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Topics - Jimmy V.

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106
When I started programming Artificial Intelligence in 1998, Go was impossible to program. We used to say the best program had at best the level of a club player after 6 months of play.

Now Google AI has just beaten one of the best players in the world. This is a massive milestone.

And I think this shows that Artificial Intelligence will take a major part in our lives in the coming years.

I did not think I would say that so quickly but it seems to be happening.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35761246

107
Dear friends!

Can you give a thumbs up to Happy Meeple on this page? If you are a BGG user that is.

Please give thumbs up to Happy Meeple here: Online game meta-list

Thanks for your help!

108
Lost Cities / Comments on Lost cities makeover
« on: 07/03/16, 05:13pm »
Please comment on this thread about the new Lost Cities interface!

I know the deck at the top came as a surprize to many of you (and I have already moved it from top-left to top-right). I hope you will get used to it. It is not easy to put the deck anywhere else without changing the layout completely.

109
Tips, polls, updates / List of updates
« on: 07/03/16, 12:37pm »
2016/03/07 - Lost Cities has had a makeover.

Bigger screen size.
Improved artwork.
Better animations.
Expedition scoring details.
Shorter tutorial.

Lost Cities and Migrato overview pages are now available in Spanish.

110
Hi,

For those who are lucky enough to own an iOS machine, please have a look at our recommended board games apps for iOS (iPhone/iPad)!

You should find plenty of good apps to play with.

111


Florent Toscano is both the publisher and the game designer of Migrato. He runs Jeux Opla a company that specializes in eco-friendly modern board games. All his games are 100% made in France. Here is a short interview:
 
What made you swap your career as a researcher in biology for a job as a game publisher with an eco-friendly ethos? They are very different jobs, right?
Yes and no ! Publishing games is not so far from being a scientist. Like research it is a hard and long process. Moreover the themes of our games lead us to work with science experts too (in nature, research, ecology…). We make sure the figure in our games come from reality.
I switched from my previous job to the new one out of pure caprice. Although being a researcher is hard, complicated and time-consuming, I actually loved it too. But over the years, I had got more and more involved in the board game world (particularly with Chamboultou, an association I founded) so the transition was natural.
 
With 9 new games, you have been very active since you published your firt game in late 2011. We were particularly impressed by your collaborations with renown film-maker Luc Jacquet. How is "Jeux Opla" doing?
I’m not the designer of all games published by my company Jeux Opla! (Pollen and Le Bois des Couadsous are not my games for instance). As far as collaborations are concerned, like the one with Luc Jacquet and his team, I don’t know the recipe really. It all comes naturally. We got on very well and found mutual interests. His expertise is in cinema, image and art. Mine is in games. The two projects with him (Il était une forêt et La Glace et le Ciel) were extremely rewarding for me. But it was actually very rewarding too when I worked with La Salamandre (Pollen, Migrato), LPO (Migrato), Arthropologia (Pollen), or even for our comics line of games with the writers of Lincoln!
 
We are sure that being "eco-friendly" is not an option for you but would you say that the "eco-friendly" label is a great asset in terms of business or more like a burden?
Both my friend ! Produce locally and cleanly has a cost. And it shows on our margins ! Our games are at the same price as any other game of the same category. So for this side of things, it is a burden. However, on the plus side, we get distributed in networks that other games don’t have have access to.
Of course, birds, trees, bees are not gamers’ preferred subjects. So we need to show our games around a lot to demonstrate their quality.
It is easy to label our games “educational games” which they are not at all. They are first and foremost games.
So we have to fight against that.  We don’t want to make games because they sell but because we love them, so we have to deal with it…

We have often seen you playing Migrato on Happy Meeple lately. It must be a very special experience for you as a designer. How do you live it?
I am a big fan now, clearly addicated. I have never played on Happy Meeple before (shame on me!). I usually don’t play online.
On Happy Meeple, the ranking system makes it so addictive !
Also, I noted that although the rules are exactly the same as for the real game, I don’t see the game in the same way. I plan differently and think differently.
In short I love it!
 
Reiner Stockhausen, the designer of Siberia the card game, told us that he had rediscovered his game on Happy Meeple, finding new strategies that he had not thought of during the game design process. He was also positively impressed by the bots. How do you relate to this?
I totally relate to it as I said above.
As far as the bots are concerned, they not only impressed, they also managed to make me angry. How could these lines of codes dare to beat me ?
 
Florent, thanks for accepting this interview! Long live Jeux Opla! Anything you want to add?
Thanks to you and your huge work! It is really cool!


112


Florent Toscano est à la fois l’éditeur (Jeux Opla) et l’auteur du jeu Migrato. Les Jeux Opla se font une fierté de développer des jeux de société modernes respecteux de l’environnement : leurs jeux sont fabriqués entièrement en France. Voici une petite interview de Florent :

Florent, comment es-tu passé d’une carrière de chercheur en biologie à l’édition éco-responsable de jeux de société ? Ce n’est pas du tout la même chose, n’est-ce pas ?
Oui… Et non ! Oui dans le sens de l’évidence, et non dans celui qu’il y a un vrai et long travail pour réaliser un jeu, dans une démarche pas si éloignée de celle scientifique, et que les thématiques que l’on développe au travers de nos jeux sont validées par des experts naturalistes, chercheurs, écologues, avec des paramètres de jeux « réels »… Et ce qui m’a fait passer de l’un à l’autre, c’est juste un caprice. Le boulot de chercheur, bien que très dur, compliqué et prenant, me plaisait énormément… Mais mon implication dans le monde du jeu depuis une quinzaine d’années au travers notamment de Chamboultou, une association que j’avais fondé, m’a fait me plonger dedans de manière de plus en plus immersive !
 
Tu as désormais publié 9 jeux, soit une jolie fréquence depuis 2011. Je suis aussi particulièrement impressionné par tes collaborrations avec le réalisateur de renom Luc Jacquet. Comment fais-tu ?
 Je ne suis pas le designer de tous les jeux publiés par ma société Jeux Opla (exemples : Pollen, Le Bois des Couadsous) ! Pour ce qui est des collaborations telles que celle avec Luc Jacquet et son équipe… Je ne sais pas, c’est assez naturel en réalité ! On s’est retrouvé sur une façon de faire et de voir les choses, sur une volonté commune de communiquer sur des thématiques qui nous sont chères via le cinéma, l’image et l’art pour lui, et le jeu pour moi. A partir de là, on ne pouvait que s’entendre, non ?... Et ces projets (Il était une forêt et La Glace et le Ciel) sont pour moi hyper enrichissants ! Comme c’est le cas également pour les partenariats avec La Salamandre (Pollen, Migrato), la LPO (Migrato), Arthropologia (Pollen), et même au niveau de la gamme BD avec les auteurs de Lincoln !
 
Je suis sûr qu’être éco-responsable n’est pas une option pour toi mais dirais-tu que c’est plutôt un atout ou plutôt un fardeau pour les Jeux Opla en termes de business ?
Les deux mon ami! Produire localement et proprement a un coût financier réel qui se voit évidemment sur nos marges, puisque nos jeux sont au même prix dans les rayons des boutiques que tous les autres jeux de même format. Donc là on est plus du côté du fardeau. Mais ça permet (avec le fait d’avoir des thématiques « nature ») de toucher des réseaux de distribution supplémentaires. Là on sera plutôt du côté du bénéfice ! Après, ben les oiseaux, les arbres, les abeilles, on le sait que ce n’est pas ce qui excite le plus le joueur… Donc il y a un gros taf de démonstration des jeux à faire. L’étiquette « jeu écolo », « jeu éducatif », bien que nos jeux ne le soient pas du tout, est vite collée ! Mais comme on ne veut pas faire ce qui se vend mais ce qui nous plait…
 
On t’a vu souvent jouer à Migrato sur Happy Meeple récemment. Ca doit être une expérience particulière en tant qu’auteur du jeu ? Comme le vis-tu ?
Je suis fan, accroc, alors que je n’avais jamais mis les pieds (j’en suis honteusement désolé) sur ta plate-forme! Il faut savoir que je ne joue normalement pas du tout en ligne… Là le système de classement rend le truc assez addictif ! Et je remarque, alors que la règle est scrupuleusement la même, qu’on dénote des choses qu’on ne voit pas forcément dans le vrai jeu. Je n’ai pas la même vision des gestes et de l’avenir, et appréhende différemment mes coups ! Bref, je surkiffe !
 
Reiner Stockhausen, le designer de Siberia the card game, nous a indiqué qu’il avait redécouvert son jeu sur Happy Meeple, trouvant de nouvelles stratégies auxquelles il n’avait jamais pensé durant la création du jeu. Il avait également été particulièrement impressionné par le niveau des robots. Est-ce que tu as eu une expérience similaire ?
Ben oui, c’est un peu ce que je te disais avant… Par contre les bots ne m’ont pas seulement impressionné, ils m’ont méchamment énervé!
 
Florent, merci d’avoir accepté cette interview et longue vie aux Jeux Opla ! Quelque chose à ajouter ?
Merci à toi et à ton énorme boulot, tout ça est très chouette!



113
Tips, polls, updates / Daily quests - Propose yours!
« on: 11/02/16, 11:36am »
In a future release, we wil be offering daily quests. You will have 24 hours to complete a quest and earned Honour points (HP).

Houses will be earned every 3 or 4 meeples. Your village will grow as you make progress.

HP will be used to customize your houses in the world. You will add a garden, fences, a new roof, a new door, a tree, a well, a bush, etc. The artwork is ready. We "just" need to integrate it.

Here are a few ideas for daily quests. Please let us know what quests you would find fun so we can add them:

- Win 2 online games in a row
- Play 2 different games online
- Play with a friend
- Beat Verboten 3 times
- Beat 3 different bots
- Play 3 different games
- Beat 2 players rated over 1700
- Play 1 complete game among : Siberia Card, Keltis Ór, Keltis card
- Play against 3 different human players
- Play against 2 players from different teams
- Play against a German player, a French player, an American player
- Beat the same player twice



114
Tips, polls, updates / Tips
« on: 11/02/16, 10:42am »
Here are a few tips to improve your experience.

Free bonus cards are available at the bottom of the main menu page. Click on them to find out what you have earned! Click a second time to actually get the reward!
Come back there often as a new card will appear within a few minutes!

Sometimes players open a table in the inn and wait for an opponent for their favorite game. They go surfing on another window and forget about the game. Someone joins but after 2 minutes, the game is lost.
The best way to avoid this if to turn on sound effects (Fx). A bell will ring when the game starts.
If you don't want to have sound effects on, you can make sure to surf in the same window as Happy Meeple (open a new tab). Indeed, the title of the Happy Meeple tab will blink when a new game starts. So if you are surfing in the same window, you will see that and switch back to Happy Meeple.

You normally need to have the white meeple for a game to play it online. However there is a way to bypass this. Someone who already has the white meeple can invite you to his table via a link. All you need to do is simply click on the link and you will join him. This is a nice way to invite new players to the platform. Even if they don't have an account, they will be able to play against you in a few seconds. A guest account will be created automatically for them. So use the link to your table.

Magic Potion gives you unlimited play as well as some extra benefits like the possibility of playing against a bot more quickly. You can get it in the market (when it is open). Read about Magic Potion here.

To get more food and play more, the easiest way is to go to the market. But there are many more ways. We suggest to build your world (see the castle). Roads and granaries will help you a lot in the long term if you don't have Magic Potion.

Gold coins let you buy Magic Potion as well as resources (wood, bricks, stone) to build buildings. These buildings will let you store and produce more food. They are very helpful if you don't have Magic Potion. Here are the main ways to earn gold.

In any chat, you Like a message by clicking on the green meeple next to it.
You can reopen a closed chat by clicking on the H letter in the top-right corner of any chat window. This will show your chat history. From there, you just need to find the name of the player and click on the bubble next to it.

You can add a player to your friends list by clicking on the little heart next to his name. A red heart will be displayed next to your friends. You can unfriend by clicking on the heart again. When you "friend" someone, this person will see the information in his Daily Meeple and be able to add you to his friends list easily too.

If you need to change team (country), please go to the settings page. Alternatively, you can also go to the rankings page and click at the bottom of the 2nd ranking list on the button "Change region".

You can see your profile (with history and stats) by clicking the little grey meeple in the menu bar (top left of the main menu page).
You can see other players' profile by clicking on their name.

You can post in the forum immediately. No need to register again. If you are logged in your Happy Meeple account, you are logged in the forum. We like to hear from you. Please let us know what you think!

Daily Quests give you a little challenge each day. They are a good way to earn King's favours which you can use to customize your world (click on the houses to customize them). If a daily quest seems too difficult to complete, come back the next day, the next quest will probably be easier.








115
Tips, polls, updates / Updates
« on: 09/02/16, 10:58am »
Today, we updated the Spanish translation. There are only 3 strings still missing. Hopefully this should be corrected soon.

Let us know if you see any issue!

116
Hi there,

Do you speak German?
Are you a board game fan?

Then I need your help for promoting Happy Meeple a bit.

As I speak English and French (and a bit of Spanish), I have been able to get the word out in these languages. But we have a big deficit in the German-speaking world!

Can you get in touch with me? Via this page or via our contact form (or directly by email at contact at happym... .com)

Many thanks!


117
Rankings, meeples and achievements / FAQ - Achievements
« on: 04/02/16, 03:28pm »
Frequently asked questions about the achievements

How does the bot challenge work?
You receive a bronze medal after beating 3, 6, 9 and 12 different bots for a specific game.
This medal becomes silver if you have done the same 3 times.
It becomes gold when you have done the same 3 times.
So if you manage to beat all 12 bots 6 times, you get the highest medal. It takes some time of course.

Do online games count for the bot challenge?
In training mode you can choose which bots to play against. It makes it easier to complete the bot challenge. However, online games do count. If you beat Botero online, it is as good as beating it in training.

Is there an achievement for winning more than 10 matches in a row?
No, the highest achievement is 10 wins. You still get gold rewards by going over 10. But you don't get any more achievement.

118
Hi all,

I have just added a few questions to the tutorial, training and online FAQs in the same sub-forum as this one.

Feed free to ask any question you may have!

Have a good read!

119
Hi all,

Do you use the link that shows on your tables?

On your tables in the inn, there is a link. This link is very useful to invite friends that have never been on Happy Meeple.

Share the link with whoever you want to invite! When your friend follows the link, he is redirected to your table and you can start playing immediately. Use it to invite to your table on Skype, on Facebook or even by email!

The good thing is that it bypasses any restriction:
1) your friend does not need to have an account. A guest account is created automatically.
2) your friend does not need a white meeple to play online with you. He will join you without it. You will be the teacher.

Please note that if your friend already has an account, he will be asked to login first (so that a new guest account is not created). Other than that, the game will start immediately.

Have you used this feature? Did it work well? Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Any question?


120
Other board games / [7 Wonders Duel]
« on: 31/01/16, 09:41pm »
Hi all,

I wanted to start a discussion about 7 Wonders Duel.



For those who have no idea what this game is about, they must first know that it is the 2-player version of the widely acclaimed 7 wonders game. It is a separate game from the original specifically designed for 2 players and only 2 players.

It takes many of the features of the original game and if you are familiar with 7 wonders, it will not take you very long to understand 7 Wonders Duel. I know. That's what I have just done: I have just finished going through the rules (very good ones BTW and it is important to mention) and they were easy to follow.

I have to say that I was slightly skeptical about this game at first although international reviews anonymously received the game as one of the greatest. But after going throught the rules, my doubts are cleared. I can foresee great fun and variety in this game. I feared it would be too much of a computing exercise, but I have seen many elements in the rules and in the cards that make sure the game can't be dry.

So I really look forward to playing my first game of 7 Wonders Duel.

I wonder(!) if you played it and what your thoughts are.


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