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Playtesting a physical board game via a program

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Tue, 07/19/2005 - 02:19
theraje
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Joined: 12/31/1969

Hey all, I've spent the past few days working on a computerized prototype for my board game in Java, and am almost finished. I came up with a problem that had me tied down since yesterday, but I finally worked it out (if anyone here's a programmer, the problem arose from mixing up my pointers, and I fixed it by using cloning).

This little problem got me curious about how many of you have ever programmed, and have ever written a program to help you playtest an actual, physical board game. How well did this go for you? Did it help you with the board game itself?

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Tue, 07/19/2005 - 09:28
#1
phpbbadmin
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Re: Playtesting a physical board game via a program

theraje wrote:
Hey all, I've spent the past few days working on a computerized prototype for my board game in Java, and am almost finished. I came up with a problem that had me tied down since yesterday, but I finally worked it out (if anyone here's a programmer, the problem arose from mixing up my pointers, and I fixed it by using cloning).

This little problem got me curious about how many of you have ever programmed, and have ever written a program to help you playtest an actual, physical board game. How well did this go for you? Did it help you with the board game itself?

Cool!
One of the things that I've always wanted to be implemented was some sort of virtual playtesting program. Since I'm not a programmer I've never really seriously looked into it. However, several people have discussed such a program, and we even made a subforum for it:

The Online Board Game Project

Is this something you would be willing to develop further? If so, I'd love to support you in any way I can, however limited that may be.

-Darke

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Tue, 07/19/2005 - 09:56
#2
DSfan
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Playtesting a physical board game via a program

Quote:
Hey all, I've spent the past few days working on a computerized prototype for my board game in Java, and am almost finished. I came up with a problem that had me tied down since yesterday, but I finally worked it out (if anyone here's a programmer, the problem arose from mixing up my pointers, and I fixed it by using cloning).

That's awesome. Hopefully everything works out well.

Quote:
The Online Board Game Project

Oh, I was reading about this. It sounded really cool. What ever happened to it? To much of a task? I would love to have a way to playtest my games without having to do everything by hand.

Justin

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Tue, 07/19/2005 - 10:10
#3
theraje
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Re: Playtesting a physical board game via a program

Darkehorse wrote:
The Online Board Game Project

Is this something you would be willing to develop further? If so, I'd love to support you in any way I can, however limited that may be.

I'll have to read up on it, but shooting from the hip here, I'd say I could contribute at least something. I've been programming games off and on for about six or seven years now (not that I show it! :P). It would definitely be great to contribute something the community feels is worthwhile. :D

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Tue, 07/19/2005 - 10:17
#4
Anonymous
Playtesting a physical board game via a program

== I have done some programming before, anything from basic and pascal to c/c++, but never java. My first year of university was in Computer Engineering, which I found out that I did not like.

== In terms of a prototype program, I have never attempted to make one. However, I want to share what I have done before: I have used a graphics program that supports objects/layers to playtest a game. In fact, I used this method to playtest my game submission for Z-man.

== The idea is simple, and works quite easily (at least with Corel Photo-paint, which supports objects -- it might be a bit trickier with layers, I am not sure). First, you create the board as one layer/object, since nothing on it will be moving. Anything that can move should be created separately. You can make just about anything, although I am not sure there is a good way of doing cards. Perhaps you could make the cards, than make a "cover" graphic of the exact same size, placing one on top of each card and grouping each cover and card combo together. BAM! Now all the cards look the same, until you ungroup them and look under the cover.

== And when you are ready to actually make a prototype, you already have the graphics to use! At least that is my plan with my entry into Z-man's competition. IF I get into the final two/three, I will just go to my local business-printing store, get them to print out my board in four quadrants (in nice high quality), and use that to create my board. Hopefully it works out as easily as it sounds =D

Lucas.

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Tue, 07/19/2005 - 10:41
#5
theraje
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Playtesting a physical board game via a program

Earnest_Ernest wrote:
You can make just about anything, although I am not sure there is a good way of doing cards.

What I am doing for King of the Mages is making all the cards generic images, and just showing the card text printed on a special text area on the window. Works well enough for my purposes (no real card art or anything).

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Tue, 07/19/2005 - 12:45
#6
Kreitler
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Re: Playtesting a physical board game via a program

theraje wrote:
This little problem got me curious about how many of you have ever programmed, and have ever written a program to help you playtest an actual, physical board game. How well did this go for you? Did it help you with the board game itself?

Hey Raje,

Nice work on your Java prototype. Did you do it as a web-based game (in other words, can we see it?).

I program games for a living. I've been doing it for about 12 years. I've only recently gotten interested in board game design, but I've played around with the idea of doing all my prototypes electronically, at least for a first pass.

It sounds like there's some interest in that process. I'll try to do my next one that way and make it available publicly. The more of us that do that, the better the chances that we can get some sort of on-line prototyping tool for all to use.

Cheers,

K.

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Tue, 07/19/2005 - 13:31
#7
theraje
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Re: Playtesting a physical board game via a program

Kreitler wrote:
Nice work on your Java prototype. Did you do it as a web-based game (in other words, can we see it?).

Can't see it yet... I'm still in the process of fixing bugs and tweaking gameplay, so I'm keeping the beta in a state where I can get on a one-on-one level with all my testers, all of whom I've known for a while. But, when the game is finished to my satisfaction, I will make it available to the public.

I also hate people seeing my artwork until it's finished or mostly finished. :P

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Tue, 07/19/2005 - 23:39
#8
JackDarwid
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Playtesting a physical board game via a program

Well, I'm a (little) programmer too, using Delphi/Visual Basic, but it was years ago when I made my last program.

I was thinking the same way that it will be easier to test a board/card game with a program. But then I realize that making a program will consume alot of time, so I decide not to make the program, but rather playtest the game by actually playing it.

I've seen some program that can be used to test a board/card game, I've never use these programs but I see that some people use this program :
http://digilander.libero.it/zak965/thoth/cardsets.htm

and there's another one : the Cyberboard, but I forget the link, you can search in Google.

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Wed, 07/20/2005 - 01:15
#9
theraje
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Playtesting a physical board game via a program

JackDarwid wrote:
I was thinking the same way that it will be easier to test a board/card game with a program. But then I realize that making a program will consume alot of time, so I decide not to make the program, but rather playtest the game by actually playing it.

Yeah, that happens. What I did for the KotM program (which is now finished, started it about 4-5 days ago) was make it really lax. It doesn't do any game-related math, no... well, all it really does is keep track of numbers and player locations and cards. That way I can tweak the gameplay without tweaking the program. It's working really well so far.

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Wed, 07/20/2005 - 01:46
#10
JackDarwid
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Playtesting a physical board game via a program

Oh I see ! (I was thinking about full-blown program :)
Yes, maybe that kind of program will help a lot in the designing process (just as I explains above, the THOTH and Cyberboard programs they say it is mainly to keep track of counters, shuffling, turns etc in the designing process)

Maybe I should make one. It was a while ago since I wrote any programs... what a good memory (until a bug shows up and I have to spend hours to find it !! :D

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Wed, 07/20/2005 - 05:12
#11
Nestalawe
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Joined: 08/07/2008
Playtesting a physical board game via a program

EE wrote:
In terms of a prototype program, I have never attempted to make one. However, I want to share what I have done before: I have used a graphics program that supports objects/layers to playtest a game.

Yeah I have done that before as well, works quite well. Also a quick and easy way to play downloadable games without having to print out all the bits. I have also used this 'cheap' way to try out some of the free downloadable Dwarfstar games -

http://dwarfstar.brainiac.com/

Of course only really good playing solo...

Hmm, Thoth looks good. Will see if I can use it for some playtesting...

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Wed, 07/20/2005 - 11:10
#12
larienna
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Playtesting a physical board game via a program

It always takes more time to teach a computer how to play a game than teach it to human. So making a video game to test the board game will take more time than making the board game itself. Unless you are only testing a specific mechanics of your game or want to submit the mechanics to an AI.

Still computer can be usefull to calculate probabilities or doing batch work like making cards. I already made a small software that read a database and generated series of cards saved as images.

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