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Any plans for a Tabletop Simulator or VASSAL Module?

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2018 6:13 pm
by Grognerd
It's not always easy to find a local face to face game, and was wondering if there are any plans to create a digital product to support remote play? I own quite a number of tabletop board games, and most of those games offer a module on one of the more popular tabletop digital platforms such as Tabletop Simulator (small fee) or VASSAL (free) to facilitate online play. I find that tools like these really extend and enhance the life of a game.

Enjoying the game,

Sam

Re: Any plans for a Tabletop Simulator or VASSAL Module?

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2018 9:59 pm
by Horizon Jeff
There may be something like that on the horizon...

Re: Any plans for a Tabletop Simulator or VASSAL Module?

Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 4:02 am
by Baron_Gerry_Rail
Horizon Jeff wrote:
Fri Mar 02, 2018 9:59 pm
... on the horizon...
Did you just place an Easter Egg in that reply? :)
That's a great reference to the company name!

Re: Any plans for a Tabletop Simulator or VASSAL Module?

Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2018 7:33 am
by Wargfn
Grognerd wrote:
Fri Mar 02, 2018 6:13 pm
It's not always easy to find a local face to face game, and was wondering if there are any plans to create a digital product to support remote play? I own quite a number of tabletop board games, and most of those games offer a module on one of the more popular tabletop digital platforms such as Tabletop Simulator (small fee) or VASSAL (free) to facilitate online play. I find that tools like these really extend and enhance the life of a game.

Enjoying the game,

Sam
I have coded Vassal Modules before. One for TravellerCCG would be pretty easy-ish; however, I still don't have good digital copies of the cards yet for the deck builder site. So, very hard to do a module without at least card scans.

Re: Any plans for a Tabletop Simulator or VASSAL Module?

Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2018 7:38 am
by Horizon Jeff
Wargfn wrote:
Tue Mar 20, 2018 7:33 am
Grognerd wrote:
Fri Mar 02, 2018 6:13 pm
It's not always easy to find a local face to face game, and was wondering if there are any plans to create a digital product to support remote play? I own quite a number of tabletop board games, and most of those games offer a module on one of the more popular tabletop digital platforms such as Tabletop Simulator (small fee) or VASSAL (free) to facilitate online play. I find that tools like these really extend and enhance the life of a game.

Enjoying the game,

Sam
I have coded Vassal Modules before. One for TravellerCCG would be pretty easy-ish; however, I still don't have good digital copies of the cards yet for the deck builder site. So, very hard to do a module without at least card scans.
Please be assured I'm not just contemporizing, but we're looking at a somewhat more involved solution. If that falls through, it may be possible to make high quality versions of the card files available for a Vassal mod.

Re: Any plans for a Tabletop Simulator or VASSAL Module?

Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2018 7:50 am
by Wargfn
Horizon Jeff wrote:
Tue Mar 20, 2018 7:38 am
Please be assured I'm not just contemporizing, but we're looking at a somewhat more involved solution. If that falls through, it may be possible to make high quality versions of the card files available for a Vassal mod.
I will be more than happy to produce a Vassal Module for the community, AKA read no cost; however, I am going to be truly disappointed if you make any digital copy of anything available online without a Watermark. My reasoning is this: If I am playing across from someone online that is enjoying the game, the chances are that they will be willing to make a purchase, thus increasing the potential for additional decks. If someone is going to put in the time to make Extended art cards and share online, I will be impressed and hopefully, they will have also bought the product and again increase the potential for new decks. But making cards available even in deck builders without a watermark is inviting people to rip off the hard work of others. And I can think of a few situations where a "Demo Deck" to get someone interested of a few cards could do what it is designed to do as maybe a PnP Learner. But it in general is very bad. And I don't want to have to play competitively against someone with a "home printed" deck because they can. Buy the damn game.

Another Large Company with similar game format uses watermarks and asks that cards online that they publish and others use contain the watermark to avoid forgeries. Now of course, you have to know how to scan the packs to see all the cards, but there is no doubt that watermarked cards are counterfeit.

And to me, at least, I have little to no interest in harming a game that I am finding lots of enjoyment in.

Re: Any plans for a Tabletop Simulator or VASSAL Module?

Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2018 7:58 am
by Horizon Jeff
Yeah, I mean, we definitely don't want to make ourselves obsolete either, so if it comes to providing files for Vassal, we'll be sure to add something to them.