Full disclosure - this is research for a product I'm working on.
I'm interested in hearing about people's experiences with VTT software, specifically any problems they've encountered and the features they feel are vital (or missing).
What sort of things do you wish were done differently? What kind of features do you feel would improve the system you're currently using? What are the essential features you just have to have in order to consider the product? What part of using current VTTs causes you to groan and wish there was an easier way?
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Roll20's biggest flaw for me is that you can't resize the grid to match the map - you have to do it the other way around, which is non-intuitive.
In IRC, I'm used to having spells, feats and conditions available at a whim, without having to open a page and look it up - I can just type in a command and it's there. The less steps to get there and the quicker it displays, the better. One keypress is better than two, A 2 second wait is better than 4.
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Perfect question! VTT's have been the only way I've gamed for the last decade, give or take, and I have lots of opinions on the matter.
Sorting your questions a bit differently for answers:
Essential Features:
1) In-line dice rolling in a chat sequence
2) Macro capability for multiple lines and rolls and texts (see 1)
3) Multiple map layers for overlays, hidden items, etc. These layers need to be able to be sorted on the Z axis for visibility priority.
4) 2-click map grid realignment to easily accommodate the 26.5 - 29.5 px / square that most AP maps native at when copied from the AP pdf.
5) Reasonable licensing scheme so players can create and edit their own tokens without a GM's license.
6) RPG System Agnostic
7) HTML friendly
Improve Current System:
Current GM System: Maptool
1) Layer Manager (#3 above)
2) More robust drawing tools
3) #4 above
4) Customization files located elsewhere than user\app settings\.maptool\ hidden folder
5) Something to make everybody who says its too complex see that it's not
Currently Playing: d20Pro
1) #5 above
2) #1 and #2 above, though since I'm in #5's boat, I don't know if #2 can be accomplished with a GM's license or not.
3) NOT having to hit a command to speak/emote/etc
4) Less reliance on command routines leading to a more functional UI
Wish were done differently:
1) Maptool had actively tried to promote the Wall of Features and built off the wall instead of increasing macro complexity
2) Maptool had emphasized simplicity over campaign frameworks instead of the other way around
Headaches:
1) PORT FORWARDING - Unavoidable unless centralized server structure though..
2) Complexity Bias - Folks thinking something is too hard and not trying to use it because they think its too hard.
3) OpenRPG+ - Personally butthurt from how the dev's treated this and a contribution of mine to the project. But that's 8 years ago so bleh
4) Narrow Community / Finding Players - Still not as adopted as I think it should be. Majority of folks online still want to do the horrendous PbP instead of setting aside some time weekly for a good game.
Hope that helps!
Thanks both for the comments so far!
We're currently getting the website put together, after which we'll be opening up for more detailed discussion with anyone interested before moving on to a downloadable demo and a Kickstarter - which as things currently stand looks like we're only going to need to buy some art assets, so we'll be able to furnish backers with an early version of the software almost immediately if we hit our target.
Looking through, I'm pretty certain we already have the majority of your concerns down on our plan, and the rest I'm getting added to the to-do list for evaluation :)
I can talk about the port forwarding issue right now, as it's on my own task list :) One possibility is that we may offer a low cost game hosting service (something in the region of $15-20 a year, per group rather than per player) - and obviously only needed for groups that are unable to run a server themselves due to ISP blocking or not having the technical skill to configure their router. I'm also hoping we can include a UPnP solution for routers that support that (which means our software configures your router's port forwarding for you) as we'd much prefer as many users as possible only had to buy our software once and not have to pay an ongoing fee.
System-agnostic is a big yes - we're including as many game systems as we can without needing to specifically license them, as well as opening up the tools for the user community to add systems themselves and to customize the ones provided. There's also a built-in scripting language and a Java API for users that want to customize the application or create addons.
Likewise, HTML-friendly was almost at the very top of our list. Our character (and other) sheets will use HTML formatting in order to allow end-users to easily customize them through CSS, and to allow equal access through both desktop/laptop and mobile devices.
Overall simplicity is something we're likely going to want some help with. What feels easy to use for us isn't necessarily going to feel the same way to end users, so there's going to be plenty of chances to poke at demos and to provide feedback during and after the Kickstarter period, and we're allowing a lot of time post-release to make fairly sweeping changes based on that user feedback. Most specifically, we plan on adding wizard-type tools to walk users through doing pretty much anything that gets flagged up as being tricky to negotiate, as well as trying to create an overall application feel of being task-centric rather than overwhelming menus full of scary options.
I'll also throw in a quick mention of compatibility - The application itself is currently running happily on Windows and OSX, with Linux next on the list, while there will also be a web-based player client that ought to work on pretty much any device that supports HTML 5. Native Android/IOS clients are a distinct possibility for later, but are not currently planned.
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Re simplicity - and this is worth mentioning because the complexity is often what turns people off online gaming altogether, here are the most important things to remember:
As a GM, you need to:
- extract the map JPGs out of the PDF
- pick out which JPGs are actually maps (or important images, like artwork of NPCs)
- align the maps, one at a time, to the VTT grid. As I've stated earlier, this is a stumbling block - it's much easier if the VTT grid can be aligned to the map.
- mark off areas that players aren't supposed to see until they walk into it. Some GMs will prefer to do this manually, some will prefer dynamic lighting. Both have pros and cons and personal preference comes into it (dynamic lighting is tougher to set up for a GM).
That should be it; doing those things should be extremely obvious. Toolbar buttons aren't enough; you need something akin to a wizard.
There's optional extras, but that's the kind of prep you would normally do in person anyway.
Optional extra work, rated from 1 to 5 in terms of difficulty, 5 being most difficult:
- add tokens to the map, hidden to players. (1-5, depends - you can use coloured dots to keep it simple, you can use JPG images that have to first be found from a list or the web, and with either option you can attach stats to each token - the more GMs feel like they have to do, the scarier it will be).
- set up dice macros (2), this is busywork that saves time during the game but is a pain during prep. Pros and cons. Personally I never do it, even as a player. I've done it before and it's not worth the effort for me considering how often these numbers change. Trying to simplify this by attaching it to numbers on a character sheet likely wouldn't help, because that's still too much to think about.
- set up light levels on players, if you're using dynamic lighting (4), this is tougher than it seems, because you have strange lighting rules in the game. There's torches (20ft light, 20ft dim), there's darkvision (usually 60ft), there's see in darkness (120ft, but that also works through deeper darkness). If someone drops a darkness spell, you have to reset everyone's vision.
- use a separate voice comms program, get everyone added to your contact list, confirm their connection/mic/headset works, etc (2). It doesn't sound like much, but it's +1 hassle that you don't have to deal with in an in-person game. Increase the difficulty if connection issues are in the way - thankfully, that's rare.
- port forwarding; I didn't even think of this. If you need to port forward, it's a deal breaker for most players who aren't used to playing online. Explaining it to other people who don't know what it is is almost always a nightmare. (5)
I haven't managed to get my hands on the newest version of MapTool yet (i.e. Mote), but there are a few features the old version leaves me wanting that I haven't seen others mention.
Currently there are two main ways in which I make use of VTTs:
1: Uploading screenshots of the current map for PbP games.
2: Running overland and dungeon exploration on the TV above the hearth while hand-drawing battle encounters on Flip-Mats.
General Improvements:
- Easier token creation. It would be nice to be able to point the VTT to a folder full of image files and have it batch-process all of them into tokens of the appropriate size/shape/type. For instance, if I have a folder labeled "Villains", it would be nice to click on it in the asset browser, select an option called "Create Tokens" and then complete a short wizard that asks questions such as: Border: square/round, Border color/thickness, Default token size (small/med/large, etc), Default visibility (GM-only, GM+Players, etc), Destination resource folder. After processing the newly added tokens, it might then be possible to go thru the list and make individual changes such as setting the handful of tiny and huge sized tokens, or correcting the border color of a misplaced PC, etc.
- Smart placeables. When I drag a token onto the map, I want it to go on the token layer, not background or objects. When I drag a tree or crate onto the scene, I don't want it to be placed as a token. Having to select the correct layer first and forgetting to do so has caused me many hours of grief.
- Improved token/object selection. If are lots of overlapping objects and I need to drag a selection rectangle, how about dialog box with some check-marks to confirm or reject the selection afterwards? It's quite frustrating to mess up your scene composition because you can't tell that you've selected an area rug you thought was on another layer when you were trying to grab some bodies and furniture items that are on top of it.
- Vision-blocking painting. Even with a tablet, it's a huge chore trying to click all the polygon segments into place to create a vision-blocking layer. How about having an actual pen/paintbrush tool and having some control over how frequently a polygon vertex is laid down?
- Map legend. Particularly for overland maps, it would be nice to have a legend where we can list the scale, display North, and even add a few tokens or symbols and a corresponding labels for what they are.
- Predefined macros for setting max HP, dealing damage/healing, and the auto-application of status indicators/effects for dying/dead would be nice.
- Vertical movement support. Automatically increase the size/transparency of tokens that are at higher altitude, and list their offset from the ground plane (i.e. +10', +45'). In addition, there would also need to be a keyboard+mouse mode that lets up specify vertical movement via a mechanism similar to how we specify waypoints to move around corners, etc. i.e. Whenever I hold shift while dragging a token, a side-view or a scale indicator is show next to the token allowing me to drag its vertical distance up/down. Upon releasing Shift I'd resume horizontal movement.
- Customizeable Tool palette. When I need to draw out the radius of a fireball, it's annoying having to switch to a layer without any hand-drawn elements I don't want to permanently change, switch from the token selection tool to a radius painting tool, change colors to red, alter the transparency... and then repeat many of these same steps when I want to erase it (hopefully without destroying the background layer that I forgot to click away from). Instead, I want to be able to have all those options preset so I can select them with just a mouse click just as in real life I might go from holding a miniature to picking up a wire spell template, or a red dry-erase marker, or a white-board eraser.
PbP Use Case:
Thus far, MapTool has done a decent job of supporting PbP updates, but there are a few areas where efficiency could be improved:
- Allow GMs to specify the screenshot viewport separately from the current view. i.e. absolute offset, scaling factor, grid on/off, coordinates on/off, fog, labels, file location, and incremental or time-stamped naming.
- Allow the option of saving a separate view for each PC whose name is checked in the save dialog. Lighting, fog, and line-of-sight would be appropriate to their settings and placement.
Live Use Case:
Whether displaying the map on an upright TV or via a projector, there's a few things that would improve play.
- Multiple display support. Currently, I have to run at least 2 instance of MapTool on gameday. One for the GM/server on one monitor, and another for the players on the TV. It would be nice to dispense with needing to run that extra copy if only because Java has its limitations.
- HUD. Because player tokens can quickly become very small on a large battlefield, a hideable heads-up display showing player health and the initiative status on one side of the TV would be a nice touch.
- Reconnect dropped session. I will frequently remote-control the server instance of MapTool running on my desktop from a 3rd instance running on my laptop. Unfortunately, if the laptop sleeps or otherwise loses its wifi connection, I cannot reconnect to the server using the same ID, I have to create a new ID (i.e. GM2) and reconnect because the dropped connection doesn't get killed.
- Tabbed viewports even in full-screen. Perhaps if I hover my mouse at the top of the TV screen, it would be nice to have other tabs appear: world map, town map, current map, artwork, notes. Naturally, it would be even nicer if the GM can specify which tabs show only on their screen vs. what shows up on the TV.
- Background music player. During pre-game preparations, it would be great to be able to drag and drop tracks from iTunes, Spotify, or even my hard drive to be able to create playlists for each map or area. A side-panel on the GM-view showing the available and current tracks (and whether they are for battle, environmental background, or an NPC meeting, etc.) would be much more efficient than cluttering up iTunes with dozens of short playlists and getting frustrated that continuous loop and next track don't play well with each other.
Im using fantasy grounds atm.
Mapping, tokens, dialogue, etc im very happy.
what could improve is to have effects already built in to where u can just click and drag onto a player with a timer. Also would love a built in channel that way u can use teamspeak for everyone to talk and communicate but also have the channel for ambiance music or sound effects. Also to have certain abilities such as channel already put in. And i guess to add onto the effects, have feats u select and conditions (power attack, crit with bleed, flanking bonus, all types of bonuses basically) clickable so they automatically apply to ur dice and damage rolls.
Thats basically my small issues i have with fantasy grounds not being "perfect", awesome and great but not pertect.
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I need the Ability to Display a Player's Map on a Projector/Monitor without Displaying everything I use on My Laptop...
I don't play online with a Group..Player's don't Move anything on Map.
I need a way to Reveal a Map easily Digitally.
I am experimenting with EpicTable..which says it can do this..
However On Windows 8 when I set the Display to extend I lose Laptop Control
1. Be incredibly easy to use.
2. Designed to be used at face-to-face play on one machine (I'll accept a second display).
3. Not be Java based.
4. Be incredibly easy to use.
Cheers
Mark
