Battle Map vs. Dungeon Mapp vs. RPG Cartographer

jdrakeh · May 3, 2011

I'm in the market for an iPad mapping app and these seem to be the big three - but they all seem to have some somewhat serious cons (i.e., none of the seem to be an obvious "killer app" for their intended market). I figured I'd see what my fellow ENWorld posters, gamers, and iPad users could tell me of these apps - is any one of them clearly better than the others when you weigh factors such as utility, price, and aesthetics?

After conducting independent research, I'm leaning pretty heavily toward RPG Cartographer, but am doing a bit more digging to see if it has a fog of war feature to completely hide portions of the map (the other two apps do) and what exactly layers 1-3 are used for (as I understand it, only layers 4 and 5 are accessible in Play Mode, so those other layers seem a bit superfluous).

Also, part of the reason that I'm leaning toward RPG Cartographer is that, of the three developers, Level 99 Games is the only one that has support forums. Dungeon Mapp is really cheap, so I could perhaps overlook the lack of active online support in the case of that app, but the makers of Battle Map want me to fork out $30 and the only support that they offer is an infrequently visited Facebook page? I'm not sure that I like that arrangement.

OTOH, the Battle Map app is the only one of the three that has actually been updated since its initial release, which makes it seem that, despite having pretty much no online support, the developers of Battle Map might be working harder behind the scenes than those of RPG Cartographer and Dungeon Mapp.

As you might imagine, this is making my decision difficult.

FWIW, I'm looking to pick up one of these apps for use a play aid at face to face sessions, not for a remote VTT. Also, I'm looking to use it both prior to play (to draw maps) and during play (to move counters/tokens, etc). After watching the various YouTube videos for each app, I think that all three apps let you do both.

Any feedback from actual users is appreciated!

jdrakeh · May 4, 2011

Well, after a little more investigation, I downloaded the free version of Dungeon Mapp to fiddle around with it - and that convinced me to fork out the $4.99 for the full version. While the program has its limitations (notably that you can't import your own tokens, it has a limited token library, and there are no tiles for round rooms or curved passageways), it looks perfectly serviceable for building maps the old-fashioned way (using squares on a grid). The features that really tipped me in favor of Dungeon Mapp:

1. It has a true 'fog of war' feature that obscures portions of the map completely. Battle Map also has this feature, but RPG Cartographer does not (you can stretch a fog/mist tile to cover a large area, but that's not quite the same thing).

2. The ability to delete saved maps from within the app itself. I think Battle Map does this. RPG Cartographer does not (you have to use iTunes file sharing to delete saved maps).

3. The ability to delete/undo placed items and tiles. I'm pretty sure that Battle Map has this feature. RPG Cartographer, apparently, does not (lots of people seem to be requesting it).

4. The ability to customize character/monster tokens quickly and easily (change their color to represent different conditions, change their name, etc). I am unsure if Battle Map lets you do this. As far as I can tell, RPG Cartographer does not.

So, while Battle Map and RPG Cartographer have a larger tile selection and the latter program has prettier tiles (really, the RPG Cartographer tiles are gorgeous), I think that Dungeon Mapp offers a great deal of functionality and an adequate tile set for dungeon and wilderness encounters (it includes pretty much everything that you'd find on an old school TSR map key) at a pretty sexy price point.

Dexamalion · Sep 8, 2011

Hi jdraken, thanks for purchasing my app! I'm working on some improvements here and your comments above are noted, but please let me know if you have any other suggestions!

Derek

Stormonu · Sep 8, 2011

RPG Cartographer is pretty, but it's a lot fiddlier to work with than Dungeon Mapp. And sadly, on my iPad, RPG Cartographer seems to crash constantly, and at other times maps seem to up and disappear.

While for now I only have the free version of Dungeon Mapp, I haven't run into any problems with it, and for actual dungeon mapping, It seems to be a lot more flexible than RPG Cartographer.

In short, I like Dungeon Mapp a lot better.

Dexamalion · Sep 8, 2011

Stormonu said:
RPG Cartographer is pretty, but it's a lot fiddlier to work with than Dungeon Mapp. And sadly, on my iPad, RPG Cartographer seems to crash constantly, and at other times maps seem to up and disappear.

While for now I only have the free version of Dungeon Mapp, I haven't run into any problems with it, and for actual dungeon mapping, It seems to be a lot more flexible than RPG Cartographer.

In short, I like Dungeon Mapp a lot better.

Hey, thanks! One of the key objectives I set out to make when designing Dungeon Mapp was to give players the ability to map out a room in the time it takes the DM to describe it.

As I said above, if you have any suggestions, perhaps features that you think a lot of people will find useful or personal gripes, let me know and I'll add them to the list.

Derek

Dungeon Mapp

Kzach · Sep 9, 2011

Dexamalion said:
Dungeon Mapp

What I want to know, is why is it that all the goddamn D&D players in Australia are all gathered in stinky Sydney?

Dexamalion · Sep 9, 2011

Kzach said:
What I want to know, is why is it that all the goddamn D&D players in Australia are all gathered in stinky Sydney?

I used to live and play in Brisbane, but moved here to get married

Unfortunately, this is not a problem that Dungeon Mapp can solve

Stormonu · Sep 9, 2011

Dexamalion said:
Hey, thanks! One of the key objectives I set out to make when designing Dungeon Mapp was to give players the ability to map out a room in the time it takes the DM to describe it.

As I said above, if you have any suggestions, perhaps features that you think a lot of people will find useful or personal gripes, let me know and I'll add them to the list.

Derek

Dungeon Mapp

Thanks for checking in, it's nice to have the developer's ear, even for just a few minutes.

I just bought the paid version, as I'm going to be running some games at a local Con this weekend and I'm hoping to use it there.

While the app is pretty great as it is, this would be my wish list:

Some sort of wall (perhaps a floor tile with a "wall" painted on 1 edge and 2 edges for a corner or corridor, or placable sections of walls) would be nice for building adjacent rooms or maze-like passages.

A hide/reveal option for fixtures (such as a pit trap or a monster "waiting in ambush" in a visible room) would be nice. Perhaps with an extra button beside PLAY that you could tap and hold to reveal one or more "hidden" items on a map.

As jdraken mentioned, floor tiles with rounded corners (1/4 circle) or being half-diagonals would be a big help. Some floor tiles with one or two wobbly-edged sides would also be nice for representing caverns.

(I don't know if you can pull this one off, but it'd be cool) In the manner that you can give a token a "movement rate" and it shows how far you can move on the map, it would be nice if you could give a token a "light radius" so you can only see out X number of tiles, to replace the room masking.

Also, it would be nice if you could somehow import a picture to replace the background black. This would be really nice for plunking down scanned copies of preprinted maps, stretch/shrink the grid to the appropriate size, and then you could "scribble" on top of them with counters or placables (and "clear" floor tiles?).

Finally, a button link to a internal or external tutorial or brief instructions would be really helpful. When I first opened the progam, I was a little bewildered in how to put together a dungeon beyond laying the basic floor tiles and setting down placables (I think I had to watch the feature videos to realize that tapping and holding on a placable gave you an action menu). The videos you have on your support site showing the features are nice, but they don't delve into how you did that neat stuff like the portal links. While Dungeon Mapp is really quick for putting together maps, it takes some puzzling out to learn the interface.

Dexamalion · Sep 9, 2011

Stormonu said:
Thanks for checking in, it's nice to have the developer's ear, even for just a few minutes.

I just bought the paid version, as I'm going to be running some games at a local Con this weekend and I'm hoping to use it there.

While the app is pretty great as it is, this would be my wish list:

Some sort of wall (perhaps a floor tile with a "wall" painted on 1 edge and 2 edges for a corner or corridor, or placable sections of walls) would be nice for building adjacent rooms or maze-like passages.

A hide/reveal option for fixtures (such as a pit trap or a monster "waiting in ambush" in a visible room) would be nice. Perhaps with an extra button beside PLAY that you could tap and hold to reveal one or more "hidden" items on a map.

As jdraken mentioned, floor tiles with rounded corners (1/4 circle) or being half-diagonals would be a big help. Some floor tiles with one or two wobbly-edged sides would also be nice for representing caverns.

(I don't know if you can pull this one off, but it'd be cool) In the manner that you can give a token a "movement rate" and it shows how far you can move on the map, it would be nice if you could give a token a "light radius" so you can only see out X number of tiles, to replace the room masking.

Also, it would be nice if you could somehow import a picture to replace the background black. This would be really nice for plunking down scanned copies of preprinted maps, stretch/shrink the grid to the appropriate size, and then you could "scribble" on top of them with counters or placables (and "clear" floor tiles?).

Finally, a button link to a internal or external tutorial or brief instructions would be really helpful. When I first opened the progam, I was a little bewildered in how to put together a dungeon beyond laying the basic floor tiles and setting down placables (I think I had to watch the feature videos to realize that tapping and holding on a placable gave you an action menu). The videos you have on your support site showing the features are nice, but they don't delve into how you did that neat stuff like the portal links. While Dungeon Mapp is really quick for putting together maps, it takes some puzzling out to learn the interface.

Thanks for the feedback Stormonu, all good feedback.

Firstly, there will be an extensive instruction manual posted on the website very soon. I'll be going through all the features in detail with pics and icons showing what to press and when. I tried to make Dungeon Mapp as user friendly as possible, but with some of the upgrades I'm working on, I'm going to need more of a user guide.

WALLS: Walls are really tough from a programming and design point of view. I've struggled a lot with walls and ways of doing them, but basically it's really hard for the program to know if you want to extend a room, or place a new room that shares a wall with a room you just created. It's been a highly requested feature, but it's a real challenge to get working and keep the simplicity that I think a lot of people like about Dungeon Mapp.

HIDDEN TOKENS/DECALS
Yeah this is a good idea. Tokens will be hidden by hide areas, but there is no way to hide a token by itself. It's not a big deal to pre-make a token and place it on the Mapp when you need to, so that's what I was thinking most people would do, but I'll have a think about how we might implement your suggestion.

ROUNDED/DIAGONAL TILES
Yep, we can do this pretty easily now, so I will look at this for a future update. There will be some confusion when calculating movement rates, are players allowed to walk through a diagonal square?

VISUAL LIMITS
Yes, after movement this has been on my list for a while. It's kind of tough, do you show all the visual limits of all the characters, or just the one that's selected? In my play experience, it seemed like with a diverse party there was usually someone that could see 10 squares and so most rooms were entirely visible, so I decided to put it on the backburner for Dungeon Mapp.

BACKGROUND MAP
Hmm, interesting idea, I'll have a think about it. We did have a graphic in the background in the very early days of prototyping, and it slowed the framerate on DMapp to a snails pace, due to a combination of the engine freaking out and the size of the graphic. We'll take another look at it.

Thanks,

Derek

Dexamalion · Oct 11, 2011

Hey Guys,

The 1.2 update of Dungeon Mapp is up on the iTunes store! A brief overview of the new features are here:

Initiative Tracker: one button roll for all party members, rank and track initiative
Emailing of Mapps to others
Enhanced Character screen that tracks hit points, damage, healing surges, temp HP, movement rate, initiative modifier and more
Add room descriptions and item descriptions to enhance dungeons
Animated decals; fires glow and smoke, water ripples, candles flicker
More tiles including snow, lava, sand and metal
"Blending" of tiles, organic tiles will blend to the next tile, creating a more organic feel to mapps.
More decals including more furniture, market stalls, horses and dungeon decorations
Enhanced and cleaner menu system that allows you to decorate a dungeon much quicker
Better application of Difficult Terrain, just paint it on whatever surface you like

Also please check out the extensive users manual over at my website:

Dungeon Mapp

Many thanks, and please feel free to email me any comments or post them here.

Dex