4 ms·

Cool but why didn't you just use the Tabletop Simulator version https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=368959756 https://steamcommunity.com/shar

Cool but why didn't you just use the Tabletop Simulator version https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=368959756 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=36895...

eddieroger 5y ago
"Because they can?" What other reason would someone need? Every post on here could be done a different way.
happytoexplain 5y ago
Well, this writeup is both novel and educational, so I'm glad they chose to do it this way regardless. However, to offer one possible answer to your question, there is a world of difference in UX (both good and bad) between Tabletop Simulator and more common, straightforward digital board games.
pimlottc 5y ago
Tabletop Simulator requires a fairly decent 3D card. It’s pretty slow on an early 2020 MacBook Air, for example.
- RandallBrown 5y ago
  Figma is pretty slow on my 2019 MacBook Pro.
fabianmg 5y ago
Also, tabletop is 20€ and as far as I know you can implement this with the free account on Figma.
SamBam 5y ago
Honestly, I've never really understood the appeal of Tabletop Simulator for 2-D games. Seems like a lot of overhead (computationally and conceptually) for something that would be more clearly and simply recreated in a 2-D world. I've stuck to boardgamearena for my online playing.
- svachalek 5y ago
  It can be nice I guess when you've internalized the camera to the point you don't have to think about it. But it's so overkill. All I really want is a fast lightweight client that runs on anything.
- bpodgursky 5y ago
  Is there a 2D tabletop simulator? Friends and I have used it a ton as a fallback for games which don't have a digital copy; you can just scan your physical copy and have it running in TTS in an afternoon. I'm not sure there's a good alternative? (also for true tabletop games like 40k or sigmar the 3d geometry is actually important and fun)
  - AdamTReineke 5y ago
    I haven't used it myself but I know Vassal [0] was used for Pipeline playstesting and it seems to have an extensive set of games set up already. I like BoardGameArena since the games are licensed and you know you're supporting the creators in some way versus platforms that are typically unlicensed like TTS. [0] https://vassalengine.org/about.html https://vassalengine.org/about.html
- vikingerik 5y ago
  The big advantage of TTS is that you can manipulate any components however you want, as in physical play. You can apply house rules, add custom components (cards/factions/etc), allow take-backs or corrections, play out experimental what-if scenarios, and so on. If you don't care about that amount of freeform object manipulation and just want to bang through a game by its standard implementation, then yeah boardgamearena will do fine.
- cableshaft 5y ago
  Tabletop Simulator doesn't require coding (although it has support for it). Especially last year during the worst of the pandemic, most game designers who put in the effort were still able to host online playtest nights, attend online game designer conventions (with the help of Discord) and show their games to publishers by making a TTS version of their game. I've looked into making my games on BGA, and their system looked like a PHP mess I didn't want to deal with. If I'm going to be coding anyway I'd rather use a Typescript game engine like Phaser, Swift and SpriteKit, or C# and Monogame, and have full control over it. Here's one of mine I uploaded to the Steam Workshop: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2217344915 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=22173...

Cool but why didn't you just use the Tabletop Simulator version https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=368959756 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=36895...

eddieroger 5y ago

"Because they can?" What other reason would someone need? Every post on here could be done a different way.

happytoexplain 5y ago

Well, this writeup is both novel and educational, so I'm glad they chose to do it this way regardless. However, to offer one possible answer to your question, there is a world of difference in UX (both good and bad) between Tabletop Simulator and more common, straightforward digital board games.

pimlottc 5y ago

Tabletop Simulator requires a fairly decent 3D card. It’s pretty slow on an early 2020 MacBook Air, for example.

RandallBrown 5y ago
Figma is pretty slow on my 2019 MacBook Pro.

fabianmg 5y ago

Also, tabletop is 20€ and as far as I know you can implement this with the free account on Figma.

SamBam 5y ago

Honestly, I've never really understood the appeal of Tabletop Simulator for 2-D games. Seems like a lot of overhead (computationally and conceptually) for something that would be more clearly and simply recreated in a 2-D world. I've stuck to boardgamearena for my online playing.

svachalek 5y ago
It can be nice I guess when you've internalized the camera to the point you don't have to think about it. But it's so overkill. All I really want is a fast lightweight client that runs on anything.
bpodgursky 5y ago
Is there a 2D tabletop simulator? Friends and I have used it a ton as a fallback for games which don't have a digital copy; you can just scan your physical copy and have it running in TTS in an afternoon. I'm not sure there's a good alternative? (also for true tabletop games like 40k or sigmar the 3d geometry is actually important and fun)
- AdamTReineke 5y ago
  I haven't used it myself but I know Vassal [0] was used for Pipeline playstesting and it seems to have an extensive set of games set up already. I like BoardGameArena since the games are licensed and you know you're supporting the creators in some way versus platforms that are typically unlicensed like TTS. [0] https://vassalengine.org/about.html https://vassalengine.org/about.html
vikingerik 5y ago
The big advantage of TTS is that you can manipulate any components however you want, as in physical play. You can apply house rules, add custom components (cards/factions/etc), allow take-backs or corrections, play out experimental what-if scenarios, and so on. If you don't care about that amount of freeform object manipulation and just want to bang through a game by its standard implementation, then yeah boardgamearena will do fine.
cableshaft 5y ago
Tabletop Simulator doesn't require coding (although it has support for it). Especially last year during the worst of the pandemic, most game designers who put in the effort were still able to host online playtest nights, attend online game designer conventions (with the help of Discord) and show their games to publishers by making a TTS version of their game. I've looked into making my games on BGA, and their system looked like a PHP mess I didn't want to deal with. If I'm going to be coding anyway I'd rather use a Typescript game engine like Phaser, Swift and SpriteKit, or C# and Monogame, and have full control over it. Here's one of mine I uploaded to the Steam Workshop: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2217344915 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=22173...