Tablet based ship-board?

[Pappy Liam]

Has anyone looked into using a tablet for the ship board? It always seems we are tacking through the shipboard and need to move them.I have been thinking of a wood solution but think a table would be even better. eazy to keep in order and efficient for multiple ships if you need it.

[Broadsword56]

An iOS app, just to give players a digital handheld version of the ship logs, would be fantastic.

[Kentop]

If you want to see what it might be like, download the app "Eight Bells". It lets you create fleets and calculates damage. Eight bells is a Napoleonic miniatures game. You can download the rules for free, too.

[Broadsword56]

Thanks, Kentop.
Cyberboard playing aids are quite easy to make for the PC, and I've made several for hex-and-counter board wargames over the years.
I'd make one for SoG, except I've gotten myself into designing ship miniatures instead (and there are only so many hours in a day...)

[Union Jack]

Ares produced an app for WoG where you can control upto 3 aircraft on a pad. Would be ncie to have something similar with drag and drop tokens for SoG.

[Pappy Liam]

Yes that is what I am looking for. I will check out the WoG app. I am no programmer so I cant ake one but sure wish some one would.
I looked at the eight bells and found it lacking. I need to check out the game it self.

In the interim I plan on making a wooden tray to hold the shipboard. I will post pic as soon as I complete it.

[Gunner]

If an app for SGN does come out, I might have to buy one of those new fangled inventions and get rid of my old talk, text and picture snap only dinosaur.

[TexaS]

Not to promise anything, but...

I'm a developer for iOS.

[Nightmoss]

Will be watching this with interest.

[Broadsword56]

Awesome, Jonas.
I sure hope you do develop this.

[Pappy Liam]

Excellent! Please keep us posted on this.

[TexaS]

It will take a while. I have to remove as much as I can of Ares graphics and somehow make everything familiar. I also have to remove the ships data and make it possible to enter it. I want to make it easy to play, not a free way of getting all the data, to make sure I don't infringe too much on Ares copyright.

[fredmiracle]

An app where someone has to enter all the data strikes me as not too useful. Would it be worth trying to contact Ares and get their blessing on letting you release a fully functional app as a way to promote the game?

[TexaS]

You still just have to enter it once after downloading the app, but you would have to enter every firepower number for every fire arc for every damage box. It will be saved under that ships name and then you can choose to use that ship. You only loose the data if you delete the app.

This means you can also enter your own ships (like the pirates) and give them your own values, or new names to the ships in the game.

Now the data is hard coded directly in the code.

I should probably add a "copy and edit" function, and possibly my own values for a ship they haven't done that can be copied.


The problem with asking Ares is that they will have to decide. If they say yes they give up a little of their copyright and just to not loose anything it's easier to just say no.

If I don't ask I can publish it and if they complain I will have to take it down, but I give them the option of letting me do it while infringing on their copyright, without them loosing their rights.

[Jason]

But on the other hand, you are giving them a product they can "sell", or moreso, use as a marketing tool for their game, without hiring developers and making an investement. I believe that's a win-win situation for both parties.

[TexaS]

Anyone with a closer relationship with Ares that can give a guess to their attitude to such co-operations?

I think that they are good guys in their dealings with customers, but you never know. They still have the minis.

I did a character sheet for iPad for Call of Cthulhu RPG and Caosium gave me their blessing when asked. It can be done.

[David Manley]

I would suggest that it is definitely worth asking, but don't get your hopes up.

[Nightmoss]

Anyone with a closer relationship with Ares that can give a guess to their attitude to such co-operations?

I think that they are good guys in their dealings with customers, but you never know. They still have the minis.

I did a character sheet for iPad for Call of Cthulhu RPG and Caosium gave me their blessing when asked. It can be done.

David Manley, Diamondback and Keith (The Royal Hajj) all have close ties to Ares.

[7eat51]

Ares is a very small company; I doubt folks there would be interested in exploring such applications. If applications arise, I imagine they will be done by folks like you, Jonas.

We try to monitor copyright issues here and on the 'Drome, sometimes more successfully than others. From previous dealings with Ares, it seems the company does not want information put into a form that directly replaces sales of their products, such as making direct scans of maneuver decks. I am not sure how they will feel about your application because it is not a one-to-one replacement of ship logs/mats - functionally it might serve the same purpose but, physically, it is not a direct replacement. We made customized laminated ship logs/mats for our use - no problem, for example.

[Ozariig]

I approve. Good stuff, Jonas!

Maybe future versions could import ships from XML or from CSV to make it easier for people who have fat fingers like me. I think that's how BattleScribe and ArmyBuilder work for Warhammer.

[Pappy Liam]

The next step is a squadren/ fleet builder that lets you add ships from the list. I use this kind of thing for swing and it works great.

[Pappy Liam]

X- wing ��

[KDz]

I would like to someone with programming skills did such app., which has WoG for solo play.
So, maybe someone knows someone who knows someone...

[TexaS]

Oh this... I had my hand in a cast and couldn't program for a long time, but I should be getting back to this project.

How a ship log looks now.

[7eat51]

Interesting, Jonas.

As the ship takes hits and boxes are crossed off, the associated boxes will fade, correct? It looks like a similar thing is happening with ammo loading.

[Diamondback]

NICE, Jonas! Only one refinement I might suggest if Ares is agreeable... that would be maybe adding a side-elevation of the ship showing hull markings, different flags to match the miniature (like the red, white and blue RN ensigns) and possibly some spot for a custom ID marking.

Would be VERY helpful for keeping ships straight in those Big Epic Battles Walram likes to run... :) or for me assuming Android versions are developed and still a thing when I get tenure, a great way to speed the lesson in the classroom. :)

[TexaS]

When a box is filled it will fade. If it takes less damage the bright part gets smaller accordingly. Above there is 3 out of 5 taken in the second box. I haven't dimmed the values for the guns because I know several here on the forum use that value until it's filled. It lets them use it as they wish.

This it the fighting phase and therefore the guns can be ready to fire (starboard broadside above), fired showing what ammunition was loaded (port broadside above) lightly dimmed gun is loaded but no action, much dimmed is not even loaded and it can be loading. As shown there is an action for muskets but not for boarding. When taking sail damage the first makes the sails torn but still usable and the second makes them dimmed and not possible to use.

There is basically the planning phase and the fighting phase of the turn. I have to work on the icons for "taking damage" and "next phase"/"next turn".

I will say this is something I'm doing because I want it when I play and I find fun to program it will only be iPhone if not someone else want to do an android version. I would happily share any images I've made myself and from the response I got from Ares I would guess they would share the rest.

The one thing I'm not sure how to handle in the app is what ship data should be included. I had the idea of only having non-official designs in it from the start and adding a possibility for everyone to add new ships with any data you want, but perhaps the starter ships could be included. You kind of need to buy that to play the game anyway.

You can select the flag from the ones I have added in the app which right now is six British, three French and one each of Spanish, Danish, Russian and Swedish. I'm not sure how a side elevation picture would work. It would be possible to have a "open picture of ship"-button that would show a picture you take of your own ship, But I don't think there would be any space in the layout to show such a picture on the screen where you could see any details of the ships. The picture above looks big on the screen but is quite small on the phone.

[Tordenskjold]

WAUW Jonas...

[Nightmoss]

Looks great, Jonas. I will state that my eyes are likely to have problems reading numbers if this is meant solely for an iphone? Can this be done for Apple tablets as well?

[TexaS]

You can (almost) always run iPhone apps on the iPad. I use the iPad while testing because it's bigger and makes it easier to spot mistakes.

[Nightmoss]

You can (almost) always run iPhone apps on the iPad. I use the iPad while testing because it's bigger and makes it easier to spot mistakes.

Was hoping that might be so. Thanks!

[7eat51]

Thanks for the explanation, Jonas. I will have to show Sue this. She developed software and systems for 20 or so years. She does web coding on different jobs now. Unlike you, however, I can't imagine she would code for fun. As I type, she is painting a Battletech mini in the other room; that kind of work she thoroughly enjoys, especially now that she bought two magnifying lamps this past week.