Hi folks - I love the card game, having bought it a couple of weeks ago and having played several scenarios through to get the hang of it (despite my Ezren question!)
I was just wondering if anyone knows if Paizo have any plans to bring this to the digital/mobile market? The way it plays, it seems eminently suited to be an IOS or such game.
I know it's a lazy question, and *real world* game developers must get sick of being asked as soon as they get a hit on their hands with a boardgame; I also don't ask as an alternative to the cards, which I really enjoy - rather the opposite - I'm kinda getting hooked and would love a version to play when out and about or (ahem) at work or wherever....
Just a thought :)
I think Vic put out a general request to any experienced developers on another thread, but nothing is planned at the moment (at least not that's been announced).
I know it's a lazy question, and *real world* game developers must get sick of being asked as soon as they get a hit on their hands with a boardgame
We never get sick of being offered the opportunity, though. Someday I would like all my games available in digital form. But it has to be right, or it's not ever worth it.
I know it's a lazy question, and *real world* game developers must get sick of being asked as soon as they get a hit on their hands with a boardgameWe never get sick of being offered the opportunity, though. Someday I would like all my games available in digital form. But it has to be right, or it's not ever worth it.
Agreed - I find it annoying that Games Workshop/ Rodeo can nail a new dungeon delving game on the iPod/ Pad, but Wizards can't. D&D Arena is not at all what I would look for from them, but Warhammer Quest is quite a good little party-based hack'n'slash explorer. C'est la vie :)
Enjoyed the Watch It Played video of you playing the other day, Mike - you looked genuinely pained when Chad decided to 'press his luck' :)
Enjoyed the Watch It Played video of you playing the other day, Mike - you looked genuinely pained when Chad decided to 'press his luck' :)
For the video, my genuineness may have been exaggerated for comedic purposes. But in real life, I'm genuinely pained when Chad decides to press his luck.
While I would love a digital copy of this amazing game, I just personally feel for me that a digital version would take away from many of the experiences of the games. For instance being with your friends and being a bit more involved and actually interacting with the game.
I guess you could say some people might feel less immersed with the game. I would still love to give it a try though, especially if some minor graphics are added to "attacks" and what not.
Hmm... I wouldn't need any graphics (or even sound) on this. I'd just want something to automate all the shuffling and set-up (which takes AGES, especially playing solitaire with 6 characters...).
My ideal would be to have everybody round the table, with their own tablet/phone showing them their hand and character stats. And a tablet or two (or laptop(s)) on the table showing the locations.
Basically *literally* digitising and automating the game so we can get on with the playing of it. Hey, you could even have an option to enter your own dice roll results if you wanted to roll physical dice :)
@ h4ppy
You make a very valid point. I guess I just like the feel of the cards and what not. The friends I played with know how to shuffle and I just used a shuffle machine...lol.
Digital Game would make setup and clean up much faster. Here's a neat idea, I think at least, with technology advancing as it is you could like "sync" up with other players that have the app on their device.
You're just really making me want to play with my friends again, and I'm not at home at the moment. Lol
For me, (text) story would be far more important than animation.
E.g. you go into combat with Valeros, choose which boons to play and get something like this:
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(players go through steps, picking boons to play then the result comes up like this...)
Valeros enters combat and wildly swings (discards) his Warhammer. Seeing his need for aid Ezren uses Blessing of the Gods to assist. Valeros' Warhammer flies towards the Giant and... [game rolls dice and calculates result] ... deals a non-lethal wound to the Giant. The Giant howls in pain then swings his club and causes Valeros 4 points of damage. Valeros is temporarily dazed and the Giant storms off into the distance. They will meet again one day, but maybe not today.
Do you wish to reduce the damage?
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Such interjections could also be used to introduce/explain villains and present plot at key points in the story (e.g. when some locations are closed).
So... you want a PACG version of Zork?
So... you want a PACG version of Zork?You are standing in an open field west of a white Sandpoint Cathedral, with a boarded front door.
There is a small mailbox here.>open mailbox
Opening the small mailbox reveals a bunyip.>
Opening the mailbox reveals collapsing boulders 0.o;;
I've been trying to get some friends who work at a mobile software dev company to do exactly this. I even asked our lawyer how much he thinks it'll cost to secure the rights. I've pretty much got a team ready to start development barring the legal onslaught from Paizo et al. If ever there's been an RPG worth turning mobile, PACG is it.
We are willing to hear proposals from established publishers with excellent reputations.
You'd be better off hiring 3 developers to do it in-house. An established publisher is just going to eat your profits and take your IP.
Chief Technical Officer
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At Paizo, we're very aware of we're good at, and what we're not good at. Even more importantly, when we want to do something we're not good at, we're good at knowing when we should acquire the skills to do that thing, or partner with somebody else. Creating a digital card game ourselves would be a money sink*, while licensing it to an established publisher with an excellent reputation brings rewards with minimal risk. We're also very capable of writing contracts that don't give away our IP.
*Heck, just the cost to put 3 software developers to work for a year (including benefits and other costs) would be in the neighborhood of $300,000.
The History of Chess, in Two Scenes:
Scene 1:
Guy Who Invented Chess: "...and that's how it's played. What do you think?"
Guy He's Talking To: "It's alright. But rooks should move however I want."
Scene 2:
Guy Selling the First Commercial Chess Set: "Are you willing to buy this?"
Guy He's Talking To: "You should move your production facilities to Pakistan."
You are wise to avoid hiring software devs if it's not your business. Otherwise you end up becoming a software company which can bankrupt you if it's not your bag.
I guess I felt that the game is so well made it would be pretty easy to get started given the excellent framework in place already. My suggestions are all derived from my enthusiasm for PACG to succeed. Figuring how enthusiastic I am for a mobile version I expect there are more creative people out there already working on it. In my cursory review with friends "in the biz" it seemed inevitable that there would be a product on the app store soon. I just want to see it happen.
I agree the cost would be exorbitant but the product awesome. However, awesome is not always profitable, it makes me sad.
The app business is a difficult one to break into successfully so kudos to those who have. =)
If there ever is a digital version available make sure to send out a big announcement because that is something I would not want to miss.
We are willing to hear proposals from established publishers with excellent reputations.
You've mentioned that a couple of times here on the forums, Vic. I don't know anything about this process for private firms, but I do deal with RFPs and contract awards for public sector construction projects.
Would Paizo put together some type of guidelines or scope of project document then make it known they are interested in a PFACG digital project? Then perhaps companies like Playdek would look at those guidelines and approach Paizo about possibly doing a project?
Or, at present, has the offer been considered "tossed out" through your forum comments and if somebody comes in with some ideas, you'd respond as appropriate?
Just wondering. I'd love to play a good version of PFACG on the ipad, either solo or with others.
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Chief Technical Officer
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The right company for most of our licenses will already have fans of our products. (Which is to say, if they don't have in-house fans, they're not going to be the right company for us!) When those fans are in a position to make things happen, I'm confident that they will approach us.
This approach has worked well for us with WizKids, Dynamite, UltraPro, and several other companies working on announced and yet-to-be-announced products.
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Chief Technical Officer
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Christopher,
Use of our copyrighted materials needs to comply with our Community Use Policy. (Note that the ability to republish most of our artwork is not available under that policy.) Please adjust your project to account for that.
Also, note that the Community Use Policy does not extend to commercial users, so if you were intending to sell your app, you'll need to remove *all* of our intellectual property from it, including all images, text, and trademarks.
We are willing to hear proposals from established publishers with excellent reputations.
One company comes to mind right away: PLAYDEK. Lots of partners already, great game catalog for ios, millions of sales... millions. From a consumer point of view, a Playdek developed/published Pathfinder ANYTHING would be a day 1 purchase. Playdek Games.
Too bad Playdek seems to be iPhone only.
I would also be very much against Playdek taking this - unless they open their minds and wallets to the Android community.
Unfortunately almost ALL board-game-on-mobile games companies seem to shun Android... hopefully this will change in the future.
Unfortunately almost ALL board-game-on-mobile games companies seem to shun Android... hopefully this will change in the future.
What really boggles my mind is the developers who ask "What is Android?"
(Yes, I've actually heard that from an app developer. And no, it wasn't as a joke...)
I would also be very much against Playdek taking this - unless they open their minds and wallets to the Android community.
Unfortunately almost ALL board-game-on-mobile games companies seem to shun Android... hopefully this will change in the future.
Unfortunately, Android means testing a larger number of devices, which means a bigger team to support it. I'm not saying it's a bad idea (I have an Android phone and an iPad), but I am saying that it can be annoying.
And while I love Playdek, expect delays in releases if they take up the project. Agricola I think was delayed for a year and I&K decks are already at least 1 month late (They promised "fall" but it's already rolled around). Their high quality is tempered by the fact that they trade time for it (which I suppose is better than the alternative).
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Chief Technical Officer
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The intent was for a free application, with your permission(of course) for the copyrighted images.
We just don't have the time or bandwidth to support that making individual licenses for non-commercial users; that's why we have a blanket Community Use Policy instead. You'll need to comply with that, which means you'll need to replace card images with (probably) just the card names.
We just don't have the time or bandwidth to support that making individual licenses for non-commercial users; that's why we have a blanket Community Use Policy instead. You'll need to comply with that, which means you'll need to replace card images with (probably) just the card names.
If you're keen, Christopher, you should look around the community use material - there's lots of allowable material. There are images of the iconics (for example) that are available for use via the CUP. Although images of the cards aren't allowed, you could still make something pretty spiffy, I suspect.
Ideally if the game could be web based then it could be multi-platform.
+1 (or 100) for this
@dfsearles - you'd do the same thing you do in the physical game... you have limitations on the number of cards used by the party. If there aren't enough cards to go around then you need to pull something from the box.