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DUNGEONFOG | Create RPG Maps and GameMaster Notes Online

Created by DungeonFog

Tool for game masters that generates stories based on maps drawn with online editor. Create, share, play, and export maps w/GM notes.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Update to ALPHA v0.9
about 6 years ago – Fri, Feb 09, 2018 at 08:47:58 AM

Today we have updated our ALPHA to version 0.9
Apart from possible hotfixes, this is going to be our last update as ALPHA. The next update will be around end of February and will then transition into our Closed BETA.

Here are some of the new features that we have added with this update:

SPACE-Maps!

We have finally implemented our first draft of space props and textures! This is not the full set yet and we will be adding new props in the coming weeks, but it should give you a good toolset to create you first star bases, spaceships and outposts.

The final frontier
The final frontier

 

Asset Library & Loading improvements

We have implemented our first version of the asset library. 


There are two reasons behind this new way of organizing your assets:

  • Improved loading times - We want to get rid of this terribly long initial loading time, when you launch the editor for the first time. Our new library is another step towards this. We are aware however, that there are now other bottlenecks, where the loading takes too long, but with this new asset library we are able to address this more precisely.

  • Better way to organize your assets - With the sci-fi props added and more props to come, we needed a better management tool to organize assets. Keep in mind that this is our first implementation of the library. More refinements will come.

How to work with the new asset library?

To access the asset library simply click on "manage images..." in your prop or texture panel:

Manage images gives you access to the library
Manage images gives you access to the library

Account wide favorites

Prop & texture panels in the sidebar of the editor now collect your favorite props and textures and store them to your account. So whenever you create a new map, you have your favorite assets ready and waiting for you. 

We also track assets, that are currently in use on the map you have opened. So in case you have cloned a map from another community member, those assets are also visually highlighted in your library. At the moment we visually mark them as followed:

Grey Background means this asset is actively used on the map, yellow border means: You have added this asset to your quick-access
Grey Background means this asset is actively used on the map, yellow border means: You have added this asset to your quick-access

Tabs explained

We currently have three tabs in the asset library: 

The new asset library
The new asset library

DUNGEONFOG is where all our DUNGEONFOG assets are stored. Currently we have props and textures in one tab, but we might want to change that to give you even more structure. You can switch the settings, hide the categories and search for asset names.

Uploaded is where you will manage your own uploaded assets. Since we are still woking on this feature it is currently just a placeholder.

Active is where you can see all active assets (favorites and used assets) collected in one place. 

We will add more tabs to your library as we progress in development.

More tips

How do I "activate" assets from the library to use them on the map? Simply click on a prop or texture in your library. It will be added to your quick-access in the panel, marked with a yellow square and is already active to stamp. If you want remove an asset from your favorites, just click on it in your library and it will be removed from your panel.

Is there a way to quickly close the library?
Yes. With backspace you can close the library.

Lossless Zooming

We have implemented a new rendering mechanics, that improves the quality of your maps remarkably. Everytime, you zoom in/out, we dynamically change the quality of the assets to fit the current zoom level. This also applies if you decide to export your maps on a higher scale-level.

 

Tiled Export - the last (?) step to limitless map sizes.

In the past updates we have experimented with a new approach to rendering maps. The first step was to add a map size tool, that allows to change the size of the map on the fly. According to this, we also changed the mechanics on how to render a map based on the current viewport, instead of always rendering the complete map. So in theory you should be able to create maps of limitless size.

There was only one problem: Once you wanted to export giant maps, your browser at some point would give up, because he can’t deal with such enormous data.

We think, that we have now solved this issue too. 

Tiled export will create map tiles, if your map is too big to export in once piece
Tiled export will create map tiles, if your map is too big to export in once piece

With this update we are experimenting with a mechanics, that checks, if a map would be too big to export and splits it into smaller tiles. I wouldn’t call it our most stable patient yet, so make sure you save, before you try it. Testing from our community however will help us to make adjustments and we will see if we can tame this beast, or if we need to revert to size limits.

Note: Testing it on my computer, I was able to export maps up to 28.000 pixels, which would be about 237cm at 300dpi  - but the loading time for each tile was enormous, since it had to generate about 20MB per tile. On my smaller notebook I caused WebGL to give up several times and had to reduce the map size to 14.000 pixels.

World map assets 

Talking to Dimitris from WorldAnvil left us craving for a way to build world maps. I didn’t want to open a complete new task here, since we already have enough to work on, but Debbie was so kind to draw some world map assets for us, that are now also available in the asset library. They are just a few, but I have the feeling, that Debbie has just started and we will see more soon. 

World map assets
World map assets

 

Once we have the time, we will sit down and think of ways to enhance our editor with real world building tools, instead of just assets. But that is something for later.

Platform updates

  • We have worked on improvements to prevent long loading times, when you browse maps.
  • You can now assign keywords to your maps to categorize them.
  • We have also updated the platform and added a search feature to the browse tab.
    You can use "#keyword" to search for keywords, "@nickname" to search for maps from specific authors and plain search terms like "tavern" to search in all fields.
  • In preparation of the personal upload feature we have added a disclaimer, that warns you that you are about to share your map and the containing assets. To prevent license infringements you have to agree that you are the owner of the shared assets and/or that you have the right to share them. I go into details baout this, once we have released the personal upload.

Upcoming

Next up will be our CLOSED BETA by the end of February with the following updates planned: 

  • User Content - Herbert is already working on it, so that you can upload your own assets, textures, as well as images for your GM-notes.
  • Map-Viewer - Andi and I have alreay started working on the map-viewer, so you can use maps directly for your games. As mentioned in our past Kickstarter update: We are not 100% sure if the map-viewer will be finished for our for first BETA release, so there might be a separated update exclusively for the map-viewer past the next update. 

More to come: 

Those remaining updates will be part of the closed BETA and partially of the OPEN BETA:

  • New Props & Flavor Packs for all included settings. Toni is currently still adding new props for our Sci-Fi setting and we will add them bit by bit over the coming updates. Once that is done, he will start with the Victorian setting. 
  • Soundscapes - Rei has finished the internal tools to create soundscapes and is now composing the first samples. But since we need a working viewer first, we will have to wait for that to be released. 
  • Stretchgoals - Some are already implemented, some more are in the works. We will work off the list as we go.
  • New Servers - Our new sever structure should have been an easy go, but it turned out, that it isn’t. Since I prefer a solid solution over a hastily developed one, I gave Bernhard the time to figure this out. Our current server is working fine, so we don’t have to rush things here.

As always: Make sure, that you have cleared your cache once, to make sure the update works properly. 

Have fun testing our new ALPHA!

Let the dice roll,
Till

Upcoming ALPHA v0.9, PowerVTT & WorldAnvil, Road ahead
about 6 years ago – Wed, Feb 07, 2018 at 03:27:23 PM

Since the Kickstarter update I initially wrote became more like a short novel, I decided to split this update into two seperated ones, where this one here will give you a bit more insight in what’s been going on and the next one, coming this Friday, will feature the new ALPHA release.

Upcoming Update to ALPHA v0.9

We are currently preparing our next update to ALPHA v0.9, that will be released this Friday, February 9th.

Included in this update will be: 

  • Space Maps! 
  • Asset Libraries & Loading Improvements 
  • Lossless Zooming 
  • Tiled Export & Limitless Maps

I will release a Kickstarter update on Friday, where I will go into details about the new features.

Today I want to talk about two other important things:

Team up!

In the past weeks we had several conversations with other companies in the map making, world building and virtual tabletop sector.

Our goal is to connect our system with possible partners, so that you can transfer maps and notes directly into 3rd party applications and get information back into your DUNGEONFOG account. We started working on an API that will allow you to connect your account with 3rd party applications to provide an exchange between both systems.

Here’s roughly what we are aiming for: 

  • Provide a way to access your maps & notes directly out of 3rd party applications. 
  • Read information (like statblocks, notes, assets & tokens, etc.) into your maps or notes at DUNGEONFOG.

And while the bigger companies we talked to were a bit more hesitant, two companies immediately saw the benefits and agreed to work with us on such an endeavour.

We are proud to announce, that we have teamed up with PowerVTT and WorldAnvil, two great start-ups, who began their journey last year along with us.

PowerVTT is - nomen est omen - a lightweight, easy to use virtual game table, that offers a ton of functionalities with its focus on quick and easy setup. Our API goal is to connect your accounts in both systems, so that you can easily create maps with DUNGEONFOG and use them in your PowerVTT settings.

PowerVTT
PowerVTT

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WorldAnvil is an world building tool for authors, who want to organize their worlds, lore and protagonists in a wiki-related way. WorldAnvil also lets you share your worlds and they have a great, forthcoming and kind community that help each other where they can. Our API goal is to connect your account in both systems, so that you can use your maps directly as visual reference in WorldAnvil and that all your awesome world info from WorldAnvil is available in your GM-Notes in DUNGEONFOG.

WorldAnvil
WorldAnvil

 

The great thing about this symbiosis is that we all connect on different parts of our concepts: 

While you can also create maps in PowerVTT, our editor is a lot more advanced. On the other hand, our map-viewer is going to be far less powerful, than a full fledged virtual game table, like the one PowerVTT is offering. 

WorldAnvil is probably the most advanced tool to create worlds as an author and it offers much for people, who want to write a deep and consistent lore to their campaigns. Having maps as a visual component is a useful addition to WorldAnvil, as would be if you could bring your game master notes from DUNGEONFOG into your world as well. On the other hand - having access to your world’s lore, your protagonists and your descriptions while your work on your game master notes in DUNGEONFOG would be a huge benefit too, since everything you have created in WorldAnvil would be at your disposal when you create maps or write notes.

We are currently in the process of defining our APIs and we are working with Dimitris from WorldAnvil and Tom from PowerVTT to find the best way for integration. I will keep you posted on the progress!

Road ahead 

Over the past Kickstarter updates I have been talking about ALPHAs, Closed BETAs and Open BETAs, but although everything was perfectly clear to us - I missed to communicate what that means for you. I apologize and will do my best to clarify here:

The question I want to answer is:
How are we going to proceed in the coming months and how does that affect you?

ALPHA

We are at the end of the ALPHA testing phase. Our goal was to establish the core mechanics of all our four cornerstones (editor, notes, platform & viewer). As you might already know, there are only two core mechanics left, before we can close our ALPHA: personal upload & basic map-viewer. 

Status Quo
Status Quo

 

Our upcoming update this Friday (Feb 9th) will lay the groundwork to the personal upload, and we are going to bring a second update by the end of February to complete this task.

I am not sure if we will manage to bring the map-viewer within the update at the end of February. If not, there will be another update dedicated to the map-viewer within Closed BETA in March. I know that you are waiting for this, but we want to do it right!

What does that mean for you? 

Once we have finished our ALPHA by the end of this month: 

 

Transition form ALPHA to BETA
Transition form ALPHA to BETA
  • All core mechanics are 60-75% finished (or close to be so). 
  • You can upload your own assets. 
  • (You will be able to launch your maps in your map-viewer). 

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Closed BETA

There are going to be two phases in BETA: Closed BETA and Open BETA. 

With Closed BETA, starting by the end of February we will have invited all remaining backers. So if you have backed DUNGEONFOG as a BRONZE backer, you will get your invite by the end of this month.

In terms of development, there will be three major goals within the Closed BETA: 

  • Improve Interface & APIs
  • Add Stretchgoals
  • Prepare for Open BETA 

What does that mean for you? 

If you are an ALPHA backer (silver to platinum) the shift will not affect you as much as our Bronze backers who will finally also get access. 

At the end of our Closed BETA in April/May: 

Transition from Closed BETA to Public BETA
Transition from Closed BETA to Public BETA
  • All backers have access to DUNGEONFOG
  • You get new completed stretchgoals and an improved interface
  • Our first APIs will be ready, so that you can connect your accounts with other systems.

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Soft-Launch: Open BETA (Coming until May)

We will be at the RPC in Cologne from May 12th to 13th, and we want to use this opportunity to announce the OPEN BETA then. 

The main difference between Closed and Open BETA will be, that our rights management for free accounts will be ready. For you as a backer, this will not affect you as much, as it will others who will then be able to create free accounts. 

  • As an initial backer to DUNGEONFOG you will remain to be treated as a premium member with all the features and functionalities available to your account. 
  • Free users will be able to access a limited version of DUNGEONFOG. 
  • We will use the Open BETA to adjust the balance between free and premium features and to stess-test our servers even more. 
  • For free users who want to support the development and gain full access, there will be an option to purchase Early Access. 
  • As long as the Open BETA is ongoing we will not count this time for your succeeding subscription. If your pledge came with an additional free time membership to DUNGEONFOG Premium, it will remain this way until we launch. If you have bought an Early Access you will get all the benefits of the premium membership, but will not be charged for any subscription fees before we launch.
Transition to LAUNCH
Transition to LAUNCH

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Launch (Coming until October) 

Once we have reached at least 90% in all our development steps and we have the feeling, that our system is stable enough, we will then officially launch DUNGEONFOG. This will be the time, when we switch to subscriptions and start counting your free months. We are going to be at the SPIEL18 in Essen from October 25th to 28th and we are aiming to celebrate our launch there.

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Fulfillment 

In terms of progress and fulfillment, I am pretty happy with the outlook here. 

  • By the end of February everybody will have access to DUNGEONFOG and all our core mechanics are finished (or close to be). 
  • By the end of April we will start with our Soft-Launch, where all our features are ready to be tested by the public. 

Our estimated delivery date on the Kickstarter campaign was February 2018 and although we will not be 100% finished until then, a delay of 2 month (Soft-Launch in April) will be within reasonable parameters for a software development. Since most of our work after our Soft-Launch is about brush up and free users, you should not lack anything vital, but have all the features you need to build you campaigns.

It also means, that your included subscription will start later then estimated, which I would count as a pro on your side. 

Stay tuned for the update this Friday and let the dice roll! 
Till

New Update to ALPHA v 0.8 - This is a big one!
over 6 years ago – Fri, Jan 19, 2018 at 12:14:11 PM

This update is a giant leap forward and I am very excited to announce it! 

We spent the holiday season to clean up our code, get rid of bugs and add minor improvements like drawing coordinates, wall size counter etc. But once everybody returned with new energy and motivation we managed to address some (at least from a programming point of view) major improvements. 

So in terms of versioning vs. state of development - this update will bring us directly to v0.8. This also means that there will be only two major updates left, before we move to the closed BETA

So what are those major improvements? 

Undo/Redo 

We have finally implemented a global undo/redo history. You can now go forward and backward in your change-history by pressing Undo / Redo in the upper navigation bar, or by using the following shortcut Undo: CMD-Z and Redo: SHIFT-CMD Z (or CMD-Y). 

Resize Maps 

Change your map size on the fly
Change your map size on the fly

 

You can now resize maps on the fly - you can add and remove squares while you are drawing your map. This means, that while you create your map, you don’t need to know the final size of the map anymore. Your map can now grow as you create it. 

Keep in mind, though, that your browser and/or your grafic card might start to groan a little once you venture into giant maps (There will be more optimization, once the ALPHA testers feedback kicks in). 

Improved Multi-Level-Dungeons

We have improved our handling for multi-level dungeons and laid the groundwork for our advanced export options. You can now create multi-level dungeons and our interface visually aids you with showing a preview of the level(s) above and below. 

We have also improved the handling of the panels and added some features that were requested from our testers (like delete the level directly from the levels-panel)

Export Top-Down Views 

Create and share multi-level dungeons and maps
Create and share multi-level dungeons and maps

You can now export top-down views of your map, showing the selected slice of the actual level with all its surroundings from other levels. 

Hex Grid and Grid per Level 

Hex grids are awesome!
Hex grids are awesome!

You can now switch the grid style from hexagonal grids to square grids and back. You can also change the grid size directly in the editor. We have also changed the grid handling, so each level of your map can have a different grid. 

Room Numbers

Add room numbers to your map
Add room numbers to your map

When you select a room, you can now enter a room number and a room name in the properties panel, that will affect your map and your notes. Once you assign a room number it is represented as a visual icon on your map, that you can move around freely. You can now also decide if you want to show/hide the room number on your exported maps.

Improved GM-Notes

Advanced GM-Notes
Advanced GM-Notes

 

When you drag a room from the GM-notes sidebar onto your document, we now automatically build a complete room description segment for you. The headline, an image of the room and a basic description of its looks, its contained objects and its doors and windows are added automatically and can be edited afterwards. 

If you have assigned a short description of the room in the notes-tab of the room properties, you will also get that description added to your notes automatically.

Improved Wall-Snapping

Improved Wall-Snapping
Improved Wall-Snapping

We have experimented with an improved wall snapping mechanic, that will now override snap-to-grid, once you try to place a new point directly onto a wall. This is still a little fuzzy to work with, but we wanted to leave it in there to get some feedback from our testers. To help you here, we have also added a new key shortcut: While drawing a room, ENTER will close the room (connect to the starting point) as long as there are no walls blocking the path. This also makes drawing stand-alone walls a lot easier.

And then we have tons of minor improvements as well - I only call out a few here: 

Editor

  • Coordinates system for placing objects 
  • Distance indicator for drawing walls 
  • Snap-to-grid option for doors and windows to help aligning them (only for square grids atm.)
  • Added a few new props like loopholes as window option, floor-cracks and splintered wood 

Notes 

  • GM-notes now have a navigation bar (bookmark icon) to quickly jump between your chapters. 
  • Loading-symbol for map images in the GM-Notes preview 
  • Improved handling of big maps for the GM-Notes 

Roadmap for the next updates

Next up will be v0.9 with the following updates planned: 

  • New Servers - We are still working on the server structure, but we are optimistic to have it finished with the next update.
  • Improved prop and texture libraries - loading the editor takes ages when you open it and we want to solve that once and for all with the next update.
  • Sci-Fi Props - Once we have implemented the library we will finally add the Sci-Fi props and textures. It simply doesn’t make sense to do that beforehand, since we will be adding about 50 new textures and around 100 new props, which would make the loading time for the editor unbearable in its current state. 

ALPHA v1.0 - Switch to private BETA

There are going to be two major tasks left, before can move on to our next big step - the private BETA: 

  • User Content - Working on upload mechanics and user content will be one of our next big goals for the new year, so you soon will be able to upload your own props and textures, as well as images for your GM-notes. 
  • Map-Viewer - Around February we will start working on the map-viewer, so you can use maps directly for your games. 

More to come: 

Those remaining updates will be part of the closed BETA and partially of the OPEN BETA.

  • New Props & Flavor Packs for all included settings. Toni will start working on them in January and we will add them bit by bit once our new libraries are live. 
  • Soundscapes - Rei is already working on the soundscape mechanics, but since we need a working viewer first, this will be dependent on the release of the first viewer version. 
  • Stretchgoals - Once we have established the core mechanics for our four - cornerstones (editor, notes, player & platform) we will start adding the missing stretchgoals. 

Wiki, Tutorials and Demo-Videos

Now that we are close to 1.000 users in the current ALPHA stage, we get the question for tutorials, demo videos and help pages a lot. We are already working on it, but since features are changing, the interface is still growing (and far from its final stage) and we are still adding more stuff as we go, it is not the time to bring those yet. 

I would be filming a tutorial, just to revise it after the next update, which would be frankly a waste of time. So we kindly ask for your patience here - there will be tutorials, a help wiki and demo videos once we have reached the private BETA and the amount of changes to the system slowly subside. 

Roadshow 2018

Unfortunately, we missed the window to subscribe for the GenCon 2018. This hurts a lot, A LOT! 

We would have loved to be there this year! Instead we will have to wait until 2019 to get there. We decided to make this an opportunity and gain some more convention experience in Europe first, starting with conventions in Germany. 

We will be at:

  • RPC in Colonge from May 12th to 13th, 
  • SPIEL18 in Essen in October 25th to 28th,
  • Vienna ComicCon in November 17th to 18th. 

There might be some more, but those are the ones, we can confirm as of today.

Sorry for another terribly long update.
Enjoy the new features and let the dice roll!

Till

ALPHA v0.5 is live - GM-Notes & Sharing
over 6 years ago – Thu, Dec 21, 2017 at 11:12:27 AM

Alpha 5 Update

With a little delay (apologies for that!) we have released the new ALPHA version (v 0.5) introducing our first build of the GM-Notes system as well as the new browse & share function for your maps.

IMPORTANT! As always: Make sure that you clear your cache once before you test the new features. For this one it is especially important to do so, since we have changed some things in our caching mechanics.

GM-Notes

We have finally implemented our first developers version of the GM-Notes.

GM Notes are now available
GM Notes are now available

What a journey! A lot of design and user-experience changes made us rework this part more than just a few times. We knew, that this tool needs to be practical, or it wouldn’t be used at all. In our initial concept (the one that we also pitched to you in our Kickstarter video) we intended to build the GM-Notes as a drag-and-drop container system, where you can add each component of your map as an editable container. We soon realized that this approach would be as far from user friendly (or efficient) as it could be.

Concept overhaul

Writing can be an even more creative process than drawing a map. Writing needs to be a constant flow between the ideas that take form in your head and the act of bringing them to paper. You don’t want to stop & click every minute to change container elements, or drag stuff around your screen. You just want to think and type.

So we re-worked our initial concept. We asked GMs how they would describe their process of writing a GM-notes document and the answer was almost every time the same:

Step one - Spill out every idea, that is flying around in your head. Just get it to paper. Sit down and hack it into the next best writing tool that is available.

Step two - organize your ideas, create headlines, chapters, hooks - things to make your chaotic text document somewhat organized.

Step three - Styling. Once your happy with the structure, you start to add some colors here, some highlights there. Stuff that helps you find important things in your notes at first glance, but often also just some designs to make your notes look cool.

Step four - Re-work ideas, add new ideas, delete others. From that point on, your notes are a living document - they change, get new paragraphs added, get re-structured and are never really considered 100% done.

It was important for us to understand how this process works, because we want DUNGEONFOG to be a practical tool that really helps in that phase of creation.

Today, we have finally reached a state, where we can show what we have been cooking for so long. It’s still at an early stage, but I think it gives you a good idea of where we are going with the notes in the upcoming months.

What can you do with the current GM-Notes version?

Switch on-the-fly

When you create a map, you can switch to GM-Notes at any time - whenever creativity kicks in. You can switch back and forth between your map and your notes anytime, so you have both at hand while you’re planning your adventures.

Inline Editor

You can click on any element in the notes to bring forth the inline editor
You can click on any element in the notes to bring forth the inline editor

Clicking/Selecting a paragraph, section or word will bring up the toolbar and we have started with some rudimentary styling tools: 

  • Basic Styling like bold, italic, alignement and so forth.
  • Inline Styling to create highlights (like Dangers, Boons or Dice-Rolls, etc.) 
  • Paragraph-Styling to create Read-Aloud, GM-Info, or Scenery blocks 
  • Add & Style Tables 
  • Print notes - this is a very rudamentary print option using the print features provided by your browser.

Dynamic Notes

We have implemented our first two basic features for the dynamic content:

  • Add dynamic map image 
  • Add dynamic room image

All images are generated out of the map you have drawn and update, whenever you go back to your map and edit them.

We wanted to preview how this whole dynamic notes part is working, so we decided to start with dynamically generated room images. Please understand that this is just a small preview of the functionality that we are currently working on. Once we are further down the road, you will not only place an image of the selected room, but also an editable description of its components and more stuff that helps you to describe rooms or plan encounters.

Creating all those dynamic images is pretty intense on ressources, so our current GM-Notes build is not yet the fastest steed in the stables, when it comes to generating these images. We are aware of that and are working on improvements.

 

Let’s start to share with the community!

I have been impatiently waiting for this! 

From today on, you can share maps that you have created with the DUNGEONFOG community (ALPHAs for now).

Once you are satisfied with your map and you want to share it, you can set the map to “public”. Everyone will then see your map and can create a copy of it for himself.

IMPORTANT: To generate a preview image of your map, you need to open your map once and save it, otherwise you will see a placeholder image.

The new "Browse" tab shows you all the shared maps
The new "Browse" tab shows you all the shared maps

 

For the author of the map

  • You have to set a map to public to share it. 
  • Shared maps remain fully editable to you. 
  • Be aware that changes to the map will also change the state of the public map.

For the subscribers 

  • Shared maps are fully editable once you clone them into your account. 
  • You can take them and re-work them to fit your needs. 
  •  It’s your own clone of the map - so you can’t break anything in the original. 
  •  A cloned map CAN NOT be set public again - we want to pay tribute to the original author of the map. You can’t take someones map, change one tiny thing and share it as your own map again.

Social Share



You can now also share your maps on social media. We have not restricted this just to your own maps, but all maps that are set to public. You like a map - even it is not your own (–yet)? Pay a tribute to the author and share it with your friends on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Road ahead

We will be out of office from December 23rd to January 3rd - I will have an eye on the forums, but everyone is out of town, so bare with us if bugfixes might take longer than usual.

2018 Q1-Q3 

I want to give you an outlook on the upcoming tasks and updates for the new year: 

The rule of thumb for us is “Create basic versions of all cornerstones, them improve them bit by bit”

Things we need to catch up on: 

  • New props - I appollogize that the SciFi props didn’t make it into this update, but we had so many things on the table, that I decided to postpone them a bit. 
  • Improved Editor - Due to the GM-Notes our editor has not received enough attention in the past two month. We will catch up on that and improve handling, interface and features (room templates incoming!).

New Features 

  • New Servers - our new servers are slowly coming to life and we will spent the holiday season to finish working on them before we switch to our new infrastructure. 
  • Improved prop and texture libraries - loading the editor takes ages on opening at the moment and we urgently need to improve that, so we will add a proper library mechanic to the editor. 
  • User Content - Working on upload mechanics and user content will be one of our next big goals for the new year, so you soon will be able to upload your own props and textures, as well as images for your GM-notes. 
  • Map-Viewer: Around February we will start working on the map-viewer, so you can use maps directly for your games. 
  • New Props & Flavor Packs for all included settings. Toni will start working on them in January and we will add them bit by bit once our new libraries are live.
  • Soundscapes - Rei is already working on the soundscape mechanics, but since we need a working viewer first, this will be dependent on the release of the first viewer version.

Stretchgoals 

Once we have established the core mechanics for our four cornerstones (editor, notes, player & platform) we will start adding the stretchgoals. This will be something that we treat apart from a planned time-table since a lot of them are things, that might just fit into a work package that we are addressing at that time.

Next Updates

We are planning to bring one update to ALPHA v0.5 in January, before we then move on to the closed BETA in February - I will post dates as soon as I have them.

Have fun testing the new features and don't forget to share your maps with this awesome community! I wish you a happy Christmas and a perfect start to a successful new year and don't forget to let your dice roll!

Merry Christmas,
Till, Thomas and Herbert

Update to ALPHA v0.5 coming on December 20th
over 6 years ago – Sat, Dec 16, 2017 at 12:57:35 AM

Hi all!

This is just a quick update to let you know, that we are going to bring the next update on December 20th. We still have some work to do before the next release is presentable, so we decided to move the update to next Wednesday. This will give us the time we need to test the features, get rid of remaining bugs and prepare our servers for the new patch.

Have a great weekend and let the dice roll,
Till