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I have heard so many opinions on to this subject, and every one has the same answer that it would be great to have an PC versions of this board game to play with friends online or alone. And I had the same line of thought.
As there is no module available on VASAL (because of some licensing problems, see other threads) and would not ever be. I decided to create my own software for that. The main idea is not to use any of Copy righted material, but only make an engine to run your own cards on PC, as it is commonly done for some old copy righted PC games (stratagus.sourceforge.net). With other exception that you would be needed to make a scans of your own cards or to take some or all of them from www.arkhamhorrorwiki.com (as actually I did). As I am not so familiar with C++ I made a first trial on Wolfram Mathematica 7. With a great success (it took me all spare time of 2 weeks). Here I used well arranged directories with properly named images, and during the game those images were extracted as needed. It is not possible to play with friends online now, but with minor modifications to the code it would be seizable to play either through e-mail or common ftp server. Here are some screen shots...
Initial state of the game:
After a game setup (chose up to 9 investigators, reveal Ancient One, resolve first Mythos, and so on...):
And just a look within investigator dialog:
As next step of this project will be not to improve or debug my Mathematica engine, but to recreate the same thing on C++ using QT4 libraries. This would give the advantage to use the software both on linux or windows... But than it would take me much, much longer time (I hope that no more than a year).
Of course, if some would ask to share with the engine created to work on Wolfram Mathematica, I could give it, but I warn that it would require not only a copy of Wolfram Mathematica 7, but also some knowledge of it, and a patience to scan all elements of game or to take them from public network, as mentioned above.
PS. Sorry for grammar mistakes, I learned English only from reading Sci-Fi books...
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Chris Morse
Wales
Merthyr Tydfil
not the nose, not the nose!!!
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This is very interesting. Subscribing to see how this evolves.
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Wouter Dhondt
Belgium
Anzegem
My armor is contempt. My shield is disgust. My sword is hatred. In the Emperor's name, let none survive.
When I now saw this Coppelius, the frightful and terrific thought took possession of my soul, that indeed no one but he could be the Sandman.
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I've been interested in doing something like this for a long time. Right now I only made the big cards in software as an aid when playing the board game. But having something like this would be brilliant.
I like the interface, though I'm not sure how you'd include expansions.
I've been pondering of starting something like this myself. The basic knowledge is there, though I have little experience in graphical stuff. The big thing that's holding me back though is the time needed to create this. Another issue is of course the copyrighted material which you can't include. I've been thinking of contacting FFG with a proposal that could solve both these issues, but never made the first step.
How do you see this project progressing? If you need any help testing, let me know. If you go the C++ & Qt route I should be able to compile it myself (as long as it's not the commercial Qt version) and maybe help out. And I can get the scanned copyrighted material without your aid.
Let us know if there is anything we can do to help this project.
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Really interesting, also this Wolfram Mathematica 7 deserves a more closer look, methinks this can give some cool ideas for anybody who can't chew too much C++ like me (short of time, mostly!).
I subscribed also because this boardgame is one of my very favourite, it will be really cool to have some software for both playtest/singleplay session (with other people... I prefer absolutely real people play ^^): keep up the good job!
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About expansions... for now I am not thinking about that, but just to make a basic game playable (already that is not a trivial task
 ). But later on I will try to include the possibility to add an expansions.
Yes time is the main issue here. But it gives me great benefits by doing that, first of all I will improve my knowledge of QT and C++ and secondly I will spend less time playing PC games, but doing more constructive things  .
The project is already started (since today), and my main idea is to rebuild all functions to C++ as I did them on Mathematica. First I am creating a board area with possibility to add any picture of any size and to move around them with mouse (it seems not so hard, as there is a good example in QT help for similar thing).
For now I don't know where anyone can help me, but I will post frequently the problems I face during the work.
Anyhow, thanks for the interest in this mater.
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Jason Reid
United States
New York
New York
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AcuZobs wrote: As I am not so familiar with C++...[snip]
As next step of this project will be not to improve or debug my Mathematica engine, but to recreate the same thing on C++ using QT4 libraries. This would give the advantage to use the software both on linux or windows... But than it would take me much, much longer time (I hope that no more than a year).
Given that you are not a C++ expert, I recommend that you look at some other, slightly lower-barrier-to-entry languages that also support QT4 bindings. For example, Python and Ruby are both free, cross-platform, and have some level of support for QT4 (probably enough for what you're doing, though I'm not very familiar with QT so I can't be sure).
If you don't already know the language, C++'s primary advantage is performance. However, most computerized boardgames don't require the level of processing power that, say, a first-person shooter would. And you pay for that advantage by having to learn a more complicated language.
I'm not here to blast C++...I use it quite frequently. But if you're just learning programming, it's probably a tougher place to start than you need to for this project. I just recommend doing a little bit of research first.
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Yeah, you are right... but the thing is that I need to learn C++ better than I do now (work related), so why not to do it in a fun way
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Todd Redden
United States
Manchester
Connecticut
"Laws are spider webs through which the big flies pass and the little ones get caught." - Honore de Balzac
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Careful. Without online checks and balances built in to game play, everyone could end up playing a very different game. It almost seems as though having all cards and actions built into the software must be mandatory in order to keep game flow consistent for all players, especially for a highly complex and very multi-player game like AH.
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You must be congratulated on taking on a massive and complex project! Very interested in seeing where this leads. Cheers!
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John "Omega" Williams
United States
Michigan
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I think he is referring more to the card art as opposed to the card rules, or game rules.
In many of the games I have worked on where you could customize the appearance. The defining factor is that the files had to remain named the same. This prevents exactly the problem you mention as long as the player is not deliberately trying to mess with the system or other players, in which case they will find a way no-matter.
As an example. A MMO I once played had this feature. You could customize the graphics as you pleased. But only you saw those changes normally. So player A might see everyone as talking animals, while player B might see the game as a post apoc setting of cyborgs and freaks, and player C sees rainbow ponies and flowers. But all are playing under the exact same rules. They just see things diffrently.
tmredden wrote: Careful. Without online checks and balances built in to game play, everyone could end up playing a very different game. It almost seems as though having all cards and actions built into the software must be mandatory in order to keep game flow consistent for all players, especially for a highly complex and very multi-player game like AH.
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Recently I received some concerns that I will be sharing something from Copy Righted material. Just to be clear I will also post my replay here.
I would never try to distribute anything of original artwork or anything from the rulebook. Only thing I am doing is creating some bunch of codes that are placing images on a screen at a right time. Afterwards each one who whats has a freedom to make their own image set as they like. It could be also that they just scan cards from their original set of AH or they can design them for them selves. Also I am not including any rules of AH game. The program would gives the freedom to move those scanned objects around without any restrictions (it is each ones free will to follow rules or not).
And if it is required I can even restrict myself of including the name "Arkham Horror" anywhere in the code... For what worth, I think it will be possible to use the program to simulate any similar board game using this soft, so there will be no real connection to AH at all.
P.S. And right now it is just a beginning, no guaranties that I will be able to finish it 
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Eðvarð Hilmarsson
Iceland
Reykjavik
Reykjavik
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I would run the finished version by them in case they have concerns that can be examined (and possibly changed). Since the program is informaly advertised (via this discussion) as being intented for AH (the intellectual property that they wish to safe guard).
I am no lawyer so I am only speaking of their concerns not legal rights. Running it by them when finished would eliminate any miss understanding about what the program can and can not do once finished. Most of the concerns would center on the proggy simulating the game well enough for someone to play it without any access to the board game itself (more of an issue for the arkhamwiki then the proggy though).
I´m pretty keen on the idea of this proggy myself though, it would make a fantastic tool for modding the game and experimenting with new cards and other home browed stuff. I hope the project goes well.
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I have a really good news to you all
Actually it takes much less time than I thought, and already I have finished base construction of a Board Game simulation engine. It took me some time to get into the QT4 and C++ syntax, and within first days it seemed to be impossible to do at all, but with every day it became easier and easier.
Now the engine have following features:
1) can be run both on windows and linux
2) external images can be loaded after generating proper game data set (when finished I will include detailed instructions for this step)
3) images can be dragged and added within software
4) support for board locations added
5) support for monster selection added (as we call it Monster Cup is fully functional)
So, this is beginning... but I am able to see all necessary steps to complete the project. 
Here I will also give a list of problems that I will have to face and I don't know jet how to deal with them:
1) How to make best possible game data set that can be easily saved and loaded.
2) How to enable proper online play (should there be one server which manages all deck and item operations (could be fast), or just make identical initial state for all players and than dynamically update changes with all players (that could be slow))....
Thanks for attention
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Just a quick update on a progress here...
I was able to finish the engine to be able to play Arkham Horror in a Single player or Hot Seat play mode. Almost everything works as it should.
So now together with a debug process I will create an user friendly interface to help organize all game items into appropriate folders. Also I will rewrite some parts of the code to exclude any references to AH. So actually it will be possible to use software on any other board game which has similar construction:
1) fixed game board
2) card decks (items, events, characters, etc) - shuffled or with just random card picking
3) has tokens - limited or unlimited
4) any kind of markers
5) additionally small playable areas
and so on...
My hope is that in the end it will be easy to use software and will bring a lot of fun to you all
By the way I opened a project in sorceforge, and even now there are some bits of code available: https://sourceforge.net/projects/scanplay/
Right now there is only a small part of interface (not the whole thing I have done), but I will update frequently, so stay tuned... also soon I will post some game play screen shots!
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Chris Morse
Wales
Merthyr Tydfil
not the nose, not the nose!!!
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I knew I was right to subscribe to this thread. It's sounding superb.
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I came to understand, that to create something that works for yourself is really fast and easy, but to make the same in a way that any one could use it, is much hard and time consuming.
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John "Omega" Williams
United States
Michigan
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This is also true in game design. Especially the rulebooks.
AcuZobs wrote: I came to understand, that to create something that works for yourself is really fast and easy, but to make the same in a way that any one could use it, is much hard and time consuming.
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Kyle Winslow
United States
Waukesha
Wisconsin
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Excellent work on this so far! Very impressive. There's a program out there however, that may help this along. Check out 'maptool' at www.rptools.net It's an open source application made primarily to use as a virtual tabletop for roleplaying games. However, a couple months ago it occurred to me that it could easily be used for at least the board aspects of a boardgame. And so far, it's worked great for playing with my friends online. We have all the game boards, all the tokens that go on the board, the ancient one, all the monsters & all the gates inserted into the program.
We still use our physical copies of the characters, item cards, spells, etc... primarily to randomly draw them, as well as having to physically select monsters (though we can then take our virtual copies & place them on the virtual board.) Maptool has a built-in die roller, and apparently the developers are working on a plugin that will let you draw your own created cards randomly. With that function Maptool could pretty much handle every aspect of the game in a digital form.
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That sounds good... I will check maptool and see what good ideas I could use from them
Still I have not tried to make my software playable online. Maybe I will find my answers there.
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The project ScanPlay is growing and already there is a ver 0.4 available. A good news about that is that I have created a small example game setup for this version. You can find it within downloads ( https://sourceforge.net/projects/scanplay/files/). Unfortunately I don't have binaries jet, so to try it you would be required to compile source code using QT4 (it is really easy on Windows).
The example game definitely does not exceed the capabilities of engine, but at least gives some insight in how the software is intended to work.
Although engine is not ready yet... it would be great if you could give me some feedback. Or if there is someone who could post binaries of the source code (on any platform), that would be appreciated.
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First binaries for Windows are posted feel free to try it out
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No, I don't like Java so much... and anyhow I am almost finished here. I would say that Arkham Horror will be playable within next month
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very glad to hear that...
congrats
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Manuel Drews
Germany
Frankfurt am Main
Hessen
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Hey !
I just tried out the Scanplay binaries and the idea is amazing.
Unfortunately there are some minor bugs in the binaries, which will prevent the app from starting.
In order to start the Scanplay binaries you have to:
manually download mingwm10.dll and put it in the Scanplay folder.
When you want to try the Sample Game "Cirks" you have to manually create the Folder the error message shows, something like ... -> "C:/Users/Andris/Documents/Cirks"...
Would be nice if that would be corrected :-)
Very nice idea! Some Dice Rolling Sounds would be nice :-)
I am very excited about the upcoming versions of this product !
Greetings
Manuel
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Posted Tue Jul 13, 2010 9:42 am
