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Post by Mio on Jun 1, 2014 16:41:21 GMT
This thought really just came to me as I was binge watching Wil Wheaton's web show Tabletop. For the record I'm talking about making a pony version of Monopoly (which if it doesn't existing likely will soon) or Ticket to Ride (which should exist but won't), I'm talking about what an original pony game.
The thought kind of came to me when I realized that when it came to board games for younger audiences they were almost all competitive. All the cooperative boardgames were aimed at older audiences and tended to have a horror (Betryal at House on the End, any of the number of Cthulhu themed games) or had some similarly dark theme (Pandemic, Battlestar Galactica). It just seemed to me that FiM would be an ideal franchise to make a cooperative boardgame for a younger audience. That being said I don't know what it would look like or how it would play, it's more just a thought that I had.
You could still probably have a competitive boardgame based on FiM though. Could easily have a resource based game in the vein of Agricola (perhaps a Sweet Apple Acres or Sugarcube Corner themed game), or a building game like Alhambra. In fact I could see the later type of game with the theme of rebuilding the old Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters (you could also have a game about exploring it as well).
This is mostly just thoughts I had. If anyone else has any other thoughts on the subject I think it would make for interesting conversation about other territories the franchise could enter.
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Post by Applelight Limited on Jun 1, 2014 17:41:50 GMT
How much do you think the concept of friendship should figure into it?
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Post by japaneseteeth on Jun 1, 2014 18:08:36 GMT
I don't really know enough about Tabletop gaming to say. I'd envision something something in structure to the Gameloft game, only with better balance. Like the characters' goal would be to reach the center of the board (Which could be randomized, Catan-style), with different obstacles along the way.
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Post by Mio on Jun 1, 2014 18:49:45 GMT
How much do you think the concept of friendship should figure into it? Depends on what kind of game you want to play and other parts of the theme. You can certainly have an epic Fantasy kind of game, or just a game about running a bakery (trust me, people would still buy it). I don't really know enough about Tabletop gaming to say. I'd envision something something in structure to the Gameloft game, only with better balance. Like the characters' goal would be to reach the center of the board (Which could be randomized, Catan-style), with different obstacles along the way. How does the gameloft game actually play? To be quite honest I haven't played many board games either. Mostly due to lack of a regular group. Most of what I know if watching shows online like Wil Wheaton's Tabletop.
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Post by Applelight Limited on Jun 1, 2014 18:53:27 GMT
@ JT
your embedded sig is awesome.
@ Mio
Would you use the mane six or others? I'm just trying to get some ideas together.
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Post by Mio on Jun 1, 2014 19:07:57 GMT
@ JT your embedded sig is awesome. @ Mio Would you use the mane six or others? I'm just trying to get some ideas together. Again, I think that would depend on what kind of game you would want to make, and also how close would you want to make it to the show. For a game that is more directly referencing events of the show I think it would make snese to include the Mane Six as characters to choose from. If it's a more original event, then I think it would make sense to use other characters or even make original characters, or even to not have "characters" at all (at least in the specific sense).
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Post by Applelight Limited on Jun 1, 2014 19:19:03 GMT
As it stands I think it's possible to have several games now.
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Post by japaneseteeth on Jun 1, 2014 19:38:34 GMT
How does the gameloft game actually play? To be quite honest I haven't played many board games either. Mostly due to lack of a regular group. Most of what I know if watching shows online like Wil Wheaton's Tabletop. The gameloft game is largely a farming-type deal. I was referring mainly to the emphasis on gathering resources to put towards overcoming obstacles, with a possible element of using the points accumulated in gameplay to buy powerups or whatever.
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Post by Applelight Limited on Jun 1, 2014 19:42:14 GMT
I got a suggestion;
players want to start a business, but need friendship to do it. It sounded good in my head but the trick is to work out how that could work in a multiple player board game.
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Post by Mio on Jun 1, 2014 19:47:27 GMT
As it stands I think it's possible to have several games now. That's true. There are a lot of games that you could make from the FiM. Though I actually have an idea forming in my head about how to do a kind of board game that would make sense in FiM. The basic idea is that each player has a character that arrives in Ponyville. As their characters move about Ponyville (varies locations function as "spaces") they have a chance to meet varies characters in the show (possibly determined by dice roles or cards) and befriend them, allowing the players to take control of them and have more actions they can take. That's the most basic idea. There are other things that can be done with it, but that's the gist of something that I think makes sense for a FiM board game that isn't just plain ripping the mechanics of another game. The gameloft game is largely a farming-type deal. I was referring mainly to the emphasis on gathering resources to put towards overcoming obstacles, with a possible element of using the points accumulated in gameplay to buy powerups or whatever. Yeah, that sounds like it would make for a decent base for a boardgame in the style of Agricola or Settlers of Catan.
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Post by japaneseteeth on Jun 1, 2014 20:28:25 GMT
Haven't played Agricola, but yeah, I like that idea of having sort of a customized version of Ponyville. Like you'd have a Catan-esque board with different things on each of them. Like you'd have location spaces, meeting spaces, and event spaces. The meeting spaces would have you draw a pony card or something with different effects. The Event spaces could be stuff like "Parasprites arrive in town; do X to get rid of them" and by doing it you get to keep the cards and get points for completing your mission. They could be anything from meeting other ponies to gathering resources, or going to specific places. For example, to get rid of the parasprites, the card would tell you to go to go meet Pinkie. You'd move around the board via dice rolls, so it would determine how far you could go per turn.
Don't know exactly what the overall goal would be, though.
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Post by Mio on Jun 1, 2014 21:09:21 GMT
I think that such a game might benefit from a two phase kind of set up similar to Betryal at House on the Hill. In the first phase the players just kind of explore Ponyville, gather items, make friends (in the context of this game it's essentially building your party), until certain conditions are meet and they trigger the games second phase in which the players receive an event or scenario that they and their assembled friends must work together to resolve. The events can reflect the kind of stuff that would happen in the show, from silly slice of life events like assembling an exhibit for the Clown's Day fair, or more adventurey/mystery kind of things like banishing the Pony of Shadows who is haunting the town or something.
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Post by japaneseteeth on Jun 1, 2014 21:19:33 GMT
Yeah, that could work as well. I had envisioned it as both phases sort of coming at once; like you find missions and stuff as you go around town.
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Post by Mio on Jun 1, 2014 21:27:35 GMT
I personally like the two phase set up for two reasons.
One, it allows the game to have an obvious "end point" with out needing to come up with a system of points or something similar. You just complete the scenario and your done.
And two, it allows for more replayability in that every game might have you dealing with a completely new scenario, with different objectives, actions, and some cases a completely different tone.
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Post by japaneseteeth on Jun 2, 2014 0:32:29 GMT
True. It would also be cool if each scenario had multiple solutions to try for, so even if the scenario is the same, the playthrough would be different.
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