Hello everyone. Haven't been here in a while, have been super busy with school and other projects, so haven't visited Assemblergames much. Anyway, I'm helping in the making of a project which I think has great potential and is a great idea. So basically, it's called the Glass Bead game and the idea behind it is that you can play and make anything you can think of, it's a "universal" board game. You can create your own games or you can just add variations to existing games. Other users will be able to see your games through an online game sharing platform and an app for phones in the future. Check it out here and here This project was already started on kickstarter once. Loads of money was spent on the website and ad videos, but nothing on actual marketing, so very little people actually saw this project. Now we're working on our mistakes and we want to re-launch this campaign before the end of the summer. I would really like to know your feedback and ideas, because the community here is very open-minded and intelligent.
While it looks interesting, you have to realize that people don't have imaginations anymore. Either due to time constraints or other reasons (upbringing), people want/need a pre-packaged experience. Some sandbox-like things succeed (Lego, Minecraft), while most others don't (Spore, Project Spark).
Yes, that's a problem I see myself often, especially with people the same age as me. They prefer phones over social interaction or creativity. Anyway, creating games is supposed to be a big part of this project, but there already will be over 100 traditional and historic games available from the start. Thanks for the feedback. Any more suggestions ?
I'm a big fan of board games and have quite a few stone games. As a kid I had exactly what you're trying to sell except they used more traditional bathroom wall covering. Ceramic tiles instead of glass pebbles. It was marketed in a similar way. Lots of vague "it'll expand your mind" woo and my new age hippie parents lapped it up like hungry puppies. I'm sure that marketing angle would work just as well today. There some problems tough. Hardly anyone plays board games. Relying on people making new games is a disaster. Stone games have been around for tens of thousands of years while people had nothing to do but sit around thinking up new games. Odds of anyone who buys this making a new game worth playing is less than zero. Last, but not least, you can't play mancala on one of those glass drinking game boards. When I crack open the game closet at parties mancala by far the most popular stone game, possibly most popular game overall. A pitted wooden board would be much more flexible than a glass shooters and ladders one. Yes. I understand it might not look as "kewl"
I really appreciate the feedback. I'm very curious about the product you encountered when you were a kid. Anyway, creating your own games and variations for existing games will be a feature of this set, but there will always be the option just to play a vast library of traditional and classic games. I noticed that there are very few places on the internet where there is quality content about board games in one single place. The web app will be a hub where you will be able to discover loads of games, that otherwise would be a pain to find searching through Google or otherwise. Any more suggestions ?
I don't have much more info on the tile game I had as as kid. That was early/mid 70's and it's long gone. As long as you have enough "good" games loaded in the hub it should be fine. Probably a good idea to include a list of the more popular ones in promotional material. Might also be a good idea to include a print out of the rules for those with the board+beads.
