A Potential New Platform in Our Future?
If you've followed SquigglyFrog Studios for a while, you probably know that we have a bit of a soft spot for digital tabletop gaming.
A large part of our game catalog was developed for the Infinity Game Table, and it gave us the opportunity to take traditional board and tabletop ideas and turn them into something a little different.
So naturally, when we see a new digital tabletop platform appear, we pay attention.
And EverBoard definitely has our attention.
Meet EverBoard
Polygon recently took a look at EverBoard, a new 21.5-inch digital tabletop gaming system designed to bring multiple players together around a single touchscreen.
The system supports up to six players and can be used flat on a table or positioned upright. It also includes a built-in battery and carrying case, making it considerably more portable than the digital tables we've worked with in the past.
EverBoard is expected to launch with more than 50 games available through its EverPass service, including licensed Hasbro titles such as Monopoly, Scrabble, Connect 4 and Chutes and Ladders, alongside original games, puzzles, drawing experiences and arcade-style titles.
But there's another feature getting quite a bit of attention:
EverVibe Game Creator.
EverVibe uses generative AI to let players describe a game using text or voice and have the system turn that idea into a playable experience.
That's an interesting approach to user-generated content, and it could make EverBoard considerably more than just another collection of digital board games.
A Familiar Connection
For us, there's another reason this project immediately caught our attention.
David, one of our previous contacts from our time developing for Arcade1Up's Infinity Game Table, is also involved with the team behind EverBoard in some capacity.
Needless to say, that made us pay even closer attention.
Right now, we haven't seen an announcement regarding a third-party developer program, SDK, or whether independent studios will eventually be able to publish their own games for EverBoard.
But we're certainly hoping that happens.
If They Open the Doors, We'll Be Knocking
Many of the third-party developers who previously built games for platforms like the Infinity Game Table are watching EverBoard closely.
We're definitely one of them.
If EverBoard opens development to third-party studios, SquigglyFrog Studios will absolutely be looking into it.
We already have a catalog of games designed specifically around shared touchscreen tabletop play. EverBoard could potentially give some of those games a new home rather than leaving them behind on discontinued hardware.
And we'd certainly be looking at more than simply porting the old catalog.
There are projects that never made it across the finish line when development for the Infinity Game Table came to an end.
One of those is Acros, our acronym-based party game.
Acros was one of those projects that had the concept and development work behind it, but never got the opportunity to become a finished IGT release.
A new shared digital tabletop platform could be exactly the kind of place where a project like that gets another chance.
And knowing us, it probably wouldn't stop there.
A new piece of hardware means new controls, new possibilities and inevitably a bunch of new ideas that we probably don't have enough time to build.
We've been down that road before.
We'd happily go down it again.
For Now, We're Watching
To be clear, there's currently nothing for us to announce.
We don't know whether EverBoard will be opened to outside developers or what that process might eventually look like.
But if third-party development becomes available, we'll definitely be looking at what it would take to bring some familiar SquigglyFrog games over, revive unfinished projects like Acros, and start building entirely new games specifically for the platform.
For now, we're watching, waiting, and anxiously looking forward to learning more.
EverBoard, we're watching.
And if you open the doors to developers, we'd love to build something for it.