Why an online version?

So if I'm a board-game designer, then why post here about an online game? You may ask.

Well, initially, when people played Makiavelia, many were saying: "why don't you make it an online game?" And I always rejected the idea, saying that for me, board games are all about meeting real people face to face and having a good and social time.

But then, that was before I realized how difficult publishing is. I haven't found a publisher yet, and I am not positioned well to meet any. I also am not looking forward to do a Kickstarter, especially being a one-man operation---and not least of all, sucking at sales and marketing.

So I fell back on another option: signing up with an agent, whos is actively looking for publisher and whom I fully trust will do a great job at it.

But then demo-wise I was using Tabletopia, which is very cool and all, but fails to deliver the real feel of Makiavelia with all its interactions and negotiations, and so much time gets spent manipulating the 3d bits and bobs that a 20 min game extends into a 120 min game. So then I toyed around with an alternative to Tabletopia, specific for Makiavelia.

And then Covid hit.

So that obviously made things even hard for everyone, including my agent who became increasingly interested in the online demo for pitching purpose. It also created a greater incentive for online socializing.

So I doubled down on the online version, spent a ton of hours at it and finally came up with the final product.

play.makiavelia.com

This is now just a beta and does not do well on phones, you're warned. You're welcome to try and also to join my community group Othergames Studio for support.

I'm really curious now as to the impact of this online version on y actual board game. Will it really help pitching? Will it add value to the game? Will it help build a community around it? Will it be a model to help others also do such online version of their games?

What do you think?