Tabletopia is awesome.
Hrm, no. That's not quite right. Let's try that again...
TABLETOPIA is AWESOME!
Much better.
In case you're just tuning in, Tabletopia is a website where players can meet up and play board games on a virtual tabletop.
Pros:
- Play board games without actually owning the game
- Tabletopia has a library of over 150 games, and that number keeps growing
- Play board games from the comfort of your computer, no need to travel
- Meet new people from other countries over board games
- Play board games at any time, even with people from other time zones
- Look at the game board from any angle, as close or far away as needed, without getting out of your chair
- Load a game and have the components already set up, no arranging or shuffling needed
- No cleanup afterwards
Of course the service is not perfect. Cons:
- No face-to-face interaction
- Miss the tactile feel; no rolling dice or cards in hand
- Sometimes it's hard to see the entire play area at once
- Interacting with game pieces is a little slower than the real-life version
- Service is still in beta; sometimes it's glitchy
However, there's one major advantage to Tabletopia. Manaforge is on there. :)
Tabletopia is a fantastic tool for developing a new game. The components are free; adding cards, dice, tokens, boards, etc., is a simple matter of uploading graphics and clicking a few buttons. No having to order parts or cut apart paper bits. Making modifications is quick and relatively easy.
However, the largest plus is the ability to attract playtesters to play Manaforge, at any time, from a huge variety of locations. I don't yet have any prototype versions of Manaforge to give out, and I'm not yet close enough to done to feel comfortable giving out print-and-play information. But players can still play, and I can observe and get feedback, which is probably the most valuable thing a developer can have.
In addition, it's now a lot easier to find players to play against. A group of players in the Tabletopia community have formed a group called the Tabletopians. They originally started out as a Steam group, but have moved into their own website, and have their own server on the Discord chat service. Anybody can log onto the Tabletopians Discord server and look for other people to play games with. And that includes playing Manaforge.
The future of board games is coming. Are you ready? :)
If you haven't already, check out the Games page. Instructions for playtesting, including getting onto the Tabletopians chat server, are there.
Hrm, no. That's not quite right. Let's try that again...
TABLETOPIA is AWESOME!
Much better.
In case you're just tuning in, Tabletopia is a website where players can meet up and play board games on a virtual tabletop.
Pros:
- Play board games without actually owning the game
- Tabletopia has a library of over 150 games, and that number keeps growing
- Play board games from the comfort of your computer, no need to travel
- Meet new people from other countries over board games
- Play board games at any time, even with people from other time zones
- Look at the game board from any angle, as close or far away as needed, without getting out of your chair
- Load a game and have the components already set up, no arranging or shuffling needed
- No cleanup afterwards
Of course the service is not perfect. Cons:
- No face-to-face interaction
- Miss the tactile feel; no rolling dice or cards in hand
- Sometimes it's hard to see the entire play area at once
- Interacting with game pieces is a little slower than the real-life version
- Service is still in beta; sometimes it's glitchy
However, there's one major advantage to Tabletopia. Manaforge is on there. :)
Tabletopia is a fantastic tool for developing a new game. The components are free; adding cards, dice, tokens, boards, etc., is a simple matter of uploading graphics and clicking a few buttons. No having to order parts or cut apart paper bits. Making modifications is quick and relatively easy.
However, the largest plus is the ability to attract playtesters to play Manaforge, at any time, from a huge variety of locations. I don't yet have any prototype versions of Manaforge to give out, and I'm not yet close enough to done to feel comfortable giving out print-and-play information. But players can still play, and I can observe and get feedback, which is probably the most valuable thing a developer can have.
In addition, it's now a lot easier to find players to play against. A group of players in the Tabletopia community have formed a group called the Tabletopians. They originally started out as a Steam group, but have moved into their own website, and have their own server on the Discord chat service. Anybody can log onto the Tabletopians Discord server and look for other people to play games with. And that includes playing Manaforge.
The future of board games is coming. Are you ready? :)
If you haven't already, check out the Games page. Instructions for playtesting, including getting onto the Tabletopians chat server, are there.
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