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Trading cards with e-ink displays (2023)

howtoware.co

121–130 of 144 posts

Re: Trading cards with e-ink displays (2023)

#121
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't really matter why, does it?

It matters for me to understand you, the other. I'm trying :p

Ok, well - in my cultural background, that sort of symbology is typically associated with scams, unsavoury types, and sexual exploitation. This pretension that life can be explained with magical patterns is fundamentally anti-intellectual and prone to appeal to fools.

To paraphrase another unsavoury person, when I see this kind of stuff I put my hand on the revolver.

Re: Trading cards with e-ink displays (2023)

#122
Saw this at OpenSauce this weekend. Very cool concept. Obviously the price per unit (card) of the DevKit is a bit...steep. But at mass production scales it could be very reasonable. Especially if there were a dozen or more card games you could plan on it?

I hate "lets make it electronic just for the sake of electronics" because ewaste. But if you can take something and make it into "buy once, use forever(ish)"... that's awesome.

Re: Trading cards with e-ink displays (2023)

#123
post #30

Just curious, is there really a "trading" aspect or is it more for deck-building type games? Trading card games usually have a notion of rarity, collection, and, well, trading. It is a controversial aspect so I understand that you want to stay away from that as much as possible. But if you embrace this aspect, how would it be implemented?

I'm aware that mentioning this tends to get you crucified on HN, but making something like this fun is a good use for blockchain technology. Blockchains create digital scarcity, and in fact, are the only decentralized way to have digital scarcity. So having the "cards" represent tokens on e.g. Ethereum would be a clever way to do that, I'm sure the processors can provide a secp256k1 signature, and the rest is read-on…

Why is digital scarcity a good thing? Why is scarcity at all a good thing? Is there any reason for this, outside of trying to sell them at an ever higher price? And how does sharing a read-only e-ink card benefit over a regular card, or a card with an NFC tag in it?

I get the feeling people think because things are scarce already, scarcity is good. but... it really isn't. outside of a store-of-value, there is no real benefit to it, is there?

Re: Trading cards with e-ink displays (2023)

#124
That note about manufacturing is very interesting. It is indeed very difficult to make 10s, 100s, or 1,000's of things. Let alone millions.

At my company, we (software group) took a tour of the hardware R&D lab. They have a mechanical lab and a machine shop, which does the initial prototyping. A lot of the mechanical engineers on the R&D side work on basically "dev tools" for the big factories.

An assembly has an intermittent issue with something going out of alignment; they go on site, take measurements, create a CAD model, and take it to the machine shop. Then, they take whatever fixer part to the factory and install it to fix the issue on the line.

There are so many pieces of it -- it's just like software really. The factories are only partially automated, so fixtures and mounts for things need to be ergonomic if a worker is going to place a half-finished part into a fixture 1000s of times per day. Parts have to have an obvious orientation, so it's easy to tell at a glance to know how they go into where they need to go. Every part needs to be designed to actually be manufactured, keeping in mind the limits of the machine that will be creating it, whether CNC or a mold, etc. All this, with a minimum of steps to manufacture the part, using as little material as possible, while looking good and functioning as desired.

I went to school to be a mechanical engineer and hardly any of this stuff was discussed. (It was a big research university to be fair, but still) We spent maybe 6h across my entire degree talking about the way things actually get made. Things like, why use a flat head instead a rounded head on a machine screw in a design? How to design a part to be injection molded? Sheet metal? CNC?

We need to onshore manufacturing as soon as possible, because these are all very difficult skills that require ingenuity, craft, and dedication to acquire. They only can be acquired slowly, over time, through a long career, in an environment where volume manufacturing is happening.

Re: Trading cards with e-ink displays (2023)

#125
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And that's fair enough. The larger point of having a platform without a product still exists. And I think this is still something where the idea is cooler than the current reality. Mostly because you can vaguely imagine the coolest version of this and you aren't being asked to put anything on the line for it. Is there some version of this that's genuinely fun and engaging? Maybe so. The potential of non-destructive p…

So, the goal was to build a devkit so that I could use it to develop my own game. I wanted the physical things to exist, so that I could try it out with people and find out which interactions are fun, vs which aren't. Well the internet liked the idea, and saw some of the same promise in it that I did (plus HN is a sucker for e-ink). With all the interest, and people asking how they can get their hands on one, I ran a…

I wouldn’t have made any until I had a viable game to demonstrate the system.

As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t have committed to hardware until I had the game sketched out. You have constrained yourself to certain choices before you know the implications of those choices.

Is color going to hinder it?

Is this really a board game where the tiles are eink devices? In which case, you’d want the connections on the edges instead of the back.

Do you need more space for text?

Do the cards need to remain in the board?

And so on. You’ve already effectively made these decisions without knowing how they’ll affect game development.

You should’ve come up with a game, then developed the hardware prototype around that game. Even if the initial hardware would have cost more with your current setup. Because, as you’ve noted, when you’re ready to go to manufacturing, you be able to take advantage of proper tooling and economies of scale.

I really think the lack of a game is the thing that’s going to be your major roadblock.

Re: Trading cards with e-ink displays (2023)

#126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm aware that mentioning this tends to get you crucified on HN, but making something like this fun is a good use for blockchain technology. Blockchains create digital scarcity, and in fact, are the only decentralized way to have digital scarcity. So having the "cards" represent tokens on e.g. Ethereum would be a clever way to do that, I'm sure the processors can provide a secp256k1 signature, and the rest is read-on…

Why is digital scarcity a good thing? Why is scarcity at all a good thing? Is there any reason for this, outside of trying to sell them at an ever higher price? And how does sharing a read-only e-ink card benefit over a regular card, or a card with an NFC tag in it? I get the feeling people think because things are scarce already, scarcity is good. but... it really isn't. outside of a store-of-value, there is no real…

Trading can be fun, but it’s pointless if you could just download anything onto your card. Pokémon with a GameShark is just a totally different experience.

Re: Trading cards with e-ink displays (2023)

#127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is "eighth grader syndrome?"

Possible: https://theotakubox.com/blogs/articles/chuunibyou-eighth-gra... I'm reading it as developing a level of capability which may (or may not) be genuinely accomplished but lacks requisite perspective and humility regarding its limits. Young teens (as in the 8th grade range) are famous for displaying this, and of course capable adults find it an easy mistake to make at many points in life.

It's most aptly described as edgyism

Re: Trading cards with e-ink displays (2023)

#129
post #8

I really hope the Bay Area keeps this attitude, and that other places adopt it if they haven't already: "I live in the Bay Area. I'm biased, but this place is full of awesome engineers building things and you can just walk up to them and ask them to explain everything about their project and they will." Edit to add: It reminds me of Jobs calling up Bill Hewlett at his home as a teen and asking him questions, and Hewl…

I don't know. I think the younger 20-somethings all have this same kind of dream, but the older people get, the more comfortable they seem hiding behind NDAs at FAANGs or staying in "stealth mode." They really don't owe anyone anything. Disclaimer: I'm one of the younger 20-somethings.

You don't "hide behind" NDAs. Either you have one or you don't. Whatever your position is on the NDAs in general, you really shouldn't break one you accepted.

Re: Trading cards with e-ink displays (2023)

#130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm aware that mentioning this tends to get you crucified on HN, but making something like this fun is a good use for blockchain technology. Blockchains create digital scarcity, and in fact, are the only decentralized way to have digital scarcity. So having the "cards" represent tokens on e.g. Ethereum would be a clever way to do that, I'm sure the processors can provide a secp256k1 signature, and the rest is read-on…

Why is digital scarcity a good thing? Why is scarcity at all a good thing? Is there any reason for this, outside of trying to sell them at an ever higher price? And how does sharing a read-only e-ink card benefit over a regular card, or a card with an NFC tag in it? I get the feeling people think because things are scarce already, scarcity is good. but... it really isn't. outside of a store-of-value, there is no real…

The guy who made magic the gathering made a game called Keyforge, every deck sold at retail has a unique selection of cards in it. You do not get to mix and match your own ingredients to play the game.

Very unique idea, very unique feeling, I still dont even know how it is mass produced actually... Kind of mediocre game to me, but thats just personal taste. It is special enough that any board gamer should give it a play at least a couple times to feel it

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