Coolest. Gaming Set-up. Evar.

dagger · Feb 25, 2005

But if you use a toolkit like the one with NWN you don' have to spend hours preparing maps.

Will · Feb 25, 2005

First, me, I come at things as a writer... personally, I'd find that more of a distraction than a boon, though it certainly looks neat. But... armshadows. It looks neat until you actually have to move things around.
Much of what I describe in a game is more detailed than a visual map, and I'd rather enhance the imagination aspect than the 'game' aspect.

Additionally, I could imagine that in play a lot of time would be spent going 'wait, loading this screen... hmm, it's not loading...' and so forth.

Then there's having to plan everything ahead of time. It looks really nifty... but doesn't seem a 'win' for people like me, ultimately. I'd love to go over to someone's house and watch it being used, though.

Finally... 'NWN tools are available to anyone reading this'... you missed a clause. 'Who uses a PC rather than a Mac.' Not that I'm still bitter or anything.

Breakdaddy · Feb 25, 2005

Umbran said:
I think the whole map-projection thing is, as we'd say in my business, "technically sweet", but the sales pitches aren't working for me.

What is your time worth? We're talking about on the order of an $800 setup. Even if you say your time is worth $10/hour, you have to get to saving 80 hours of time before this comes up a win. And, of course, the setup is useless if you're a DM who likes to "wing it". If you aren't going to put in hours ahead of time making up maps (which is also cutting into your time saved), this is not a win.

I cant argue with your time value statement, but I can say that I have made entire campaigns with the NWN toolkit and it doesnt take hours to do maps, ever. Scripting, now thats another story....ugh.

Boredflak · Feb 25, 2005

Umbran said:
What is your time worth? We're talking about on the order of an $800 setup. Even if you say your time is worth $10/hour, you have to get to saving 80 hours of time before this comes up a win.

$10/hour is pretty low. That's only about 20k per year. We're all family men in my game. I'd say our average income is at least double that, but let's still use $10/hour.

Don't forget that for a "standard" party of four, you have five people sitting at the table. That's $50/hour (at $10/each). Now we're talking 16 hours of game-time savings to "come up a win". That's about three game sessions for us.

With all of the demands on my time, it's well worth it to me.

xnosipjpqmhd · Feb 25, 2005

Hey, Thanks for sharing the pics. Quick question:

Do you have to darken the room to be able to see the details in the projection? If so, does this hinder anything else, like reading, writing, etc.?

ironregime

Morrus · Feb 25, 2005

This is so fantastic that I have to show everyone. I'm putting this on the main news page. I've reduced the image slightly to fit, and am attaching the smaller image here for convenience. Hope you don't mind, Steel_Wind!

Bran Blackbyrd · Feb 25, 2005

That setup is sick and insane; I love it.

Man if I had unlimited cash flow... or any cash flow.

Nareau · Feb 25, 2005

There's not much official info out there about the Mitsubishi pocket projector's brightness. I did find this article:

http://www.insightmedia.info/news/CES05hilites.htm

We spotted palm-sized projectors from the likes of Mitsubishi (shown in photo, InFocus, BenQ, Samsung and LG Electronics. All appear to be based upon using a 0.55-inch SVGA DLP chip set and have light output in the 10 to 30 lumens range. The InFocus, Samsung and BenQ units were concept products. Mitsubishi plans to sell its pocket projector for $599, and $699 with an optional battery. This seems like a very low price to us. The unit is very small and weighs only 400 grams. Brightness may be good enough for a 10 to15-inch image, but it is unclear if consumers will use such a product yet

Not even their press release makes mention of the brightness:
http://www.mitsubishielectric.com/news/2005/PVS PocketProjector 2-8-05.html

But who knows, maybe you could email the PR person at the bottom and get some answers...

Spider

Steel_Wind · Feb 25, 2005

Umbran said:
And, of course, the setup is useless if you're a DM who likes to "wing it". If you aren't going to put in hours ahead of time making up maps (which is also cutting into your time saved), this is not a win.

You apparently don't like to read - or you choose to disbelieve what I've said.

The maps displayed here were created in 2 minutes or less at the table.

thalmin · Feb 25, 2005

Boredflak said:
$10/hour is pretty low. That's only about 20k per year. We're all family men in my game. I'd say our average income is at least double that, but let's still use $10/hour.

Don't forget that for a "standard" party of four, you have five people sitting at the table. That's $50/hour (at $10/each). Now we're talking 16 hours of game-time savings to "come up a win". That's about three game sessions for us.

With all of the demands on my time, it's well worth it to me.

We are also looking at enjoyment. If a setup like this improves your gaming experience, it's not just about time saved.
The idea of this just might be enough motivation for me to start working on some maps!