I'm playing a lot of boardgames on my iPad right now. In fact, I interrupted a nice game of Neuroshima Hex to type up this quick post. And don't even get me started on the time I've spent with Ticket to Ride, Bang, Small World, and about 15 titles from Dr. Knizia.
And here's the thing: I'll often make a move in one of these and be struck by a powerful thought: "I can totally see playing Cosmic Encounter on this thing!" I can visualize it so easily ... moving ships with my finger, swiping to play cards from my hand, clicking inside some simple dialogue boxes. And all in gorgeous color on my convenient, 1-pound, go anywhere, internet-ready device. (And how about purchasing "Alien Packs" with iOS' In-App Purchase feature? Someone get the cash register ready!)
I'll go out on a limb here: I think, one day, I will be able to play CE on the iPad (or the iPad's successor, whatever it might be). I think it's almost inevitable, in fact, and a natural progression for the game. It won't be happening this year or in 2012; I understand that. But in the short- to medium-term future ... ? I can really see it happening.
I know it sounds a bit nutty on the surface. "Cosmic on the iPad? No way!" But you know what else sounded really nutty a few years ago?
Cosmic Encounter Online.
So who's with me? Is anyone else seeing my vision? And how do you see it working? Four players ... five players ... more? In-app purchases? Achievements and leaderboards? Dare to dream, friends.
13 comments:
Wait, why can't this happen in 2012? I'm sure any of the development houses that have been doing board game conversions would be beside themselves to get a license to publish Cosmic Encounter... and they could probably get a good game out in about a year's time. If Cosmic hasn't been shopped around for iOS devices already, I would be sad.
That's a fair question ... it's just a gut feeling. I'm not trading on any inside information.
There's about 19 months between now and the end of 2012; even if production were to start today, is that enough time to get a game released with, say, 25 aliens? I'm not sure ... I'm definitely not a programmer.
I do agree that there's got to be a number of developers out there who would be interested in licensing CE.
Since there's an existing codebase for CE Online already, creating an iPad version wouldn't be as onerous as you indicate. Redo the client in something that's not Flash, and there you go. If Bill Eberle isn't already working on this, then I'd be surprised.
If Eon and FFG wanted to port the current boardgame edition over to iOS, then a lot more work would need to be done.
I just managed an ios project that feels a bit bigger than this and we finished in 6 months. It could easily be done in a year.
LOL -- it's starting to sound like I'll need to edit out that "2012" line ...
I hope not, actually. I don't like tablets, but the reason I wouldn't want it to happen isn't just out of some bizarre spite for a type of electronic device (I couldn't care less) but because it could mean splitting the player base.
If they could get it to interact with CEO, that would be fantastic and I'd be all about it. I don't know if that's possible though, since last I checked (and this was around when I-Pad came out), it couldn't run Flash.
A fair point. Winged monkeys will actually fly out of my posterior before Apple embraces Flash for iOS.
In that case, I hope they do not embrace Flash in your lifetime, Not for Cosmic's sake but for yours.
We're also working under the pretense that this hasn't been started yet. Peter Olotka was dropping some pretty heavy hints about Cosmic on mobile devices in interviews and on twitter over the last year (citation needed). FFG dropped "Hey! That's My Fish!" On iOS with almost no notice. It just appeared in the app store one day with no marketing to lead the way. It's not out of the realm of possibility to think that FFG is alreay working on CE for iOS (or, if Peter has the rights to digital distribution, that the CEO team has been working on something). I'll go opposite of the original poster and say that I'll be surprised if Cosmic Encounter is *not* on iOS by the end of 2012.
Adam made an interesting point. iOS publishers may indeed be cautious of splitting an already niche player base too. I wouldn't be surprised if FFG took on this project themselves, that they require CEO to be shut down for just that reason. Knizia did that with all of his online games that were scattered around the Internet before releasing iOS versions of the games. It would suck, yes, but the final product would likely be far superior to what we have now, and to be honest I'm far more likely to play Cosmic on my couch in the evening with my iPad than I am to do the same on my laptop.
I would definitely be sad if they went that route, but it would make sense, and though I think a tablet would otherwise be a waste of money for my personal lifestyle, I could see myself getting one if it had a solid player base and CEO was no longer available by browser.
But if they would ever shut down CEO for that purpose, those Founderships damn well better transfer over! (Or at least mine...)
Im not even going to make it sound like I understand the technical side of anything, lmao. But I hate how Apple won't embrase and allow flash, its a pain in the @@@@. I have an iphone and sooo many times been close to getting an ipad, and because I commute to work on public transport rather than drive, and I get to work earlier than needed, my Cosmic Encounter time would go up to quite a lot if I could use these to access CE Online. I think also, now I have my mum playing online occassionally, that if she could use an ipad to play, that would probably be the final selling point to her as a computer end-user.
I sometimes cant help feeling that Apple trying to blow their horn and retricting the use of flash by their own choice, is actually having an affect on their sales and that a number of people like myself are holding back because of this......
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