- 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 that will let anyone design their own Board games, starting with developers and expanding to players. The future of play is one you can help create. Learn more at board.fun/developers.
So I think I understand the SDK is not available yet. Can you clarify that developer tools are not yet available but are coming soon on https://board.fun/pages/developers to avoid confusion?
by jkhdigital
4 subcomments
- 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 think the marketing dept has a lot of heavy lifting to do, convincing buyers that this isn’t just Juicero for existing board games.
- I don't really play board games, but if I did I can imagine being worried about forced updates, general online connectivity, inevitable ads, microtransactions, longevity, etc being a concern.
The current people behind Board might promise to deliver now, but who knows what will happen 5 years down the line.
by vintermann
4 subcomments
- Not quite the first such product, Microsoft's original "Surface" advertised similar boardgame potential. But if it worked well, I don't know of anyone who was rich enough to try it!
Hopefully the technology has matured since then.
- 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 second question:
2. Are the included physical pieces modular / generic enough such that prospective game developers could leverage them in future apps, or would they essentially need to design, 3D print, or contract out to your team to create their own props?
- Not the first, has everyone forgotten the Surface/PixelSense table?
https://blog.azureinfra.com/surface/
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Surface_table.JPG
https://www.theverge.com/2012/6/19/3096652/microsoft-surface...
"Microsoft Surface PixelSense 'Coffee Table' Hands On"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh9cOlVFItQ
Granted, this is very hard to search for, when not being around the time it was available, as most results will be about the current tablets marketed as surface.
by sirwhinesalot
2 subcomments
- I think this is a neat product but not one I have any interest in. I play board games in part to avoid the digital world.
If a board game needs a computer to handle the rules, then it is a needlessly complicated board game.
- Cool product. Is the SDK open? Any time I play a complex board game like Ark Nova, Spirit Island, etc. game running consumes a lot of time. So this tool is to me better showcased with a complex game that needs game-running that computers handle better. Also I'm curious about the board pieces and how more could be made. Do they have stickers on the bottom I could just transpose onto existing pieces, etc
- 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
- As someone who plays amount of “boardgame arena”, I appreciate this. Having software mediate rules helps bootstrap games.
But you still need physical pieces to loose and store.
Reminds me of a “digital roulette wheel” I saw in a casino.. which was wierd, untrustworthy yet somehow very cool.
by october8140
4 subcomments
- There is a huge demand for an off the shelf device like this for TTRPGs. There are entire companies making animated maps that are predicated on people laying a TV on its back on a table and building a custom case for it. I imagine they would all love to sell their maps on a dedicated off the shelf product.
- As a player: What's the lag? Does it depend on the game and the gesture?
As a developer: I'd like to implement a "game" which would be ideal for Dynamicland (tens of cards with ID stickers on the corners), but this might be a simpler platform to set up and use. Would that be possible with the board as sold?
by somethoughts
1 subcomments
- Pretty cool!
My hot take is that there are seem to be really two markets here:
1.) Candy crush type board games targeting kids with well-off parents. Basically really focused on immersive and interactive visuals like effects and cutscenes.
2.) Serious board games targeting older teenagers and adults playing heavy games with BoardGameGeek weightings of above 3.5 with money to spend on their own hobby. Think games like 18XX, Brass Birmingham, Dune, Terraforming Mars or Gloomhaven. They would find the digital board game experience useful for accessing expansion maps (i.e. 18xx) or expansion campaigns (Gloomhaven). Additional features of interest might be solo play against automated players, game state/score tracking, game tutorials.
It almost feels like these two groups would have such different profiles that two separate marketing approaches should be attempted.
- This looks super cool, thanks for sharing! Very interested. How much storage does a typical game require? I assume the SD slot allows for storage expansion? Are you able to share what it's running on under the hood? I assume Android/Linux?
by chrysoprace
0 subcomment
- It's cute but it's definitely niche, especially given the price. It's got some real potential for immersive D&D games though if the Board could use feedback from pieces people placed on the board.
- The concept of combining a digital game with physical game pieces really reminded me of Osmo [1] (although their games are more focused on education and most are single-player). This could definitely enhance that experience significantly.
Good luck with the project! I hope it turns out as good as it looks (or better :D) and that someday I can justify the cost!
[1]: https://www.playosmo.com/
- This looks really cool but at $499 I wouldn't let any kids near it. Hopefully it can come down in price by a lot after a few revisions, because it sure looks fun.
- Looks a lot like The Last Gameboard[1], which almost worked well (but didn’t, at least for me). It had a mechanism for detecting and tracking pieces, and a module for FoundryVTT, but the tracking was too glitchy. And the hardware was too slow.
[1] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gameboard1/gameboard-1
- Just launched today at TechCrunch Disrupt. Our 12 game launch portfolio was all developed in Unity using our sdk, and we cannot be more excited to see what developers can make with our launch piece sets!
by msk-lywenn
0 subcomment
- Marbotic does the same kind of stuff with specially crafted wooden pieces on a regular android/ipad tablet. Maybe focusing on kids wasn't the best path to success...
https://www.youtube.com/@marbotic
- It’s been an idea before but personally until it’s an e-ink display that looks indistinguishable from printed game boards I won’t bother. Don’t like the digital aesthetic.
by internet_points
0 subcomment
- I was about to say "this could make Ticket to Ride scoring so much easier" but then I see someone has actually made an app for that already https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/q4vwdl/ticket_t... :)
Anyone tried just taking a picture of a messy Ticket to Ride-board with ChatGPT?
by whitehexagon
2 subcomments
- 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 temptation for developers to add these more addictive online/networked games.
by notjustanymike
0 subcomment
- At $500 for a large screen and CPU/GPU, my first concern would be power. This is a small company, so it's not realistic to expect iPad performance. I'm curious what the underlying hardware is, and if it's an existing mediaboard.
Mediaboard hardware is notoriously underpowered, especially with 3D. The touch response times are also questionable, usually designed for tap instead of swipe.
by throwaway743
0 subcomment
- Kinda related/unrelated, but I'm dying for something that solves the problem of fog of war for tabletop games, while still allowing for physical minis
by ryanmeasel
0 subcomment
- Hey, Board Engineering team here. Happy to answer any questions.
Please reach out if you are interested in developing: https://board.fun/pages/developers
by october8140
1 subcomments
- If I wanted to build one where could I get a touch screen that big?
edit: found this https://arkenforge.com/using-a-touch-screen-with-your-digita...
by monero-xmr
1 subcomments
- Is there an SDK? The link on the site to Developer program just has copy, no actual API docs
by yellow_postit
1 subcomments
- 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.
- 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?
- what is the accessibility story with this? One of the most difficult thing for blind people is having accessible board games where multiple cards or board state should be remembered and AR-ing the table seems to have some potential. If the board can pair with airbuds and the state could be easily described, it might have lots of blind clients.
- Very cool product but at $500 you can get a meta quest 3. I get that the meta quest is not multiplayer but still.
by mcintyre1994
0 subcomment
- I love this! Not in the US but this looks really cool and looks like it’d be a blast to play with an SDK for it!
by incomingpain
1 subcomments
- I love the idea, but none of the games quite fit for me.
What programming language is the games made in?
Can 3d printed pieces be used?
by npodbielski
0 subcomment
- 1 year warranty is good? In EU you get two years warranty for everything. I.e. for shoes or a light bulb.
- Those knobs made me think we could put (or retrofit) knobs and sliders on car touchscreens.
- Very very snazzy tech. Get Foundry VTT on it, and you'd do quite well with the TTRPG crowd.
- Could be neat for DnD.
Or maybe even a proper wargame, although I guess it might be too small.
by Hackbraten
1 subcomments
- Are you planning to ship to the EU?
The order form only allows US shipping adresses as is.
by evertedsphere
0 subcomment
- This reminds me a lot of…something Dynamicland.
by sleepybrett
0 subcomment
- Honestly it's nice enough as an encased screen for TTRPG virtual tabletop play. I have a few friends that have built custom tabletops to hold consumer TVs or have set up top down projectors (worse)... those are solutions for the deeply dedicated. Something even simpler that this is a pretty nice form-factor for a somewhat more modest table.
- 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.
- Looks awesome
by wmeredith
2 subcomments
- 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?
- > Warranty Included
> Every purchase is covered by a 1-year warranty for peace of mind protection.
Uh, why are you marketing a bare minimum (often legally required) warranty as a pro? It kinda conflicts with "built to last"!
You'd be better off not even mentioning it.
by EmilStenstrom
1 subcomments
- Looks really fun, but only ships to the US… such a disappointment after reading up on it, and being ready to buy.
by wmeredith
2 subcomments
- I don't have a comment on the tech, but Board (homonym for bored) is genius branding.
by daviscaoimhe30
0 subcomment
- [dead]
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