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Neatras
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Community Board Gaming

Post #1

Post by Neatras »

So I've been playing plenty of board games on Tabletop Simulator, a Steam game which produces a virtual 3D tabletop which can recreate thousands of different board games. Considering the biggest disadvantage to board games is that it's restricted to a specific locale, I consider this to be a way of potentially opening up board gaming groups to international scales.

While I would think it funny if say, a dozen or so members grouped up and started playing board games with each other, I'll still open the floor to anyone who has Tabletop Simulator, an interest in playing board games, and a willingness to set stuff up with members of this forum. I'm certainly game.

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Post #11

Post by Divine Insight »

Bust Nak wrote: As for your ambition to make a game, it will be very time consuming. Good luck.
That's the major issue right there. I can't afford to waste that kind of time just as a hobby that doesn't pay back. But if I could convince myself of a financial pay off for having done it, then it would be time well spent. I have no idea what to expect financially from having created a new game. I imagine an income could be had, but how much and how dependable?

If I thought the effort would return a mere $500 per month on a fairly consistent basis for even the first year of sales, that would be enough to make it worth the time for me. :D

I have no clue what to expect from something like this. I don't even know where to go to find out. I suppose I could try joining some sort of entrepreneur or small business forum and ask around. That's probably the best place to start. If I could be encouraged that it would pay off, then I would have a good reason to devote the time to it. Seems to me that $500 a month isn't a very high expectation. I would imagine that most entrepreneurs and small business people wouldn't even bother with something that only produced $500 a month profit. So my expectations and needs are pretty meek.

Other than my time, the only resources I would need would be the $19.99 for Tabletop Simulator. That's a pretty cheap start-up cost for a business. :D

I've been looking for a way to make money using a software product. Maybe this could be it.
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Post #12

Post by bluethread »

Divine Insight wrote:
Although my original thought was to create a game that would reflect DC&R (this forum) I quickly realized that a more generic game could be created called "Priests and Scientists", or something along those lines. And the game could be focused on how scientists and theists could work together to overcome the problems in the world.
One concern I have is the science/theism dichotomy. I think that the better way of looking at it is science/mysticism. Theists do not necessarily reject science and atheists do not necessarily rejects mysticism. The name of the game is not really a problem for me. One could declare one's philosophical view, much like a D&D character. These views could be designated a place on a scale from Materialist to Mystic. The choice of characters could be something like; Materialist, Theorist, Physicist, Pragmatist, Alchemist, Wizard, Mystic. There would be no need for two decks. The deck could be a mix of possible actions/outcomes with ones philosophy effecting the strength of the action/outcome. This would make the character one of philosophical prospective, with methodologies and tenets problem solving tools available to all to greater or lesser effect based one's prospective.

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Post #13

Post by Divine Insight »

bluethread wrote:
Divine Insight wrote:
Although my original thought was to create a game that would reflect DC&R (this forum) I quickly realized that a more generic game could be created called "Priests and Scientists", or something along those lines. And the game could be focused on how scientists and theists could work together to overcome the problems in the world.
One concern I have is the science/theism dichotomy. I think that the better way of looking at it is science/mysticism. Theists do not necessarily reject science and atheists do not necessarily rejects mysticism.
I agree. I don't like the science/theism dichotomy either. In fact, even the science/mysticism dichotomy seem to imply that scientists are strict materialists.

What might actually be better is "The Sciences, Arts, and Humanities". That doesn't even need to be the name of the game. The name of the game could be something like:

"Journey Toward a Type-1 Civilization" , or something more poetically aesthetic that conveys the same basic idea. :D

And then it could simply be said that it's "based on" the sciences, arts and humanities. This would eliminate any theist/atheist dichotomy.
bluethread wrote: The name of the game is not really a problem for me.
Me neither. But a catchy name might help spark interest?
bluethread wrote:
One could declare one's philosophical view, much like a D&D character. These views could be designated a place on a scale from Materialist to Mystic. The choice of characters could be something like; Materialist, Theorist, Physicist, Pragmatist, Alchemist, Wizard, Mystic. There would be no need for two decks. The deck could be a mix of possible actions/outcomes with ones philosophy effecting the strength of the action/outcome. This would make the character one of philosophical prospective, with methodologies and tenets problem solving tools available to all to greater or lesser effect based one's prospective.
I like the idea of having two distinct decks (maybe even three). One for scientific solutions (or actions), one for artistic solutions (or actions), and one for humanitarian solutions (or actions). Any player could choose to pick from any deck depending on what problem they are confronted with and how they would prefer to solve it.

The reason I like the multiple-decks is for the purpose of helping to illustrate (or raise awareness of) the idea that some problems are better approached from a scientific perspective, some from an artistic perspective, and others are better approached from a humanitarian (or social) perspective.

Before any of these details can be worked out we would need an overall core structure for the game.

The idea I have is to replace the single evil force of the Necromancer of Darkest Night with multiple natural and humanitarian forces that need to be managed.

In the Darkest Night game the Necromancer starts out with zero power and can grow in power up to 30 which would end the game with the Necromancer having defeated everyone and taken over the monastery. To win the game, the heroes need to restore the castle to power or kill the Necromancer before he reaches a power of 30.

The power of the Necromancer is kept track of by the numbers along the bottom edge of the playing board.

Image

What I am thinking for the science, arts, and humanities game is that instead of having a Necromancer as the nemesis there could be five or six natural characteristics of the global condition. Just as an example the following 5 world characteristics might be used:

1. War and Peace
2. Education
3. Creativity
4. Biosphere
5. Geosphere
6. Technology

These could then appear as 5 horizontal rows of numbers along the bottom of the board. Each row is number from -10 to zero to +10. The game starts with everything on zero.

The object of the game is to get all these world characteristic to +10. If they all fall to -10 the game is lost. <--- a very simple idea to start with.

I just stopped here to draw up a very crude board map of how it might look.

The START area would simply be called "The Science, Art, and Humanities Center".
This would be like "Home Base", returning to the center periodically earns value.
Another area could be a Mystic Mountain where the society looks for moral or mystical guidance. A science lab could be another area where research and innovation occurs, as well as sometimes disasters. A "War and Peace Plateau" area could exist where the society is either becoming more war-like, or more peace-like. Probably wouldn't hurt to have a college campus where education could occur as well as civil protests. A Wildlife Preserve. And Art and Entertainment Theater. And a Nature Valley.

Here's a list of these areas.

1. The Foundation of Science Art & Humanities
2. Mystic Mountain
3. War and Peace Plateau
4. Wildlife Preserve
5. College Campus
6. Science Lab
7. Political Swamp
8. Art and Entertainment
9. Nature Valley

The idea is that each one of these areas is also associated with typical problems of humanity that need to be solved. I chose these particular categories because I can see how this all fits together in terms of the overall game strategy.

Here's a quick sketch of the layout of the board. I did this in PC Paint.

Image

Notice the 6 horizontal rows across the bottom of the board. They all go from minus ten to plus ten and start at zero in the beginning of the game.

How the players chose to solve the problems they encounter in the various areas on the board will determine whether these world characteristics increase or decrease in value.

The object is to get them all to plus ten. :D

Of course, this will be a quite complicated game with the three decks of possible actions and solutions: Science, Arts, or Humanities.

But I think it would be a quite interesting game when completed.

I noticed that players who have reviewed the "Darkest Night" game tended to complain that even though they liked the game they thought it was too simple and didn't offer enough diversity.

I think this game would offer far more diversity. Plus it has the postential of being a great learning and teaching tools.

At first I was just thinking of focusing on Science and Humanities (this actually came for the original idea of Atheists versus Theists which isn't really a good analogy). But then I realized that the arts are very important in our real world. And so I felt that the arts should be added. So some players could chose to be a Rock Star or Movie Star. Chances are they would try to solve most of the problems they encounter by drawing from the Arts Deck. But anyone can draw from any deck to solve a problem.

Anyway, this is just a rough brainstorming idea. I'm sure it would take quite a long time to work out the full game paradigm and rules to make it an interesting game.

In fact, the best idea is to start out far simpler.

I could really get into this actually. :D

In fact, I sent an email to the people who make Tabletop Simulator to see how to go about making money by creating a new game. I'm still waiting for them to reply. But from what I read on their site they welcome game developers and offer to take your artwork and make it into a DLC (Downloadable Content) for Tabletop Simulator. You would then be included in the profit sharing as that particular game sells.

I don't know how far I'll go with this. But I thought I'd post what I've done up to this point. In truth, if someone else can see how this might work maybe they could take it over?

I have another game of my own I would like to create.

The idea for this game was actually sparked by this thread and DC&R. Although clearly the game won't have much to do with DC&R since it's not really about theists arguing with atheists at all. :D

It's more about getting everyone to work together to solve the problems of humanity in the hopes of moving toward a type-1 civilization.

If we could get all these categories to +10 in real life we'd be doing pretty good.
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Post #14

Post by Divine Insight »

Dog gone it Neatras!

Now you have me distracted into designing a board game.

Don't you know that I have ADHD? I get so easily distracted into interesting things!

I've been spending time on a mathematics forum figuring out how to create the mathematical model for this game now. I've got a whole complex block diagram and everything. This is getting out of hand.

I figure I'll need the mathematical model before I go any further.

It's FUN but do I really have time for this??? Probably not!
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Post #15

Post by Bust Nak »

[Replying to post 14 by Divine Insight]

You do seemed fired up. What are your other hobbies that is competing with your free time? Let me pour some cold water over this by telling you, there is zero chance of you making money out of your first creation.

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Post #16

Post by bluethread »

Divine Insight wrote:
bluethread wrote:
One could declare one's philosophical view, much like a D&D character. These views could be designated a place on a scale from Materialist to Mystic. The choice of characters could be something like; Materialist, Theorist, Physicist, Pragmatist, Alchemist, Wizard, Mystic. There would be no need for two decks. The deck could be a mix of possible actions/outcomes with ones philosophy effecting the strength of the action/outcome. This would make the character one of philosophical prospective, with methodologies and tenets problem solving tools available to all to greater or lesser effect based one's prospective.
I like the idea of having two distinct decks (maybe even three). One for scientific solutions (or actions), one for artistic solutions (or actions), and one for humanitarian solutions (or actions). Any player could choose to pick from any deck depending on what problem they are confronted with and how they would prefer to solve it.
Maybe the decks could be "physical" and "metaphysical". The social could be incorporated in the game by making it competitive instead of cooperative. However, I still like the idea of the one deck. It adds to the uncertainty and mystery of the game.

Playing on ancient mythology, maybe it could be called "Order and Chaos". The board could be a map surrounded by a serpent. Within the map are images representing the various primal forces of the universe. The players travel around the serpent, based on the roll of a die, gathering skill cards. Each player has seven cards at all times. Drawing and discarding cards is either determined by the space on the serpent or necessity. The object of the game is to be the first to control all of the primal forces.

There would be entry and exit points where one can drop off of the serpent into a force domain. One can also move from domain to domain, in order, without returning to the serpent as one's turn move. In order to gain a mastery of that force one must enter that domain and play a card related to that domain, a card related to one's philosophy and a third card related to either. Those cards are then place on the discard pile. One would then draw three cards to end one's turn. Periodically the discard pile might need to be shuffled and recycled into the draw pile. To make the game interesting, one can draw from the deck or draw from another players cards. This would increase the chaos and the strategy. Of course, if a card is taken from another player's cards, that player would get to draw from the deck or another players cards, before the next person's turn.
Last edited by bluethread on Thu Nov 02, 2017 5:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post #17

Post by Divine Insight »

Bust Nak wrote: [Replying to post 14 by Divine Insight]

You do seemed fired up. What are your other hobbies that is competing with your free time? Let me pour some cold water over this by telling you, there is zero chance of you making money out of your first creation.
Right now I'm not even thinking about the money. I'm just getting caught up in the idea of designing this game. 8-)

But financially I really need to go do something that makes money. :D
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Post #18

Post by Divine Insight »

[Replying to post 16 by bluethread]

Sounds like you have some great ideas for a game as well. There's no reason you can't move forward on creating the game you have in mind. Can you post a rough sketch of what you would like the board to look like along with a little explanation of what the goals of the game would be?

Maybe we could develop both of these games along side each other. I'm working on the operational flowchart for the game I have in mind at the moment. This is going to take some time though. Partly because I can't keep working on this right now. :D

I'm getting behind in my more important work. :(
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Post #19

Post by benchwarmer »

Divine Insight wrote: Dog gone it Neatras!

Now you have me distracted into designing a board game.

Don't you know that I have ADHD? I get so easily distracted into interesting things!

I've been spending time on a mathematics forum figuring out how to create the mathematical model for this game now. I've got a whole complex block diagram and everything. This is getting out of hand.

I figure I'll need the mathematical model before I go any further.

It's FUN but do I really have time for this??? Probably not!
DI, I suggest you write a poem about how Neatras has duped you into designing a board game :)

As long as you are having fun and enjoying yourself, you're not wasting time. At least IMHO. You seem to be the creative sort, so making games might be a fantastic outlet for that. If you can weave some poetry into the game, even better!

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Post #20

Post by Divine Insight »

benchwarmer wrote: DI, I suggest you write a poem about how Neatras has duped you into designing a board game :)
That might get me kicked off the forum for the incivility it might contain. :lol:
benchwarmer wrote: As long as you are having fun and enjoying yourself, you're not wasting time.
I vote for you to be God. :D

You wouldn't believe the time I've "wasted" on this already. I've been on a mathematics forum and a game development forum getting suggestions on how to create a mathematical model for the game I have in mind. I've actually made quite a bit of progress too. I now have a mathematical algorithm for the game that makes sense and will help me designing the "linguistic mechanics" of the game. In other words, now I actually have a mathematical model that will help me to figure out what to put on the cards to make the game work out in a meaningful way.
benchwarmer wrote: At least IMHO. You seem to be the creative sort, so making games might be a fantastic outlet for that. If you can weave some poetry into the game, even better!
I'm not only creative, but I'm also undisciplined. I already have umpteen unfinished projects laying around. A new project is not a responsible idea at all. 8-)

This game idea attracted me and became something meaningful quite rapidly. I now see where this game could actually be quite useful as a teaching aid to help teach people how best to solve problems. It has a lot of flexibility and could be adapted to almost any discipline.

But in reality, to actually create the entire game would require some serious full-time work. So as a matter of practicality it's not really practical for me to continue on.

In fact, I've been reprimanding myself quite a bit in the last couple days screaming at myself, "Just drop it! You don't need anymore projects!"

The sooner I drop the idea, the sooner I can get back to my old self with all the other unfinished projects I already have laying around. :lol:

Ok, here's a toned-down poem.

Duped by Neatras
by Divine Insight

I was cruis'in through the forums
reading people's thoughts
when I stumbled on a thread
that conveyed exciting plots

A virtual 3-D tabletop
with amazing functionality
was offered up by Neatras
to distract my weak mentality

I fell for the distraction
and entered the abyss
and now I'm in a free-fall
of irresponsible remiss

It's Neatras to blame!
For I refuse claim
the ownership of shame
for lusting for this game

The fault can't be mine
as benchwarmer has assigned:
"If we're having fun,
we can't be wasting time!"

And so this poem ends
as the clock of life ticks on
for every passing moment
will someday be bygone.
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Spiritual Growth - A person's continual assessment
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