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Board: New game console recognizes physical pieces, with an open SDK

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Re: Board: New game console recognizes physical pieces, with an open SDK

#121

Post by reactordev »

sirwhinesalot wrote: post #110
galagawinkle489 wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Book opening is fine. Post-it notes exist. You can easily open the book to the right spell. Just write down the names of the spells you have chosen to memorise for the day on a piece of paper and cross them off when you cast them. As for rules lawyering... That is just playing by the rules. That is how the game is meant to be played: rules as written except as modified by the group by agreement. Rules lawyering just…

It's a horrible experience. I can only suggest you try out TTRPGs that don't need this. I haven't tried it yet but Daggerheart seems to avoid the problem by providing spell cards. You can do the same in DnD and I suggest doing so, but it's not assumed by the game's design. All the old-school OSR inspired stuff doesn't have this problem. You should not need to repeatedly and consistently open the rule-book to play wha…

Investing in a refillable printer and card stock is great for this.

I used to make MTG style cards for spells, quest items, etc. something physical the players can keep with them.

This made casting extremely efficient as the caster has the card with the info on it. All they have to do is turn it in, roll the dice, and describe their action.

Re: Board: New game console recognizes physical pieces, with an open SDK

#122

Post by fwip »

aitchnyu wrote: post #115

Those knobs made me think we could put (or retrofit) knobs and sliders on car touchscreens.

I imagine that it would be difficult to hold the knob in place on the touchscreen while you turn it, especially given that the car screen is close to vertical. If I'm understanding right, the knob for the Board is a simple cylinder (no moving parts inside of it), so by rotating it, you're inherently breaking the static friction that would help hold it in place. You'd want either A) magnets to hold it in place or B) a two-part knob, like the Surface Dial.

Re: Board: New game console recognizes physical pieces, with an open SDK

#123

Post by fwip »

whitehexagon wrote: post #78

This looks like a perfect match for the music synth ReacTable, something that never ported well to ipad because of the lack of physical pieces. But my concern would be that this becomes just another Ad platform, but targeted at kids. For me a board-game is offline time. So I would picture this with no WiFi and SD card based games. Which could still be profitable via an other-device app store. But would also avoid tem…

If you didn't see it, the FAQ partially addresses your wifi concerns: "Does Board need WiFi or batteries? Board plugs into the wall, no batteries required. WiFi is only needed when you want to download new games. Once it’s powered on, you’re ready to play."

Obviously they could add ads later, but it's a little reassuring to know that it's designed from the outset to work without an always-on connection.

Re: Board: New game console recognizes physical pieces, with an open SDK

#124

Post by pbronez »

nicoles wrote: post #42
pstuart wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they have a conductive pattern built into the surface using specialized materials and a manufacturing technique we developed in house. Would this be something a home 3D printer could do? I'm not a maker but I could see the value of others being able to quickly build a universe of playing pieces if that was possible.

It's possible to make your own pieces with a multi-material 3d printer (our early prototypes have been made with Bambu X1C & H2D printers), though it's pretty finicky to do so, and requires some rather expensive filament. Happy to help anyone along though!

This was my immediate thought. I have a Bamboo X1C; buying special conductive filament is fine if you're just making a few pieces.

Board is MUCH more interesting to me if I can easily program it for my own games, especially if I can share them with others. I'm thinking about TTRPGs and other army building games where each piece has unique capabilities and rules.

It would be nice if I could buy smart bases, kind of like RFID stickers. Something I can glue to the base of an existing miniature with a 10-20mm round/square/hex base.

With those tools, I would build deep accounting assistance for complex games. If it's cheap, you could put custom terrain pieces on the Board with smart properties (hard cover, soft cover, blocks line of sight, etc).

Obviously there are lots of partnership opportunities there. You could get the table top game publishers to publish Board editions of their games that automatically keep up to date with the latest rules.

If that all works, the obvious next limitation would be board size. a 24" screen can do a lot, but many games would benefit from a screen measured in feet. That would be expensive and hard to move around though, given the current thickness.

Perhaps an intermediate solution would be support for tiling Boards. Everyone brings their own, you shove them together and have a much larger playing surface. Bezel width would be annoying here.

Re: Board: New game console recognizes physical pieces, with an open SDK

#125

Post by d--b »

To those who "meh" it:

Board games suffer a lot from lack of progression and narrative compared to video games.

Take Mario 1, there are so many different worlds, and enemies, it's a constant wow.

In comparison, board games are always the same. I play a fair amount of board games, but as much as I like the 'IRL' experience, the game play just doesn't compare.

Some board games try to replicate this with level bags and legacy things and what not. But make a Final Fantasy that can be played on a board with my kids, and I am definitely in.

This has huge potential.

Re: Board: New game console recognizes physical pieces, with an open SDK

#126

Post by The-Bus »

d--b wrote: post #125

To those who "meh" it: Board games suffer a lot from lack of progression and narrative compared to video games. Take Mario 1, there are so many different worlds, and enemies, it's a constant wow. In comparison, board games are always the same. I play a fair amount of board games, but as much as I like the 'IRL' experience, the game play just doesn't compare. Some board games try to replicate this with level bags and…

Progression is your level of skill as you get better at a game (whether it's something simple or its chess). I've had narrative events happen in games that, because they are guided by decisions of other players, I still remember more than actual stories in video games.

The idea is interesting, but at the same cost (or more) as a console, or the cost of a dozen board games, it falls into a space where the market is going to be limited.

I would definitely try this if it was available at a board game cafe, just not something I need for home.

Re: Board: New game console recognizes physical pieces, with an open SDK

#127

Post by nicoles »

EmilStenstrom wrote: post #118
nicoles wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apologies! We're a small team, and have to focus our efforts on one market for the time being. We'll be looking to expand as soon as we're able.

@nicoles: Understand. Is this just about shipping? Or don't you own the games on the platform, so they can't be shipped overseas?

Every country has different requirements and regulations, it's unfortunately not just about shipping. We own all the games, but are focused on the USA for right now.

Re: Board: New game console recognizes physical pieces, with an open SDK

#128

Post by reactordev »

galagawinkle489 wrote: post #109
reactordev wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes on the physical dice rolling, no on the tombs and tombs of dead trees to lug around with me. Even just the handbooks are over 1,000 pretty printed shavings of poplar pulp. Having a cardboard paper screen and a small scratch pad and empty character sheets is the most paper I’ll bring. Physical books feel better because it’s physical. You can touch it, you can smell it, you can read it, and some you can hear (when…

Referring to books as "dead trees" is such a pathetic thought-terminating cliché. If you don't want to cart books around that's fine but you can easily play the game with only the basic three (and players just need one). If you are using a book just for a spell or an item or two you can just photocopy the page.

Sir, I’m in the middle of a 20 year campaign…

Re: Board: New game console recognizes physical pieces, with an open SDK

#129

Post by sleepybrett »

mrighele wrote: post #80

Reminds of Microsoft Surface, the original coffee table [1]. It was quite cool at the time, but too expensive for what could have been useful application. Hopefully for them, this will have more luck. On a side not, the website is completely blank on Firefox. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRU3NemA95k

Not really a coffee table, it's more akin, at least the one i have, to an old arcade cocktail cabinet in almost every way.

Re: Board: New game console recognizes physical pieces, with an open SDK

#130

Post by neogodless »

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #51
jkhdigital wrote: post #28

I can tell this is much more than just “Tabletop Simulator on a tablet”, although at $500 you’re likely to get a lot of attention from the Twilight Imperium and Gloomhaven crowd. I know more than a few childless people in my local gaming circle who would drop a half-large on accessories that simplify game execution. But clearly this product isn’t about making existing board games easier to set-up/play/clean-up. I thi…

I play games like Gloomhaven and TI4. Not sure how this product would simplify anything. Far too small for any of the more complex board games. I guess I could scroll around but then what does physical piece detection give me? Then it’s $500USD. My game group and myself got Gloomhaven from Epic for free and played through the campaign together. BGA subscription is cheap. So many games have online implementations that…

I really think in-person Gloomhaven is a great use case, if it's handled well.

Scene 0: Enter player count / difficulty / etc.

Scene 1: Map. Press UI to pick a location / scenario

Scene 2: Loads hex map and enemies, manages all NPC activity for you

Players still use physical cards, and importantly, physical stands for their characters. Would be worth discussing if the screen handles modifier cards... for physical cards the names might be on screen, then the players select their actions (top or bottom) and define movement or action targets. Some animation and NPC health / reactions are handled by software.

So there's a reduction in set up (hex maps, NPCs) and a reduction in managing NPC actions (which is why the PC versions are so appealing in the first place.) But instead of all players focusing on their own screen, they are still getting some face time and tactile board game play.

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