Please digitize Mage Knight next!

[SirTristanYT]

Literally my favorite board game of all time. Would play SO much Mage Knight. It's also perfect for a digital platform since it's very playable solo or same-screen co-op!

[Swisspike]

This would be exceptional. Mage Knight is VERY complex, and this would work perfectly as a board game port.

[SirTristanYT]

Originally posted by Swisspike:

This would be exceptional. Mage Knight is VERY complex, and this would work perfectly as a board game port.

For sure! I think on the complexity scale it's similar to Through the Ages, and this game works quite well, so I really think Mage Knight could as well.

[FroBodine]

Oh my gosh, a PC version of Mage Knight, with The Lost Legion expansion of course, would be a dream come true!

[SirTristanYT]

Originally posted by FroBodine:

Oh my gosh, a PC version of Mage Knight, with The Lost Legion expansion of course, would be a dream come true!

Let's hope the devs are watching! And that Through the Ages makes enough money to warrant a Mage Knight game.

[Benkyo]

I'd buy it, even after spending upwards of 4,000 hours making it playable on Vassal.

[Kadota]

Yes, please!!! That would become my most played game I'd ever own.

[Swisspike]

OK, Devs....there are five of us here, and at LEAST one hundred thousand sales at 30 dollars each if the digital conversion is made.

One full year, for three million dollars? Why not..development costs would be about 300k.

[DraX]

more and more board games is 'digitalized' recently. FFG is also started this process and lotr lcg is going to be released in q2.

So probably we will see most if not all 'top tier'/best board games on steam.

Its 'easy' money for companies that designed and printed them before, all they had to do is make them digital, they have arts, design etc ... so sooner or later we will see those great board games :)

[Benkyo]

Originally posted by DraX:

Its 'easy' money for companies that designed and printed them before, all they had to do is make them digital, they have arts, design etc ... so sooner or later we will see those great board games :)

Programming rule enforcement for complex games is far from trivial, and programming competent AI within that rule-enforced framework is even harder.

On the positive side Mage Knight doesn't even require AI programming.

On the downside Mage Knight still has a lot of outstanding ambiguous rule situations, made worse by the expansions, all of which would have to be fully understood and resolved before a digital port could work.

On the real downer side, WizKids holds the rights to Mage Knight, so nothing can happen unless WizKids allows it. This is probably the greatest stumbling block - the team behind Through the Ages and Galaxy Trucker are probably the best in the world to do it, but what are the chances WizKids will let them, or that it makes economic sense to sort out licensing?

[Swisspike]

Originally posted by Benkyo:

Originally posted by DraX:

Its 'easy' money for companies that designed and printed them before, all they had to do is make them digital, they have arts, design etc ... so sooner or later we will see those great board games :)

Programming rule enforcement for complex games is far from trivial, and programming competent AI within that rule-enforced framework is even harder.

On the positive side Mage Knight doesn't even require AI programming.

On the downside Mage Knight still has a lot of outstanding ambiguous rule situations, made worse by the expansions, all of which would have to be fully understood and resolved before a digital port could work.

On the real downer side, WizKids holds the rights to Mage Knight, so nothing can happen unless WizKids allows it. This is probably the greatest stumbling block - the team behind Through the Ages and Galaxy Trucker are probably the best in the world to do it, but what are the chances WizKids will let them, or that it makes economic sense to sort out licensing?

If Battletech can sort out their licensing issues, then this would be trivial.

There is AI behavior, when you attack the final bosses, and to a more limited extent, when you engage the opponents in the various buildings and lairs.

[SirTristanYT]

Originally posted by Benkyo:

On the downside Mage Knight still has a lot of outstanding ambiguous rule situations, made worse by the expansions, all of which would have to be fully understood and resolved before a digital port could work.

I would hope they could get Vlaada to consult or something on any ambiguity!

[Swisspike]

Originally posted by SirTristanYT:

Originally posted by Benkyo:

I would hope they could get Vlaada to consult or something on any ambiguity!

Mage Knight, as a game, is one of my favorites. I will admit that I don't have all the rules and their nuances committed to memory. A PC port, with the AI handling the rules set, would be ideal.

[3tamatulg]

Upboated.

[Benkyo]

Originally posted by Swisspike:

If Battletech can sort out their licensing issues, then this would be trivial.

If swans are white, so are ravens.

Originally posted by Swisspike:

There is AI behavior, when you attack the final bosses, and to a more limited extent, when you engage the opponents in the various buildings and lairs.

Are we calling numbers AI now? "AI" is a silly term in the first place, but I thought people were still using it to reference optimised "decisions" made by algorithms, rather than static sets of numbers and simple dice/card-driven input-output.

Originally posted by SirTristanYT:

I would hope they could get Vlaada to consult or something on any ambiguity!

Of course, but he's already apologised for letting ambiguous mechanisms slip by him into the first expansion, and the difference in clarity between the base game and successive expansions is clear. Even the base game has PvP issues which have never been clarified. All I'm saying is, it would be a lot of work and it would all have to be done impeccably, else bugs.

[Swisspike]

Originally posted by Benkyo:

Originally posted by Swisspike:

If Battletech can sort out their licensing issues, then this would be trivial.

If swans are white, so are ravens.

Originally posted by Swisspike:

There is AI behavior, when you attack the final bosses, and to a more limited extent, when you engage the opponents in the various buildings and lairs.

Are we calling numbers AI now? "AI" is a silly term in the first place, but I thought people were still using it to reference optimised "decisions" made by algorithms, rather than static sets of numbers and simple dice/card-driven input-output.

Originally posted by SirTristanYT:

I would hope they could get Vlaada to consult or something on any ambiguity!

Of course, but he's already apologised for letting ambiguous mechanisms slip by him into the first expansion, and the difference in clarity between the base game and successive expansions is clear. Even the base game has PvP issues which have never been clarified. All I'm saying is, it would be a lot of work and it would all have to be done impeccably, else bugs.

Else bugs goes for every program ever written. Of COUSE it would have to be quality tested. FWIW, TtA appears to be stable, and bug free.

Despite your rather snippy response, what I call AI are the decisions that the computer makes. "Optimized decisions", as you call it, are what a computer program is all about. There will be decision points that will very, depending upon the player's forces and disposition. This will require programming, and testing.