I know playable board games are suggested a lot, but I’d like to put my own spin on it. I’ve heard that playable Connect 4 and a couple other house games are being added in a later Arcade Phase, but once that floodgate gets opened there are so many more board games I and others would love to see! and if that ever happens I think it’d be super cool to open a board game café in the lobby. In this location you could:
Buy Coffee and Snacks
Play board games you don’t own
Spectate other people playing Board Games
Organize in-game tournaments with prize pools and trophies
Buy board games and board game themed furniture, like giant boards and pieces for decoration
and a lot more programming intensive then the others, but
Play a selection of board games against AI opponents (Some AI are licensable like chess)
Board games could include: Checkers, Chess, Backgammon, Mancala, Hex, Othello, GO, Gomoku, Chinese Checkers, Shogi, etc.
Plus Ancient Board games, rare extremely expensive collectables that can be found with a Metal detector or won as a prize: The Royal Game of UR, Tenet, Nine Mens Morris, Patolli, Hnefatafl, Chaturaji etc.
I’ve kinda been on a board game kick lately, if there are any more board games I missed I’d love to hear it!
This would definitely be nice. I remember pre-closure, GMT had little checker / tictactoe boards you could use to kill time before games. It was really cozy and I think more simple in-world games would be a great addition.
I knew I wasn’t the only one who remembers this. I really hope they bring something like this back. And to add to the original post I would love to see good old tic-tac-toe if such place were to be added to the game.
I think that might be too tucked away, I’d like it out in the open for people to see. I’d rather see options like the condo lobby (people chill in these chairs often, would be nice to have simple things to linger with), or maybe the game world ports (good to wait for folks, or for your queue board to start), maybe a little chess table on the boardwalk or near the fountain or anywhere. Something similar to the appeal of chess boards in NYC’s Central Park, where people often gather to play in a social environment.
I never paid much attention to this building. Actually I don’t think I even knew it existed! Either way, the way I see it is - I like the idea of giving this rooftop building some functionality but I think I agree with EmKev more about his proposed locations for the tables. Condo lobby is basically like a social hub so something more to do there would be appreciated. As for game world ports, it could definitely use something to do as well, and EmKev has a point with that I would love to stay there for a while, see if people join, rather than go back every now and then to see if queue has been filled up or not. Maybe both condo hub AND game world ports could receive a few tables instead of only deciding for one of them? Either way, wherever they end up, I will be happy as long as they are back on plaza for people to use and enjoy more activities as I have been missing this quite a bit after GMT closed.
Or, why not all three? Put some games in gameworld ports and condo hub, but also give some more love to the rooftop. Right now, there’s next to no reason to even go up there. Only time I ever go up there is to see if a character has spawned up there. Almost never see anyone there when I do go up.
Does clubhouse games have a good alternative on steam? The only one I can think of is tabletop simulator but that feels like a different type of experience to me.
Board games and something like this with player-made tournaments and rewards you can buy for your condo sound genuinely amazing. I’ve been hoping for a feature like this since day 1. It sort of reminds me of the casino in FFXIV, earn points from various other things, and be able to claim rewards like clothing or housing items with those points.
Additionally, I think going off that comparison, it would be kind of cool to see a lottery spanning across all the players on any server. Players enter a weekly lottery that gives away units, and a 4-digit number is picked at the end of the week. The player who guesses the closest to that number wins, and gets maybe a unique reward like a condo item or something. Rare items are cool.
On that note, different avenues for earning rare things are one of my favorite things in gaming. Getting items through achievements, rare drop rates, confusing/long puzzles, or through different hard-to-get currency makes owning those items so much more special. Maybe some of those board games could function through something like that, like winning 100 chess matches rewards you with a shogi board or something. Stuff like that is the coolest.
One more thing I think would be cool is like a OST or Soundtrack collection. Having the ability to earn or buy the songs scattered throughout the game by using currency or completing achievements. Functionally, one would assume it wouldn’t be too hard since all the songs are already made, and any additional songs made later could just be added. This collection could then be used to play music passively in a condo or (perhaps) even through headphones or something while running around. Just an interesting idea, and an easy way to add valuable fluff rewards to something like this Cafe or the Arcade. Look to something like the Orchestrion Rolls in FFXIV for comparison. Lots of aspects in that game I think are very clever.
