> 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?
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.
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 play games like Gloomhaven and TI4. Not sure how this product would simplify anything. Far too small for any of the more complex board games. I guess I could scroll around but then what does physical piece detection give me? Then it’s $500USD. My game group and myself got Gloomhaven from Epic for free and played through the campaign together. BGA subscription is cheap. So many games have online implementations that are free. And I can buy a lot of boardgames for $500.
Exact same thoughts here. This should, imo, be marketed at boardgame nerds, who are adults, and not 3-7 year olds which it seems to currently be. Which toddler is asking for this for christmas? I suppose a boardgame nerd might buy it to use with their toddler, but that is a niche of a niche of a niche.
Board seems cool, but it's not a way to consolidate your collection of euro, war or 4x games into one surface. The appeal to me is making new experiences involving physics, exciting visuals, and sound. Sure maybe you can replicate some smaller abstract games, but this would make playing TI or Gloomhaven absolutely miserable. People that don't play complex games assume that the scale and number of components is a burden, but they're carefully designed to give the ability for the players to make sense of and organize the scale and complexity of the game itself (especially in TI)
I don't think the existing board game community is their market, but it's for people who like to be early adopters of tech and think they'd like to play games and have extra money, which is a pretty small market.
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.
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?
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 to work with you to make a bespoke set of pieces to go with the game. Whether the launch sets are modular enough as-is is really dependent on the ergonomics and aesthetics of the game you want to make. We’re excited to make ourselves available to devs who want to explore this though, and happy to work with folks to figure out ways forward.
> 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.
And why that’s worth $500. I can’t think of any game(s) that are so fun or unique I’d pay $500 to be able to play them, even with my family.
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!
Detection technology on Board is much more robust. The MS Surface FTIR approach was lovely, but so over-featured no one could imagine a scoped-down (ie. cheaper) version of it.
I have a first gen surface in storage. Company I was working for wanted to get rid of the heavy as hell awkward thing... There is a backgammon app on it, when i played it years earlier there were physical dice and pieces. Buy lost from my table or not included, but playable by tap as well.
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.
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
There's plenty of games where either the setup is tedious, or some of the rules create confusion. Game of the year "Wingspan" confused everyone in my group the first time we played, and only made sense after watching a YouTube explanation. A confident system would have been great.
Setting up a game can be tedious as well; Axis and Allies is notorious for taking longer to set up than to play, but it's a lot of fun once you get going.
Conceptually, it reminds me of DropMix by Harmonix. The physicality of it was really cool, but it also ended up being really unsuccessful, and I can imagine why:
- Compared to a traditional board game (well, most of them), it was expensive and hard to procure;
- Compared to a pure videogame, it had many moving parts that are more difficult to transport, manage, store, etc;
- Since it was a multiplayer experience, that created added friction on top of everything else (everyone needs to be in the same place as the rare, expensive gadget and parts).
The issues seem exacerbated in this idea, however I think it's just as cool. I would love to play on it.
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.
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.
Yes, I could see a lot of GMs being interested in plug in and go product that fills that niche. Implementing the right feature set is challenging, as existing dedicated virtual tabletops have already shown. But something like a simple Owlbear Rodeo extension that adds basic miniature recognition might be all we need.
Many say they would be useful for RPGs, but how? I know those that play with a large screen (i.e. old tv) on the table to display maps while playing. You do not need to track the pieces for that though? Typically the GM has a phone or laptop with a UI to control what is displayed when, to reveal new areas etc. I can't imagine a game or time when it would make sense that a player moves a miniature/token on a digital board and triggers something that happens automatically? Maybe if you were playing more like a solo or coop CRPG without a GM, but that is a completely different kind of game and everyone here is specifically mentioning using it to support TTRPGs.
its too small to work for TTRPGs at the moment but if we could get the capacitive pattern tech and expand that to work on digitiser layer on a tv sized screen, i would be really cool.
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?
Also curious about latency. In the past I've worked around latency using video sensors for high-bandwidth high-latency features, then literally glued a contact mic to my interface to get low latency tap detection. How does the Board hide latency?
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?
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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
If you didn't see it, the FAQ partially addresses your wifi concerns: "Does Board need WiFi or batteries?
Board plugs into the wall, no batteries required. WiFi is only needed when you want to download new games. Once it’s powered on, you’re ready to play."
Obviously they could add ads later, but it's a little reassuring to know that it's designed from the outset to work without an always-on connection.
That's fair but not universal. Plenty of communities exist around playing board games online and often that's the only way to meet players of equal strength or run large tournaments.
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.
Dude I had jamboards with this idea but I could never get root on the device to make it work but clearly the hardware must exist. In the end I had to sell the damn things.
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!
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!
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.
How many people can use a Meta Quest 3 at the same time? Since you're positing this as an alternative.
Or what about getting a desktop PC instead for that same price? Or a snowboard? Obviously neither of these things are alternatives to a table-top device meant for playing table games together with other humans...
I imagine that it would be difficult to hold the knob in place on the touchscreen while you turn it, especially given that the car screen is close to vertical. If I'm understanding right, the knob for the Board is a simple cylinder (no moving parts inside of it), so by rotating it, you're inherently breaking the static friction that would help hold it in place. You'd want either A) magnets to hold it in place or B) a two-part knob, like the Surface Dial.
Does Foundry have any of the interactive features this product offers? I'd imagine the real killer feature would be to place your miniature (I'm sure somebody could make a killing selling Board-compatible minis) on the board and have its position update in the software.
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.
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.
Progression is your level of skill as you get better at a game (whether it's something simple or its chess). I've had narrative events happen in games that, because they are guided by decisions of other players, I still remember more than actual stories in video games.
The idea is interesting, but at the same cost (or more) as a console, or the cost of a dozen board games, it falls into a space where the market is going to be limited.
I would definitely try this if it was available at a board game cafe, just not something I need for home.
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?
kcon|4 months ago
> 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?
MarsIronPI|4 months ago
jkhdigital|4 months ago
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.
2muchcoffeeman|4 months ago
What’s the draw here?
Novosell|4 months ago
cush|4 months ago
Suppafly|4 months ago
CapsAdmin|4 months ago
The current people behind Board might promise to deliver now, but who knows what will happen 5 years down the line.
vunderba|4 months ago
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?
nicoles|4 months ago
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 to work with you to make a bespoke set of pieces to go with the game. Whether the launch sets are modular enough as-is is really dependent on the ergonomics and aesthetics of the game you want to make. We’re excited to make ourselves available to devs who want to explore this though, and happy to work with folks to figure out ways forward.
nkrisc|4 months ago
And why that’s worth $500. I can’t think of any game(s) that are so fun or unique I’d pay $500 to be able to play them, even with my family.
vintermann|4 months ago
Hopefully the technology has matured since then.
escapecharacter|4 months ago
Detection technology on Board is much more robust. The MS Surface FTIR approach was lovely, but so over-featured no one could imagine a scoped-down (ie. cheaper) version of it.
sleepybrett|4 months ago
october8140|4 months ago
waltbosz|4 months ago
It behaved very similar to the Board. It definitely had a "knob" that you placed on a screen could spin to make adjustments.
pjmlp|4 months ago
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.
Hydraulix989|4 months ago
arjie|4 months ago
ryanmeasel|4 months ago
Please reach out if interested to develop: https://board.fun/pages/developers
My colleague has some discussion here about how pieces are made: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45754851
sirwhinesalot|4 months ago
If a board game needs a computer to handle the rules, then it is a needlessly complicated board game.
reactordev|4 months ago
notjustanymike|4 months ago
Setting up a game can be tedious as well; Axis and Allies is notorious for taking longer to set up than to play, but it's a lot of fun once you get going.
acomjean|4 months ago
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.
pteraspidomorph|4 months ago
The issues seem exacerbated in this idea, however I think it's just as cool. I would love to play on it.
mrighele|4 months ago
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
sleepybrett|4 months ago
october8140|4 months ago
shib71|4 months ago
1313ed01|4 months ago
qwertytyyuu|4 months ago
_zoltan_|4 months ago
opminion|4 months ago
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?
fritzo|4 months ago
somethoughts|4 months ago
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.
unknown|4 months ago
[deleted]
johannesf|4 months ago
chrysoprace|4 months ago
nicoles|4 months ago
a022311|4 months ago
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/
sagacity|4 months ago
coffee--|4 months ago
[1] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gameboard1/gameboard-1
croes|4 months ago
msk-lywenn|4 months ago
internet_points|4 months ago
Anyone tried just taking a picture of a messy Ticket to Ride-board with ChatGPT?
deadbabe|4 months ago
whitehexagon|4 months ago
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.
fwip|4 months ago
Obviously they could add ads later, but it's a little reassuring to know that it's designed from the outset to work without an always-on connection.
fhcbix|4 months ago
That's fair but not universal. Plenty of communities exist around playing board games online and often that's the only way to meet players of equal strength or run large tournaments.
throwaway743|4 months ago
notjustanymike|4 months ago
Mediaboard hardware is notoriously underpowered, especially with 3D. The touch response times are also questionable, usually designed for tap instead of swipe.
october8140|4 months ago
edit: found this https://arkenforge.com/using-a-touch-screen-with-your-digita...
renewiltord|4 months ago
ryanmeasel|4 months ago
Please reach out if you are interested in developing: https://board.fun/pages/developers
monero-xmr|4 months ago
nicoles|4 months ago
yellow_postit|4 months ago
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.
nicoles|4 months ago
snicky|4 months ago
nicoles|4 months ago
gostsamo|4 months ago
Vaslo|4 months ago
embedding-shape|4 months ago
Or what about getting a desktop PC instead for that same price? Or a snowboard? Obviously neither of these things are alternatives to a table-top device meant for playing table games together with other humans...
mcintyre1994|4 months ago
npodbielski|4 months ago
incomingpain|4 months ago
What programming language is the games made in?
Can 3d printed pieces be used?
ryanmeasel|4 months ago
Please reach out if interested to develop: https://board.fun/pages/developers
My colleague has some discussion here about 3D printing pieces: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45754851
aitchnyu|4 months ago
fwip|4 months ago
rcgy|4 months ago
chrysoprace|4 months ago
bee_rider|4 months ago
Or maybe even a proper wargame, although I guess it might be too small.
Hackbraten|4 months ago
The order form only allows US shipping adresses as is.
nicoles|4 months ago
sleepybrett|4 months ago
evertedsphere|4 months ago
d--b|4 months ago
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.
The-Bus|4 months ago
The idea is interesting, but at the same cost (or more) as a console, or the cost of a dozen board games, it falls into a space where the market is going to be limited.
I would definitely try this if it was available at a board game cafe, just not something I need for home.
sjsivak|4 months ago
nicoles|4 months ago
wmeredith|4 months ago
nicoles|4 months ago
hinkley|4 months ago
Dayshine|4 months ago
> 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.
EmilStenstrom|4 months ago
nicoles|4 months ago
wmeredith|4 months ago
ethmarks|4 months ago
unknown|4 months ago
[deleted]
daviscaoimhe30|4 months ago
[deleted]