Hi guys,
really nice meeting you, I am Antonio.
I am from Palermo, South of Italy but spent the last 6 years in Edinburgh, Scotland, doing a PhD in Bioengineering and then working for a Start-up I co-funded...which I started by loving and ended up hating :) I left my job in April and have been working full time on the development of Kabula, a game I created some 4 years ago since then.
At this stage I am back in Palermo and since October I ended up working again as an engineer part-time (illustrators are not free :)! ) but still spending my weeks on Kabula and trying to push for a Kickstarter next May...other friends joined me in the venture (which balances out quite nicely those thinking I am crazy :) ) and we just finished our first round of blind playtesting.
So I guess that's me in a nutshell (in regards to boardgames at least!) I guess I will need lots of your help for graphic design suggestions, other topics and of course playtesters are never enough :) thanks in advance!
I am also happy to playtest your games and give feedback (I mostly use Tabletopia) and give my advice on design issues (for what they're worth!)
Thanks for reading, speak you soon!
Antonio
Hello, Antonio here
Welcome to bgdf.
Glad to have you here.
There are plenty of great advice here for you to pick up, learn and take with a grain of salt.
Creator of Dymino Monsters;
Jesse
Bows respectively.
Nice to hear that you at least have maintained your INTEREST in developing and design GAMES!
May I ask what field your "Start-Up" was in???
Usually when we start our own businesses we are "in-it" for as long as possible... In my own case, I founded a Company when I was consulting for Corporate Customers. Anyways with the Company, I was able to put away a small "nest egg" ... Something that I've since burned on "Quest" and "TradeWorlds". The bottom line: I'm still interested in moving forwards with several of my expansions and future game ideas.
Welcome to BGDF.com and I hope you can find the stay here with the rest of us, enjoyable! Cheers.
...and welcome to BGDF. :)
I'm curious to hear more about Kabula and I'm wishing you the best of success when your KS campaign is off and running.
As Jesse mentioned above, there's a lot to learn, consider, and comment on here. Looking forward to seeing what you bring.
Thank you for taking the time to read up on my Dymino Monsters thread.
With my finances low due to child support, I don't have the funds to purchase the Tabletopia or TableTop Simulator.
I also never planned on using those programs for Dymino Monsters. Though in due time, I might put up some of my smaller game designs. But I wouldn't hold my breath on that assumption either.
For my playtesters, I use the Facebook Create a Room feature. My group and I have been thinking about using Zoom for more attendees to watch and play, but we haven't decided that yet.
Jesse
That for "Designers" and "Conventions", Designers are Favoring TableTop Simulator (TTS). Why? Because it's relatively inexpensive and the DLC content you can share with whomever YOU choose.
TableTopia Online (TTO) is better for the players. You can play most games with the exception of Premium Games which require a monthly subscription. There are a TON of free games that are *NEW* to TTO and many KSs are using TTO to promote their game(s).
But TTS only requires a one-time payment and your DLCs are your own. You have total control over who and when people get the opportunity to play YOUR game(s).
So, if we look at it from another Perspective... Here's my thougths:
1. TableTopia Online is perfect for Game Publishers. It allows people who are KS-ing visibility and FREE Play there afterwards to gamers (for the most part). Therefore Game Publisher would choose TTO ... To help promote and ADVERTISE their game(s).
2. TableTop Simulator is best for Game Designers. It allows you to create unlimited DLCs and you have 100% control over who plays your "prototypes" or final game. Plus as a designer you can publish DLCs for money for the various games that you produce.
3. Both platform appeal to a different crowd. DLCs are available for TTS and TTO allows one (1) game per publisher to be Freely published. So while you might say that the market is OWNED by TTO ... Designers working on their own prototypes might actually FAVOR TTS.
Cheers!
Just as a comparison, most online conventions are using TableTop Simulator. Although they allow both... They recommend using TTS. I guess $19.99 per player is less expensive than $4.99/month for the Designer needs. And there are already a group of Playtesters who have TTS ... So the online conventions are going to recommend TTS (and no reflection on personal taste — since TradeWorlds is on TableTopia Online).
I know a couple designers on BGDF.com that use TTS (one designs primarily card games and the other was using it to make a "wargame". For the life of me I can't remember their aliases (Oh yeah... the card game is @Jedite1000 — seen him use TTS to demo with some of his friends various "ideas").
IDK about the "wargame" ... could have been @Lewpuls (Dr. Lew) or @X3M maybe both were working on things that were like a "wargame"... Not sure. But I know SOMEONE was making a "wargame" and using TTS.
Anyhow neither-here-nor-there there seems to be a market for BOTH tools. It took me 1 month to configure TradeWorlds on TableTopia Online and it is free for 2 Players. So right now, I'm more interested in marketing that game as being free to play.
I'll see about TableTop Simulator (TTS). I don't like the requirement to install STEAM. So doubt it gets configured on my system anytime soon. But I understood... Different approaches, different tools. Different preferences, different choices.
Cheers!
I've been using Tabletop Simulator a bit and Tabletopia a lot. TTS is more flexible in most cases, but I think Tabletopia has a cleaner interface and has some other advantages.
One of the big benefits in playtesting with Tabletopia is that I can ask anyone with a relatively modern computer to play and they don't need to purchase or download anything at all. This is great for people who aren't, or don't want to be, regular players of this sort of game, and thus don't need to purchase TTS.
Both platforms are great though. I particularly like that TTS allows you to modify the game on the fly, but the workflow and setup of Tabletopia suits me a little better at the moment.
Thanks Jesse,
much appreciated :) I read a bit about you game and hope I can try it at some point, any plan of putting it on Tabletopia/TTS?
Cheers,
Antonio