Among the best things in life is playing printed games in person with family and close friends. When those are not convenient we like iOS Board Games.
News, reviews, previews, and opinions about board gaming on iPhones, iPads, iPods and even Android devices. (iPhone board games, iPad board games, iPod board games, Android board games)
Notes: January rolls on and we have yet another well planned release of what appears to be an excellent entry in the heavier euro game genre of iOS apps. I must say that I am very much impressed with this one. Of course, we have pretty much come to expect excellence from Big Daddy's Creations based on their past releases of some great iOS apps. BDC now takes things to the next level, first with an award winning complex heavy euro, second with AIs of multiple play styles and finally with much desired flexible options for online play that all of the best iOS board game apps work into their titles.
If you're not ready to pull the trigger, perhaps this new video will give you a little more to go on.
Do you know if it has a tutorial for new players or at least a built in copy of the rules?
Same here, I don't know how to play this but always wanted to learn. Wonder if there is a tutorial. That being said there are much worse things to spend five bucks on. Might give it a go anyway just to promote good apps going to the marketplace.
Do you know if it has a tutorial for new players or at least a built in copy of the rules?
Same here, I don't know how to play this but always wanted to learn. Wonder if there is a tutorial. That being said there are much worse things to spend five bucks on. Might give it a go anyway just to promote good apps going to the marketplace.
Yes, there's a tutorial.
And there's a lengthy Rules section if you want to read through it all as well.
Here is some initial thought of mine: - graphic is pretty, but you need to move the board around a bit to access to everything, even at the most zoom-out scale. I would love to have a scale at which I don't have to move the board around. - I have not tried async online yet, but it looks like there is no Game Center integration. Achievement: yes; Async: no. I think they use their own server, but I would love to use my one Game Center account to connect with my friends for all game. - tutorial is just okay. Don't expect to go through a tutorial and come out knowing how to play the game. I play the physical board game, so I have no problem, but for a new player, I think the learning curve can be steep. You will first need to read the rule book (included) to at least have an idea how the game is played, basic phases, etc. Then there is an option to turn on or off tutorial. When it is turned on, every time you make a move, an instruction will appear to explain what's going on. Comparing with Tigris' tutorial, I think Caylus' came short. Of course, Caylus is a much more complicated game, but I think the tutorial could be done better. A walk-through, two-player game would be ideal. - I would love to be able to tap on a house and know its basic information, such as name. I understand that all you need to know about each house is what it produces, and this info is clearly presented, but I still like the options . - I don't think you can have multiple local games stored in your device. I tried to create three games, but every time I resume game, it goes to the most recent one, and I don't know how to, or if it's even possible, to access the others. - it is so wierd that I cannot find a way to exit from a game to the front page. While playing a game, I cannot get out of it without actually exit the app all together.
I have not tried it on my iPhone yet, so I can't comment on that. It's a great effort, and I do not regret buying the app during its initial release at all. I actually am happy to have a working and pretty mobile Caylus game that I can play much more easily now. I do think there is room to improve, and improvement will come in future updates.
...it is so wierd that I cannot find a way to exit from a game to the front page. While playing a game, I cannot get out of it without actually exit the app all together.
Provide an option for left handed people or allOw dropping of workers by double tapping a building.
When I log in I should be able to see which games it is my turn in. Change the color of the game picture or something.
When you click on a game why take me to a useless screen to then Hit play. Just take me straight to the game and move the resign button to a menu in the left scroll.
...it is so wierd that I cannot find a way to exit from a game to the front page. While playing a game, I cannot get out of it without actually exit the app all together.
Guys, if you new to Caylus and find yourself a bit lost there's an in-game help view - just expand the scroll on the left by tapping it and then do to the '?' page (last page on the scroll). There are many topics from the tutorial, accessible without enabling tutorial, so you are able to see i.e. what every building does.
“Brothers, oh brothers, my days here are done, the Dornishman’s taken my life, But what does it matter, for all men must die, and I’ve tasted the Dornishman’s wife!”
"Oak and iron guard me well, or else I'm dead and doomed to hell." - Andal proverb.
My primary questions:
How good is the AI?
and
Approximately how long does a game take to complete in one sitting against the AI?
Mark, both answers depend on 'How good are you?' I takes about 30 minutes to finish in one sitting, if you know what you're doing and you play agains AIs only.
I have just played my first game, having never played the physical board game. The tutorial on just got me on the right track, a lot of looking at the rules during the game was necessary and only at the end I have a very basic grasp of the game.
It would have been nice on the building scroll it showed what type of building it was graphically with it's description to match with the worker placement buildings symbol.
When it shows that building the castle to 6 segments it gives 3 favors BUT I could find in the rules that it was 3 different favors. Only found out whilst picking them.
I think this will be a good, fun game once I've played it a few time to grasp the rules and tactics that weren't made obvious in the 'tutorial', which really is a 'hey, look at this section in the rules' setup.
I don't regret the purchase, in fact I think I will play this more often than some of my other longer play purchases.
Samuel, one we will not with how bug player base we have to deal with we will try to change the limit. I'll also try to make my move in a sec
Louise, Caylus has few nuances which are just hard to explain without making this to complicated. Fortunately, they feel quite natural once you learn the game, so I hope you won't have any problems with the rules after few more games.
My first game this morning ends with a bug which let me not end it, whenever I try to continue this game it goes to the caslte build phase and then crashes (ipad2).
The castle was fully built and so maybe its related an AI player tries to build a fully-build castle and this is not handled, but not sure.
Overall I really like how the game is made! Development Team made a really good job here. Its the same quality like on Neuroshima Hex which is one of the best as well.
My first game this morning ends with a bug which let me not end it, whenever I try to continue this game it goes to the caslte build phase and then crashes.
The castle was fully built and so maybe its related an AI player tries to build a fully-build castle and this is not handled, but not sure.
Overall I really like how the game is made! Development Team made a really good job here. Its the same quality like on Neuroshima Hex which is one of the best as well.
Thanks for the info. We're have a look at this bug.
This was an insta-purchase for me and I love the implementation! Since the cardboard version of the game rarely gets played in my group, I haven't had much opportunity to improve my play (which is currently very, very bad ). Now I'll get more games in.
When I log in I should be able to see which games it is my turn in. Change the color of the game picture or something.
A thousand times yes! This one.
Does anyone besides me have an issue with keep having the little "1" on my iPhone, telling me there's a notification - even though I've no moves in any games?
Playing a 3 player game against 2 AI opponents. Twice I have gotten to a point where the app just crashes. When I go to resume the game it just crashes again. Both times this has happened the game was about 3/4 of the way through.
Other than the crashes it is a lot of fun to play. Just wish I could finish a game.
Playing a 3 player game against 2 AI opponents. Twice I have gotten to a point where the app just crashes. When I go to resume the game it just crashes again. Both times this has happened the game was about 3/4 of the way through.
Other than the crashes it is a lot of fun to play. Just wish I could finish a game.
I had the same experience -> crashes + resume game leads to same crash.
Was your 3rd phase in your castle fully build? For me it happens exact here: Castle was built and AI still want to build something.
In another time's forgotten space, your eyes looked through your mother's face. Wildflower seed on the sand and stone, may the four winds blow you safely home.
Bought it last night and was up playing until 1:00 AM. The app crashed on me during my first game. I resumed the game and crashed during the same move. I started a new game and played all the way through. I've played Caylus maybe 3 times sporatically over several years. The tutorial was helpful to me and I was up and playing quickly. But as someone else pointed out, the tutorial is not as polished as the Tigris and Euphrates tutorial. A complete newbie will need to read the rules and use the tutorial to really get what's going on. I do think a newbie will be fine with one read through and the tutorial. The rules are nicely laid out.
Other than the crashing (which I hope will be fixed in a patch soon). This app is fantastic. I haven't tried multiplayer or the most difficult AI yet, but I really like the interface and I had a blast playing this last night. I cannot wait to play against more difficult AI and try the online multiplayer. All in all a great app, so far.
If the developer is interested in getting more details around the crash that occurred, geekmail me and I'll give you the basic game situation and steps where the crash happened.
I had a crash when I started the first game, as I had with Wars of the Roses when starting. After powering my device down and restarting, I've had no trouble with either app. A reboot sometimes seems to be what a device wants before it's happy with something new.
In another time's forgotten space, your eyes looked through your mother's face. Wildflower seed on the sand and stone, may the four winds blow you safely home.
I'll try a reboot, but this crash occurred about 15 or 20 minutes into the game and the same move seemed to trigger the crash. The situation seemed to be around the fact that the previous turn I placed a worker in the castle, but forgot to tap the + sign to actually build there. I hit the check mark, thinking that signified a build. I forgot I needed to hit the +. The next turn the crash occurred when placing my worker in the castle again. On the first turn of the game, I successfully built in the castle. I played several more turns and it was my second attempt that I forgot to hit the + sign. Seems like it could be a series of moves that may have slipped past testing because typically if someone places a worker in the castle, they are going to build there. Based on that info, maybe the developers can try to reproduce the crash? I'm using an iPad 2.
Excellent game. Make sure you restart after you download it to avoid crashing. Played it all last night. Exceeds all my expectations for a Caylus app. Great work from BDC.
From looking at the video, it seems to me that only being able to see such a small portion of the board at any time would severely impede usage in a very aggravating way.
Particularly at the end of a game, one often needs to view and consider placements from the very beginning of the path (gate, $3, provost mover, joust ...) all the way down to the end of the path. Caylus is a heavy game that is already very mentally demanding. I couldn't imagine adding to that the requirement that I remember what was placed where I cannot see at a glance.
Can anyone who has used the app and who also has some experience with Caylus comment on this?
In another time's forgotten space, your eyes looked through your mother's face. Wildflower seed on the sand and stone, may the four winds blow you safely home.
schmanthony wrote:
From looking at the video, it seems to me that only being able to see such a small portion of the board at any time would severely impede usage in a very aggravating way.
Particularly at the end of a game, one often needs to view and consider placements from the very beginning of the path (gate, $3, provost mover, joust ...) all the way down to the end of the path. Caylus is a heavy game that is already very mentally demanding. I couldn't imagine adding to that the requirement that I remember what was placed where I cannot see at a glance.
Can anyone who has used the app and who also has some experience with Caylus comment on this?
On the iPad, you can see most of the screen. A little bit of scrolling doesn't seem to impede the gameplay in any significant way. This solution seems far better than designing everything smaller and trying to cram it all in the screen.
A help system is definitely needed. I vote for a system similar to your Neuroshima Hex app, where the ? is a toggle for the inline help system. That way you only need to hit it once, and then anything else that is touched will popup a help screen. (Sooo needed for the building information).
I'm really not a big fan of Puerto Rico's system of having to drag the "?" around each time your want help on an icon or building.
I have sadly never played the boardgame but have been anticipating this app for quite some time. While I agree that the tutorial is rather weak, it did help to read through the rules and then just play an entire game, even though I got whooped by the AI (on easy!). However, I really felt that it taught me a lot of the basics and I can really the see the depth of this game (and app) and I look forward to playing it often and improving. As far as the app itself, A+++ on it! It's a fantastic game and I see it being one of my top go-to Euros on the iPad/iPhone...
From looking at the video, it seems to me that only being able to see such a small portion of the board at any time would severely impede usage in a very aggravating way.
Particularly at the end of a game, one often needs to view and consider placements from the very beginning of the path (gate, $3, provost mover, joust ...) all the way down to the end of the path. Caylus is a heavy game that is already very mentally demanding. I couldn't imagine adding to that the requirement that I remember what was placed where I cannot see at a glance.
Can anyone who has used the app and who also has some experience with Caylus comment on this?
On the iPad, you can see most of the screen. A little bit of scrolling doesn't seem to impede the gameplay in any significant way. This solution seems far better than designing everything smaller and trying to cram it all in the screen.
I posted something about this on the other Caylus thread, but I'll reiterate here since it's exactly what I was talking about.
I disagree that a little scrolling isn't significant. When the Puerto Rico app came out I played it to death. Definitely more than any cardboard version of any game I own. If I had to scroll the screen up and down to see the whole play area it would have been HIGHLY annoying and a definite impedance to gameplay. And there are many more buildings/plantations in a five player game of Puerto Rico than in Caylus, so I don't see why they couldn't have streamlined here.
I think this is a pure case of form over function. Aesthetics over usability. The graphics for Caylus had me anticipating the game for months, but five minutes after playing I started wishing they had done what Codito did with Puerto Rico, and streamlined the interface, rather than requiring this extra step of scrolling around to see the board. The flowing stream is pretty, but it isn't pretty enough to make me want to take these extra steps EVERY time I play.
I hope Codito doesn't start going this route with their games. When Le Havre comes out, I hope they go for usability first, and then make the graphics as good as they can get, second.
Kevin, imagine the whole board squeezed into 1024x768 display (or even smaller one, because tables showing additional data would also take up space) and how everything would be too small and not readable. It's simply a bad idea. iPad is just small device, you can't fit everything on its screen and pinch zoom and scrolling are the right features to deal with it.
They had to take what normally fits on a 22" x 16" board and squeeze it down to a slightly smaller than 8" x 6" display (3" x 2" in the case of the iPhone). I think they did a respectable job. I prefer the higher detail and readability than I would having it all fit one one screen with no scrolling.
A little scrolling doesn't matter to me at all; I think it looks and feels fantastic.
Kevin, imagine the whole board squeezed into 1024x768 display (or even smaller one, because tables showing additional data would also take up space) and how everything would be too small and not readable. It's simply a bad idea. iPad is just small device, you can't fit everything on its screen and pinch zoom and scrolling are the right features to deal with it.
I hear you, but Puerto Rico for iOS shows 120 locations on screen, at once, all with distinguishing characteristics, and all in an aesthetically appealing way. In fact, the information is integrated into the aesthetic, i.e., if a building is occupied by a worker, the lights are on and the chimney has animated smoke. It's pretty, and it's functional, and there's no scrolling. You can see the whole board without taking additional steps. One hundred and twenty locations. THAT is genius game design.
The Caylus board is pretty, I love the art, but compared to the PR board, there is a LOT of wasted space. The stream on the Caylus board for example isn't integrated into the game-play, so it's really just taking up space.
IMO it's faulty game design to limit the player's ability to see the board in its entirety and to require extra taps and swipes for no reason other than to provide visual flourishes that don't effect game-play. Ultimately the constant extra scrolling will continue to be an annoyance long after the wow factor of the graphics fades away.
I'm not regretting my purchase - it's still a great game, and that's kind of my point - I imagine I'll be playing a lot, so I want the interface to be as streamlined as possible.
I am new here. I have not played the physical version before and I hear it is very good. So I buy it anyway.
Over Touch Arcade forum people notice that you cannot choose who to play with on the multiplayer mode and there is not chat system. It sees that unlike Carcassonne, the game does not use Game Center to find player to match up. It is a let down. It still have pass-and-play and I am still learning the ropes to be very much concern about it.
Great conversion of a classic game. As far as App Store board games, 5/5 for me. I like the art choices, the icons used for the important symbols, the pass and play feature, the animations used to show scoring/resource changes, the menus for buildings and castle sections, etc.
That is not to say it can't be improved. I couldn't find a feedback forum on the BDC website, so including feedback here since the developer seems active on the thread.
Major requests, in order of priority
1) Invitation only internet/PBEM games, please! I can't recommend this to my gaming group members who don't typically care to play AI opponents without that feature.
2) I don't necessarily agree with some other posters that the amount of scrolling is problematic on the iPad. I understand that you've chosen to author attractive graphics in keeping with the style of the original rather than go for a streamlined minimalist UI like Puerto Rico for iOS.
However I do think you should tweak it so that one can zoom out "all the way" horizontally. By which I mean if you have the left side menu minimized to show just your own resources, you should be able to zoom out far enough so that it is not necessary to scroll left/right to see the sides of the board. I don't think this would impact legibility of the small numerals or icons, and then the entire first half of the game I wouldn't have to scroll.
I can imagine that if I were to try to play this on iPhone the amount of scrolling would be quite frustrating, however that is not a use case that appeals to me.
3) Double-tap to select a building for placing a worker. This one seems so obvious that I have to wonder if you somehow play-tested it and discarded it for some reason? Maybe on iPhone it was problematic with all the scrolling necessary? If so, please include as option on iPad.
4) Stats - please keep at a minimum won/loss record for each human player and AI. Bonus points for being able to save game replays and/or provide a scoring summary that shows what the source of points for each player was.
5) When I have to pass due to having not enough gold or workers, don't make me confirm the pass.
Minor feedback
The following refers the US text of the Rules linked from the main menu:
a) Under Symbols, I think you should label the monument icon "Scoring Location" or "Scoring Milestone". The existing choice "Scoring Point" is accurate, given that it refers to a point on the road, but is confusing, given the other connotation of "point" as a _unit_ of scoring, such as Prestige Point. You do in fact refer to it as a Milestone in a later section of the document.
b) Under Phase 3: "number of player's who have passed" should read "number of players who have passed"
Well done for a 1.0 release! You clearly have a lot of enthusiasm and respect for the source material.
In another time's forgotten space, your eyes looked through your mother's face. Wildflower seed on the sand and stone, may the four winds blow you safely home.
Mr_Bickman wrote:
remus wrote:
schmanthony wrote:
From looking at the video, it seems to me that only being able to see such a small portion of the board at any time would severely impede usage in a very aggravating way.
Particularly at the end of a game, one often needs to view and consider placements from the very beginning of the path (gate, $3, provost mover, joust ...) all the way down to the end of the path. Caylus is a heavy game that is already very mentally demanding. I couldn't imagine adding to that the requirement that I remember what was placed where I cannot see at a glance.
Can anyone who has used the app and who also has some experience with Caylus comment on this?
On the iPad, you can see most of the screen. A little bit of scrolling doesn't seem to impede the gameplay in any significant way. This solution seems far better than designing everything smaller and trying to cram it all in the screen.
I posted something about this on the other Caylus thread, but I'll reiterate here since it's exactly what I was talking about.
I disagree that a little scrolling isn't significant. When the Puerto Rico app came out I played it to death. Definitely more than any cardboard version of any game I own. If I had to scroll the screen up and down to see the whole play area it would have been HIGHLY annoying and a definite impedance to gameplay. And there are many more buildings/plantations in a five player game of Puerto Rico than in Caylus, so I don't see why they couldn't have streamlined here.
I think this is a pure case of form over function. Aesthetics over usability. The graphics for Caylus had me anticipating the game for months, but five minutes after playing I started wishing they had done what Codito did with Puerto Rico, and streamlined the interface, rather than requiring this extra step of scrolling around to see the board. The flowing stream is pretty, but it isn't pretty enough to make me want to take these extra steps EVERY time I play.
I hope Codito doesn't start going this route with their games. When Le Havre comes out, I hope they go for usability first, and then make the graphics as good as they can get, second.
Hey Kevin, You make a good point and I do think Codito did a great job getting all the board info on one screen in Puerto Rico. Personally, the scrolling doesn't bother me in the Caylus app, but I suppose it would be more ideal if the pinch-zoom functionality was more like it is in the Carcassonne app where the user can choose to either see the whole board or zoom in to certain parts of the board to get a closer look. When a developer decides to limit the options to go with a design choice they feel is best, there are always going to be some users that disagree. I think that's why Carcassonne is still considered one of the best apps around. In the Carc app you can zoom in to just a couple tiles or all the way out and see the whole board. It makes it very difficult for anyone to complain. Full functionality, not limited in any way. You and I both like the Puerto Rico app design and think it works. There are quite a few who have voiced they don't like it. They think the buildings are too small, etc. I suppose I like both. I think what Codito did with PR works and what BDC did with Caylus works, but ultimately if both apps had the capability of both zooming and scrolling as well as seeing the entire board in one screen, the graphic designs from both would probably be praised by more users.
Cross-posting from Caylus forum ... I've run into a minor issue. I put a worker on the wooden production building intending to buy a building, and it turns out I can't afford any of them. But once I am in the selection interface, there doesn't seem to be a way to come back out gracefully.
I've had several games now that crash about 2/3 of the way through, and will never start up again (crashes immediately after resuming the game).
I have an original iPad, completely close the app after each crash, and run a utility that will clear memory after the crash. All of these steps usually work with most games that crash on the iPad.
The app really does feel like a beta version at this point, very unstable. Neuroshima Hex and Army of Frogs on the other hand, have been pretty solid, hopefully the coding will get better from BDC in future releases.
I've been playing this app since release: not a single crash, although I am running it on iPad 1.
However, the AI seems very weak (not a single defeat against 4 AI). Or did I miss the "difficulty" option? to my knowledge, the only way to play with difficulty is by selecting the bottom AIs on player's selection screen.
I've been playing this app since release: not a single crash, although I am running it on iPad 1.
However, the AI seems very weak (not a single defeat against 4 AI). Or did I miss the "difficulty" option? to my knowledge, the only way to play with difficulty is by selecting the bottom AIs on player's selection screen.
Do you play on BSW? I'm curious to know what your win % is if you don't mind sharing.
I only play the electronic game on IOS. I am absolutely not a good player in "real life", I lose more than I win. But so far I havent lost a single game against the computer.
! So excited!
).
