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Did Paizo ever consider developing a Battle Map Creating software?
I have Hero Lab and it is Spec-Freakin-Tacular thus proving that an RPG software accesory like Hero-lab makes cash all day long.
I see the quality of product you guys put out with Pathfinder and all its secondart accessories, just imagine what Paizo could do with a battle map creation software.
With the owner of Dundjinni gone awol and assumed fallen off the planet because the inability of anyone able to get ahold of her, and the over-complicated interface and bloated price of Campaign Cartographer this is a great opportunity to put out a simple to use, eye catching battle map creation software.
You could sell the base software and to keep making money on the software Paizo could sell Add-On packs. Item Packs, creature packs, building packs, texture packs.........the list goes on and on.
Thanks for reading guys.
Later.
Carl.
Would this cut into flip mat sales though?
Would this cut into flip mat sales though?
Not really.
Their flip mats could be made available in PDF form and cropped out for use with the map making software as tiles for making different maps with that same art. And some of the items placed in the maps could be offered in a expansion "Items" Pack.
So many opportunities.
There are some RPG map programs out there, including Dundjinni, which I used to use a lot. Also Wizards has a tile map maker that is based on their cardboard battlemaps. You can lay them out and then print them out for game play.
Imagine a map tool, voice chat, character sheet, plus all the bells and whistles. Go a step further and have adventure paths in a downloadable format that can be plugged right in in.
Could be a whole new market to bust into.
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16
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Dundjinni is excellent. I still use it quite a bit. I find it particuarly useful for my pbp (recent maps of a burning building in Sandpoint).
The software is very user friendly. The art selection isn't bad especially if you add some of the map packs. I've had the software for a number of years and have now purchased all of the available art which is pretty reasonably priced and picked up most of the free user art sets available.
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16
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Imagine a map tool, voice chat, character sheet, plus all the bells and whistles. Go a step further and have adventure paths in a downloadable format that can be plugged right in in.
Could be a whole new market to bust into.
I'd rather Paizo stick to book publishing. Granted I have software I like for map making and free software (maptool) that would serve for a virtual tabletop so I'm a little biased.
Dundjinni is excellent. I still use it quite a bit. I find it particuarly useful for my pbp (recent maps of a burning building in Sandpoint).
The software is very user friendly. The art selection isn't bad especially if you add some of the map packs. I've had the software for a number of years and have now purchased all of the available art which is pretty reasonably priced and picked up most of the free user art sets available.
Dundjinni is a great software. But you can't buy it anymore because the owner of the intellectual property has gone AWOL.
With Paizo's resources, the possibilities are endless.
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When I hear ideas like this I worry about spreading Paizo's resources too thin. I don't see the point of having paizo do it when it wouldn't require their internal resources, just them acquiring a lot of new ones (remember, they are a book publisher, not a software developer and the company that is making Pathfinder online is a separate company with a license) I would rather push for a company like d20pro, Lone Wolf Labs,Posterazer, or another up and coming software company or developer to make this.
Anyone know of any existing, available tools that work well?
With the owner of Dundjinni gone awol and assumed fallen off the planet because the inability of anyone able to get ahold of her,
Could you please explain/elaborate? I checked the Dundjinni Website and couldn't find anything to do with that. I really just don't know what's going on -- I don't use Dundjinni but I've heard good things and have never heard of the thing you are talking about.
and the over-complicated interface and bloated price of Campaign Cartographer
Campaign Cartographer 3 is $45.00, which is a very reasonable price for design software, let alone one based on the CAD engine.
Yes, if you really want to do battle maps well and not make a lot of your own custom content, you should probably also pick up the Dungeon Designer add-on for $30.00.
But that's still in total $70.00 which isn't awful (and costs way less than Hero Lab and all its Pathfinder add ons added together, which you cited as a good RPG software accessory. You also seem to support an add on based thing for the software you're proposing which would also in total cost as much if not more).
CC3's interface does have a steep learning curve, I'll give you that. But there are also excellent tutorials out there to help.
By all means, maybe there is more of a market out there for battle map design -- although I hear Maptool is great.
But I don't quite understand your complaints about the existing options.
Now, I doubt Paizo has the means to have its own in house software designing group. If they licensed to a company (like ProFantasy or one of the other cartography specialized developers out there) a "GameMastery Battle Map Design" set of software I wouldn't complain, certainly.
When I hear ideas like this I worry about spreading Paizo's resources too thin. I don't see the point of having paizo do it when it wouldn't require their internal resources, just them acquiring a lot of new ones (remember, they are a book publisher, not a software developer and the company that is making Pathfinder online is a separate company with a license) I would rather push for a company like d20pro, Lone Wolf Labs,Posterazer, or another up and coming software company or developer to make this.
Anyone know of any existing, available tools that work well?
They could just commission a software company to make the Battle-Map Creation software and then just check in from time to time to oversee quality.
With the owner of Dundjinni gone awol and assumed fallen off the planet because the inability of anyone able to get ahold of her,Could you please explain/elaborate? I checked the Dundjinni Website and couldn't find anything to do with that. I really just don't know what's going on -- I don't use Dundjinni but I've heard good things and have never heard of the thing you are talking about.
and the over-complicated interface and bloated price of Campaign CartographerCampaign Cartographer 3 is $45.00, which is a very reasonable price for design software, let alone one based on the CAD engine.
Yes, if you really want to do battle maps well and not make a lot of your own custom content, you should probably also pick up the Dungeon Designer add-on for $30.00.
But that's still in total $70.00 which isn't awful (and costs way less than Hero Lab and all its Pathfinder add ons added together, which you cited as a good RPG software accessory. You also seem to support an add on based thing for the software you're proposing which would also in total cost as much if not more).
CC3's interface does have a steep learning curve, I'll give you that. But there are also excellent tutorials out there to help.
By all means, maybe there is more of a market out there for battle map design -- although I hear Maptool is great.
But I don't quite understand your complaints about the existing options.
Now, I doubt Paizo has the means to have its own in house software designing group. If they licensed to a company (like ProFantasy or one of the other cartography specialized developers out there) a "GameMastery Battle Map Design" set of software I wouldn't complain, certainly.
Try buying Dundjinni.......I guarentee it is impossible.
I have HeroLab, but I don't buy every add-on so I only spent the initial 40.00. It works great to generate characters on the fly and keep track of initiative. Among other things.
I bought Campaign Cartographer without researching it. I spent the initial $40 for it without knowing that I'd need to buy the Dungeon Designer. It would'nt be so bad, but like you said the learning curve is steep and the interface is clunky.
I'd like to see a piece of map making software that a consumer could literally learn how to use it on the fly or with minimal instructional tutoring.
Personally I always felt Dundjinni was clunky (and this is coming from someone who is quite at home with Photoshop and 3d studio max). Nowadays, I find that I'm able to do most of what I need for mapping purposes via MapTools — even the creation of brand new maps from scratch.
While I think the only viable route for Paizo to go here would be to license the rights to another company (as they've done for the MMO), it would have to have serious improvements in the ease-of-use AND functionality departments to make sense to me as a consumer.
Paizo isn't a software company. The only reason they'd need to get involved is to license the name Pathfinder or artwork.
There's already an ipad app for map making.
Other than specifically using Paizo artwork, there is nothing stopping someone from making these products right now.
Paizo isn't a software company. The only reason they'd need to get involved is to license the name Pathfinder or artwork.
There's already an ipad app for map making.
Other than specifically using Paizo artwork, there is nothing stopping someone from making these products right now.
I understand they aren't a software company.
That is the reason why I said they should hire a software developer to do the leg work and then just check in from time to time to make sure its coming along the way they want it to.
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They could just commission a software company to make the Battle-Map Creation software and then just check in from time to time to oversee quality.
This doesn't sound like a good move for the publisher of our favorite game. They already support our hobby with the OGL, a software company can already jump in and do this without Paizo intervention. I don't want my favorite company to spread it's resources thin when it doesn't have to. I understand the motivation to create software to support the game. I don't see why Paizo should direct resources to get a company to create the software just because it would be cool for us to have it when they already have set the framework for any company to jump in and do this without their support.
It might be more worthwhile to instead, find a software company that has the resources to make the software and pitch the idea to them to create the software based on the market need.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Did Paizo ever consider developing a Battle Map Creating software?
I see the quality of product you guys put out with Pathfinder and all its secondart accessories, just imagine what Paizo could do with a battle map creation software.
With the owner of Dundjinni gone awol and assumed fallen off the planet because the inability of anyone able to get ahold of her, and the over-complicated interface and bloated price of Campaign Cartographer this is a great opportunity to put out a simple to use, eye catching battle map creation software.
You could sell the base software and to keep making money on the software Paizo could sell Add-On packs. Item Packs, creature packs, building packs, texture packs.........the list goes on and on.
Cyderak,
I took what you said to heart and have set out to create exactly the sort of mapping software you described.
It's called MapForge, and it's currently on Kickstarter to raise funding in order to develop it fully.
You were absolutely right about this being a great opportunity for a mapping program now that DJ is gone, because my campaign, incredibly, funded on day 1. It's now in the process of unlocking the Stretch Goals (2 down, so far).
I have invited the good folks at Paizo to take a look at my software and to consider selling some of their incredible and exhaustive library of mapping art in the form of content Add-Ons for MapForge (think "artpacks"). So far, I've heard nothing back from Paizo except for a "good luck with your project!".
This project is going to create a community of content-hungry map-makers, and the bigger that community gets, the better chance I see of Paizo sitting up and taking notice.
I agree with the previous posters who said that Paizo should hire an outside developer/programmer to handle something like this, rather than attempt to do it in-house, so that they can focus on what they do best...publishing great products for RPGs. Well, I'm offering.