Exclusive collaboration on mobile version of “The Battle For Hill 218″

Posted 2013-05-17 15:57:34 by Ben

Opposable Games recently collaborated with Nils Helberg from Large Visible Machine to create the mobile version of The Battle For Hill 218.

Based on an original card game by Your Move Games, when we first played the game there was an  instant recognition that it would translate incredibly well as a mobile game, as well as be very much in line with our strategy of building games that connect people via play.

Large Visible Machine have a fast growing reputation as the go to people for card and board game translations, so we were very happy to begin a relationship with them.  They put a great deal of thought into the player experience for both loyal fans and new players, and ensured when the game was released every journalist and website had had a preview and was itching to get the full game.

We at Opposable are incredibly happy with the results – the game spent 2 weeks at number 1 in the paid card games category and became profitable after the first week.  The game demonstrates our local and distance multiplayer tech, and we’ll shortly be updating it to handle asynchronous play, the first use of our engine which we’ll soon be making available for other games and app  developers.

On release, the game had incredible reviews:

Board Game Geek: http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/32484/the-battle-for-hill-218

Pocket Tactics: http://pockettactics.com/2013/03/27/review-the-battle-for-hill-218/

WarGamer: http://www.wargamer.com/article/3338/ipad-game-review-battle-for-hill-218

RPG Net: http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/13/13768.phtml

iPad Board Games: http://ipadboardgames.org/2013/the-battle-for-hill-218/

There is a great post-mortem from Nils on Board Game Geek:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/19407/developer-post-mortem-the-battle-for-hill-218

And a selection of comments from users:

“218 is one of the best games available on iPad. The ai is excellent on hard setting making solo play a joy.” – Carl Render

“I wanted to play it enough to get good enough to write an informed (p)review.  Then I just wanted to play it” – Kelsey Rinella

“Battle for Hill 218 is an essentially perfect app. Thank you for getting a great game onto the iPad.”  - Marc Nelson Jr

“You done good, man. One of my most-played apps.” – Justin

Large Visible Machine are now working on their second game:

“We’ve also secured the rights to our second game, which features the design of a minor (or major?) BGG celebrity in Todd Sanders. The game in question is Shadows Upon Lassadar: Siege at Dalnish which features some brilliant art and design and I feel it should be a very good fit for mobile. Look out for more updates on this as we start proper development work in the next few weeks.”

The Battle For Hill 218 can be downloaded for iPad (soon iPhone / iPod) HERE.

-Ben T (MD)