Wesnoth as a board game

[Turuk]

This is interesting input, particularly Groovy's idea, but putting those magnets into all the hexes seems a bit much for a current one-man operation. Still, it could be simply done if you were only making a few games.

I wonder if Czestmyr has made any more progress though, as before Dragonchampion commented the thread had been quiet for a month and a half.

[thespaceinvader]

Indeed - it strikes me that there might be a much, MUCH simpler solution...

Spoiler:

It shares the non-rotatable problem. But it's cheap and simple...

[Sgt. Groovy]

Well, Czestmyr is going to need people to play with at some point, so it's not going to be one-man operation forever. If you have several people and organise an assembly line, you can make tiles quite fast.

Here's much simpler (and cheaper) design for lockable tiles. You need two pieces of hexagonal cardboard cutouts (the blue line) and one of the red-outlined shape for each tile. Then glue them together so that the red shape is sandwiched between the hexagons as illustrated. You then have a tile with three projecting wings and corresponding holes (the gray areas). Again, the tiles can be flipped or rotated in 120 degree steps. Assembling the board is bit more difficult with this kind of tiles, though, and the wings are subject to wear.

ETA: another image to make it clear what it looks like with the three cutouts together.

[thespaceinvader]

That works well too, but it strikes me that being able to put the tiles in from the top would be useful - with that design, if you wanted to change a single tile in the middle of the map, you'd have to pretty much pull the whole thing apart as far as i can work out...

[Sgt. Groovy]

That is true. With the traditional puzzle shape you could do that, but the shapes are more difficult to cut accurately (quite difficult in fact with a thick, stiff cardboard), and you would have the cut lines going through the images. You would have to cut part of the images away and glue them on another tiles.

The magnet design is costliest and most laborous to make, but assembling the board is a breeze, basically you just throw the tiles together and they lock together by themselves. Also, there is no forcing things inside holes, so they are subject to very little wear. And they would also lock together in stack (if every other tile is rotated 60 degrees) for storage.

[Turuk]

Well, Czestmyr is going to need people to play with at some point, so it's not going to be one-man operation forever. If you have several people and organise an assembly line, you can make tiles quite fast.

Right, which is why I ended my statement with "if you were only making a few games," as I figured he would get others to help him. I meant more if he was making multiple games to sell to limited others, he would have to lean on those friends to really go at it with him.

[Sgt. Groovy]

OK, I checked some prices and with 6 magnets in every tile it's going to be way too expensive, at least hundreds of euros for any decent-sized set. That got me thinking, is there a way to make it work with only one magnet per tile? Well, easily, if you have a metal platform to set them on. A whiteboard would suffice, and if you put magnets inside the pieces too, you can also play on it in vertical position. That way, you could play on bigger maps (on a table, if the map gets too big for you to reach comfortably to the other side, you'll be running around it to reach different parts).

Now, not everybody has a their own whiteboard, and that is not too portable solution either. Then I found this: magnetic foil. You can spread this on the table, and with little metal pieces inside the tiles, they will stick to it. To go, pack the tiles in a box and roll up the foil. And if you have a nice well-balanced map you want to play on later too, you can fold it up for storage (well, depending on how strong this stuff is and how heavy the tiles are).

[Dragonchampion]

Brilliant! That would be even better then HeroScape! It's just too bad that we haven't heard from hum.

Maybe he's trying to get it accepted by a game company?

[ancestral]

I think it'd be best to keep it simple. Magnets, interlocking pieces? Seems like too much. Keep it out.

Reminds me of Settlers of Catan:

Spoiler:

And also Global Pursuit (anybody ever play this lesser-known game?):

Spoiler:

However, I think if there is going to be figures moving many tiles at a time on a turn, then you're better off with bigger pieces with several hexes in them so it would be quicker to assemble and re-assemble.

[Turuk]

Given that maps are rectangular in Wesnoth, why not have preexisting side lengths that snap into each other, by interlocking or by strong magnets? So it creates the outline of a rectangle of some shape and the hexes fit into the inside, going up to the edges of the box which are cut to allow the hexes to slot in? This would mean minimal movement from the hexes and provide a sturdy game board. The hexes do not have to have any means to fit together because their hexagonal shape means they can fit into each other inside the box like pieces of a puzzle.

[Dragonchampion]

I think it'd be best to keep it simple. Magnets, interlocking pieces? Seems like too much. Keep it out.

And how do you suppose HeroScape is so popular?

Take a look:

http://www.hasbro.com/games/kid-games/heroscape/

[Sgt. Groovy]

Also, when you find a interesting and well-balanced map design, you'll probably want to use it again. You can buy cheap plastic mat in hardware stores by the metre. Print the map on sticker sheets in segments and glue it on the mat. Cheap to make, rolls up neatly for storage and transport. Have a different map on both sides to save money and space even more. You can customise the maps with single tiles (for example, to change the location of castles).

[ancestral]

I think it'd be best to keep it simple. Magnets, interlocking pieces? Seems like too much. Keep it out.

And how do you suppose HeroScape is so popular?

Take a look:

http://www.hasbro.com/games/kid-games/heroscape/

Flashy content, punchy sound effects.

I don't know, does that mean it's really popular?

Don't get me wrong, I think some of these magnet ideas are cool, but I'm just questioning whether it's worth the extra effort and simoleons.

[turin]

Flashy content, punchy sound effects.

I don't know, does that mean it's really popular?

Uh... it's a board game, it doesn't have sound effects. Or do you mean the website?

In any case, yes, the game is fairly popular, from what I can tell. I own it myself, as does one of my friends, and IMO it's a great way to waste a few hours. It's like a mix between LEGOs and strategy games. It's fairly simple, but I think games like that need to be; I'm not really sure how well Wesnoth would translate to a board game, actually. And yes, it costs $40, but it comes with high-quality interlocking pieces and well-done miniatures... well worth it, I'd say.

Don't get me wrong, I think some of these magnet ideas are cool, but I'm just questioning whether it's worth the extra effort and simoleons.

I think it is. One of my biggest complaints with Settlers of Catan, actually, is that it's made of cheap cardboard, the larger pieces warp, and after just a few games the board doesn't fit together that nicely and you have to be really careful not to jostle anything or the board is ruined. And you don't really have to touch the board that much in Settlers - just to place cities and roads and move the robber, really. In a Wesnoth board game you'd have to have a bunch of miniatures, all of which would move every turn. That's a lot more opportunity to mess up the board layout.

[Turuk]

What if, instead of cardboard, the hexes were just plastic with a recessed top so that some sort of graphic could be applied to show the terrain for the hex. Then the pieces could easily fit into an overall board without the need to worry about wear and tear that affects cardboard.