gameboards & dice as objects
Posted: 20 Jul 2007, 03:33
Hi, how about making maps objects that you can move around, and then be able to stack things on top arbitrarily (without having them automatically grouped into a single stack)? I have a few games with modular boards, that can be assembled in different configurations. I can send the scans if you'd like to play with them. Is there a way to do that now? It seems that tabs are maps, when I'd rather that they be just virtual tables that you can place maps onto.
Also, how about alternate stacking mechanics? A simple game of "Solitaire" is sort of awkward to play with a poker deck, if you play the board like you would on a real table. I think stacks of things need to retain their relative positions sometimes. The way it plays now, the cards snap to a single point relative to the stack, which doesn't happen face-to-face. It's a departure from the idea of a virtual game table, but a useful one admittedly for wargames. I'd group it into a different category, which you might call automatic fanning mechanisms. Like say if you stacked a bunch of cards, it would be neat if the game automatically fanned the cards like you would when playing cards (and like the icon on Pokerv2). Right now it explodes the stack in an awkward way (but one that works well for wargame chits). More important is being able to move stacks of things around as a unit. Less important, for me, is automatic fanning mechanics. I've noticed that once you have a stack of cards, face down, you can't move it.
Another thing is hands of dice. Because dice aren't moveable objects, you can't assemble a hand of say 12 D6 & 3 D8 & 2 D4. There are games that actually need this badly! Without changing much, if you could move the dice into a horizontal hand, and shift them around, and roll them, that would work out ok. But it's not ideal. Here's an example:
The way Dog's in the Vineyard is played, is you have a giant bowl of mixed dice, and then you assemble a hand like the example above (it varies, which dice & how many you use), throw ALL the dice, and then assemble the dice in front of you. You move the dice, one, two, or three at time (with their current random value) ... and then the players move those dice that have played out from their hand back into the big bowl.
It's impossible to play as designed. In the real world, unless you have a bazillion dice! Doesn't play right in ZunTzu either. But virtual dice are free! Supply=99, plus dice as objects, and we can play.
Ideally, dice would just be a groupable thing you could throw (random face shown), but otherwise would work like everything else, in that you could arbitrarily move them around and have them retain their position.
If you wanted to get fancy, you could implement all of these things as a sort of polygon face mapping. Counters and cards are both 2 sided polygons. Front is one face, back is the other. With dice, you just have those polygonal objects which make for fair dice. On each face you have mapped a texture. If you abstract things this way, you can do things like coin tossing. And you can make "Poker dice" where the faces are suits and whatnot. Or special dice like fudge dice, which have "+" or "-" mapped on 4 of the sides of a cube, and a blank face on the others. And then you could move dice around, whatever face up, and use them like chits and cards.
Another example: A game like Biplane Barmy uses D6 as an alititude measure. You place it next to the chit that is the plane.
Also, how about alternate stacking mechanics? A simple game of "Solitaire" is sort of awkward to play with a poker deck, if you play the board like you would on a real table. I think stacks of things need to retain their relative positions sometimes. The way it plays now, the cards snap to a single point relative to the stack, which doesn't happen face-to-face. It's a departure from the idea of a virtual game table, but a useful one admittedly for wargames. I'd group it into a different category, which you might call automatic fanning mechanisms. Like say if you stacked a bunch of cards, it would be neat if the game automatically fanned the cards like you would when playing cards (and like the icon on Pokerv2). Right now it explodes the stack in an awkward way (but one that works well for wargame chits). More important is being able to move stacks of things around as a unit. Less important, for me, is automatic fanning mechanics. I've noticed that once you have a stack of cards, face down, you can't move it.
Another thing is hands of dice. Because dice aren't moveable objects, you can't assemble a hand of say 12 D6 & 3 D8 & 2 D4. There are games that actually need this badly! Without changing much, if you could move the dice into a horizontal hand, and shift them around, and roll them, that would work out ok. But it's not ideal. Here's an example:
The way Dog's in the Vineyard is played, is you have a giant bowl of mixed dice, and then you assemble a hand like the example above (it varies, which dice & how many you use), throw ALL the dice, and then assemble the dice in front of you. You move the dice, one, two, or three at time (with their current random value) ... and then the players move those dice that have played out from their hand back into the big bowl.
It's impossible to play as designed. In the real world, unless you have a bazillion dice! Doesn't play right in ZunTzu either. But virtual dice are free! Supply=99, plus dice as objects, and we can play.
Ideally, dice would just be a groupable thing you could throw (random face shown), but otherwise would work like everything else, in that you could arbitrarily move them around and have them retain their position.
If you wanted to get fancy, you could implement all of these things as a sort of polygon face mapping. Counters and cards are both 2 sided polygons. Front is one face, back is the other. With dice, you just have those polygonal objects which make for fair dice. On each face you have mapped a texture. If you abstract things this way, you can do things like coin tossing. And you can make "Poker dice" where the faces are suits and whatnot. Or special dice like fudge dice, which have "+" or "-" mapped on 4 of the sides of a cube, and a blank face on the others. And then you could move dice around, whatever face up, and use them like chits and cards.
Another example: A game like Biplane Barmy uses D6 as an alititude measure. You place it next to the chit that is the plane.
and the mask: 
