Pathfinder 1E Paizo announces Paizo Game Space

IronWolf · Jul 16, 2012

dd.stevenson said:
That's the big one for me. I want to be able to copy and right-click paste images into the game window without any intermittent steps. No image file saving, no dialog boxes, just Snipping Tool or Ctrl+c and then I paste straightaway.

First browser VTT to offer that will probably have my business for life.

Roll20 lets you drag images to the map now.

IronWolf · Jul 16, 2012

Tamlyn said:
I, for one, don't want bells and whistles. I want a simple grid where I can drag and drop tokens, scribble on, and chat. Audio chat and access to pregenerated maps would be nice, but not necessary.

I don't want rules systems built in. I want it system-neutral. I don't want to be bothered with setting up my VTT for 3.5, PF, 4E, 5E or whatever. What if I use custom monsters or magic items? If the rules are pre-programmed, that makes my job as GM a lot harder. I have players who use PCGen and while it's a great tool, it doesn't easily support customization.

Besides, it's supposed to be a Virtual TABLETOP. My actual tabletop does not support rulesets, does not determine damage reduction, does not link to multiple electronic devices, does not automatically apply bonuses when spells are cast, etc... It's a simple tool that lets me and my players see the same thing.

I may be the only one, but that's all I want - a simple tool that lets me and my players (in this case, players in Georgia and Alaska with whom I no longer get to play) get together and see the same things.

I agree with you. I want simple and easy to use. A map, a place to drop some tokens, a whiteboard and chat pretty much get me by.

Luckily there are several already out there that do this today. MapTool (if you don't use all of its features), Tabletop Forge (for Google+ Hangout gaming), and Roll20 (web browser based or via Google+ Hangouts) are all providing these basic features today.

I am looking forward to see what Paizo puts out there though. Since simple VTTs don't require as much commitment to learn to use effectively I can easily play games on several. So if Paizo's takes off, then it will just be another place to game online - which can be a good thing!

dd.stevenson · Jul 16, 2012

IronWolf said:
Roll20 lets you drag images to the map now.

But the images have to be saved to local files first. That's not what I want--I want to be able to paste without saving to a local file.

I'm not complaining that it's a whole bunch of extra work to save an image to a file, understand. But it takes enough extra time to create all those image files that I need to spend time before the game prepping encounters if I'm using a VTT that requires saved image files.

On the other hand, I know from experience that if I can copy-paste images, I can create setups mid-game, without prepping beforehand. For me, it's the difference between a tool that requires prep, and one that doesn't.

(I should clarify that the above assumes I'm running a published pdf adventure; obviously total off-the-rails homebrews will still need to be prepped anyway.)

Alphastream · Jul 16, 2012

joebobodo said:
The thing is, is that when first launched and in its most basic form, it's going to be free to use. They are doing it this way because they want to get the software into the hands of their community for them to play with and to find more and more ways to improve upon the products.

Paid add-ons, etc... are things that don't particularly matter at this initial launch.

As I said somewhere else, we shouldn't be mad at companies for wanting to be profitable and to grow.

It is unlikely there are any mid-to-large RPG companies that have created a VTT just because they love us. They might very well love us (I believe most RPG companies do), but they have limited resources and staff and families to feed. They need to make money.

A VTT for a company like Paizo needs to have a purpose. It might be designed to just get people to hang out at the site. Or it might be designed to sell additional components, such as digital adventures. Regardless, there should be goals that make the benefits outweigh the costs.

When I read Lisa's statement on the forums, it sounded like the same things Wizards had said. "It's free... except, well, wait. We need some time to think this over and figure out the model." That's no good for them or for us. They should figure out the model very quickly and communicate it clearly. A company should not be at the screen shot stage and still figuring out what to offer. This should have been cemented ages ago.

dd.stevenson · Jul 16, 2012

Alphastream said:
SNIP

When I read Lisa's statement on the forums, it sounded like the same things Wizards had said. "It's free... except, well, wait. We need some time to think this over and figure out the model." That's no good for them or for us. They should figure out the model very quickly and communicate it clearly. A company should not be at the screen shot stage and still figuring out what to offer. This should have been cemented ages ago.

I took Lisa's statement to mean that the primary purpose of the VTT was to shore up their AP subscription base in the face of 5E--both by adding value to the offering and possibly by providing another means of delivering the product. I certainly hope that their non-commitment doesn't mean they don't know why they're doing this. It's not really like them to forget to think about the bottom line.

Also, I question whether there's any good comparison to be made between the cost of developing a 2-D VTT in 2012 and the cost of developing a 3-D VTT in 2008. Based on what's already out there for free, I half suspect that the costs of development are low enough that Paizo can afford to just slap something together, put it out on the site, and wait to see how many people use it before snowballing it into a full-featured profit center. (Which, as I understand it, is more-or-less what they said they were going to do.)

IronWolf · Jul 16, 2012

dd.stevenson said:
But the images have to be saved to local files first. That's not what I want--I want to be able to paste without saving to a local file.

I'm not complaining that it's a whole bunch of extra work to save an image to a file, understand. But it takes enough extra time to create all those image files that I need to spend time before the game prepping encounters if I'm using a VTT that requires saved image files.

On the other hand, I know from experience that if I can copy-paste images, I can create setups mid-game, without prepping beforehand. For me, it's the difference between a tool that requires prep, and one that doesn't.

(I should clarify that the above assumes I'm running a published pdf adventure; obviously total off-the-rails homebrews will still need to be prepped anyway.)

Ah. Roll20 can do tokens with their search option which has seemed reasonably decent when I looked at it. Tabletop Forge is adding art assets I believe as a result of their recent kickstarter.

But you are talking maps, handouts and such?

I guess any adventure I run I prep for it before the actual game. I can get all the images out of a PDF using SomePDF and have them ready in less than 10 minutes. So the time to prep the digital images doesn't bother me much as I am already allocating time to read the adventure and getting ready to run it ahead of time.

Morrus · Jan 10, 2015

What happened to this?

Henry · Jan 10, 2015

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2quvn?Still-Under-Development

They're saying as of Aug20 of 2014 that it's not been scrapped, still in development hell, workforce assigned to other critical projects, and still looking for a developer.

In my paraphrasing, it's somewhere between 0% and 10% done but they still have a desire to do it.