Hey everyone. I am enjoying Codex! However, I’ve heard some people complain that individual matches take a long time to complete. I don’t agree! Most seem to agree that matches take about an hour to finish, sometimes more. Edit: I don’t know that that’s necessarily too long, or anything; I’m okay with it, but shortening that time does mean more Codex matches in a given lifetime!
For this reason (and for many other reasons) I would really love if there was a digital version of the game, which I expect would play much faster. Not only that, but even with a bot with really bad AI you could at least test out certain builds and stuff, and getting feedback on balance changes for future editions (assuming that that’s planned, of course) becomes much faster with a digital version.
Does anyone know if there is already a digital version of Codex being worked on? I understand the truly insane costs associated with producing a digital game, so I completely understand if the resources just aren’t there.
If that’s the case, I would happily help support a digital version via a Kickstarter. Sirlin Games’ record on Kickstarter is pretty good, so I’m pretty sure it’d be possible to raise the money for it. But then again, maybe that is too “narrow” of a thing to pitch on Kickstarter?
Perhaps the answer is to just make sure that Codex is super successful so that funding a digital version isn’t a problem.
Thoughts?
*One solution to that might be a fast-ish timer, but there’s also so much to do on a turn that I feel like that would maybe be annoying and you’d feel rushed. Anyway, that’s sort of beside the point of my post.
I know Sirlin has said he’s not working on a digital version of this at the moment because Fantasy Strike (his fighting game) is taking all of his resources on that front.
As for gameplay speed, I imagine it would get faster as you get more familiar with the matchup and with the game in general. That is one thing I really like about Flash Duel, though. The speed of play is so fast that you can iterate and develop strategies and countermeasures back and forth with your opponent over the course of a single session. That adaptation is one of the main things I like about these 1 on 1 type games, and Codex’s long individual games do hurt its ability to scratch that particular itch.
The Tabletopia dev team is currently working on a Codex module.
It will apprently have some quality of live features but since Tabletopia is similiar to Tabletop Simulator, it won’t be rules enforced and I doubt that games will be any shorter than in meat space (TTS games usually take longer than physical ones in my opinion, minus the setup).
Sirlin has stated on multiple occasions that his entire focus is on the Fantasy Strike fighting game for now. So while a Codex client Kickstarter would be exciting and I wouldn’t rule it out in the long run, I wouldn’t expect one anytime soon.
Play By Post Codex is a great experience, and IMO it would be nice if a Codex digital version was in differed time, such as http://awbw.amarriner.com does with Advance Wars.
I wish Tabletopia let you purchase individual games outright rather than support a subscription model. I don’t know how I feel about paying $5 a month to play Codex online. If it’s possible to buy games on the platform, their website is incredibly unclear; I had to go to their Kickstarter to see just what was included in each tier.
I would pay 5 bucks a month to play Codex online, although I am sad to hear that the rules aren’t enforced on the Tabletopia version. That to me doesn’t really sound like a “true” digital version, and would probably be only a little faster than playing the physical version.
Another good reason for the digital version is that it would actually make the game a bit easier to learn for beginners. As I’m learning I have a lot of exception-y questions about “can this attack that when XYZ conditions”, and a digital version would squash all of that much faster than having to go look up a FAQ (then again maybe the full game has more of an extensive manual with an FAQ in it than the Starter edition which is all I have at the moment).
You can get to the starter and full rulebooks for Codex there, as well as the spreadsheet of rulings.
It’s best to bookmark the URL listed above rather than to a specific rulebook in case we update anything in the future.
Codex tournaments will use chess clocks.
Tabletopia is a subscription service like Netflix, and you can’t buy an individual game on it. Tabletopia is a virtual tabletop that does not enforce rules of its games, but it does have some nice features to help automate tracking various quantities in its games. For example, in Codex you can mouseover a damage counter and mousewheel up/down to change the damage on something, rather than adding new +1 damage chits.
EDIT: Probably should have read the above post a little more thoroughly as it mentions the chess clocks. You only “Need” a timer for tournaments, casual play is whatever floats your boat. I find casual games to be a good length once everyone is used to the game.
@Leontes@sharpobject@Alhazard can you remember what we did for FSX? The first grand finals game we just gave both players a a large chunk of time (like 45 minutes? an hour?) and told them to get it done or else they’d only have 30 seconds a turn. It was a disaster. I think we ended up with some sort of chess clock system.
Giving players just one big block of time only seems to work about 50% of the time, and is a major problem for the other 50%. I think players will adapt to a timer system if it’s not too strict and there will always be people that abhor timers.
The first time I ran novice tournament(for Yomi) I optimistically made the first round no timer to give newbies time to communicate with their mentors. Two hours later I was able to start the second round with a new rule: SLOW TIMER. I then had to split the tournament into multiple days instead of the planned single day affair. The interesting thing though, was that most people didn’t have any problems with the timer restriction. In later tournaments I actually bumped it up to medium timer with only a few hiccups.
People might not appreciate their turn times being restricted, but they will appreciate a tournament proceeding smoothly from round to round and finishing in 3 hours instead of 6.
In the finals we tried telling us to play fast, using chess clocks, then using Fischer-style time control. Fischer-style time control is the approach I would recommend for the game, but it does not ensure that your swiss tournament will run on time, because players get extra time added each turn…
Maybe we only give 90 seconds per turn? We tried 1 minute per turn in FSX finals and that was not playable since you didn’t even have time to physically make the moves like attack, tap, patrol. The early turns should take hopefully less than 1 min so there is enough time for the later turns.
does anyone else besides me not want a 200 dollar kickstarter to be eclipsed by a digital version? This happened with Yomi and now I never get to play in person. I like my board games to be analog experiences.
On one level I agree with you, but what I really want is to play the game. I am happier playing in person with people I know well, but I would appreciate the availability of a rules enforced online version to scratch the itch from time to time. Play by forum is sufficient for me as a medium until a rules enforced version becomes available, which may be a very long time.
I think that a digital version makes it more likely that I can play in person. My friends can play and practice so that our limited time together is focused on advanced game play and not learning the basics.
I’m satisfied with PbP as the “online” version for now (as I have to be: we aren’t getting it for real for a long long time I’m quite sure), but I’d like to see it eventually as I think @chucklyfun is right that it’d grow the “advanced” player base, and as @zhavier said I wouldn’t get to play the game much otherwise (I don’t get a ton of time to meet up with people, much less those who are interested in the game and willing to learn it)
I really couldn’t disagree more. I think a digital format is ideal for all of these games:
No setup or cleanup required
Rules are kept for you
Much, much easier to find other players (this is a big one for people like me without serious gaming groups)
(Potentially) Play against an AI opponent when you can’t
A fraction of the cost with much easier distribution
Patching / updating later editions is much easier with greatly reduced expense
Data collection for the above is far easier with one universal digital client
I would really, really love a digital version of codex. Prefer it, even. The only reason I spent money on the physical game at all is because of the lack of a digital client I could buy.
Agreed, I’d throw down some real cash if there was Kickstarter for a polished digital codex like Yomi. I didn’t invest in the deluxe set simply because I cannot routinely meet up with people to justify $200. Now with that being said, I occasionally check the digital version of the game and their game lobbies and I’m sad to see that there is usually only a hand full of people there. Having codex on tabletopia is actually a step backwards in my opinion as I would assume sirlin would want everyone online in the same lobbies.
I usually play codex 3 to 5 hours straight, having between 5 and 9 games. It’s very tiring!
I’m sure rules enforced version could let me play more games in the same time, and feel less tired (so maybe a could play an additional couple of hours) because i doesn’t need to track all the little rules, keep the board tidy, reshuffle all the time, resetup the game.
And smoke pot while playing without burning my deluxe set.
So it will be a total win, for me.
I wouldn’t mind if the electronic game has slight differences to better take advantage pf te medium and have a good interface, though, and that would help keep the physical game alive as an alternate experience.
Yeah, I mean, it would be cool and great if a rules-enforced digital version existed, but apparently they’re kind of a small company, so unless someone out there is willing to volunteer hundreds of hours of work without being paid for it, it’s been made clear a number of times that rules-enforced Codex comes, if ever, after the Fantasy Strike fighting game comes out, and that’s probably still a year away.
It’s not like it’s because Grumpy Ol’ Sirlin is holding back and keeping us from having online Codex. It’s more a matter of him just not having the resources for it in the first place right now, because it would be a big and expensive undertaking, especially while he’s working on a big and expensive undertaking. ; )
