This is on our to-do list! Thanks for giving it a try and for the feedback.
Roll20 VTT Enters Open Beta
This is on our to-do list! Thanks for giving it a try and for the feedback.
there is a forum over on the roll20.net site that includes a suggestions bucket. I reckon I should copy whatever I haven't already posted there from here...
Also, as a note for anybody curious as to the difference in roll20 from other more mature tools:
At the simplest I can tell, roll20 focusses on easy, fast startup, minimal data entry or management by GM, and seemless connection to your players.
roll20 doesn't manage monster stats, character sheets or game rules.
The DM doesn't have to input his adventure notes into the system before the game starts.
Players don't have to learn a macro language or how to install multiple plug-ins and special software to join the game.
The system makes it easy to start and join a game. It makes it almost as easy to quickly setup the battlemat with new monsters as it does in real life on the fly.
So it doesn't have super complex features and automations, but it does replicate a game table with a battlemat by letting you see the mat, see and hear the other players, roll dice, send secret messages, and move the tokens on the game board around.
By focussing on making those activities smooth and easy, it seems to have done what the other VTTs have not.
Also, as a note for anybody curious as to the difference in roll20 from other more mature tools:
At the simplest I can tell, roll20 focusses on easy, fast startup, minimal data entry or management by GM, and seemless connection to your players.
roll20 doesn't manage monster stats, character sheets or game rules.
The DM doesn't have to input his adventure notes into the system before the game starts.
Players don't have to learn a macro language or how to install multiple plug-ins and special software to join the game.
The system makes it easy to start and join a game. It makes it almost as easy to quickly setup the battlemat with new monsters as it does in real life on the fly.
So it doesn't have super complex features and automations, but it does replicate a game table with a battlemat by letting you see the mat, see and hear the other players, roll dice, send secret messages, and move the tokens on the game board around.
By focussing on making those activities smooth and easy, it seems to have done what the other VTTs have not.
Make it work on IOS and you have a lifelong convert.
Agamon
Adventurer
Yes, this is what I like about this. Automated bells and whistles sound nice, but can be both kludgy and a time sink in practice. Something simple that you can hop on and actually just simulate sitting down at a table with friends is what this does, and that's great.
You know what I've been waiting for for years? One of these things with some kind of API - well, vbulletin mod, specifically - which would let other sites (such as EN World) use it as their "default" VTT. Either free, or for a nominal fee from the site (not each user, of course). EN Word would certainly pay a license fee for an integrated solution.
The first such VTT to do that will become the industry default one, IMO. It'll happen one day.
The first such VTT to do that will become the industry default one, IMO. It'll happen one day.
given how it seems to "just work" in a browser, which is the foundation for their mobile support plan as well, it seems like that would be doable.
It would almost be nothing to put a hyperlink on Enworld's tools section to launch Roll20, or put it in an iframe (you'd really want it in its own window, to maximize space. Honestly, a pop-up with all the trimmings turned off would be best).
I had already suggested to Roll20 that they look to enworld to do game scheduling. Enworld has the tools, and them wasting time on that would be duplicative effort.
I'll go make a suggestion on the roll20 side, to see if it gets any traction on this...
I was thinking of something more integrated - an actual vBulletin mod. Something which uses vBulletin's database for accounts, which integrates elements of usage into vBulletin user profiles, possibly the groups (Campaign Manager) system and so on. Totally depends on their business model, of course; that would work really well for a product producer with the product licensing route, but not so well with the web traffic route.
It'd no doubt require the hiring of someone familiar with vBulletin to develop, though I've seen much more complex vBulletin integration with products (wikis, CMS software, all sorts of stuff) so it should be doable.
It could be done via publicly available, cheaper licenses with a one-off fee so that anybody running a vBulletin forum could use it, or it could be done with a more expensive exclusive license. I'd imagine that unlike most vBulletin mods, the market for such a product would be a lot more niche than, say, a wiki addon and so might not support a general public license. But that's just me making wild guesses.
Hey Morrus, why don't you drop me a line at riley@roll20.net (this is Riley Dutton, the guy who started all this Roll20 stuff), and we'll chat!
Yeah, I touched on that in the post over there, which has brought Riley back here:
Sign In - Roll20 Community
As a minimum, just having a button to launch Roll20 would help. But in reality, we'd really want it tied into ENworld user accounts and friendslists and the game seeker/scheduler
One benefit of the scheduler, is once an event was schedule in ENWorld, the hyperlink could be displayed in the calendar event, which only joined/invited users would see. The system could send out the email notification that the game was going to start in 10 minutes, and thus contain the link to join the Roll20 game.
Thus, the GM doesn't have to really manage that part, ENworld would do it for him.
I'm wary to use the term vBulletin mod. I have no doubt the Roll20 app/API would need to talk to certain vBulletin resources (users, friends, calendar, etc), but roll20 is a full screen app. It is not something you'd want running as a sub-component on the screen with the usual headers, footers and advertisements taking up space.
It is probable that it could run within the vBulletin content space, but it's a highly visual app, which means full screen, maximized window is best for fitting everything in that it needs, and external wrappers causing scrollbars, etc would diminish that.
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