''Beasts of Balance'' is a

dexterity Fine motor skill (or dexterity) is the coordination of small muscles in movement with the eyes, hands and fingers. The complex levels of manual dexterity that humans exhibit can be related to the nervous system. Fine motor skills aid in the growt ...

tabletop game Tabletop games or tabletops are games that are normally played on a table or other flat surface, such as board games, card games, dice games, miniature wargames, or tile-based games. Classification according to equipment used Tabletop games c ...

which is played alongside a

companion app A second screen involves the use of a computing device (commonly a mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet) to provide an enhanced viewing experience for content on another device, such as a television. In particular, the term commonly refer ...

for

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

and Android. The game was developed by Sensible Object and released in November 2016, its soundtrack was composed by

Disasterpeace Richard Vreeland (born June 29, 1986), better known by his stage name Disasterpeace, is an American composer and musician. He first got started in music after learning the guitar in high school and started writing music around the age of 17. Kno ...

. Originally titled ''Fabulous Beasts'', the game had to be renamed following a trademark dispute with

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

over their ''

Fantastic Beasts ''Fantastic Beasts'' is a film series directed by David Yates, and a spin-off prequel to the ''Harry Potter'' novel and film series. The series is distributed by Warner Bros. and consists of three fantasy films as of 2022, beginning with ' ...

'' film.

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 Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder, a radio receiver and transmitter. When triggered by an electromag ...

tagged; these tags are read by the plinth, and communicated to the companion app via

Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...

, 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. 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.

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 The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), formerly Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB), is a British research council, established in 1998, supporting research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities. History The Arts an ...

through their React programme. The React programme allowed the team to collaborate with

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

academics, and gave access to Young Coaches, children aged 7–12 who acted as playtesters. The initial prototype was built in four months. Sensible Object explored using

computer vision Computer vision is an interdisciplinary scientific field that deals with how computers can gain high-level understanding from digital images or videos. From the perspective of engineering, it seeks to understand and automate tasks that the hum ...

to track the stacked objects, but moved to a simpler method combining

tags in the objects and a weight sensor in the plinth. The game was prototyped on an Ultimaker 2

3D printer 3D printing or additive manufacturing is the Manufacturing, construction of a three-dimensional object from a computer-aided design, CAD model or a digital 3D modeling, 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is ...

. 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." The game's electronics were prototyped with

Arduino Arduino () is an open-source hardware and software company, project, and user community that designs and manufactures single-board microcontrollers and microcontroller kits for building digital devices. Its hardware products are licensed unde ...

components, and the mobile apps were built in

Unity Unity may refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England * Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; a h ...

. The game was partly funded through a

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

crowdfunding campaign, raising £168,360 towards the game's development in February 2016. In June 2016, the game was renamed from ''Fabulous Beasts'' to ''Beasts of Balance'' following a trademark dispute with

over their ''

'' film. The game was demoed at multiple events throughout its development, including the

Game Developers Conference The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is an annual conference for video game developers. The event includes an expo, networking events, and awards shows like the Game Developers Choice Awards and Independent Games Festival, and a variety of tutori ...

Spiel Internationale Spieltage SPIEL, often called the Essen Game Fair after the city where it is held, is an annual four-day boardgame trade fair which is also open to the public held in October (Thursday to the following Sunday) at the Messe Essen ex ...

, and the

American International Toy Fair The North American International Toy Fair (formerly the American International Toy Fair and also known as Toy Fair New York) is an annual toy industry trade show held in mid-February in New York City's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and at t ...

. At the 2015

Indiecade IndieCade is an international juried festival of independent games. IndieCade is known as "the video game industry's Sundance."Fritz, Ben"IndieCade, the video game industry's Sundance" Los Angeles Times, October 1, 2009, accessed July 21, 2011 ...

festival, it won the Technology Award. The game was released in November 2016.

Reception

Writing in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 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. 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".

References

{{reflist, 30em, refs= {{cite web, url=https://www.engadget.com/2016/11/18/beasts-of-balance-board-game-hybrid/, title='Beasts of Balance' is Jenga evolved, author=Nick Summers, work=

Engadget ''Engadget'' ( ) is a multilingual technology blog network with daily coverage of gadgets and consumer electronics. ''Engadget'' manages ten blogs four of which are written in English and six have international versions with independent editori ...

, date=2016-11-18, access-date=2017-05-06 {{cite web, url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-01-27-fabulous-beasts-is-jenga-for-the-gods, title=Fabulous Beasts is Jenga for the gods, author=Christian Donlan, work=

Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson. Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EGX ...

, date=2016-01-27, access-date=2017-05-06 {{cite web, url=http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/research/readwatchlisten/features/fabulous-beasts/, title=Digital technology reinventing the art of stacking, work=

, access-date=2017-05-06 {{cite web, url=http://www.react-hub.org.uk/articles/play/it%E2%80%99s-about-making-best-world-you-can-together, title=It's about making the best world that you can, together, author=Jo, work=React, access-date=2017-05-06, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170421213212/http://www.react-hub.org.uk/articles/play/it%E2%80%99s-about-making-best-world-you-can-together, archive-date=2017-04-21, url-status=dead {{cite web, url=http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/265746/AltCtrlGDC_showcase_Sensible_Objects_Fabulous_Beasts.php, title=Alt.Ctrl.GDC showcase: Sensible Object's Fabulous Beasts, author=Bryant Francis, work=

Gamasutra ''Game Developer'', known as ''Gamasutra'' until 2021, is a website founded in 1997 that focuses on aspects of video game development. It is owned and operated by Informa and acts as the online sister publication to the print magazine '' Gam ...

, date=2016-02-23, access-date=2017-05-06 {{cite web, url=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sensibleobject/fabulous-beasts-a-new-kind-of-game/description, title=Beasts of Balance – a new kind of game, author=Sensible Object, publisher=

, date=2016-01-26, access-date=2017-05-06 {{cite web, url=http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/275463/Toystolife_game_Fabulous_Beasts_renamed_after_Warner_Bros_trademark_dispute.php, title=Toys-to-life game Fabulous Beasts renamed after Warner Bros. trademark dispute, author=Chris Kerr, work=

, date=2016-06-21, access-date=2017-05-06 {{cite web, url=http://www.toynews-online.biz/interviews/read/fabulous-beasts-founder-alex-fleetwood-on-the-origins-of-his-toys-to-life-creation/046162, title=Fabulous Beasts founder Alex Fleetwood on the origins of his toys-to-life creation, author=Robert Hutchins, work=Toy News, date=2016-03-03, access-date=2017-05-06 {{cite web, url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/11/10-of-the-coolest-games-at-indiecade.html, title=10 of the Coolest Games at Indiecade, author=Riley MacLeod, work= Paste, date=2015-11-02, access-date=2017-05-06 {{cite web, url=http://www.toynews-online.biz/news/read/beasts-of-balance-launches-in-uk/047791, title=Beasts of Balance launches in UK, author=James Ridsdale, work=Toy News, date=2016-11-24, access-date=2017-05-06 {{cite journal, title=Beasts of Balance Review, author=Matt Jarvis, journal=Tabletop Gaming, issue=7, date=January 2017, page=94, url=https://www.tabletopgaming.co.uk/board-games/reviews/beasts-of-balance-review {{cite web, url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/22/beasts-of-balance-review-jenga-crossed-with-skylanders-with-tablet-augmented-scoring, title=Beasts of Balance review: Jenga crossed with Skylanders with tablet-augmented scoring, author=Stuart Dredge, work=

, date=2016-12-22, access-date=2017-05-06

External links

''Beasts of Balance'' official website
2016 video games Android (operating system) games Games of physical skill iOS games Kickstarter-funded tabletop games Party games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Board games introduced in 2016