I love this game and I am definitely in it for the long haul, and one of the things I think FFG needs to do to keep this game alive for the long run is to make their own official X-Wing app. Here are a few reasons why:

1) They are currently counting on the community to make a necessity. I mean, think about it: you do not build a squad without a squadbuilder. If the only way to build a squad was pen and paper, I would have quit a long time ago.

Real life example: I used to play a ton of Imperial Assault. I got the game when it came out, played one campaign mission, and quit because it was so tedious to keep track of everything. I immediately switched to Skirmish mode and played it for a few months, off and on. Then solutions to this problem arose from the IA community, and eventually a Campaign Tracker, and I immediately got back into campaign and I have completed several campaigns and own everything for IA, and several duplicates. I would have never bought anything past the first wave if the community hadn't fixed this problem.

So here we are, 13 waves into one of FFG's most popular products, and FFG is still counting on the community to do this for them. Good thing X-Wing has a fantastic community! I'm not going to say that it is FFG's job to make an app, but a squadbuilder is the life-blood of X-Wing - why aren't they doing it? The game would die, or at least be close, without a squadbuilder. I am amazed at the kind-hearted and super-smart people that do this because they love it, but they really shouldn't have to - am I right?

2) Player convenience = more players. Mrs. Rick goes to tournaments with me, but honestly if Mrs. Rick had to fill out that stupid squadbuilder tournament sheet on her own there's no way she would go. I mean, the first time I did that I thought to myself, "What the heck is this? 1992?" I mean, I appreciate the nostalgia of the Assault GUNBOAT - but 1994 is not the same as 2018. Why the heck should I ever have to pick up a pen and paper to do anything? I should be able to make my squad, punch in the name, date and store of the tournament, select my obstacles, put my name in, and hit PRINT. That's right, hit PRINT, take the paper to the TO and give it to him. I mean THAT is at least 2004 technology! I should NOW be able to upload my squad from my tablet app into a tournament site itself without having to print anything - but that would definitely be too much.

All I am asking is that we try and get into the twenty-first century a little, okay?

Another example: I have a couple friends who enjoy playing table-top games with me, because I do all the work. Ugh. I learn the rules, explain the rules, stay up on the rules, build the squads for them, blah blah blah. They always have fun though. What if there was a digital version of Boba Rick though? What I mean by that is they download the app and it automatically generates two squads (based upon collection imputed by user) that are relatively equal? Then Mr. Lazy Bones friend hits print and doesn't even have to find his cards because....... PLAYER CONVENIENCE EQUALS MORE PLAYERS.

Eventually this player loses his training wheels and starts building his own squads. This is for real and it would create more players. Cool little how-to videos right there in the app, because Mr. Lazy Noob isn't going to scour YouTube (and he shouldn't HAVE TO). Everything he needs should be in the box and in the app!

3) An official app could be diet version of X-Wing 2.0. So the T-65 costs too much and Biggs was broken for like 90% of X-Wing's life cycle and the freakin' Jumpmaster terrorized us for two years and it never stops and there's all this drama, drama, drama and people calling for X-Wing 2.0. I know there are cool ideas from other games (like the different attack dice of Armada or the objectives of Imperial Assault) and that an app may not necessarily be able to do all of them, but some of them it might. It could do a monthly objective for tournaments (thank you Mynocks, Gold Squadron, and Krayts for being awesome) and other things. It wouldn't be a complete overhaul of the game, but it could be a diet version of a 2.0.

Consider MMOs. It's been a long time since I was really into MMOs, but they were constantly updating and re-balancing those things in patches. I think no one cares if they change the text on a card or change the point value at this point. We will endure that pain (?) to get a consistently balanced game over the long-haul. These updates could be SEAMLESS if FFG had their own app that you build, share, and print your squads for tournaments.

So let's say you are a new guy and you pick up the red core set. You see at the back of the rule book (or a there's a glossy loose piece of paper inside with a pretty space battle on it) that says the following:

Thank you for purchasing this copy of the X-Wing Miniature Game core set! Everything included in this box is what you need for at-home, casual X-Wing play! If you would like to take your game to the next level we recommend you download the mobile app or visit our squadbuilder page at....

The new guy downloads the app and there's cool music and sounds and objectives and missions and wow! He is DRAWN INTO THE GAME MORE. He is prompted to enter his collection under the settings with a helpful little introductory message. After entering his collection he is asked if he would like the squadbuilder to be set to "At-Home" or "Tournament" mode. Maybe there's a video explaining the difference? By selecting "At-Home" mode every ship and upgrade is available for squad building according to how it came in the box. By selecting "Tournament Mode", he understands EVERYTHING is up in the air and subject to change at any time including point costs and the actual text of cards themselves. By selecting Tournament Mode HE has made the DECISION, in a way a sort of soft-contract and agreement, to be okay with whatever changes FFG does.

But here's the thing: the new guy has the CHOICE to do what he wants. What people hate is not having a choice. He can do what he feels comfortable with. When people feel like their card has been changed they feel jipped, but when they choose to let that card be changed by selecting "Tournament Mode" then it's their choice. If he doesn't like it, he can at any time go back to "At Home Play."

How cool would it be if you opened up your squadbuilder and there was a quick update that said Luke Skywalker was now 4 points cheaper. Then next month it turns out that wasn't good enough and so they made him 5 points cheaper. Would you really care? I wouldn't, I'd be happy to see him played in a tournament!

If you want to be a purist - select "At-Home" mode, if you want to play in tournaments, select "Tournament" mode. Done.

I'm sure there are more reasons why an official app would be very good, but I'll stop there.

Thanks for reading this if you made it this far!

100% all for this.

Sadly I can already hear the hordes of Luddites screaming "But muh cardboard!"

Negative, Ghostrider, the pattern is full.

But my cardboard? Jk. Sounds like a good idea. I only did read the first paragraph.

Holy moly, this is a great idea. Lets put @Boba Rick in charge. Sorry Davy, we're going with someone who actually has good ideas and passion for the game.

13 minutes ago, Favoritism Flight Games said:

Holy moly, this is a great idea. Lets put @Boba Rick in charge. Sorry Davy, we're going with someone who actually has good ideas and passion for the game.

No thanks, I have nothing but good things to say about those creative and talented devs. I just want an app!

@Boba Rick , which campaign tracker did you use? I’m just finishing my first campaign ad we did it with pen/paper, which has sucked.

So who would design said app? Are you suggesting ffg hire new people to create it? Wonder how much more we'd spend to support their new app dev team.

Or maybe just slow down the releases and have the current devs also make an app so we can have less releases and a half assed app.

Or maybe contract it out to like a 3rd party... like the ones we already have... But for more money on all the products we get...

I dunno man I don't see the money in it

1 minute ago, Dabirdisdaword said:

So who would design said app? Are you suggesting ffg hire new people to create it? Wonder how much more we'd spend to support their new app dev team.

Or maybe just slow down the releases and have the current devs also make an app so we can have less releases and a half assed app.

Or maybe contract it out to like a 3rd party... like the ones we already have... But for more money on all the products we get...

I dunno man I don't see the money in it

Not my problem to figure that stuff out.

If they want this game to thrive for the long run this is something they should do. They made an app (finally) for Imperial Assault, Mansions, that other scary game, and Decent. They can definitely do this.

6 minutes ago, Boba Rick said:

I have nothing but good things to say about those creative and talented devs.

Are....are you a dev?

Having used a campaign tracker for IA, this is absolutely necessary at this point. As a TO, I would LOVE a QR code I could scan into tournament software, etc. Hopefully this team is already on the path:

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2016/8/26/the-electronic-side-of-board-gaming/

No I strongly disagree

I use libre software , I hate those brand that make apps compulsory.

Also. ARE YOU THAT UN-Thanksfull?!?! Our comunity is ful of great devs that make awsome contents, squad builders etc... All for fun, no datas stolen, no acount needed... Well Thank you ALL THE COMUNITY for all the free uninteresed fun. Sincerely

i suspect any "official" listbuilder would be A) not free B) have format issues and C) still be incredibly bare-boned compared to the current ones we got.

9 minutes ago, Dabirdisdaword said:

So who would design said app? Are you suggesting ffg hire new people to create it? Wonder how much more we'd spend to support their new app dev team.

Or maybe just slow down the releases and have the current devs also make an app so we can have less releases and a half assed app.

Or maybe contract it out to like a 3rd party... like the ones we already have... But for more money on all the products we get...

I dunno man I don't see the money in it

FFG has an app dev team that makes apps for Descent and Imperial Assault among other things. Both of those apps are campaign simulators and even include an AI for the players to coop against. What's being discussed here is several orders of magnitude simpler. So both the capacity and the know how are there.

As for why this would slow down product releases... you do understand that game designer and software developer are two different jobs with no overlap in responsibilities right? Right...?

The money comes from player retention due to better balance and making it simpler, especially for new players, to get into and keep up with current rules. It's not a direct income source, rather it should be looked at as an advertising expense. Having said that, would I have paid an extra $1 for my core sets it meant I got this? In a heartbeat

3 minutes ago, Vineheart01 said:

i suspect any "official" listbuilder would be A) not free B) have format issues and C) still be incredibly bare-boned compared to the current ones we got.

Based on the Descent and IA apps it would almost certainly be free. As for whether it's good or not... hopefully you get the devs of the aforementioned apps and not the TOME devs to do it

32 minutes ago, player2422845 said:

No I strongly disagree

I use libre software , I hate those brand that make apps compulsory.

Also. ARE YOU THAT UN-Thanksfull?!?! Our comunity is ful of great devs that make awsome contents, squad builders etc... All for fun, no datas stolen, no acount needed... Well Thank you ALL THE COMUNITY for all the free uninteresed fun. Sincerely

Your mis-characterizing of me is not fair. I said, " I am amazed at the kind-hearted and super-smart people that do this because they love it, but they really shouldn't have to - am I right?"

31 minutes ago, Vineheart01 said:

i suspect any "official" listbuilder would be A) not free B) have format issues and C) still be incredibly bare-boned compared to the current ones we got.

Maybe, but it would also be more likely to be complete and less likely to have support and updates abandoned like a popular app I know a lot of people use.

39 minutes ago, Makaze said:

FFG has an app dev team that makes apps for Descent and Imperial Assault among other things. Both of those apps are campaign simulators and even include an AI for the players to coop against. What's being discussed here is several orders of magnitude simpler. So both the capacity and the know how are there.

As for why this would slow down product releases... you do understand that game designer and software developer are two different jobs with no overlap in responsibilities right? Right...?

The money comes from player retention due to better balance and making it simpler, especially for new players, to get into and keep up with current rules. It's not a direct income source, rather it should be looked at as an advertising expense. Having said that, would I have paid an extra $1 for my core sets it meant I got this? In a heartbeat

This.. exactly!

And it's not like FFG doesn't have an app team already. XCOM and Mansions of Madness also use an app and they are really well made. There is an official FFG X-wing App too, but last I saw it was just a dice rolling app.

Another HUGE advantage of an FFG app is it would be tournament legal. As an FFG product it would almost certainly be validated as useable at the tables. The dice app is legal at the table so the X-wing app probably would be too.

50 minutes ago, Dabirdisdaword said:

So who would design said app? Are you suggesting ffg hire new people to create it? Wonder how much more we'd spend to support their new app dev team.

Or maybe just slow down the releases and have the current devs also make an app so we can have less releases and a half assed app.

Or maybe contract it out to like a 3rd party... like the ones we already have... But for more money on all the products we get...

I dunno man I don't see the money in it

If there is one thing FFG does better than anyone else I’ve seen, it’s apps for their games. Mansions of Madness is brilliant, and the Descent app is also great. Haven’t tried it but I’ve heard good things about the IA app. These are all pretty involved apps too, with lots of music, graphics, game mechanics, even narration.

They clearly have the ability to make a solid app already. They could always charge for it, which I’d be willing to do if it was on par with their other apps.

Give me an official X-Wing Miniatures game app, or give me death!

-They would have to made and support 3 different apps for the common operations systems (Android, Iphone, Windows phone), that costs money

(Above talks about not forcing people to choose, here: certain operation system)

-what about people not having a smartphone (yes those exist, there are a number of reasons, e.g. battery time(important in rural areas!), spy issues on all of them, cost)

(Above talks about not fiorcing people to choose, here: Sorry can't play the game any longer)

-it starts being awful, all companies want you to have their own app, to get boni etc. Phones get really full and slow.

15 minutes ago, Managarmr said:

-They would have to made and support 3 different apps for the common operations systems (Android, Iphone, Windows phone), that costs money

(Above talks about not forcing people to choose, here: certain operation system)

-what about people not having a smartphone (yes those exist, there are a number of reasons, e.g. battery time(important in rural areas!), spy issues on all of them, cost)

(Above talks about not fiorcing people to choose, here: Sorry can't play the game any longer)

-it starts being awful, all companies want you to have their own app, to get boni etc. Phones get really full and slow.

There's always going to be some people left in the dust. You don't need the app, you just need the app for tournament play.

There is no human alive right now that attends X-Wing tournaments that does not use an app to build his squads.

8 minutes ago, Boba Rick said:

There's always going to be some people left in the dust. You don't need the app, you just need the app for tournament play.

There is no human alive right now that attends X-Wing tournaments that does not use an app to build his squads.

Sorry, you're wrong. You can use a PC/Mac/Linux accesing web-based squad builder and then print. Or just use the cards (as required)), I know people doing this.

5 minutes ago, Managarmr said:

Wrong. You can use a PC/Mac web-based squad builder and then print (or just use the cards (as required)), I know people doing this.

That's still an app, it's just web-based. In the OP I listed the squadbuilder website as well:

Thank you for purchasing this copy of the X-Wing Miniature Game core set! Everything included in this box is what you need for at-home, casual X-Wing play! If you would like to take your game to the next level we recommend you download the mobile app or visit our squadbuilder page at....

Official X.Wing app .... dilly dilly!!