For some months I've been working on a computer program that allows me to quickly build a "digital prototype" of a game. I call it GameTable: it more or less simulates having a table with a board and a lot of bits on it. You can push the bits around on your screen as if they were real. There are different kinds of bits that provide useful functionality, such as "supply" objects that act like piles of identical bits or like grab-bags of dissimilar bits, and "banks" for money and VPs that simplify the transfer of arbitrary amounts among the game and the players.
GameTable is not yet complete, and is not yet ready for distribution. I'm posting this to gauge the level of interest others have in it. If there is enough interest, I'll spend some effort trying to make it a bit more friendly and well-documented than I would if it is just going to be me using it. Please reply to this post if you have interest, or if you need questions answered in order to decide if you're interested. If you think the whole idea is silly, please don't bother saying so. I expect many people will have no interest.
Tell me more, Rick. What does GameTable do? What is it for?
GameTable is not like VASSAL or Sun-Tzu or other tools that enforce rules and let you play with others on-line. GameTable does not enforce rules, and does not network with anything or anybody. It is intended for use during the earliest development of a game design, before you are ready for other people to see it, and when you are still playing it by yourself and pretending to be multiple players. Its only purpose is to save you the following hassles:
- Building a real prototype for a design that may turn out not to be worth the effort
- Setting up and putting away a game
- Making space to lay out a game (clearing the table, chasing the kids away, etc.)
- Making frequent changes to an early prototype
- Telling everybody not to disturb the bits when you have to stop work but need to keep the game set up.
What are the system requirements for GameTable?
GameTable is written in Java 1.5. This means that it will run on any computer (Windows, Linux, Mac) that has Java 1.5 or later installed.
What do I have to do to make a GameTable prototype of my design?
Creating a game for GameTable requires using a text editor to write a (possibly lengthy) config file in XML format, and making a folder to contain any image files your game needs: at minimum, a board image. Image files can be PNG, JPG, GIF, or TIFF (possibly others as well: it's up to your Java installation.)
Writing a config file for your game may not be easy. Although GameTable is intended to save you time and effort, it isn't magical: it will still cost you time and effort to make a GameTable prototype. The more different kinds of bits your game has (unique cards and tiles especially), the harder it will be to make a GameTable prototype.
Also note that some games have rules that GameTable can't emulate (or at least, not yet). For example, you can have a shuffled deck of tiles or cards in GameTable, but there's no way to just peek at the top card or cards, and no way to return a card to the top of the deck. GameTable is flexible, but I can't guarantee that it will be able to emulate your particular game.
Am I man (or woman) enough to use GameTable?
Read the following list. You shouldn't try to use GameTable unless all of these statements are true for you:
- You must be able and willing to install Java 1.5 if you don't have it yet. (Java is free, and I can tell you where to get it.)
- You must not be afraid to use command-line tools. (GameTable is not a double-clickable app.)
- You must be willing to learn XML if you don't already know it. (You only need the basics, and I will include instructions.)
- You must be willing to learn how to code up a game for GameTable using XML. (You gotta read the manual.)
- You must be willing to think for yourself if something doesn't work.
That last one is important, for several reasons. First, GameTable is not very good about reporting errors in the config file. You will often have to figure out what's wrong on your own. Second, I will not hold your hand. I will likely not respond to pleas for help. I have too many other things to do. Third, if there's a feature you'd like that GameTable doesn't offer, you're going to have to figure out how to get along without it. I haven't time to spend coding up everyone's wish list.
I will not be polite to anyone who finds it easier to email me with their questions than to read the manual. You can risk mailing me if you've read the manual carefully and you think I've left out something important, though.
Well, that's not very friendly. How much do I have to pay to get support like that?
Nothing. If I release GameTable at all, I will do so under some version of the LGPL. That means it won't cost you anything (except your own time and effort), and you won't owe anything to me (except the obligation to include my copyright notice if you give GameTable to somebody else).
When will you release GameTable?
Sorry, I don't know. Right now it's missing one hugely important feature: the ability to save its state and resume play later. I hope to have that done soonish, but GameTable is a totally spare-time project and I don't have much spare time these days.
If interest is strong, I'll release it without the save-game feature. It just means that if you quit a session, you have to start over from the beginning of a game the next time.
Say, I'm a Java programmer! Want some help?
I'll probably be willing to release the source code to anyone who's interested. That way you can add your own hacks and improvements to it.
Okay, that's it. Anybody interested?
Thanks. So far it's been surprisingly easy. I started this project almost a year ago as an investigation into JavaFX, which I eventually abandoned. I started over in just-plain-Java and it hasn't been tough at all.
I've never used Zun Tzu. It only runs on Windows.
There is probably more than "one thing" that GameTable can't do right now. But you might like it for resource tracking. For example, create a "bank" object for the game and one for each player. To transfer $15, click on the paying bank and type "15" into a dialog; a $15 "cash" item appears. Drag that to another bank and drop it to make the deposit: the "cash" item vanishes and the balance on the target bank goes up. Banks can go negative: if you like, you can start the game bank at $0, and the highest (absolute value) balance it hits represents the maximum amount of cash circulating at one time in the game.
You can do that in GameTable, although the feature needs work: I'm not entirely happy with the way items respond to clicks. I may add a "rubber-band" selection feature. The only thing you can do with a multiple selection is drag it to another location. I'm pretty sure that currently you can't effectively drop a collection onto a supply or a bank; only the first-selected item would go in. I'll have to look into that one.
Again, I haven't looked at Zun Tzu because I can't use it. I gather it's fairly mature at this point, and might well be better for prototyping than GameTable.
If/when I release GameTable I'll include a pseudo-game that shows off all the major features, so that you can evaluate it quickly. Then you need only invest the time to learn it if it looks like it's worth the effort to you.