Hi,
My group has a player that is in a different city, and we've been using NetMeeting (with camera and voice) and it's built-in whiteboard. We use the whiteboard to draw what's on our battlemat so that the remote player can effectively participate in combats and such.
To put it mildly, the NetMeeting whiteboard sucks.
I have done some experiments with OpenRPG and WebRPG, and other shared whiteboards (Flash-based, browser-based, etc.). They were all somewhat unsatisfying. Quirks in how the whiteboard works, hard to place terrain, lack of some drawing features, bugs, use of Java (ick), etc...
Sure, OpenRPG and WebRPG are good products, but they are "all in one" packages that give you everything except the kitchen sink. But all I want is a good whiteboard. My theory is that if you have a slew of features in your package, then an application that is made for one specific feature will always do a better job for that specific feature.
So I've decided to code my own shared whiteboard for Windows machines (dubbed "RPG Whiteboard" for now), and I have been wondering, would any of you see the utility of this?
I don't intend to sell the application. I'm just wondering if I should take the trouble to write documentation and such. I'm starting the first test sessions very soon.
Andargor
My group has a player that is in a different city, and we've been using NetMeeting (with camera and voice) and it's built-in whiteboard. We use the whiteboard to draw what's on our battlemat so that the remote player can effectively participate in combats and such.
To put it mildly, the NetMeeting whiteboard sucks.
I have done some experiments with OpenRPG and WebRPG, and other shared whiteboards (Flash-based, browser-based, etc.). They were all somewhat unsatisfying. Quirks in how the whiteboard works, hard to place terrain, lack of some drawing features, bugs, use of Java (ick), etc...
Sure, OpenRPG and WebRPG are good products, but they are "all in one" packages that give you everything except the kitchen sink. But all I want is a good whiteboard. My theory is that if you have a slew of features in your package, then an application that is made for one specific feature will always do a better job for that specific feature.
So I've decided to code my own shared whiteboard for Windows machines (dubbed "RPG Whiteboard" for now), and I have been wondering, would any of you see the utility of this?
I don't intend to sell the application. I'm just wondering if I should take the trouble to write documentation and such. I'm starting the first test sessions very soon.
Andargor