Your best run and each day’s result are kept in your browser, and Share copies a line about how you did.
- Fairer levels everywhere. Every level, hand-made or generated, now has to be finishable without a jump at the very edge of what you can do, with checkpoints close enough together and never right beside a hazard. A few existing levels were eased to meet that, and Ember’s first four levels gained braziers.
5 October
- Worlds in Ember and Delve. Each game's levels now come in worlds, shown as tabs on its menu, and the next world opens when you finish the one before. The first worlds, Ember's Night meadow and Delve's Upper caves, now have ten levels each: thirteen new levels, longer and harder.
- Checkpoints. Light a brazier in Ember or a lamp post in Delve, and if you go out you come back there instead of at the start.
- Art you made in Sprite Lab keeps working when a game adds something new: anything your art doesn't have is drawn from the game's own.
4 October
- Learn chess as a full course. Learn chess now has ten chapters, from how the pieces move to forks, pins and the game's history. Each chapter ends with Check yourself and three practice positions, and every answer is checked by the same chess engine you play against. Your place is kept, and Continue takes you back to it.
- Docs. These pages: a guide to every part of Cognivo, and a reference for the files the Labs make. Search them with
Ctrl+K. - This changelog and a public Roadmap, drawn as a timeline and linked as What's new at the foot of every page.
- Sprite Lab and Animation Lab. Draw and recolour Ember's and Delve's pixel art, put frames in order and set their speed. Then play the game with your own art, switched on or off from its menu.
- Allow Cognivo to use this. A new option in Level Lab and Sprite Lab. Tick it to let Cognivo use something you send in; without it, nothing you make is used. The Terms say it simply.
- Ember and Delve in the catalogue. They are on the home page beside the board games, and each game's menu now shows how far you have got, with a Continue button.
- Up-to-date information pages. About, FAQ, Help, Accessibility and Terms now describe the site as it is today.
- Spy Games now says plainly when it can't reach the server, instead of "coming soon".
3 October
- The whole tournament bracket. Everyone in a room can follow every pairing by name, the byes, and who has won.
- Fairer tournament clocks. A match's clock waits until both players have opened it, and finishing a match takes you on to your next one.
- Every game speaks from your side. Live games show the board from your seat and say whether you won.
- Live Reversi, Checkers and Nine Men's Morris load again.
- Sharp chess pieces on every device, even without chess symbol fonts, and a faster first load.
- A new look for Cognivo: a new logo and icons, and a separate mark for the Labs.
- Ads, with honest disclosure. Cognivo is paid for by Google AdSense ads. You are asked for consent first where the law requires it, and every cookie is listed on Cookies and tracking.
- Finished and abandoned live games and tournament rooms are now deleted after 30 days, as the Privacy page promises.
September 2026
26 September
- A new home page and one design for every game screen, with clearer banners at the start and end of a game.
- Interactive lessons for every game on Learn: watch a move, then try it on the board.
- Help and feedback. A Help page with quick answers, an assistant, and a way to send a report.
- Spy Games missions get their own instruments: a cipher wheel, a letter-mapping board, a signal trace and a city map.
- Games and Labs. Two arcade games, Ember and Delve, and Level Lab for making their levels, at labs.cognivo.digital.
15 September
- Tournaments for 3 to 32 people from one link, with every match in a round played at once.
14 September
- Hex and Dots and Boxes, the eighth and ninth board games.
- Board and piece themes: Mecha, Classic and Slate.
5 September
- Play a friend by link. Send a private link, and whoever opens it first takes the other seat.
- Ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe, playable on the site.
- The result of a game is announced on the board itself.
August 2026
23 August
- Smoother piece movement on every board, coordinates in the checkers move log, and visit counting with Google Analytics, disclosed on the Privacy page.
16 August
- Connect Four and Nine Men's Morris. Every game gets Easy, Medium and Hard, and a coin flip for who moves first.
9 August
- Reversi, with a real flip and 6×6, 8×8 and 10×10 boards. Checkers now plays against Cognivo's game server.
8 August
- Better previews when you share a link, and corrected FAQ and privacy wording.
July 2026
30 July
- A polished chess board, robotic Mecha pieces with a mounted knight, the favourability meter, and a helper on/off switch in Spy Games.
11 July
- Chess plays against Cognivo's own game server.
June 2026
21 June
- Accessibility, FAQ and Acknowledgements pages.
13 June
- Cognivo launches at cognivo.digital.
Before launch
Cognivo began as MindBoard, a voice-driven chess project (March 2026), and gained Spy Games' cipher missions in April.