10 ms·

Show HN: Play Games in Slack

48 points by sanketn 6y ago

sanketn 6y ago
I was building a social gaming destination which tanked. The idea was to have a bunch of games (casual + social/party) and a bunch of friends in one single place. And also have all the banter that happens around these games, especially the social/party games, in the same place. So even if you are not in the mood to actively play, you can just participate in the banter which is also great fun. Better than commenting on photos, at least. While the gaming destination as a whole did not work out, people enjoyed playing the social/party games we built and they led to a lot of banter. So when we were trying to figure what next, we thought why not bring that banter to the workplace? While remote work is great, a lot of the team bonding/camaraderie that happens through random chitchat is really missing. And we thought social games are a great way for teams to socialize and build camaraderie. So here we are. Bored brings social games to right where you work - Slack. Would love to know what you folks think of it.
- xtracto 6y ago
  Looks promising... I'll try it with my team later today.
  - sanketn 6y ago
    Thanks. Send any feedback you have my way :)
- simcop2387 6y ago
  Any thoughts to bring it to a place like discord? It sounds like it'd be great for something outside of work too, while we're all on lpckdown anyway.
WORMS_EAT_WORMS 6y ago
Congrats! Looks really cool. I think your landing page needs a little bit of a visual demo to help convert people to this. Beyond that, I really do see "games" becoming a big thing in the digital workplace for socializing and interacting in the next years (beyond even Slack games). Hopefully this can get traction and grow bigger.
- sanketn 6y ago
  Thanks for the feedback. When you say a visual demo, does a Loom video work or a more professionally done one?
  - WORMS_EAT_WORMS 6y ago
    Just any sort of demo I'd argue. I don't think you need to go crazy at all! Just my feedback.
  - spurgu 6y ago
    Simple screenshots of games in action would do it for me.
    - sanketn 6y ago
      Makes sense. Yeah I guess right now it's hard to understand what the games are with just these illustrations.
  - kaushikt 6y ago
    A carousel of screenshot is good to begin with
zaokret 6y ago
"View Guide" link in Spot the Faker game description is dead.
- sanketn 6y ago
  Oh no. Will get it fixed! Spot the faker is a lot of fun though - my favorite game :)
sidchilling 6y ago
The faker game sounds fun! Page would be much easier to read if there were videos of the games. Any plans of launching for Teams? I guess bigger companies (who were already on outlook) have heavily adopted Teams (and I believe these games might be something that HR teams at bigger companies might be interested in).
- sanketn 6y ago
  Thanks for the feedback. Faker is a lot of fun - you should try it out! Videos - makes sense. We will get one done soon. Teams - for now, we are focused on Slack itself but as soon as we are ready to build for the next platform, Teams it would be.
kosmischemusik 6y ago
What sort of games do you have now and what other games do you have in mind?
- sanketn 6y ago
  We have 4 games right now: - Who's the faker: A game all about accusation and deception. Lots of banter. - Roastmasters: All about roasting your colleagues (SFW though) - Trick or Trivia: New-age trivia with about 50 topics and 5K+ questions - Give me a break: Activities and fun corners of the Internet for short breaks by yourself Happy to take inputs on what other games to build - what else do you think would be fun to play with colleagues?
pallavn 6y ago
The games are fun. We played it with our team, and it does bring a few laughs out (we did have the zoom on, by side). Are you folks launching more games?
- sanketn 6y ago
  Awesome :) Yes do have a very interesting new game that I can't wait to get in the hands of people. Should come out next week most likely. But all ears to what other kinds of games would you like to play with your team.
varlogix 6y ago
we keep looking for ways to recreate the fun atmosphere of an office hangout or party. this looks interesting. and i agree with another comment - you should add more context to the website about how the games will look/play like in slack.
- sanketn 6y ago
  Thanks. Yes we definitely need to work on our website and bring out the games better.
forbiddenvoid 6y ago
Welcome back to AOL chatrooms. These do look like interesting games, at least. Might have to try them out.
- sanketn 6y ago
  Let me know what you think once you try them out :) We do have more games coming soon.
victormustar 6y ago
This looks very nice and fun, will definitely try it with my team! I also built a simple social game a while ago (before COVID) as a side project (https://live.jubiwee.com/ https://live.jubiwee.com/). It did not exactly work out, but I think the pandemic is a call to create new online experiences that are different from your typical zoom call and are an excuse to have fun and socialize with your team/friends during lockdowns. It brings an opportunity to create original and creative experiences. Also if the situation continues maybe gaming will enter the enterprise world - like playing Minecraft with co-workers make sense to do team-building and is cheap compared to other options. https://gather.town/ https://gather.town/ is a good example of something different too.
- sanketn 6y ago
  Jubiwee looks very neat. +100 on creating new online experiences that are not a typical Zoom call.
miker1234 6y ago
why are you collecting GPS data?
- sanketn 6y ago
  We don't collect any GPS data.
  - miker1234 6y ago
    Its listed in your privacy policy
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
kaushikt 6y ago
This is dope! I played Spot the fake game on our slack and honestly it was more fun than I expected. We are a small team working remotely for thr past year. Most of us have never met and this game was a great ice-breaker. I'm not sure how to start the game at a specific time. Seems like anyone can start at any time right now. Is this by design?
quickthrower2 6y ago
I liked playing jackbox with work colleagues but I admit I hated setting up steam for it as I’m not a gamer and that seems like bloatware. so something that works within slack is pretty nice. Good luck!

48 points by sanketn 6y ago

I was building a social gaming destination which tanked. The idea was to have a bunch of games (casual + social/party) and a bunch of friends in one single place. And also have all the banter that happens around these games, especially the social/party games, in the same place. So even if you are not in the mood to actively play, you can just participate in the banter which is also great fun. Better than commenting on photos, at least. While the gaming destination as a whole did not work out, people enjoyed playing the social/party games we built and they led to a lot of banter. So when we were trying to figure what next, we thought why not bring that banter to the workplace? While remote work is great, a lot of the team bonding/camaraderie that happens through random chitchat is really missing. And we thought social games are a great way for teams to socialize and build camaraderie. So here we are. Bored brings social games to right where you work - Slack. Would love to know what you folks think of it.

xtracto 6y ago
Looks promising... I'll try it with my team later today.
- sanketn 6y ago
  Thanks. Send any feedback you have my way :)
simcop2387 6y ago
Any thoughts to bring it to a place like discord? It sounds like it'd be great for something outside of work too, while we're all on lpckdown anyway.

WORMS_EAT_WORMS 6y ago

Congrats! Looks really cool. I think your landing page needs a little bit of a visual demo to help convert people to this. Beyond that, I really do see "games" becoming a big thing in the digital workplace for socializing and interacting in the next years (beyond even Slack games). Hopefully this can get traction and grow bigger.

sanketn 6y ago
Thanks for the feedback. When you say a visual demo, does a Loom video work or a more professionally done one?
- WORMS_EAT_WORMS 6y ago
  Just any sort of demo I'd argue. I don't think you need to go crazy at all! Just my feedback.
- spurgu 6y ago
  Simple screenshots of games in action would do it for me.
  - sanketn 6y ago
    Makes sense. Yeah I guess right now it's hard to understand what the games are with just these illustrations.
- kaushikt 6y ago
  A carousel of screenshot is good to begin with

zaokret 6y ago

"View Guide" link in Spot the Faker game description is dead.

sanketn 6y ago
Oh no. Will get it fixed! Spot the faker is a lot of fun though - my favorite game :)

sidchilling 6y ago

The faker game sounds fun! Page would be much easier to read if there were videos of the games. Any plans of launching for Teams? I guess bigger companies (who were already on outlook) have heavily adopted Teams (and I believe these games might be something that HR teams at bigger companies might be interested in).

sanketn 6y ago
Thanks for the feedback. Faker is a lot of fun - you should try it out! Videos - makes sense. We will get one done soon. Teams - for now, we are focused on Slack itself but as soon as we are ready to build for the next platform, Teams it would be.

kosmischemusik 6y ago

What sort of games do you have now and what other games do you have in mind?

sanketn 6y ago
We have 4 games right now: - Who's the faker: A game all about accusation and deception. Lots of banter. - Roastmasters: All about roasting your colleagues (SFW though) - Trick or Trivia: New-age trivia with about 50 topics and 5K+ questions - Give me a break: Activities and fun corners of the Internet for short breaks by yourself Happy to take inputs on what other games to build - what else do you think would be fun to play with colleagues?

pallavn 6y ago

The games are fun. We played it with our team, and it does bring a few laughs out (we did have the zoom on, by side). Are you folks launching more games?

sanketn 6y ago
Awesome :) Yes do have a very interesting new game that I can't wait to get in the hands of people. Should come out next week most likely. But all ears to what other kinds of games would you like to play with your team.

varlogix 6y ago

we keep looking for ways to recreate the fun atmosphere of an office hangout or party. this looks interesting. and i agree with another comment - you should add more context to the website about how the games will look/play like in slack.

sanketn 6y ago
Thanks. Yes we definitely need to work on our website and bring out the games better.

forbiddenvoid 6y ago

Welcome back to AOL chatrooms. These do look like interesting games, at least. Might have to try them out.

sanketn 6y ago
Let me know what you think once you try them out :) We do have more games coming soon.

victormustar 6y ago

This looks very nice and fun, will definitely try it with my team! I also built a simple social game a while ago (before COVID) as a side project (https://live.jubiwee.com/ https://live.jubiwee.com/). It did not exactly work out, but I think the pandemic is a call to create new online experiences that are different from your typical zoom call and are an excuse to have fun and socialize with your team/friends during lockdowns. It brings an opportunity to create original and creative experiences. Also if the situation continues maybe gaming will enter the enterprise world - like playing Minecraft with co-workers make sense to do team-building and is cheap compared to other options. https://gather.town/ https://gather.town/ is a good example of something different too.

sanketn 6y ago
Jubiwee looks very neat. +100 on creating new online experiences that are not a typical Zoom call.

miker1234 6y ago

why are you collecting GPS data?

sanketn 6y ago
We don't collect any GPS data.
- miker1234 6y ago
  Its listed in your privacy policy

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

kaushikt 6y ago

This is dope! I played Spot the fake game on our slack and honestly it was more fun than I expected. We are a small team working remotely for thr past year. Most of us have never met and this game was a great ice-breaker. I'm not sure how to start the game at a specific time. Seems like anyone can start at any time right now. Is this by design?

quickthrower2 6y ago

I liked playing jackbox with work colleagues but I admit I hated setting up steam for it as I’m not a gamer and that seems like bloatware. so something that works within slack is pretty nice. Good luck!