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

board.fun

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

#41
post #27

I was looking for more info about developing for Board on https://board.fun/pages/developers and became confused because the page mentions an SDK that can be accessed but does not explain how or link to any other information. Poking around the website some more, I found https://board.fun/pages/support?hcUrl=%2Fen-US%23article-289... which clarifies: > Can I add or create my own games? > Soon. We’re building tools tha…

To expand on the topic of the SDK: will the SDK be open-source? Will I need to register as a developer or pay a fee to get the SDK? If the SDK is open-source with no registration or fees required, then you have my attention.

The SDK is open-source, no fees required. Coming in the next week or two. We're figuring out the specific details regarding registration, and would love feedback one way or the other if this is critical for you. If you want to be notified the moment it hits, email us: developers@board.fun

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

#42
post #37
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is nearly bang on correct. The pieces don't contain any electronics or sensors, they have a conductive pattern built into the surface using specialized materials and a manufacturing technique we developed in house. Our custom software stack processes the raw data from the device's touch sensor using embedded ML on the NPU, which detects and tracks the pieces in real time. That said, the device can detect the pie…

> 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!

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

#44

Looks really fun, but only ships to the US… such a disappointment after reading up on it, and being ready to buy.

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.

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

#45

Me and a dungeon master friend of mine are interested in developing for this. Is there a cost associated with the SDK? Or can we just buy a Board and get to it?

No cost for the SDK, we'll be fleshing out our SDK pages over the next couple weeks. Email developer@board.fun to be the first to get access!

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

#46

Is there an SDK? The link on the site to Developer program just has copy, no actual API docs

There's currently a Unity SDK, we're just super focused on our launch and haven't been able to flesh out those pages. We'll be fleshing it out over the coming weeks, email developer@board.fun to hear about it the moment we update!

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

#47

Very cool. I love the tactical board game experience but automatic upkeep for rules is appealing. As a parent I wish it had more details on the durability. I can just imagine spills, slams, non-game pieces being used and abused on this thing.

We've done a bunch of testing with our manufacturer, and have found that it's really resilient against spills, but don't go setting it in a bathtub.

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

#48
post #33

Pretty cool! Did you think about a way to handle games that need some secret elements (e.g. cards with roles/resources) that should be kept away from other players?

We've played around with detecting various hand and arm gestures to digitally reveal/hide hidden information, but none of our launch titles ended up needing it. If you've got an idea that requires it, happy to work with you to make it happen!

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

#49
post #6
post #5

Nice job! Very slick demo video. As a dev, a couple of things immediately stand out to me. 1. Launching at $500 means it is going to be a "relatively" boutique product. At around the same price as an iPad Air, you're definitely going to want to focus on how the included games simply would not be playable on a more conventional touchscreen interface without the corresponding physical components. Which leads to my seco…

1. This is absolutely the case for the launch portfolio. These games are super unique experiences that are really only possible from mixing the physical and digital in this way. Does the site not make that clear to you? Super useful feedback! 2. The piece sets can be used as is for new games/apps, especially for prototyping! However if it’s super promising and you want to bring it into our (future) store, we’d love t…

> 1. super unique experiences that are really only possible from mixing the physical and digital in this way. Does the site not make that clear to you?

Yes most of those game don't look like they significantly add anything to the experience over similar already existing games that have or easily could have tablet versions. Even if they are doing a bit more website makes them look like cheap versions of well established computer games.

Bloogs -> that's just lemmings

Spycraft -> doesn't look like something you couldn't design touchscreen controls with little effect on puzzles

Omakase -> you are selecting positions + direction within grid, don't see why press and swipe on touchscreen wouldn't work

Mushka -> the tamagochi style game. All that the special pieces achieve is select an action which could easily be done with touchscreen menu and afterwords positioning it with finger

Cosmic crush -> again one more game where all you do is move single game piece per player on a grid

Space rocks -> asteroid like spaceship shooter

Snek -> just point the finger directly on touchscreen without special game pieces

Out of all them maybe 2 look like they are trying to consider unique strengths of the physical game pieces. The cooking game and 3d block game. And even for those it feels questionable whether it provides sufficient improvement compared to existing games.

By it's nature product like this means that you get worst parts of niche gaming console and a physical board game. Niche console means that the set of available games will be very limited with many of them either being ports from other platforms using generic pieces (meaning you can just play them on those other more popular platforms) or the gameplay isn't as good due too limited budget. Hardly any developer is going to spend years to design unique game for niche platform with very limited player base. And like with physical board games you need to buy the pieces in physical store or have them delivered.

Tilt-5 also tried to fill the gap between digital and physical board games. They had much more interesting value add but that wasn't enough.

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

#50

Me and a dungeon master friend of mine are interested in developing for this. Is there a cost associated with the SDK? Or can we just buy a Board and get to it?

Hopefully they offer a large version at some point. This could be a little tricky for DMing.
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