I thought about dota and ludo with dice for the mash up idea but its seems there are many dota board game out there. But then i thought the games exactly don’t behave like the online dota game. So ill keep the 2-5 player team game part and then draw different path connecting each bases with cost to travel. it will still have the team help and simultaneous action. role the the dice count the path , land of special sports on the map, there may be draw a card which has hit points. secret spells etc. go and collect them on the board, hit the neutral creeps base and then role the dice to gain xp. or kill a hero to gain xp. finally when you face the enemy they land on the same time or cross path, they both role simultaneously to use hit-points to kill. The game ends with a timer or number or deaths per team. or they just reach the base of the enemy without getting killed.
I love the reimagining of the DOTA space for Ludo and the combination of themes. I wonder if you might have the players roll multiple dice and choose one? It might both make the choices of where to go feel more meaningful and add to the frantic feeling caused by the time limit.
Thanks again. I would like to add multiple dice roles and also timers. It would be a great game. I have so many ideas going on right now i don’t when i am going to finish with one. Also i have a question about the IP and using theme from the other games and artwork. when i think about dota map, and characters am i copying something? is it like if i publish these games i would be sued for publishing such a game. what can i say everything is already out there. i can think of collaboration and contact the world of war craft makers and beg them to let me make this game, buy why would they come to me they already have inhouse game designers or they might be knowing plenty. its a tough choice. even if its a film like a thought of matrix theme. Matrix board game theme and components i did not post the details but i think i have a good concept i am waiting to make the components, even if i succeed in making a world class game like chess for matrix move, i cant publish it because i am making use of characters names and they persona matches with the movie to add a story to it. So Yann what is your take on IP and using stories for your game which may get me into trouble. Thanks again.
You’re right - you can’t use the DOTA name or artwork (nor the Matrix). you’d have to make original artwork and not use their trademarks. If you were to try and publish your Dota/Ludo game, you’d get a cease-and-desist at the very least and possibly a lawsuit.
The short answer to IP is that rules and mechanics can’t be copyrighted, but everything else in a game (including the rules manual) can be. There’s a lot more to it than that, but that’s the basic overview.
How did these guys get to make the dota board game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLWzoUJaBXI or this guys https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=763999228 who published it on steam workshop. don’t even know if he earn money out if this. even matrix toys are made available. But i get the details ill have to think of a personal story and artwork. But should be ok for private play-testing with Friends.
For private games to play with your friends, I think you’re fine. For publishing it on Tabletop Simulator, that’s murkier. For releasing as a game into the wild, that’s a problem/
I believe, when designing this, it should be really clear to you what player experience you want to achieve with this.
The danger I have with video games being turned into board games is that it becomes to complicated that I find no reason to play the board game version.
For instance, I really like the computer game Sid Meier’s Civilization. But if they turn the current Civ V game into board game, with all the features it has, I find no reason to play it. I would not want to go through painstaking and time-consuming computation of how many golds I have achieved, or if the Science points I have are enough for a new technology, etc. Nor would I want to wait that long for my turn as the other player checks if everything in the rules are being followed. But since the computer does all those things for me, I’m more focused into my strategy to victory and all. I’d rather play the computer game over the board game. Unless, of course, the board game could still engage me with the player experience it intends. And for it to work, it takes wisdom to know which mechanics or feature from the video game is taken out and which still stays.
When I think of Dota, the experience that comes to my mind is the intensity of the real-time battles, the way the abilities are precisely executed. Yes, there is the excitement in building the character and equipping them with proper gears, but those are for the purpose of dealing damage during the real-time clashes and the risk of timing the abilities properly.
So I guess, for me, it would come down to the question “What experience is there in the board game that I won’t get in the video game?”
What do you think?