Spyglass Board Games Q&A Exclusive
I had a chance to kidnap Strange Flavour’s own Aaron Fothergill for an exclusive first look at the Xbox Live Arcade title, Spyglass Board Games. Spyglass is set to debut on Wednesday, August 1 for 400 Microsoft Points.
Aaron and Strange Flavour previously gave fans the first (and only) gesture based game for the Xbox 360, Totemball. They’re at it again alongside Freeverse to provide another first with the video chat feature!
Not much is known about this upcoming title but that’s about to change. I had to travel deep in the heart of the UK for this one so sit down, relax and read as I go one on one with Aaron about Spyglass Board Games. (and no I didn’t really kidnap him; he’s in the UK and I couldn’t cover luggage expenses)
The Players
Aaron Fothergill, MD / Lead Coder, Strange Flavour Ltd.
The Interview
It’s been a while since we heard from Strange Flavour. Totemball was the first entry into the Xbox Live Arcade for you guys. Tell us about your new title and how long it’s been in development.
Thanks Deacon,
Spyglass Board Games is a set of four popular board games based around a video chat client. The idea is that you can call a friend or relative up for a chat and play a few games while discussing the weather or how college is going etc. It’s very much designed around social play, so it’s a good excuse to call up a friend, or teach someone to play.
Spyglass has its ancestry in the Freeverse’s multi award winning Big Bang Board Games but it’s specifically built around video chat on Xbox LIVE Arcade. We effectively took the basic concepts of BBBG (simple play but looks great and is easy to use) and used them to write Spyglass Board Games from scratch for the Xbox 360.
From scratch? Nice. The size limit for XBLA titles was recently increased. Did that allow you to do more with the title than you originally planned?
Actually, yes. We were originally focusing on the video chat and a couple of more “normal” sets of pieces for the games, but with the size increase we let loose the dogs of silly and were able to create a lot more sets of pieces and boards for varying tastes.
You set the stage for gesture based games on the Xbox 360 with Totemball. You look to do that now by introducing the first video chat enabled game. Can you talk a bit about that feature of Spyglass?
Yes, the video chat is actually the most important part of Spyglass. The game is designed entirely around it. So for instance, it has large video panels for each player so you’re not squinting at a tiny video window while playing. We think of Spyglass as being more of a video chat with board games.
Part of the design was to mimic a lot of the controls and features of the video chat in the dash, even to the point of the original team that wrote the video chat app lending us the shaders they used for their video effects, which we then added to.
That’s impressive. What are the other features of Spyglass?
Primarily, lots of visual customization. The Achievements unlock new pieces and boards (each player sees their own choice, so you can’t out psych an opponent with a chess set he hates) and there are some pretty unusual sets that probably won’t be seen in an official world championships anytime soon! As I mentioned earlier, we’ve expanded the video effects from the original video chat’s 8, including some more “interactive” ones.
On the game side, we’ve targeted more casual and “learner” players for the AI. There will be other games catering for the expert players who want to play solo against a genius chess AI for instance. In Spyglass, the Chess AI is dumbed down so that a first time player can play a game or two over Xbox LIVE with a friend to teach them the rules, then have a go with the solo game to practice and not be frustrated by being clobbered by the AI every time.
The expert Chess or Mancala players of course, know that the best opponents are real ones and even better, they can use their latest psych out techniques (and new video effects to enhance them) over the video chat. I’m sure Kasparov would approve.
The other games of course, are handled in the same way. The main focus is on play over Xbox LIVE with the solo games being primarily for a bit of a practice for new players (or to help develop a healthy superiority complex where computers are concerned)
Color me intrigued. How many classic games are in Spyglass?
There are four games: Chess, Checkers (we call it draughts over here), Reversi (also known as Othello) and a variant of the traditional game Mancala (we picked a version which uses slightly randomized starting positions to avoid players simply memorizing all the moves)
Will there be different gameplay options or game customization options if players want to play the board games with different rules?
No, the focus was on simplicity. We didn’t want the first 10 minutes of your friendly chat to be an argument over what rules to use!
Can you tell us about the Xbox Live modes and features?
Essentially, you’ve got all the expected ones, Ranked Matches, Player Matches etc. but you also have Practice Matches.
Practice Matches work like Player Matches, but they don’t count for leaderboard ranking at all. That way, you can teach a friend to play without either of you worrying about hurting your ranking.
Another feature of Player Matches in Spyglass is that instead of picking a single game and playing it, you’re actually playing all four games at once! You can swap between all four at will and just play whichever game takes your fancy (there’s even an Achievement linked to this).
If you’re serious about a particular game though, Ranked Matches lock you to a specific game (you can also create Custom Matches with a specific game if you only prefer to play one of the four).
Totemball unfortunately was one of the titles that didn’t receive any additional downloads after it was released. Are there plans to offer any downloads for Spyglass?
Due to its design around quick, pick up, chat and play simplicity, Spyglass doesn’t have any downloadable content options.
Are there any interesting unlockables for playing?
Basically we’ve got 2 Gamerpics that you can be awarded. One’s exclusive to people who’ve topped the Ranked Chess leaderboard (or someone with a profile on the same HD it appears) and the other is easier to get if you have a tendency to talk on the phone for hours.
Sneaky! Has a price point been set for Spyglass?
Yes, 400 Points.
That’s the sweet spot. What’s going to convince fans out there to download this title when it releases?
Two words: Jelly Chess!
Jelly Chess? I’m not sure I want to know. Thanks Aaron for visiting with U360 again and bringing another first to the Xbox Live Arcade!
Don’t forget to check out the Achievement list for Spyglass Board Games.
200/200 achievement! 
August 1st, 2007 at 1:46 pm
@warren, Spyglass is geared for Xbox Live. so to answer your question, no you can’t do that. you’ll have to be connected.
August 1st, 2007 at 4:52 pm
Hmmm, I understand that. I am connected (Xbox Live Gold) and looked forward to the online play (I used to use Blitzen back in the mid ’90′s). I moved to Yahoo Games, but people would drop out with no consequence.
Hopefully the drop out rate will be down. But as for 2 players in the same home, that would have been awesome as I stopped playing chess because not many people have chess boards and my portable was lost quite some time ago.
Hmm, well, if you make a Spyglass 2, please consider that feature for two
players in the same house on the same system. Here are some other thoughts also:
- Saving the game to continue it at a later date
- Watching other masters / players play (with and without watcher’s voices)
- Tag Team 4 player games (just being creative to mix it up)
- Collectable custom chess pieces (awarded for wins and useable in
games – example: A Black Knight – rook – on a horse ready for battle)
- Scenic backdrops (a park, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Egypt, etc)
- Mail chess (busy folk like me at times work too much to find friends who
are online at the same time to play, this feature sounds useless, but I
know I’d love it.
Those are just some things I thought maybe could be pondered. Thanks for bringing a truly GREAT game to Xbox Live… “Viva la Strange Flavour!” (all smiles)
August 2nd, 2007 at 1:23 am
Hi, I am also disappointed it has no local 2 player mode. In fact, I ended up not buying the trial version because of that and if you check major nelson’s blog you’ll see a fair number of people would love 2 player local mode. Please consider it. Thanks
August 2nd, 2007 at 9:44 am
Even though the game was not very expensive, the lack of local multiplayer support is very disappointing.
Also, on-line play should have a 60-180 sec time limit to make a move.
August 2nd, 2007 at 9:52 am
Okay, I’ve played a total of 3 Quick Match (bad decision on my choice) games and I’m a little upset. The game is good, but these are things the beta testers should have pointed out:
1. A Top Down View or Remove Shadows or a Solid White Background
I lost one of the three matches because the shadows made my opponent’s Queen look like the King. I did not ask for a Take Back – my fault, shadows confused me.
2. This is XBox360, not Atari Jaguar (thought it had the power), to rotate the board a full 360? I found myself after EVERY game trying to rotate the board to get rid of the shadows. Yes, I tried changing the background colors. My comments on that are negative and I sound like I’m whining and I’ll leave that to a possible update.
3. “…. five more moves and I win….. (my opponent pauses game and drops out)… What the HALL was THAT!?!?!? Penalize, PENALIZE!!! I just played a 35 minute game to accomplish NOTHING and I do not get a win and THEY do not get a loss. What the fitzgerald is that all about!?!?” It’s all about the gaming, winning shows progress, not that you’re the best.
I know the game can not be held accountable for players that drop out, but rules for dropping out or disconnecting. Disconnecting – turning off the power should auto-send a message for a rematch (hence stated before, save game, play later).
Dropping out should penalize the player that dropped out by sending and auto-message of:
1. Choose to rematch, draw or contest the defunct game.
Rematch = the power failed on the person who dropped out, okay, out of his/her control. Let’s give them the honor of completing the match.
Draw = both parties get the draw.
Contest = the player who drops out looses 200 Gamer Points which are given to the honest player.
“If you lose, you lose, if you win, you win.” The point of the game is to tease your brain with competition against another like-minded individual.
I’m 33 years old; I play fair and for fun. So I chainsawed you while you were sniping, whoop-dee-do. Next match please. I put you in checkmate in 36 moves and have 8 pieces left including both my Rooks. Keep playing, don’t give up. My dream of playing online with people across the world never thought consisted of the actions of:
1. Cheating
2. Nudity
3. Swearing
4. Super Game Glitches
5. Lag
6. No Moderator
7. No feedback form for casual / recreational players. (For research)
8. Screens that are hard to read because of color or tiny letters.
Sorry if I am getting a bit overboard with my post, I guess I expected this to be bliss on my Xbox360. Uno is getting boring. Yes, I have and play Gears of War, Hexic, Viva Piñata, Ridge Racer 6…(skipping loads of varieties of games)… Family Feud, Twisted, Zhadnost: The People’s Party – All on the 3DO system. I’m not going to mention anything from my Neo Geo (AES Version), Sega CD collection or Turbo Grafx-16′s version of Klax.
As you can see I’ve been playing a long time (unlike those who say “I’ve been playing since Atari”), but when you ask, “What was your favorite game on the Magnavox Odyssey, mine was Take the Money and Run…” you may get a blank as I do.
Yadda yadda yadda, game play (beta and pre-release) by real players, not just people wanting a gamer job. I want a gamer job myself, but when EA offer me a job as a game tester when they moved an office to Orlando, FL (actually was a rep from Eidos this was 98-99); I asked “Which game, Road Rash, Tomb Raider?” Rep “No, it would be a sports title, football.” I do not play sports so WHY would I beta test a football game?
Point being: “Don’t throw a party with a hint of a good time and then cancel the party at the door as people arrive.”
Translation: The year is 2008, we are long past the FAST LOADING (expensive to produce, but cheaper than a CD version of the game) cartridges, is making a game ‘fast’ worth risking quality, fun factor or having simple ‘flaws’ in game play make into the final production of the game? This in turn receives negative feedback, not meaning to insult or to be derogatory. You said it would be a party, then let’s. You know the generic rules – KISS = Keep It Sweet and Simple (okay, that is technically KISAS).
Thanks for the game, I’ll just have to coarse my friends to buy it to get a friendly fair game going. Good job, but please consider our input on another one.
Greg – I myself did not download the demo, I just plain bought it. Chess Online, the worst thing I felt could happen would only be the dropouts – not the positioning of the board.
But I will note, the little effect of capturing a piece is pretty sweet. “Battle Chess” may be a sequel?
Viva Piñata Party Animals hopefully will implement these features also, plus private rooms for friends only.
Thanks again for the game.
August 2nd, 2007 at 10:05 am
glad you’re really passionate about playing the right way Warren. make sure though that you don’t quit until you’re told that the opponent has left the match.
August 2nd, 2007 at 12:43 pm
[...] Fothergill mentioned two alternate names for Checkers and Reversi in his exclusive Q&A here at U360. What are those two alternate [...]
August 3rd, 2007 at 8:14 am
Oh, I sat through 3 minutes of pause, then a resume game, then another 2 minutes pause, and then the player left. I would never quit, my record should show 0-1 (zero wins one loss), my first game I lost to a little girl (say 15 or younger) who’s gamer tag was being coached by an advanced player.
I will log these games as best as I can remember:
new york305 – (voice of a 13 year old taking orders from an advanced player), trying to mislead me AFTER I gave ‘her’ a few moves and lessons on HOW to play chess. Her 7th move was very advanced for a person who says out loud “What do I do?” innocently over the mic.
DMONIC ONE – quit the game early when I made a trap and deliberately take three pieces and he realized what was going to happen, he dropped out.
HIM CKY guy – a good player, I made a mistake (let him take my queen midway in the game – this is the game where the shadow and angle of the board incident happened). He did very well, after my queen was captured. But I was on the defensive which made me offensive once I captured his queen.
He tried to resurrect his queen by getting a pawn onto my side. Once there, he walked into another trap, thinking my Rook could not reach him, he moved into place, not aware that my knight was guarding home base and !POW! How lovely, his one move cost him some time and a piece that would have turned the tables completely against me. Now we are doing the ‘Run of the Rook’. I had a Rook on his side blocking his King from coming home and the other Rook was on its way.
After a few cannon fodder moves, I arrived to block his King, he ran, made a good call, but did not capture the piece (my Rook in his home) as he expected. He moved once, paused the game for about two or so minutes (I guess thinking or messing with the settings). Okay, we’re back in play, 3 moves or so, and then pause again, but this time for about a minute. Then we’re in play and he just drops out.
I just wanted to log this, but I also put them all on bad Reps so that I do not want to play this game with such mentalities.
These were my first three games and the game (just like in Gears of War, Crackdown, Street Fighter 2 Hyperfightering, Ridge Racer 6) – when the host disconnects the game tells you.
So as you can see, I did not drop out. As you can see, I felt a bit bad being ‘trick’ in the beginning of the game and then losing at the end. And then two almost wins. The games did to end with a checkmate, so the dropout should have been a Draw for the both of us.
I’m looking forward to this weekend- hopefully more decent players will be on. “Yippee!”
DeaconBlade, thanks for the comment. My take is, “If I can beat you by cheating, why waste my time doing so?” As a kid, yes, I cheated on hide-and-go-seek and hop skotch. As in video games, glitching is one thing, but using a NES Advantage improves your game – go to the arcade and prove your skills without the NES Advantage and see how far you get in Gradius. Diablo (one) was also a terrible wake-up call once I learned of Player Killers. What’s the point, besides making some mad and you (the culprit) wasting their time to do so?
Though I will state in Gears of War I like to creep (walk so that I am not heard) and I have been accused of cheating in that sense. “It’s all about having fun and making the games, any game fun.”
Other than that, I’m good to go. Now smack talk during some games, well, that another story – no profanity, swearing or graphic details of how you will kill someone if they (?) you again. (smile) “It’s just a game…”
August 3rd, 2007 at 2:09 pm
good deal Warren. i’ll be on this weekend checking things out for my review. hopefully i can grab a game with ya. i promise not to log off as i’m not too good at chess so i’m prepared to be dominated lol
August 7th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
Hey DeaconBlade,
Sorry, I missed you. I searched for a game, I think it was Friday night, I could not find an opponent (weird), and so I played against the computer, a slow game on my end. It was maybe 11:30 pm EST and I became sleepy and paused the game to return in the a.m., but my Xbox360 turned itself off (I forgot it does that). That also happened on the demo of Eternal Sonata when I paused it to o to bed and return to it in the a.m.
I’ll try to look you up; I’ll send you a message later via Xbox live and try to set a date to play chess.
Don’t worry about winning or losing, I teach you the rules and give some strategy away also to better your game. It’ll be up to you to hone your skills.
Check for me.
P.S. I usually am called into a game of UNO by some regulars, so do not be afraid to send me a message – that way I can excuse myself from the game when it the round is over.
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