Since Print and Play board games are not selling so well because it requires assembly, I was wondering if it would not be more profitable to release the game on IPad, or other tablet device.
Normally, board games that gets released as software are generally popular games considered to be solid. So I think it could be a bad idea that the first release is on an electronic device.
The main problem is the development time. It took me around 6-8 months to produce my game as PNP (excluding design time). It might take me another 6 months to program it as a video game. In the end, the production can take over a year.
But on the other hand, more people might be willing to buy the game if it's available on a table rather than PnP.
I think the best solution would be to have a game published by a real publisher and use the artwork and graphic design of the publisher ( with permission) to create the video game if the board game is popular enough. In that case, it saves me the production of the graphics and artwork. I could even make the video game while the publisher is producing the board game so that they get released almost at the same time.
The problem with video games is that it might require additional stuff which could be hard to get or implement:
- Artificial Intelligence: This could be painful to develop, it depends on the game.
- Multi-player: This is almost essential especially if there is no AI.
- Music: That could be considered optional, maybe people does not expect to get music when playing board games with a tablet. But since the original board game does not have music, it could be borrow it like the graphics.
What do You think?
Yes, but I am still skeptical about the idea of projecting a board from above on the table. It does not look easy to install and not very transportable.