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Pointless Views: Are You Playing With Yourself?
September 27, 2019 by warzan
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To answer the Topic: yes and no. And that’s all I have to say for now. Let the video commence!
*sigh* half way through and the video is buffering again like there is no tomorrow…
But to answer the first one (and a half) question: If Warlord does not do it the GW way (passing players on to clubs) but incorporate other manufactures and provide hobby space I think it’s a win.
And I really can only think of one miniature game that I would want to play that officially supports single player play and that is Fallout. Every other miniature game is two players. On board games it seems to be more common and I think it is a selling point, a way to learn how to play and a way to enjoy your purchase even if all your friends are doorknobs who wouldn’t recognise a good game if it bit them in the arse.
Now lets see if the video has buffered enough for me to carry on watching.
On Apps in single player formats: I don’t mind apps for that as long as there is an equal way to do it offline since one day every piece of software will stop working. But dice and tokens are “forever”.
Brexit Last Order. Crisps. Seriously. I love salt & vinegar crisps and no German manufacturer seems to get it right. I import a big box of them every now and again via Amazon… but if I had to think of something I’m with Justins dilemma: it’s not out yet. Skyrim from Modiphius.
Great show, will watch again! 😉
You know…the point about the app going away someday, is something everybody should be much more aware of. I think even (some of) the game companies that makes these apps, often don’t think about that. How their game can risk becoming ‘obsolete’, cause technology moved on to different platforms or was ‘updated’ so much your game can no longer run on it. I don’t think (some) game companies take into account the amount of upkeep and maintenance they have to do.
A lot of computer-based and/or digital elements from previous decades are still kept going now through the use of mods, emulators and the community. I’m sure that for a lot of app-based games there are going to be people who move the programs from mobile/tablet platforms to PC and the like in the future if it’s needed to keep playing the game.
Whilst I think that they need to consider the continued support of a product to keep it moving, I think if a game has a good enough community behind it there’s no real risk of it completely vanishing.
Key word here being “a lot” and not “all”. Yes, a lot is kept alive but not everything. And every “app-less” game continues to work after it’s OOP.
Yes agreed. But I think you nailed it…it requires a ‘big enough/dedicated’ community to ensure that. And that is in no way guaranteed. I don’t think it’s an argument against making apps. I am very much for apps. I just want people (including the creators) to be aware of this.
I would also be concerned about the longevity of an app. It fundamentally changes the nature of a game, especially solo play games and self contained games, if a part of it can effectively vanish and perhaps make the whole game defunct. Worse, the potential for it to vanish is somewhat random. For example, i have had some very good and useful apps (add-ons) on Firefox that simply stopped working over night because the latest version of Firefox did not support them in some way or other. Sometimes this was recoverable, but sometimes the app would have needed rebuilding from the ground up. In the latter case the ‘volunteer community’ (usually a volunteer community of one) has always (in my experience) decided not to rebuild and let the app die. This could also happen if the someone had a new mobile phone or tablet and the hardware software combination of that new mobile phone or tablet no longer supported the app. Someone might have to buy a new mobile phone or a new tablet for breakage, network and network generation, or software reasons. Sure, these apps might come around again in ten or twenty years time when someone takes the time to figure out what needs to be done and do it (with varying degrees of success and perhaps copyright dodging), but that’s hardly an endorsement, especially when all that work can potentially fall by the wayside again in the same way.
To add to the store conversation. So if Warlord does open a store, they do run the risk of local shops not carrying their product. Warhammer opened in locally a few years back, and now every gaming store in a 10 miles radius only carries paints. So you have drive halfway across town to find any Warhammer product.
That being said. In my area very few stores carry Warlord items. So they do have a chance to really do well.
Is that the independents’ decision or Games Workshops’?
They made the call as the proximity killed their sales. It wasn’t worth the shelf space and cost. Better to have things that sell on the shelf.
Now I rarely see people play at these stores.
Everyone plays at the warhammer store or locations a good distance away.
I want a few topics discussed over the coming weeks;
1) Campaigns – how many campaigns ever go the distance? How many games get played or at least get played before the campaign tetters out? Years ago I played out Bloodbath at Rorkes Drift, The tragedy of McDeath and The Grudge of Drong. Since then I’ve been in a dozen campaigns (in a number of systems; Necromunda, 40K, Warhammer, Hail Caesar, AOS, Saga,) all of which have died before finishing. How do people get them to go the distance?
2) Scale – the bulk of roleplay and wargamming seems to be done in 28mm but for fleets, Battalion+ sized armies it tends to get smaller. Do you ever try using smaller scales for roleplay etc? Gerry’s mini Saga armies spring to mind. Modern warfare and Sci Fi combatants can have ranges that exceed the table size. How many people play with miniatures below 10mm for land battles? and what scale for World War fleets?
3) What do you do with obsolete models? When a game dies or a faction gets written out of a game, or better miniatures get created for you faction, what do you do with your models?
Excellent Topics! Thanks so much for these @horus500 🙂
@horus500 I can answer point 2 If your not,you should be ?
If you want to get into the reason why petrol stations, card shops, take-aways end up beside each other look at how economists have applied the Median Voter Hypothesis to spatial modelling – really fascinating stuff especially when it predicts that things like congestion charges, high price of car parking will lead to great number of businesses, rather than less.
In terms of High Street, the location of GW Belfast, hidden at the back of Castle Court was shit – unless there were other reasons for GW to pick it like Gerry said. Last time I was in Belfast and going through Castle Court the old location was still empty.
like @sundancer at about 17 minutes the video became unwatchable due to buffering 🙁
I play with myself, for hours and hours on end, and enjoy it very much :p Not ashamed about it at all.
Here’s a few examples. I currently have 3 campaigns going with KD:M. 2 with groups and one with myself. All 3 are very fun, and all 3 very different. I play 2 campaigns of Gloomhaven, 1 with a group and 1 with myself. Escape the Dark Castle, Massive Darkness, Stuffed Fables, Silver Tower…all games I’ve played solo. And these are just a few on my long long list Hell I even have The Solo Wargaming Guide. For me ‘This game can be played solo’ isn’t just a useless checkbox. It’s very much something I look for and use.
Being completely frank here, and I know the ‘I play with myself’ innuendo was just that. But…I think the comparison is apt. Sex with yourself and sex with a partner is two very different but equally fulfilling experiences. Same for me with solo and group games. I wouldn’t want to miss out on either of them.
And there’s some really interesting AI’s out there, that can beat me up for good. Gloomhaven is a beast to beat, and not just because it’s ‘tough monsters’, cause you can always ‘lower’ their lvl. It’s the AI, and the fact they will always choose to hurt you the most they can, with the choices they are given. I haven’t tried it myself yet, but I have heard good things about Modipheus’ Fallout Wasteland Warfare solo mode (looks at her still unopened boxes). Which should do something similar. It will take a look at where you are as opposed to where it is, and choose the ‘best’ option to hurt you. (Or so I’ve heard…still have to try that one).
And Yes! We should have aps. Off course we should. Just like we should have pure video games and pure miniatures games. Pure vanilla icecream and bacon/licorice icecream (it’s apparently a thing). We should have it all. Why not? Let people choose the flavor they want. Let them have the fun they want and like. Let them have scantily clad, ass-less chaps guys (thank you Adam Poots!) or fully plated women. Tentacle creatures from Outer Space or Napoleon on his horse. Let’s have it all. Let’s play with all the toys. Or at the very least, let’s have the choice.
To answer what I have to snag before Brexit: Kings of War 3rd edition from Mantic.
Though I am not a Backstage member / Cultist – and so have not seen the video you are responding to here – and should like to add my support for the Solo Gamers amongst us in the On Table Top / Beasts of War community.
A good Solo-Play Option for a boardgame and, hopefully, for miniature wargames, should become the absolute “must be included” Industry Standard for a new – and old – game.
I have been in the hobby since 2006, collected, assembled and painted hundreds of models for Lord of the Rings, Warhammer Fantasy and 40k – even some Warmachine, Dark Age and Zombie Apocalypse – but never once played a game in a GW or FLGS.
But now modern solo-play games like Arkham Horror LCG, Scythe, Legends of Andor and Pandemic have me actually playing these games, and I’ve sold or traded most of my miniature collection.
My advice to GW: publish a State-of-the-Art solo-Play Expansion for 40k.
Brexit Last Orders will probably be some 3D tokens for both Scythe and Eldritch Horror.
I have something in the works concerning the topic (solo play). Now if I could only listen to the podcast. Please add the audio version, guys.
Assigned soon, apologies.
Thanks, mate.
All this talk of playing with myself reminds me of a joke…
Why did the sperm cross the road? I put the wrong sock on this morning.
Also I can also say with certainty that I still have 20/20 vision and don’t have hairy palms… those priests and their silly myths!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Thanks for the laugh Rob 🙂
@lloyd – I got a box of the Fireforge Living Dead Peasants this week from a shop in England. They are out in the wild you can get them now! They are lovely and going to grace my KOW army!
It took until nearly 46 minutes for @lloyd to hit the nail on the head – a “video” game is a game you look at on a screen (the clue is in the name “video” game). So a tabletop game that uses a supplementary app isn’t a video game. However, @warzan immediately followed up with a very good point: the moment you have a computer being the opponent, the entire game can be created digitally.
Last Xmas I took part in the Space Hulk Challenge and created a hybrid game, complete with sensors for detecting movement, and took time off work to build an accompanying app. For me, the fun was in building the electronics and making the whole project come to life – moving miniatures across the tabletop and seeing the onscreen avatars move in sync was quite a buzz.
I made the project work enough to prove the concept. And while I tried to build a fully complete playable *game* (rather than a demo) things faltered – the actual Space-Hulk-alike app I built still hasn’t been fully completed, because I came to the same conclusion as Warren: I was no longer building a tabletop game with electronic elements – I was building a video game with a quirky user interface.
A few months later, I got back to electronics rather than app development, and built some interactive LEDs and some motor controllers, and even a miniature smoke machine (if you’re reading this, Big Ben, I still haven’t forgotten about you!). To make these work still requires an app, but the focus when using them is very much on the tabletop (to be fair, I could probably build a dumb terminal to turn things on and off, but using a phone/tablet as a ui massively reduces hardware costs). This was far more enjoyable for me, as I felt that once again I was bringing a miniature tabletop world to life – the payoff was seeing an LED flicker, simulating a flame effect, while smoke billowed out of a tiny building rather than actually playing a game.
As it turns out, about two months ago, I looked again at the interactive playing surface and decided to tie the two together: lights and motors and smoke machines, controllable by moving miniatures across the tabletop surface. It’s currently a work-in-progress.
Maybe there’s even a case for bringing the whole lot under one roof – a game, an app, some interactive scenery…. I agree with Warren about the AI side of gaming too – nothing beats outwitting another person, far more than beating any dumb pre-set flowchart of events. But anything more than a basic “random engine” is a lot of development work (more than I was prepared to put in when I built Digital Space Hulk) but I still firmly believe there’s a place for technology, if not apps in particular, in tabletop gaming.
After all, if there’s one player on one side of the planet, wants to play a game but can’t find anywhere locally to play but is looking for something more sophisticated than running through the “random engine” of dice-based game mechanics, and there’s another player somewhere else feeling the same, why not hook them up together?
I used to love playing Laser Squad on my old ZX Spectrum. Playing against truly hidden movement was brilliant. But the AI wasn’t as much fun to play against as a real opponent. So my friends and I would meet up and take turns, leaving the room, to play against each other (hey, it was the 80s, modems were only just “a thing”) – it reminds me very much of how tabletop games fail to offer the same thrill of playing against a hidden enemy, when two players are in the same room.
But what if they didn’t need to be?
Maybe it’s time for another community challenge, to give me a reason to look at this whole thing again and maybe even finish a game this time…?
I bought Kingdom Death: Monster purely to play by myself. At the time of the 1.5 kickstarter it looked like I was going to have to move to a new location so I would not be able to keep going to my gaming club. Combined with two young children I thought it was my best chance of keeping some form of gaming going.
My 2018 resolution was to play through the game campaign once and over about ten months I played one evening per week and got as far as defeating the Watcher. I plan to play it again next year.
I have backed several kickstarters where it is a boardgame with a single player option. I am careful to pick games where single player has been designed in from the start. I am very cautious of bolt-on single player modes. I also pick games where they have very strong narrative themes or some other aspect (e.g. puzzle solving) so that I know I will be entertained.
On the subject of apps – I haven’t played a game that uses one. The prospect of one relating the story to me seems pointless. I’d prefer to read a book and look at artwork in a book. Any decision or tracking the app may do can be replaced by shuffling cards into deck or similar mechanics.
Where I would use an app is purely to help with record keeping. When I played Kingdom Death: Monster solo I was spending about one hour of each session updating settlement and character sheets and tracking equipment. In the end it was one of the reasons I abandoned the campaign. An app could have helped me save time and focus on playing the game.
I have a small thing to say about physical stores compared to online stores and this comes from the owner from our local store.
He sells more in his physical store then he does on his online store.
People who come in the store searching for something and it is not in stock won’t necessarily go to the online store to buy. And people come in to buy something they want and might buy some extra things they weren’t planning on.
I do have to be honest and mostly buy online also because most games I play aren’t sold in my region.
I think Warlord opening stores is good thing. The highstreet is domininated by GW and its IPs. Warlord will bring historicals plus its various licenced IPs to the fore as well, it opens up a whole otherside to what is available and puts it in lin eof sight of random shoppers.
As an IT engineer of 20yrs+ experience…. keep computers off my tabletop! Last thing I want to do is come home, unwind only for it to break mid-game and have to go into “work mode” and fix the damn thing.
Brexit last orders?
Vallejo / Mig / Scale 75 paints
Gamer Grass tufts
I have to agree the opening stores for Warlord could be a bad move. I would advocate placing money to building a better online presence. Rebuild the web site, do more online video, create and build a community through a revamped multi media site which is dedicated to content. Make it a site much like OTT where people visit and stay. The high street model is failing and online is the new king, backed up by an army of great content. I’ve been hired by my company to do this going into 2020, I’m looking a new blog site, 360 product video as well as content video. Revamping the entire digital presence with content to attract site visitors,who in turn will hopefully buy product. That’s what Warlord needs to do.
I mostly play against myself. I always loose. I am definitely very tough.
I played Rangers of Shadow Deep solo and I found it thrilling. It was great.
Now I wonder wether I will enjoy the new Frostgrave solo.
I like the random card events and the random hints. I use to improve the AI concerning the evil creatures by applying just common sense or adding an obvious caracter trait: aggressive, cautious..
The narrative is influenced by myself and corresponds to “my story”. Random events just gives it a bit of spice.
I don’t like apps in games,never have,never will.The inclusion of an app is the reason i don’t own the X-Com game and why i never backed ToL:Destinies.I don’t need an app to help immerse me in a game,the games artwork,subject matter,setting,cool heroes and evil villians are all i need to help me along on the journey of having as much fun as possible destroying/backstabbing/defeating my friends,regardless of whether i win the game or not.Will i be missing out on some good games because of my ” no apps ” stance…very probably yes,but would they still be good games without an app,again,probably yes.We’ve never played a game featuring an app at my flgc,to my knowledge,none of my friends own one either and i’ve never heard one of them express an interest in getting hold of one that did.
As far as GW store’s go,to my knowledge they don’t allow advertising of flgc’s,they want their players in the store playing,ready with their money to buy the next big thing to expand their army.I’ve certainly no knowledge or evidence to show that they actively want to send foot traffic to an flgc to play,how will they buy the next big thing if they’re off at an flgc playing their friends,rather than playing in store among all the new shiny.
Stand-alone FLGS are struggling on several fronts. Rents/rates, online competition etc. I think the Warlord/Mythicos model is an interesting proposition as log as they get the right value proposition that differentiates them from GW/Warhammer stores. Yes, the franchise model is also attractive.
Economies of scale from central purchasing (and pricing), rent negotiation etc gives it a chance.
Other Value propositions should include:
– centralised click-and-collect ordering service
– organised play
– local game community support
Thanks for the shout out, guys. I have added a list of manufacturers from the EU for all the Brits to get what they ‘need’ before B-Day.
I will have something to add to the solo play stuff soon(TM). Imho there is a lot of potential for companies.
I think Warlord should team up with other manufacturers that complement their line. More stores can’t be a bad thing.
To Stock up
Polystyrene cement with a brush applicator. I have about 4 years supply ( I sh1t you not).
you can buy it from chemical suppliers in bulk and refill your bottle. dichloromethane or methylene chloride
its crackerjack oops wrong decade
you win a cabbage
Lol
is it not management mandate to jump for straws look at the film studios if a space film is coming out before its out a second similar one appears form a rival.
You are in Europe as well!
We only will be part of the EU while you will leave the EU (maybe)!
But you will never leave Europe. Sorry guys
We wont let you down 😉
the best thing about playing solo play console/PC games is you can always win you ether win or if its hit the fan and everything is dyeing you can switch it off ?
You have to keep in mind your talking from the pointed view of UK in North America thing could be different
As I understand it the LGS (local gaming store) model works reasonably well in the USA. It is not viable here in the UK due to the costs of bricks and mortar retail.
I know irlts colossaly expensive but wouldn’t mainstream TV advertising be a better spend of capital? It does have the advantage of not being an ongoing cost of it proves unsuccessful.
On the main topic of solo play, I have several games where solo mode is an option. Board games like big trouble in Little china and Dungeon Saga but I’ve never been tempted to bother as if I have alone time I’d rather paint or model.
For me social human interaction is the draw to playing.
I love digital games but I deliberately don’t own an up to date console or play any computer games because I know I’ll get lost in them and I need my spare time for hobby tasks. So it’s a personal choice made from a discipline perspective.
I am totally agnostic on the incorporation of digital aids into tabletop games but without other humans this experience is too dry to hold my attention at all. Cooperative versus app AI is something I would enjoy but not alone. Just my 2 cents.
@warzan interesting topic today been doing a catch up now the exercise is finished. Wouldn’t you say solo play and game design is a great breeding ground for gamers in the gaps?
Brother Lloyd’s right on the money with playing with or ‘against’ yourself. (Remember, where a cult! 😛 )I have only played about two full sized games in a decade against myself, and I always decide who will win in my subconscious… even if I can claim to myself that it’s even.
And I agree with Brother-Supreme @warzan, if there’s an AI involved, you’re playing a video game. I also feel that if you have professional voice actors telling you the story, and an APP and AI, and sound effects. You’re removing what makes boardgames and RPG’s special, that fact that WE make the adventure ourselves. Cheesy voice acting, half-explained oddities and maybe even bad impersonations. Those make it special.
In Warzans defense, video games are called TV Games in Japan!
I’ve been thinking about your business of OTT and the international business you’re running with the shop. I’m not well informed about Brexit other than a general passing knowledge of the UK leaving the EU as a single market, maybe as much as you over there. I’m curious as to the impact that you there would face Would VAT and tariffs on goods you sent to EU members markedly increase and therefore limit your effective sales area?
Aside from being a genial gentleman and a general pain in the ass on occasion I do see things that might be a boon. I am aware that there are forums for companies that manufacture figures (Reaper, Wyrd and Privateer Press notably) which showcase painting but they lack the breadth of coverage that OTT does in going industry wide. Would you kick the international direction that the channel/site/business back into high gear should the possible Donald/Boris bromance blossom? I think that the companies like Privateer have jumped into the market better than others in promoting the hobby as well as their games with painting/modeling tutorials. These are things that OTT is leading well with. Keep these things up.
@warbossd The US brick and mortar FLGS is definitely something of an odd beast. You really need to have the market for the product. Dedicated tabletop game stores that generally aren’t looking to sell cards, or don’t at all, are your best locations. Without the production cycle of sets dictating the curve of feast/famine its all about the balance of what’s going on with gamers interests. I’ve seen greater snack offerings for options to diversify and cater to gamers in the business. I haven’t owned/run business here in the US but sitting and quietly talking shop with a couple owners away from customers on their thoughts has been enlightening. From what I see locally its been hobby stores picking up small amoubt of the slack from a lack of gaming spaces in renting time slots for games. The gaming materials are there for terrain as multi-marketing from railroad enthusiasts. Paints, tools and airbrush systems are present for plastic kit builders. RC enthusiasts have small components in wire, plastics and balsa/basswood for display work and pinning. Its really probably the maturation of the tabletop gaming hobby into social acceptance as a niche interest but not quite like comics shops.
As covered in previous discussion, the oversaturation of the market might lead to the same kind of bubble that the comics industry went through.
My own two cents regarding hobby stuff to grab before import might be unreasonable for you in the UK… barbed wire by the small company Eduard. It, in my opinion, is the best etched brass that comes out looking convincing. Thank YouTube for not nuking a dead channel. TerrainsScapes covered the matter years ago and I’m using this product when I need it.
https://youtu.be/zGwLBuYPty4
Huzzah! Poitless views, I got plenty of those ^^
not sure how that Warlord Stores story will go. What I know is that a friend of mine who is in the scale model market and who was trying to get on the wargaming side of things. He stopped that now, I will just mention 3 things that kinda had him go no more.
1) Relationship with Warlord, apparently Warlord were not willing to sell him for resale anything that is made on demand. When we talk about that I mean even mortars and MG 42 for instance were pretty much no. They wanted to sell him the boxes for for anything else —> Warlord Website. I found it real strange but that’s the informations I did get.
2) As he wasn’t known to do that, he just had a small wargamer customer base. around 5 gamers me included.
3) When going to events he deemed that the sales he was doing on that side of the business was too small.
So yes, I am not saying it’s all Warlord’s fault or anything like so. But them being not too willing to sell there whole range to resellers makes sense now hearing about that Warlord Stores story (yeah I am living under a rock and didn’t hear that before today)
Single player games, I must say on a number of occasion I was highly interested by that (AWACS Gulf War, Fallout wasteland …) But! I admit that even though I have painted enough minis for some of them I actually never got around and played it. I guess I should as it might make me a bit more at ease when going to play new games with others. Admitly yes I always think I never know the rules 😛 So yes… maybe try some next week? Not sure if I agree with Warren on just being a box to tick… I guess it’s kind of true. I do agree with Justin on the learning part.
Blucher game, got to look into that sounds real good.
Tonight in Pointless views! @Warrent just turned into the game designer’s boogieman! 😛
On the Brexit side of things, I can give you some good news. All the treaties between UK and Switzerland have already been signed shall Brexit happen, so yes I know we are nothing compared to the US (even if I am glad we don’t have anything like the president) but you know, it’s always good to know that at least some preparation were done for some partenairs.
Thanks for the show chaps!
PS for myself maybe I should do small posts like other members.
@warzan Late to the party on this one, busy painting like mad for next weekends game afternoon.
Being a wee bit older than your August selves , solo games were very much the norm way back in the day.
The current trend for games that fit on a 4 by 4 table is actually with simple tournament style rules is actually a fairly modern concept GW with their whole retail plan since the late 80’s may have kickstarted it.
(I remember theirs shops when they sold all types of games and the figures were by Citadel, in fact 1st Byzantine Army was all Citadel figures) .This was in part when their CEO was from the model making side of company and decided the whole company would be about figure sales.
At this time video games were in the basic form, if available at all most of the role playing ones were text only.
Most gamer’s played various historical games , often with home grown rules. Gaming groups on the whole was at home with friends and gaming clubs were very much a minority. Alumwell Wargames Club (Walsall), for whom I was member for about 30 years formed in about 73 and Chase Wargames (Cannock) about 2 years later, but due to travelling , I didn’t become a regular till about 1995.Figures were mail order, literally you req a list from company(usually o really bad pphot copy), then sent a mail req and hoped you’d get something at the end. Salute was still at the Town Hall Kennsington and local shows were the best way of getting lists and actually seeing what you were buying.The above two clubs were very much initially a trial , hoping to find it the area had enough possible gamer’s to make if valid and both nearly died over the years and one of them is in the centre of an urban conurbation.
That was just the UK, for the Americans the distances you might have to travel became astronomical, if fact you still see on gaming forums for various games , are their any ……… players in ……… Virginia(add any of 50 States)
This can be seen in how their gaming conventions are organised, multiple days , with games generally participation and playing them being the biggest part of it, Uk games is the closest equivalent ,, but most UK shows are big shopping malls with a few games that punters can play.
Therefore you either played solo or didn’t play at all , the demographic may have changed now but solo gamers for many years far outnumbered those with regular opponents, and gamer’s at clubs was by far a small minority.
Solo gamer’s have their own societies such as
This one I believe has been going for longer than most of the OTT crew have been alive
https://lonewarriorswa.com/
As for your valid comments about AI systems and solo play I figure that over the years they have come with various methods for getting round it, which is what I think Gerry was trying to put over in the discussion.
So in a very long winded(so long winded that I forgot to make this final point and had to add it) way what I am trying to say is that the addition of solo play on many kickstarters may not be for the likes of us with clubs and local groups and gamers but for those in the little town USA, UK etc who have very limited communal gaming avenues other than the video game ( and if WWW is patchy maybe not even that). Who in fact may be in the majority, so it makes sense not to effectively cut them out of your Kickstarter as a customer.
For example the recently ended Battletech kickstarter for instance, for national interest UK came around 4th in the world with it having about 10% or the backers as the US, but came third for the numbers of backers from one city london , here the no’s difference was low no’s less than 10 in most cases. only two american cities came in top 5 ,yet the total no of backer nationally was nearly 50-60% more than Germany and Britain respectively. So where did all the other backers come from?
Above according to website founded in 1976
Thanks for the lonewarriorswa.com Link – from the choice of typefaces, I am instantly teleported back to the early 1980s and my misspent youth, reading photocopied Science Fiction and Doctor Who fanzines…
@beastsofwar
Question. How can you say that you can’t have rewarding solo play without an app, if co-op games exist?
Isn’t solo-play just a 1-player co-op game?
Zombiecide is a co-op game which allows solo-play. It doesn’t need an app to play the bad guys.
@foehammer , I thought that yesterday when writing my reply..
I haven’t played an app assisted game yet. I would consider it, but feel that my analogue hobby based gaming suits me when I am in one frame of mind and PS4 computer games can give me enjoyment when I am in a more bored and lazy frame of mind. I am pretty binary in my moods in that respect so don’t really feel the need for a cross over in most instances.
Solo games I am most definitely positive about. I know that they are a positive training tool for the rules etc. but I enjoy them because I have too few opportunities to see like minded friends to play with. I played the All Out War solo game and it is not as fun as the multi player version, but still an enjoyable experience. I have played solo specific scenario missions of Frostgrave and really enjoyed it. I am looking forward to getting my first games of Rangers of Shadow Deep played out.
I was sold on Star Saga because it had a solo mode, but sadly I haven’t enjoyed it that much and is probably the kickstarter I regret backing the most. I know that Gerry really enjoyed some of the mechanics in Star Saga, so I am willing to be talked around, but it is just one too many games for me and didn’t live up to the hype I gave it myself.
So I see that it may be exploited by some game developers as a marketing tool, but I know that enough people out there are making good solo games and that type of experience has its place amongst the games that really cry out for an opponent. Games where you need someone to act as a worthy opponent to tactically battle minds with and to socialise with to have the intended and fuller experience.
Hmm, it really is very profitable. I’ve been thinking about starting my own blog for a long time.
Thanks a lot for the explanation! Now I see the features and reasons to switch accounts. But I’ll do it later since at the moment I’m too busy at work. I’m in search of a good software development team. I was recommended to try https://fireart.studio/real-estate-mobile-app-development/ but since I haven’t worked with them yet I need to collect testimonials. Have you heard of them? What can you tell?