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Trading cards with e-ink displays (2023)

howtoware.co

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

#41

Post by jonahss »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #11

That's very cool. Love seeing these types of things. If they were thinner and wider, I suspect that an almost unlimited number of uses could open up for them.

Wyldcard creator here, thanks to HowToWare for the interview.

Since the intention is a children's toy, I'm trying to get the price as low as possible. This display size is cheap because it's intended for grocery store price tags ;)

Flat Flex e-paper displays are available but much more expensive. Plus, the magnets in the cards which let them mate to the base take up most of the thickness. I'd have to rethink that physical interface entirely if they needed to be much thinner. My next step will be to design an actual game and then I can come back to size for a v2.

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

#42

Post by xipho »

johannes1234321 wrote: post #29
oopsallmagic wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget the e-waste aspect... You can recycle paper easily, but several rare earth metals and e-ink all mashed together are much more difficult, and require a lot more energy to produce. Honestly, this is exactly the kind of overconsumption that got us to where we are. I don't care what someone's favorite emoji is, quite frankly, and I don't think it's worth strip mining the Congo just to do a Neat Thing. Use a…

And then place a few crayons at the venue if you care about the smiley.

I'm not putting steaming poo on my badge, it's the concept of customization that's easily shared- "For the social let's all use our lab's logo, and tonight we can use our student org's logo, and tomorrow for the society meetup we could put a picture of the organism we study". Conversation starters (perhaps I do want to put poo on my badge) in what is a social event with many rapidly-changing sub-contexts. Sticker and pin collecting is fun though, so maybe not such a compelling use-case.

Smaller meetings provide markers for name-tags all the time, that's different from the conference-provided ID I'm required to wear in a conference of 6k+ people.

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

#43

Post by r00fus »

NoMoreNicksLeft wrote: post #35
GuB-42 wrote: 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?

Yes, all cards will be like this soon. So if you wish to keep your rare baseball card collection, you'll have to continue to pay your subscription price. If you miss a payment, you might be temporarily locked out of the collection, but repeated missed payments risk the collection being deleted entirely.

Great. the DIVX(tm) of collectible cards. I don't foresee a large uptake of this.

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

#44

Post by jonahss »

nerdjon wrote: post #39
jonahss wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi, Wyldcard creator here, thanks to HowToWare for the interview :) The cards can store data, and I imagine that things which happen to the card during a game leave a lasting impact, which is carried from game to game. The cards grow and change over time, and so when you trade one, you're trading an entire legacy :D

That sounds more like a legacy style board game than an actual trading card game. Which seems to me like the better implementation of this technology, anything else due to its digital nature just feels like it is going to be exploited making any value disappear completely. I think this would be an amazing idea for a legacy style game, especially since it opens up the possibility of resetting the game and it really si…

Ah yeah. TCG is just a quick way to explain it to people so they get what I'm going for. I personally dislike the whole "rarity" aspect of TCGs, though it was fun when I was a kid. Living Card Games like Netrunner are more fun to play IMO.

My elevator pitch usually goes something like: MTG meets Yu-gi-oh meets Pokemon (the RPG) meets Tamagotchi.

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

#45

Post by jonahss »

dllthomas wrote: post #32
GuB-42 wrote: 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?

IIUC (and I haven't RTFA but from my recollection of my conversations with Jonah around that same time frame) there is not really a game yet, it's more of a platform, with "trading" intended to be a possible feature of some games.

:wave:

Yes, still no game, I spent the last year delivering the crowdfunded devkits.

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

#46

Post by jonahss »

NoMoreNicksLeft wrote: post #35
GuB-42 wrote: 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?

Yes, all cards will be like this soon. So if you wish to keep your rare baseball card collection, you'll have to continue to pay your subscription price. If you miss a payment, you might be temporarily locked out of the collection, but repeated missed payments risk the collection being deleted entirely.

I'm hoping to monetize the Shadow Realm

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

#47

Post by Izkata »

People sometimes mock how in Star Trek they'd occasionally have a bunch of PADDs splayed out on a table, almost using the futuristic tablets as if they were clipboards instead of how someone might use a real computer or tablet.

Then we get projects like this, which I see as a step towards that future.

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

#48

Post by foobarchu »

xipho wrote: post #37
johannes1234321 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And then place a few crayons at the venue if you care about the smiley.

It's not just paper, perhaps at least run the numbers? Though I completely agree it's likely more environmentally costly. My initial thought process evolved from coming back from yet another conference, and tossing yet another lanyard (colorful plastic, metal clips) and plastic covering into the garbage. I have done this probably around 50 times. So think replacing 100-200 of these for an academic, far, far more for…

One of the hurdles you would have to overcome is convincing all of the conferences to go with these reusable e-ink badges.

Let's say all the organizers are convinced...why not use a common, non-electronic badge instead, since you have everyone agreeing to a common standard anyway? Perhaps something simple where the conference organizers can print out a paper slip (recycled paper even!) that you insert so they get some customization.

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

#50

Post by cjameskeller »

toyg wrote: post #16
lagniappe wrote: post #5

I don't have much business being in this thread but I wanted to add that I appreciate the inclusion of lesser-seen details like the sacred geometry in the board.

I personally find it creepy and offputting. I guess to each its own.

I am reminded of Paul Kingsnorth's _The Basilisk_: https://emergencemagazine.org/fiction/the-basilisk/ (Quick read, styled after the Screwtape Letters, but about the internet)

Some quotes:

>"Something else is happening. It is as if these screens are a portal to something. As if something is using them to get to us: to change, to remake, to control us."

...

>"There is a reason they call it “the web,” Bridget; a reason they call it “the net.” It is a trap. We have built the means of our own enslavement, at their suggestion. Now we are all carrying a portal to the underworld in our back pockets and handbags, and we are entirely unguarded against whoever chooses to step through it."

...

>"It’s not demons messing with our minds, Uncle. It’s fairies. ... They steal children, Uncle! That was what grabbed me. ... The fairies would steal babies and leave fairies in their places, and there would always be something strange, something lost about them."

...

>"That’s the thing, you see, Uncle. Fairies aren’t like demons. They’re not evil. They mind their own business, and they usually leave people alone unless they’re offended. But we’ve gone and cut down their thorns on a global scale. So what if they’re driving us mad on the same scale?"

...

>"If this is the revenge of the nature spirits, Uncle, maybe they’re winning—and maybe they should be. We’ve got power way beyond our ability to control it. We can’t even control ourselves. Maybe it’s better this way."

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