My dream future involves a wonderful combination of tabletop gaming and video gaming. The closest I have seen to the future I envision is this Settlers of Catan on the Microsoft Surface. One problem with that is that a Microsoft Surface is super expensive and difficult to get into my house. The next closest thing I've seen is what the company TabletTop is trying to start with their Kickstarter for PlaneQuest. Quick synopsis, they are developing a game for the iPad and other touch tablets that uses special figurines to control the virtual avatars. I'll be perfectly honest, it's not the specific game they're creating that I'm supporting, but more the idea behind it. Unfortunately, I get the feeling other people aren't willing to be so forward thinking with their money because this project doesn't seem to be going so well.
It was at £2,900 or so when I backed it over 10 days ago and it needs £150,000 total...this may be the first project I've backed that fails, but if it pops up again, I'd gladly help again to strive for this future. Just imagine a world where you don't have to do any of the tedious board setup or having the game be able to compute things for you to make games go faster, but still getting cards and tokens and figurines that make board games so fun to play in the first place. I guess for now I'll have to keep dreaming. Either that or buy myself a Microsoft Surface...
I like your idea for how to use the technology, but I think the problem with the Kickstarter is it looks like more money and more trouble (need two hands to play a touch game) for no gain. That is, the miniatures don't add anything that couldn't be done with an in-game avatar (except prettiness, but prettiness is not worth added money or trouble to most people).
ReplyDeleteThe miniature gives you one thing that I can see: it lets you easily rotate your character in game. But you're right. It doesn't really add enough to warrant this for most people.
DeleteThe Catan app for iPhone and Android works surprisingly well, despite the small screen. You're right -- it's lovely to have the calculations and board set-up done automatically!
ReplyDeleteFor other games with equally or more complex set-up, it could be interesting to play a digital version first and board version second. We bought the board game 7 Wonders at PAX East on a friend's recommendation, but as yet, we've been too intimidated by the million complicated parts to give it a proper shot.
I played the XBLA version of Catan and liked it except no one traded because no one was (could?) talk to each other and that's what makes Settlers an actually fun game. How does it work for iPhone/Android? Are you playing random Internet people or friends in the room with you?
DeleteI completely agree that board games (especially ones with lots of components) are more likely to scare people off than a digital equivalent. It would be interesting to see how introducing someone to a digital version of a game first affected someone when playing the board version. Unfortunately, I don't know of many games that have both versions. That'd be an interesting thing to research.