blinky465
Joined: Nov 24, 2014
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Nov 24, 2014 - 11:23 |
 
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This might be a bit ambitious, but many years ago I promised my nephew an electronic blood bowl board. Details are on my nerd club blog (you'll need to go back about 2 years to find the start of the project!) but I'm now at the point of actually putting something serious together.
A while back, I proved the hardware would work by connecting a board game up to a smartphone/tablet/pc/ipad.
http://nerdclub-uk.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/electronic-board-game-success.html. To demonstrate the concept of an electronically enhanced board game (and to reduce development costs) I made each board piece a smaller, shaped pcb (as seen in the video).
I've now got myself a number of larger, rectangular pcbs made up to create a full pitch and am currently coding the software for the tablet/pc/smartphone. My question is - to avoid possible problems with GW - should this be feasible to take to market - I'm planning on a Blood-Bowl-alike game (similar but not identical). Are fans of Blood Bowl "hardcore" fans ("don't mess with our game") or, for the sake of some exciting new developments (play-over-the-net, solo-play etc) would players be willing to compromise a bit?
What kind of things make Blood Bowl so awesome for regular players (I only dabble every now and again with one-off games with my nephew, I've never really run a league or got into the whole "extra skills" things). |
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mister__joshua
Joined: Jun 20, 2007
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This is really cool, a very impressive project! An electronically enhanced board game sounds awesome and something that could definitely have a future.
If I'm honest though, I don't really know useful this would be for a relatively simple game such as Blood Bowl. Blood Bowl already has multiple clients for online play, and the AI required for solo play would be a whole separate massive project. Maybe electronic rosters and player skills shown when they move would be an option, but not really enough to bother developing it for.
So, in short, love the project and it's massively impressive but if I were you I'd think bigger than Blood Bowl. There must be great scope for a new and full interactive electronic wargame? |
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Grod
Joined: Sep 30, 2003
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Nov 24, 2014 - 11:43 |
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From a technical point of view i was very impressed with the youtube clip. What kind of application do you see for it? I.e. why would you want to mirror the game board on a computer? Reminds me a bit of an old electronic chess board.
I am no lawyer but licensing is probably going to be an issue anywhere near a GW game. |
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blinky465
Joined: Nov 24, 2014
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Nov 24, 2014 - 11:51 |
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I'm effectively building a gaming platform, so have a number of games in mind (the reason it took so long to date was because I got side-tracked turning it into Space Hulk, then turning it into a board-game version of my favourite ZX Spectrum game, Laser Squad). I've now got all the hardware and firmware sorted out, and have a gaming platform which can track playing pieces across a playing surface, and send messages back to my own custom software running on a smart device, while accepting data in from over the 'net.
I'm not looking to mirror a board game on the computer, but to supplement it. There are loads of computer-versions of board games: if that's what you like, you can play those, of course! But I like miniature board gaming, as do a lot of people. This is more like board-gaming-plus. Take away buckets of dice and convoluted look-ups, add-this-but-take-away-that-roll-2d6-and-find-the-average or (whatever some games rules require), no more arguing over line-of-sight, distances thrown and so on. Just move your pieces and let the computer act like a "games master", confirming or challenging your moves, and giving you instant results on blocks/tackles/passes etc. While all the while reflecting these using audio cues. The idea is not to have a flashy screen displaying what's going on on the board - that's what the board is for!
So I think you're right - it could be "bigger than Blood Bowl".
But given Blood Bowl is "relatively simple" I thought I'd start with that as a game to demonstrate what's possible. For my other games, I've already got hidden movement and line-of-sight and some clever tricks like that (even some simple AI for opponents, but it is only quite basic at the minute!).
I agree that Blood Bowl is relatively simple and wouldn't show the system off to it's fullest. But it's a great, fun game and with things like crowd sound effects (boos and cheers as the star player gets fouled for example) and in-game commentary, it could be a nice showcase game. |
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mister__joshua
Joined: Jun 20, 2007
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One of the best thing about tabletop games is the rolling of the dice, so I wouldn't remove that. If you could develop some true-rolling dice readable by the board (magnetic pips, but with the weight not affecting the randomness) then that'd be cool. The board could know the rules and tell you what you needed to roll, and do the resolution, but you'd get to roll the actual dice. |
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uuni
Joined: Mar 12, 2010
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Nov 24, 2014 - 12:04 |
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If you are interested in licencing games, I would suggest you bring Impact Miniatures onto your radar. I am in the understanding that they may be more agile in their actions than GW though ymmv. They make Elfball.
Generally intellectual property questions are many times difficult. Game rules as the description of a game are not protectable in many legislations, but graphics, sounds, textbooks and other pieces are mostly within copyright.
Please note that as far as I know FUMBBL uses only things that it has acquired a licence for. In general one cannot use graphics and sounds from FUMBBL or the client in other projects without getting a licence from the rights holders (the artists). |
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blinky465
Joined: Nov 24, 2014
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Nov 24, 2014 - 12:11 |
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I'm working on a dice-reader device at the minute (to read the face down value off any regular dice and thus infer the value showing face up) but the trick is getting it all to fit into a tiny space, the size of a dice face! If I used custom, comedy-sized massive dice, it'd be a doddle 
The nature of the system is pretty modular. So for a wild-west-shoot-out game, I've even tried out two electronic guns which you can actually have a shootout with! They worked great and the results fed into the controlling app. We ditched them because the distracted from what we felt should always be the focus, and that was the board game!
| mister__joshua wrote: | | One of the best thing about tabletop games is the rolling of the dice, so I wouldn't remove that. If you could develop some true-rolling dice readable by the board (magnetic pips, but with the weight not affecting the randomness) then that'd be cool. The board could know the rules and tell you what you needed to roll, and do the resolution, but you'd get to roll the actual dice. |
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Roland
Joined: May 12, 2004
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Nov 24, 2014 - 12:30 |
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This is so cool!
I wish i had more time to build things. |
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harvestmouse
Joined: May 13, 2007
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Nov 24, 2014 - 12:32 |
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Hmmmm I always dreamt of being able to do this, however I think it's 15 years too late. As for what game I think it would be most suited to, I think maybe battletech, rather than Blood bowl or space hulk. I think Blood Bowl has too many variables and space hulk takes a lot to set up.
What are the best aspects of Blood Bowl for me?
*A balanced game.
*Strong background and fluff.
*The ability to theme teams and builds.
*The ability to make new things for the game.
*A lot of variants that are competitive when brought together.
As for selling it to be able to play GW games? You do have to be very careful there, they are extremely protective over their IP.
However there are now a lot of 3rd party retailers out there now, that don't pay a penny to GW. |
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mister__joshua
Joined: Jun 20, 2007
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Talking purely in terms of selling, I'd think your market would be best suited to a modular kit. You get the basic set and then different game modules are available with overlays and software to make them work. You could also give people the option to create their own games as modules. |
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"Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man." - The Dude
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Grod
Joined: Sep 30, 2003
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Nov 24, 2014 - 20:09 |
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Games like Space Hulk and Warhammer Quest may be a more natural fit where the computer not only does all the rules for you but also acts as the dungeon master leading to fun solo play. I see where you are going now. |
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I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.
Oscar Wilde |
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Garion
Joined: Aug 19, 2009
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Nov 24, 2014 - 20:16 |
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I love it. I cant wait to see more, the demand possibly isnt there these days. But if I were you I would be contacting Greebo, and Impact and see if they are interested in developing games for it. Good luck to you sir and looking forward to seeing where it goes next. |
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pythrr
Joined: Mar 07, 2006
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Nov 24, 2014 - 20:17 |
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WHAT IS THIS UNHOLY MAGICS? |
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Elyoukey
Joined: Nov 30, 2006
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Nov 25, 2014 - 17:31 |
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I think this tool could be very usefull to broadcast some real life tourneys. Euirobowl comes in mind, but the first tables at the world cup next year could do with such a feature. |
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RedDevilCG
Joined: Jan 09, 2010
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Nov 25, 2014 - 22:55 |
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