Back in September we were surprised to see the name Asmodee Digital on the App Store where Playdek once resided, specifically on the Playdek versions of Twilight Struggle and Ascension. Today we learned that those two games were only the beginning of the Playdek/Asmodee partnership as Asmodee is now also the publisher of Playdek’s first foray into the heavy euro-world, Agricola as well as their card battler, Summoner Wars.
There was a lot of speculation back in September as to what this meant for Playdek going forward. As we’re all quite aware, it doesn’t seem to have meant much, as least in terms of the games we all know and love. Twilight Struggle hasn’t been updated in a year and Ascension hasn’t been touched in 10 months, both well before any partnership blossomed. Hopefully, while not showing any outward signs we can spot, it’s bringing Playdek a little extra cash so they can keep doing what we want them to do—make more games.
So, while it sounds like big news, Asmodee now publishing Agricola and Summoner Wars probably doesn’t mean a whole lot for us in terms of the games themselves. I imagine the Agricola you can download in December of 2018 will be very similar to the one you can download now. Hell, it might be the same version. What we can hope for is that Playdek announces that they’re working on a new title backed by Asmodee. I know it’s a long shot, but that’s all I can really make out of this whole situation.
I’m just hopeful that this means continued support for these now-aging games. I don’t need overhauls or new expansions, just he kind of support that keeps the games running smoothly.
That said, if there is a single game on the App Store that I would love to see get some major quality of life upgrades and maybe further expansions, it is Summoner Wars.
My wonder about Ascension is why we haven’t seen the next expansion.
Previously, the digital game was about one expansion behind (the new one came out for the table and then shortly the previous one showed up on digital).
We are now two expansions behind and counting.
I hadn’t thought about it, but I’m wondering if the Asmodee partnership has something to do with that?
I just don’t want to see the Lords of Waterdeep style revamp of Agricola… I don’t want to be one of the alarmist types that claim Waterdeep is unplayable after the change, but I do find it more difficult to follow what is going on. It may be related to no one updating their boardgame apps for the iPhone X (except the Coding Monkeys)!
I’m with you on the LoW “update.” It was much easier to follow what was happening in the older version, and I didn’t need the 3D board either.
Agreed. I think Agricola is absolutely perfect and ought not be messed with.
I just wish it were faster… watching every opponent’s turn towards the end of the game becomes tedious sometimes.
I’ve played over 400 games of Agricola online, and I’ve never changed the game speed above Normal. Is Fast too slow for you?
I’ve never noticed but I usually play with no more than 3, so waiting hasn’t been an issue.
I have to admit to having no idea the game speed could be changed…
I also have to say that slow or not, it is so much more preferable to me to see my opponents’ moves than to merely see a new board state with some sort of game log.
So long as we don’t see some sort of move to subscription based pricing for access to a huge stable of Games, I am fine…
Hope this means a port of Agricola to Steam / Android is eventually going to happen!
as long as this would not mean the same kind of “downgrade” for the great iOS port of Agricola as had happened to the (once) beautiful iOS Lords of Waterdeep…
we just finished a LoW game in the Decathlon tourney.
it’s playable, but it has lost all its former grandezza
i totally agree with Hardco when he said:
mmhhh … not an iOS user, though I wish there would be a video actually showing/comparing the old vs new waterdeep app version to see what is this grandezza about …
Here’s an image from the original:
http://appaddict.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/lords-of-waterdeep-skullport_04.jpg
It is nice and flat, the information is easy to find, and clear. Minimal scrolling. The bottom are trays - tap and only that pops up and stays up, tap to close. Everything was crystal clear on my iPad. Zoom in and everything.
Now,
https://techraptor.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Waterdeep-Begining-Round-1.jpg
The score track is off on the sides - zoom out doesn’t show the whole board and the icons are muddy. More scrolling is needed. I think I detailed most of it when the update dropped in a previous thread. Just…why? For Landscape mode?
I’m sad I can only give you one like for this post.
a move for unification with the Steam/Windows client.
i wonder if something else could have been done to achieve this goal?
I almost wish they had just given it the Agricola treatment and gone full-blown animated city with little characters and everything.
this overall “muddiness” is what strikes me down the most
this is not state-of-the-art retina full HD resolution. at least it does not look like that
I don’t know if you were around for the release of Agricola, but there was a lot of people complaining about how Agricola didn’t look like the board game. I may have impacted their decision about how to implement Waterdeep, but it really just shows that there’s always people around to complain about something (case in point, me in this thread!)
Yeah, I remember the complaints and I thought they were silly. It’s not as if the tabletop game is all that beautiful; the app is charming and retains every last element of the game, but with a fresh coat of paint. You are likely right about that informing the art direction of Waterdeep, though. The irony, though, is that of the two, Waterdeep is the one that needs a little more flair to make the theme work. Heck, I think meeplesource probably got up and running to supply people with Waterdeep meeples to replace those silly cubes.