Dungeon Builder
Quickleaf
Legend
3 out of 5 rating for Dungeon Builder
A longtime fan of isometric maps, I've been following the Dungeon Builder kickstarter since last year. Having an hour to play around with the finished version 1.0, I think it's a great start, but right away I came up against the software's limitations.
Essentially, Dungeon Builder is a graphics program with some really neat art, the layers hidden from the user, and a bit of clever programming to make the object placement *mostly* work seamlessly. There are 3 purchasing levels: an individual option (which runs about $65 or €50), an Indie commercial license (which runs over €300), and a Pro commercial license for companies with annual revenue exceeding €70,000 (which runs over €700). I noted that Kobold Press has a commercial license, so there are definitely well-regarded game designers taking notice of Dungeon Builder!
The user interface takes a little getting used to, but there are hotkeys, such as clicking M to mirror/rotate the placeable objects which makes things a bit faster. Often I found myself clicking between the Build and Adjust tabs, which rapidly got annoying for someone used to working in Photoshop and Illustrator (where you can arrange the windows in the program to put your tools right at your fingertips).
The art by Aage Jørgensen is crisp, clear line art that really evokes an old school feel. I like it a lot. One of the cool things I found was that elements of a waterfall were stackable...almost like geomorphs but in the vertical direction. Similarly the ability to change the size and background color/texture were very welcome - it gave me just barely enough options to customize things to suit my desires.
However, there are shortcomings and glaring ones at that.
[SBLOCK=Image showcasing some of the issues I encountered]
[/SBLOCK]
Whether or not an object snaps to the grid seems to be built in to each individual object. I couldn’t find a way to toggle off “SNAP TO GRID” like you'd see in a Photoshop or GIMP. For example, I had a 4 square x 4 square room which was supposed to have archways in the middle of the walls. But Dungeon Builder wouldn’t let me adjust the stone wall doorway sticker to be in the middle. It remained locked to the grid, and looked awkward.
Command + Z (Undo) was not reliable. Sometimes I had to hit it 3-4 times before Dungeon Builder registered the keystroke. And it’s not my keyboard. Interestingly, clicking the undo button in the program worked just fine. This felt like a bug to me.
Frequently I create maps with circular rooms, but Dungeon Builder 1.0 has no way to represent them. Currently. I'm crossing my fingers that will change in the future.
As much as I liked the art, there are some things missing. Placing statues was really awkward because they had no back views - for example, I had a room with 4 statues, one in each corner. They were supposed to be facing toward the center of the room. Using the wizard statues to simulate this looked incredibly awkward due to there being no back view of the wizard statues.
Several times, the layer system being hidden from the user was a pain. The Bring Forward / Bring Back commands produced erratic results - for example, at one point I moved a wizard statue back, trying to get its base behind a foreground wall, but then the statue’s staff disappeared behind a stone wall doorway sticker.
As optimistic as I am that good things lie ahead for Dungeon Builder, I can't say that I feel like I'm running a $65 (50 €) piece of software. It feels raw to me and the lack of key functionality prevents this from being a go-to tool in my game master toolbox.
Hopefully, the future holds increased functionality for Dungeon Builder.
A longtime fan of isometric maps, I've been following the Dungeon Builder kickstarter since last year. Having an hour to play around with the finished version 1.0, I think it's a great start, but right away I came up against the software's limitations.
Essentially, Dungeon Builder is a graphics program with some really neat art, the layers hidden from the user, and a bit of clever programming to make the object placement *mostly* work seamlessly. There are 3 purchasing levels: an individual option (which runs about $65 or €50), an Indie commercial license (which runs over €300), and a Pro commercial license for companies with annual revenue exceeding €70,000 (which runs over €700). I noted that Kobold Press has a commercial license, so there are definitely well-regarded game designers taking notice of Dungeon Builder!
The user interface takes a little getting used to, but there are hotkeys, such as clicking M to mirror/rotate the placeable objects which makes things a bit faster. Often I found myself clicking between the Build and Adjust tabs, which rapidly got annoying for someone used to working in Photoshop and Illustrator (where you can arrange the windows in the program to put your tools right at your fingertips).
The art by Aage Jørgensen is crisp, clear line art that really evokes an old school feel. I like it a lot. One of the cool things I found was that elements of a waterfall were stackable...almost like geomorphs but in the vertical direction. Similarly the ability to change the size and background color/texture were very welcome - it gave me just barely enough options to customize things to suit my desires.
However, there are shortcomings and glaring ones at that.
[SBLOCK=Image showcasing some of the issues I encountered]
[/SBLOCK]
Whether or not an object snaps to the grid seems to be built in to each individual object. I couldn’t find a way to toggle off “SNAP TO GRID” like you'd see in a Photoshop or GIMP. For example, I had a 4 square x 4 square room which was supposed to have archways in the middle of the walls. But Dungeon Builder wouldn’t let me adjust the stone wall doorway sticker to be in the middle. It remained locked to the grid, and looked awkward.
Command + Z (Undo) was not reliable. Sometimes I had to hit it 3-4 times before Dungeon Builder registered the keystroke. And it’s not my keyboard. Interestingly, clicking the undo button in the program worked just fine. This felt like a bug to me.
Frequently I create maps with circular rooms, but Dungeon Builder 1.0 has no way to represent them. Currently. I'm crossing my fingers that will change in the future.
As much as I liked the art, there are some things missing. Placing statues was really awkward because they had no back views - for example, I had a room with 4 statues, one in each corner. They were supposed to be facing toward the center of the room. Using the wizard statues to simulate this looked incredibly awkward due to there being no back view of the wizard statues.
Several times, the layer system being hidden from the user was a pain. The Bring Forward / Bring Back commands produced erratic results - for example, at one point I moved a wizard statue back, trying to get its base behind a foreground wall, but then the statue’s staff disappeared behind a stone wall doorway sticker.
As optimistic as I am that good things lie ahead for Dungeon Builder, I can't say that I feel like I'm running a $65 (50 €) piece of software. It feels raw to me and the lack of key functionality prevents this from being a go-to tool in my game master toolbox.
Hopefully, the future holds increased functionality for Dungeon Builder.
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