User:Thijshijsijsjss/PTMoMNBM/Web-to-Print and Play

• Earlier wiki write-up

What is it?

This project is a Print and Play game making use of Web-to-Print functionalities to provide a cutomizable experience. It is self hosted

Most of this proposal focusses on the format, not the content of the game, which is yet to be decided upon.

Why make it?

Print-and-Play (PnP) is a genre of boardgames that are available for download, so that you can print it yourself.

A large appeal of PnP games is their customizability: they allow (and often encourage) players to get crafty and (literally) built their own experience (example 1, 2). Usually this has aesthetic results, but there are examples of content-customization as well (for example Dungeon Pages, playthrough example). These customizations can give variety, provide control over difficulty settings and stimulate replayability.
 
However, there are limits to this customizability. People are restricted to their printed matter, and for content customizations are dependent on what is served to them by the creator. 

Web-to-Print provides a solution to this: through a web-interface, players can achieve even more fine-grained control over their experience, by allowing for pre-print customizations (both cosmeticor gameplay tweaks). This web-interface could even provide a multimedia experience typical PnP games don't allow for, like an accompanying soundtrack. Finally, there are also games possible new to the PnP realm, by the randomness that the pre-print steps provides. For example, assymetric games like KTaNE can be simulated.

From a creator's point of view, this also gives rise to a nice way of self-publishing the game, of being in close contact with the players and of updating the game.

Workflow

Phase 1: Research and brainstorming
         Playing some relevant PnP and video games, solo and with others
         Like Utopia Engine, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, ...
Phase 2: Prototyping
         Start forming the printed game
         Explore and setup basic web-to-print pipeline
Phase 3: User testing and community outreach
         Start user testing with the prototype(s) from phase 2
         Pay special attention to possible tweakable metrics or features by the players
         Look for places to promote the game (e.g. look to which subreddits other creators post)
Phase 4: Creation
         Finalize game design
         Create necessary assets not yet made in phase 2 and 3
         Create web-interface based on the parameters found in user testing
Otional: Collaborate with others
         E.g. a soundtrack could be made in collaboration with a musical artist.
Phase 5: Tweaking and launch preparations

Timetable

There is a big range to this project. A bite-sized project might require but a weak, a larger project might require a month or more of full-time work. Though I'd like it not to take up much more than that. [this timetable can be fleshed out more if this P will be M rather than NBM]

Rapid prototypes

Previous practice

This projects could prove to be a nice way to connect old and new occupations of mine: (digital) game making and print making explorations.

I have made many small games before, both digital and physical, and some of these have been self-hosted and distributed (others used itch.io or usb handovers).

Relation to a wider context

Resources and references

* Dedicated subreddit
* One of many online PnP stores (with many free games)
* Shut Up & Sit Down video (Vegan content warning for first 20 seconds)
* boardgamegeek.com's page on PnP with links and resources

Roll and write games have come full circle, and many PnP games are heavily inspired by video game content and UI. For example, Utopia Engine mimics pop-up menu's from video games by sliding sheets of paper over each other.

Choices made