Hi everyone,

Well, I have an idea about a battle card game, using rfid cards, a "holographic" effect, and a tablet. I don't know exactly how will be the game function, because of this I need to discuss with you, experts!

I did some preliminary drawings in order to try to show my idea

What do you think? Is there a market for this kind of game?

Depends on price, and on how many high-quality games it supports. Also, the drawings don't tell enough of a story about how it's used. It seems like it seems to sit on a table...? How do I move my spaceship or characters?

Hi Tom,

Originally this "concept" is design only for battle cards games, where you use cards (rfid) to define your strategy and battle against another players.

The "rfid card reader" in the drawing is the "table" to put the battle cards.

Why is there a tablet on top of the display box? Are you looking at having the tablet run the game and then the box below it is specialized display hardware?

I've never actually tried to sell a game so I don't have any real business experience to say whether there's a "market" for your idea. But personally as a game player (perhaps old enough though to not be in your target audience), I am turned off by the idea of buying additional pieces of hardware so that I can specifically play one game. If this isn't something that I don't think will be mainstream enough such that it will support additional products, I'm not interested.

So, until you have a product that has a massive following, I think that you should consider trying to use existing hardware that has gained acceptance to create the sort of experience that you want (if for no other reason than it will keep costs down).

Unless of course you just want to build something cool just for the sake of building something cool.

Why is there a tablet on top of the display box? Are you looking at having the tablet run the game and then the box below it is specialized display hardware?

It's a holographic* box, a la something like Holho Zed.

In essence it's a variation on the same trick illusionists use to convince you that the rabbit is not inside the box...

(technically it's not a hologram. It's using the Pepper's Ghost technique)

The "rfid card reader" in the drawing is the "table" to put the battle cards.

And the box itself doesn't go on a table?
I guess the device connects to a server where other players' devices also connect, and your card automatically does battle with other people's cards?
Or does your card just automatically go into battle without connecting to a server?
The RFID cards, are those programmable by the user, or are they purchased with the programming already in place?
Why do you need the holographic device (why can't you just connect the RFID reader to the tablet and get the same effect -- what is the benefit of the holographic box)?

Still can't tell if there's a market for it, since it's still unclear how it works.

All I can say is there's a STRONG market for this, and it's growing very rapidly.

Saying any more would infringe on NDAs I've previously signed...

Best of luck coming along with a concept, I'm afraid I can't contribute to that either due to non-compete clauses...

Own, very good discussion, i'll try to answer all:

- kseh, the idea of the box is just like swiftcoder has described, it uses the pepper's ghost technique to create a "holographic" illusion.

- Tom, i'm a not an expert in battle card games, and because of this, it's necessary some expert in order to adapt a game using this hardware. The idea of this card is simple, i'll try to explain to you. First, you put your card in the "table" (rfid reader), doing this, it'll load your player, then it'll "rise" like an holographic character. The other cards, contains power ups, attacks methods and defense, that you will need to use, in order to win the battle. the rfid card is not programmable, it is sold with your own code. Think in a collective battle card like, yugioh, you can buy another characters, another power ups and special attacks. The holographic device, is in order to create an illusion, to make the battle more realistic, to have the impression that with your card, the character raises in front of you. It's not expensive to create this effect, so you can add something "new" to the game environment.

First, you put your card in the "table" (rfid reader)

I already explained that my first reference to a "table" was: "where do you put the box," not "do you play the cards on a table."

You answered most of my other questions. I understand that the owner cannot modify his RFID, and that the battles are automatic. That sounds like a lot of other toys that come with chips, and how those work. I don't know how successful those toys were.

Is there a market? Sure. How many might it sell? No idea.

It's a holographic* box, a la something like Holho Zed.

I didn't realize that there are holographic products like that. Looks really nice. It was the tablet on top though that I didn't understand. Looks like the way to think of it is an external display driven by whatever application runs on the tablet. Makes me wonder though why you should be limited to using a tablet.

I do realize that the goal here is to aim for the sort of equipment that you see on certain CCG related Saturday morning cartoons which make the games look quite exciting. It's interesting that that maybe the challenge of realizing that equipment is actually more of a marketing issue than a technical one. With the spirit of those cartoons in mind, I'll suggest that you would probably want your card reader to have some sort of wireless connection (I guess Bluetooth) to the game's application. But I'm also thinking you shouldn't limit yourself to one type of display device. Holography is cool and everything but people already have screens on their tablets and they're more portable. And this is disregarding whatever challenges there might be to programing a display to a holographic device (I'm assuming this as it's pretty new stuff).

Though the underlying idea is pretty cool and probably has lots of potential, I don't think the setup as drawn in the OP is very competitive or at least it doesn't consider the possibilities for growth and expansion. By supporting existing display devices and designing things such that players can build onto their equipment as they can afford it, (i.e. allow them to first buy the cards, then buy the app & card reader, then buy the display) I think you are less likely to miss out on potential players. And it would probably also help considerably if you have a popular card game to start with.

Personally I don't play CCGs as their apparent addictiveness scares me a little into thinking I can't afford them. I could imagine though going so far as to purchase a card reader for cards that I have also purchased. But for some reason I just can't imagine myself buying a display device specifically to play one game. But that's me and I'm not really the target demographic.