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Health bar sliders - Any ideas?

5 replies [Last post]
Fri, 03/09/2012 - 05:14
Denial
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Health bar idea.JPG

Hi all. Apologies if this is similar to another post. I had a look but can't see one. Also, I assume I have placed this in the right forum area.

I am working on my first board game project and have a problem with the character cards for an army style game. I thought at first creating a player mat for a set number of troops (like the MTG player counter map but for each character) but since then the game has morphed into something else and that puts that idea to bed.

One of the game ideas is to be able to build your army using resources.Therefore the army can get bigger, causing issues tracking health on basic player mats.

I had the idea of having the army as card based figures, using a health bar:

The problem I have is thinking how to create a slider button to attach to the card. Is this possible? Has anyone created anything like this before? Or is there a better idea out there?

Thanks for any input you can give.

Daniel.

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Fri, 03/09/2012 - 05:46
#1
Avianfoo
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Paper clip

For prototyping, try a paper clip.

There are quite a few games that use a sliding token to indicate a changing value. Some use pegs in plastic/wooden stands, some use a cardboard token that moves around on top of a player mat. Some use a specially made plastic clip. But for what you are proposing, nothing beats a plain old paper clip.

Course there are other ways of indicating health, like damage tokens dumped on the card in question.

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Fri, 03/09/2012 - 05:53
#2
Willi B
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Seconded

Paper clips for prototypes. Publishers may use some piece of pointing/encircling plastic (see Betrayal at House on the Hill)... leave that for them to decide.

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Sat, 03/10/2012 - 11:34
#3
Denial
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Thanks

Thank you for your replies. Paper clips sem the easiest option then but I would worry that cards will get damaged over time.

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Sat, 03/10/2012 - 12:35
#4
dobnarr
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A second card?

You might consider using what Bang! does - uses a second card under the first; as lives get used up, the bottom card is pushed up under the top one so fewer lives show. You can see it here:

http://boardgamegeek.com/image/816837/bang

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Sun, 03/11/2012 - 12:36
#5
InvisibleJon
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Putty or wax?

Denial wrote:
Thank you for your replies. Paper clips sem the easiest option then but I would worry that cards will get damaged over time.
How about a small piece of putty or wax (like the stuff in a Barbarossa set)? Sure, the sticky-thing will get bits of stuff in it over time, but that's replaceable.

Alternately, take a clear-fronted card sleeve and put a dot on it. Slide the card into the sleeve and move it in and out of the sleeve to move where the dot is on the card. Advantage: This lets you put the health track anywhere on the card - not just on the edge.

Riffing off of that: Put a series of dots on the edge of a clear-fronted card sleeve, about 1/2 inch apart. Cut the card sleeve into 1/2 inch strips with a dot on each strip. Now you have "rings" that you can slip onto a card and slide up and down without having them stick out, and each card sleeve yields a lot of movable dots instead of just one.

I hope this helps and that your game turns out the way you want it to!

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