Gameglass - interesting take on adding an iPad/Android to the SC experience

[Thalstan]

I came across this thread in the SC forums
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/community/SC/forum/50264/thread/game-glass

This looks very interesting.

In case the thread goes down, here is the link to the gameglass site

https://gameglass.gg/

It looks very similar to the old Roccat Powergrid software.

DISCLAIMER: I am not involved in any way with the developers, creators, producers, etc of Gameglass. I am not a backer (yet) but I am interested in it and would probably use it if it got developed. (EDIT, I am now a backer...got lifetime access for 79 bucks)

 

[maynard]

this is why Jeff Bezos gave us $50 Fire tablets

 

[Kiladyn]

I wonder what CIG will say about this? Could it be considered cheating due to using a 3rd party app? What is CIG was planning on making their own app?

 

[sovapid]

Not cheating anymore than using a stream deck to initiate a keypress.

Looks interesting.

 

[Vavrik]

It does look interesting. No it's not cheating, and CIG is welcome to design an app too. Nothing about this stops them.

 

[Scape]

Thats actually really good, good find

 

[Xenorak]

I was hoping for something like this, I have a rough time with binds and using in-game ship screens so I may look into a tablet just for this.

 

[August]

Looks good

 

[Shadow Reaper]

this is why Jeff Bezos gave us $50 Fire tablets

I don't understand. "All you need to do is create a free account. . ."

How do they make money? Is this operating now? Can you just add a pair of Fire tablets and connect them through wifi to your gaming machine and have a gajillion controls at your fingertips? there are templets already for SC?

And again, how can it be free? Makes no sense to me.

 

[Vavrik]

And again, how can it be free? Makes no sense to me.

Except if @maynard works for Amazon. That's how I took it.

 

[Shadow Reaper]

While I'm asking goofy questions. . .if you add something like a tablet to your gaming rig for the extra controls access, can you use the storage in that devise as another drive and so avoid purchasing an SSD? Used tablets are already cheaper than some SSDs, so it would be easy to justify. If you did that would you need to firewire instead of wifi, and wouldn't that drop the latency to the controls anyway?

 

[Vavrik]

Technically yes, but your data transaction latency may vary, considerably depending on the connection method. In the design use cases for a cellular or tablet, speed is a secondary concern. Good to have, but not if reliability is impaired.

 

[Shadow Reaper]

So the typical use of the SSD playing SC, is to store SC on it, and you can do that with a tablet's drive?

 

[stockish]

I don't understand. "All you need to do is create a free account. . ."

How do they make money? Is this operating now? Can you just add a pair of Fire tablets and connect them through wifi to your gaming machine and have a gajillion controls at your fingertips? there are templets already for SC?

And again, how can it be free? Makes no sense to me.

here is how they are making the money, also will become subscription sometime in the future once the $79 lifetime pass gets sold out I presume.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/gameglass-power-up-your-games#/

 

[Shadow Reaper]

Ah, so it is not free. I can't imagine why they said that. Is more for the access than the tablet to put it on.

 

[Vavrik]

Ahh, I get the use case. Technically you could do this. Practically, I'm not sure it would be a good experience, you might have issues with latency. That's caused by the length and quality of the USB cable used to connect everything. There may also be some serious issues with the disk storage requirements. SC needs ~ 46Gb on my computer.

 

[Schmunkel]

I think this looks amazing, but $139 for lifetime access or having a subscription makes it a hard pass. If this was a one time purchase of say $20 to $40 I would go for it. Supposedly they will have a bare-bones free version as well. I also worry about CIG putting a stop to this as they are supposed to have their own app when the game releases in 2025.

 

[Shadow Reaper]

I doubt CIG could stop it without infuriating the fan base. They'd be better off to buy the company making it.

I also doubt people will pay the prices they're asking. Players hate subscriptions. Could be that's just what they said to get their project through first funding and they actually know better.

 

[Schmunkel]

I doubt CIG could stop it without infuriating the fan base. They'd be better off to buy the company making it.

I also doubt people will pay the prices they're asking. Players hate subscriptions. Could be that's just what they said to get their project through first funding and they actually know better.

Well according to their Indigogo page , they have already raised over $37,000. It never ceases to amaze me how much people will spend on this game. Now they are spending hundreds on an app for an unreleased game!

 

[Thalstan]

There will be free shards or control sets available for games they support. With a subscription (currently WAY too high...5-10/year is better unless they support 10-15 games with stuff that really improves gameplay), you get access to all the shards.

I got a lifetime (LTI, I know), plan for 79. Still too high, but it’s a way for MFDs to really work for players. With the current implementation, the game MFDs work, but it’s not the best. Having something like this would transform gameplay IMO. That said, everyone should decide their own level of support/use. If it works and the free stuff is valuable, I think a lot will use it. Like the explorer controller, Thrustmaster Cougar controllers or their Saitek counterparts, these extra buttons change the game in terms of immersion and fun for me. Putting it on an old iPad or kindle would just turn it into something that would put me in the seat instead of taking my hands off the controls to go “press any key to continue”.

Don’t worry about funding. If you want to, keep it on your radar wait and see how it goes.