Beasts of Balance

Beasts of Balance is a dexterity tabletop game which is played alongside a companion app for iOS and Android. The game was developed by Sensible Object and released in November 2016, its soundtrack was composed by Disasterpeace. Originally titled Fabulous Beasts, the game had to be renamed following a trademark dispute with Warner Bros. over their Fantastic Beasts film.

Beasts of Balance
The game's logo
Designer(s)Sensible Object
Publication dateNovember 2016 (2016-11)
Genre(s)Tabletop game
Players4
Skill(s) requiredDexterity
Material(s) requiredCompanion app
Synonym(s)Fabulous Beasts

Gameplay

The game can be played solo, or co-operatively by up to 4 players. The aim of the game is to stack animal-shaped objects onto a plinth in order to build a tower. Each object is RFID tagged; these tags are read by the plinth, and communicated to the companion app via Bluetooth, allowing the app to keep score and set challenges. When the tower topples, a countdown begins, and if the players fail to re-create the tower before the timer runs out, the game ends.[1]

The game can be extended with new animals which may be purchased individually, such as a Yogscast-inspired lion. An RFID sticker pack allows players to incorporate any object into the game.[2][3]

Development

Alex Fleetwood, founder of Sensible Object, describes the game as an evolution of a project from his previous company, Hide&Seek. Sensible Object received seed funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council through their React programme. The React programme allowed the team to collaborate with University of Bath academics, and gave access to Young Coaches, children aged 7–12 who acted as playtesters. The initial prototype was built in four months.[4][2][5]

Sensible Object explored using computer vision to track the stacked objects, but moved to a simpler method combining RFID tags in the objects and a weight sensor in the plinth.[4] The game was prototyped on an Ultimaker 2 3D printer.[6] Tim Burrell-Saward, one of the game's designers, described the importance of prototypes to their process: "We did lots of 3D printing – we couldn't have done this game without access to that. You can design something on screen or on paper, but it isn't until you have it in your hands that you can play with it and see if it's weighted correctly or if the angles are too hard."[1] The game's electronics were prototyped with Arduino components, and the mobile apps were built in Unity.[6]

The game was partly funded through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, raising £168,360 towards the game's development in February 2016.[7] In June 2016, the game was renamed from Fabulous Beasts to Beasts of Balance following a trademark dispute with Warner Bros. over their Fantastic Beasts film.[8] The game was demoed at multiple events throughout its development, including the Game Developers Conference, Spiel, and the American International Toy Fair. At the 2015 Indiecade festival, it won the Technology Award.[6][2][9][10] The game was released in November 2016.[11]

Reception

Writing in The Guardian, Stuart Dredge awarded the game 4/5 stars. He described how the game was able to maintain the interest of his 7 and 9 year old sons, but did note how they would argue over whose fault it was following a tower collapse.[3] Matt Jarvis, in his review for Tabletop Gaming magazine, highlighted how the challenges presented by the app could introduce difficulty for experienced players, and how the scoring system introduced an element of strategy to the gameplay. He concluded that the game was "one of the finest examples of physical and digital gameplay working together yet".[12]

References
  1. Nick Summers (2016-11-18). "'Beasts of Balance' is Jenga evolved". Engadget. Retrieved 2017-05-06.
  2. "Digital technology reinventing the art of stacking". Arts and Humanities Research Council. Retrieved 2017-05-06.
  3. Stuart Dredge (2016-12-22). "Beasts of Balance review: Jenga crossed with Skylanders with tablet-augmented scoring". The Guardian. Retrieved 2017-05-06.
  4. Christian Donlan (2016-01-27). "Fabulous Beasts is Jenga for the gods". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2017-05-06.
  5. Jo. "It's about making the best world that you can, together". React. Archived from the original on 2017-04-21. Retrieved 2017-05-06.
  6. Bryant Francis (2016-02-23). "Alt.Ctrl.GDC showcase: Sensible Object's Fabulous Beasts". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2017-05-06.
  7. Sensible Object (2016-01-26). "Beasts of Balance – a new kind of game". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2017-05-06.
  8. Chris Kerr (2016-06-21). "Toys-to-life game Fabulous Beasts renamed after Warner Bros. trademark dispute". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2017-05-06.
  9. Robert Hutchins (2016-03-03). "Fabulous Beasts founder Alex Fleetwood on the origins of his toys-to-life creation". Toy News. Retrieved 2017-05-06.
  10. Riley MacLeod (2015-11-02). "10 of the Coolest Games at Indiecade". Paste. Retrieved 2017-05-06.
  11. James Ridsdale (2016-11-24). "Beasts of Balance launches in UK". Toy News. Retrieved 2017-05-06.
  12. Matt Jarvis (January 2017). "Beasts of Balance Review". Tabletop Gaming (7): 94.
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