Help needed - rather random question!!

[Toffeesmum]

Hi guys, Bit of a random one this...

In terms of bee keeping I am a total newbie having installed my first Nuc colony on 1st May into a 14 x 12 hive with a 2012 queen. Pleased to say they're doing amazing, expending well and so docile I could tickle them under the chin!!...

However, in terms of serious board-game playing... I'm an anorak and love playing board games of various kinds, mainly 'gamers games' like Agricola, Settlers of Catan, Dominion, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride... the list is endless (not the 'norm' board games) but strategic/educational ones...

... so, to my question to you... using my 'read' and now hands-on knowledge of bee keeping together with love of gaming, I am thinking about creating a board game combining the two. There are sooooooooo many avenues to it's creation/playing that I think it has great potential.

WHAT DO YOU THINK???? Viable?? Something you'd be interested in??

Thank you in advance

 

[For want of a better word]

Snakes & Ladders just about sums up beekeepering for me!

 

[Toffeesmum]

Lol - well I'd like to make it a little more interesting than that, but I get your thread!!

 

[thebhoy]

Why not create / develop a few example games, objective, rules, age range etc.....if YOU believe they could be interesting.
Then, you could try them with different groupings...children, adults, beekeepers, association members and get feedback.

This will help determine whether they are viable options for further development and then.......sales pitch for investors, markets and off you go.

 

[davnig]

sounds interesting, have you designed games before?

are you thinking dice based, card based, strategy, knowledge based or luck

keep us informed

 

[dpearce4]

Could be very useful as a teaching tool for the visual or kinaesthetic learners.

There are many out there that really don't like books for learning from.

 

[pargyle]

Personally, I'd widen your market appeal ... if you look at the most successful games developed over the last 50 years you will find the ones that have sustained sales year on year are those with a very broad appeal in both subject matter and age range - particularly if they can be played by a whole family without reference to age/ability.

There is a very limited market in beekeepers and those interested in beekeeping .... and to be honest we are a pretty tight fisted lot - often with other interests that keep us busy. I can't see a game based solely on beekeeping able to generate the sort of sales volume that is required to facilitate the investment in tooling, literature, packaging etc. The 'I thought it was a good idea' sector of entrepreneurship is littered with failed board games I'm afraid.

Sorry to rain on your parade but what you get here is mostly honest opinions. If there is a market for it then one of the big games manufacturers will bite your hand off and pay you a handsome royalty on every one sold..... they will be looking, initially, at market size and cost of development so you will need to have done your homework as well as produce a prototype. There is a huge requirement for advertising in launching any new board game ... there really has to be a real 'hook' to get anywhere.

Good luck though ... hope it works.

 

[Newtobees]

I've been playing games with bees all summer.

 

[nonstandard]

sounds interesting, have you designed games before?

are you thinking dice based, card based, strategy, knowledge based or luck

keep us informed

Strategy ......... That rules out a beekeeping game then

 

[Fraise]

I've been playing games with bees all summer.

Bees have been playing games with me all summer

 

[alanf]

It's an idea. Many years ago I worked for a games company, among others retailing the likes of Avalon Hill and Hartland Trefoil, which might mean something to some. There are games clubs and groups but it's a small market and, to put it kindly, not a growth area.

To be commercial you need a TV tie in. If you want to develop a game that's great but it's a long process and it will be for your own interest. The volume manufacturers reject hundreds a year. Small volume design and manufacture isn't cheap, there's a huge setup cost for initial production, cards, tokens, boards, packaging, artwork, promotion.

There may be some potential in an educational role, either training through BKAs or an eco angle. Possible routes might be a computer simulation, sim-beefarmer style. Or an open source approach, cards to print and cut out yourself. Whichever way, first and above all you need to get the mechanics right to work as a game.

Good luck, get back to us if you are looking for games testers.

 

[clv101]

Possible routes might be a computer simulation, sim-beefarmer style.

I've often thought a bee simulator would be interesting. It could literally model the hive down to the level of the individual bee, based on the energy balance of the hive, queen performance, probability distributions of all the features... 'players' would manage an apiary starting with one hive and managing swarm control, queen rearing, honey harvesting, medication etc...

 

[Toffeesmum]

Thanks everyone for your feedback, some very amusing lol

I will take on board comments and continue with my ideas, if only to make for myself/friends and family etc to play... watch this space!!

 

[HM Honey]

Sounds like a great idea to me. I would aim it at kids and try to stick in a bit of secret education in there as well. Maybe base the game around trying to build up a colony somehow. Player starts with a queen and has to do whatever to collect extra workers and build the colony, with things like swarming, varroa, AFB etc being punishments instead of fines etc.....

Done right, I think it could be an excellent kids game. i've even already thought of a title for you. "the Colony"

 

[drstitson]

a semi educational boardgame would probably sell well - remember many UK beeks are still well grounded in the practices of the 1950s and 1960s!!!!!

your player pieces could be coloured BBKA approved matchsticks.



any good with IT/computing? how about an app rather than an actual boardgame. or perhaps both.

 

[HM Honey]

any good with IT/computing? how about an app rather than an actual boardgame. or perhaps both.

Excellent idea drstitson, what about going a step further and creating a board game that actually interects with an App?

 

[Toffeesmum]

IT?? Nah, hopeless!!

Thank you again all. Yes, have loads of ideas about the format etc and have been jotting them all down randomly.

Nope, I'm pants with IT so apps etc would be no good, but when I've made my first million on the board game version, I'll pay someone to do it.

Yes, an education version targeted at the younger market would be great but also an adult (8 yrs+) is also an idea, where players have the task of not only building a colony but also over-winter it with all the obstacles faced in real-life bee keeping.

All an idea at the moment, and keeps me out of trouble thinking about it!!!!

 

[drstitson]

"a board game that actually interacts with an App"

certainly very easy to do a shake operated dice app - obviously could be used to generate any random event.

barcode reader could be used to enter info into the phone from board or cards.

 

[HM Honey]

"a board game that actually interacts with an App"

certainly very easy to do a shake operated dice app - obviously could be used to generate any random event.

barcode reader could be used to enter info into the phone from board or cards.

We need to get together for a brain storming session drstitson.....

 

[pargyle]

We need to get together for a brain storming session drstitson.....

Wasn't there an app called Angry bees ?