RPG Table 1.0 for Mac OS X released (and a contest)

[applenerd]

Hey everyone,

I've just released RPG Table 1.0, a new digital game table, built from the ground up as a modern Mac OS X application. Designing your own minis and maps is easy and intuitive. It is free to download and use for 15 days.

To see the app in action and download it for free, visit Code Chemistry - RPG Table.

To celebrate the 1.0 release, I'm running an informal contest for fun. I am going to be giving out 5 serial numbers to the app, and entering is easy. You just gotta download the app, make a map with it and send the document my way in an email to info@codechemistry.com with "RPG Table Contest" in the subject. I'm gonna be judging based on creativity so go nuts! This is a map only contest however so please do not have any minis in the document. The deadline for entry is Sunday September 20th at 11:59 PM so don't delay! You can enter as many times as you want but I will be awarding a maximum of one serial number per person. And remember, I'm looking for quality over quantity.

But mostly I'm looking for what fun and creative maps people can come up with! I will announce the winners in this thread on Tuesday the 22nd and email the serial numbers directly to the winners. If you have any questions about the app or the contest, I will do my best to answer them here. Have fun!

dan

[heruca]

Nice to see a Mac OS X application for RPGs. Since there are no plans for a Windows version, is it safe to assume that this is just intended to be used locally as a digital battlemat (i.e., no networking for online play)?

I like the searchable minis feature.

I'll be sure to add your program to my list of virtual tabletop software.

[applenerd]

Since there are no plans for a Windows version, is it safe to assume that this is just intended to be used locally as a digital battlemat (i.e., no networking for online play)?

Yes, 1.0 only provides local play. Networking is of course a feature I really want to do, but it didn't make the cut for 1.0 features. Future updates to the program will continue to improve the feature set and networking is definitely on the list.

I like the searchable minis feature.

Thanks! It was something I definitely wanted to help make my life easier. I've constructed a fairly big collection of minis that I use and being able to sort through them by keywords ("undead", "dragon", etc) has been really helpful.

I'll be sure to add your program to my list of virtual tabletop software.

Thank you! Very much appreciated!

[heruca]

OK, it's now been added (as well as a few other VT apps I recently discovered).

Good luck with RPG Table, btw, and welcome to the club.

[applenerd]

Thanks!

[Hadrian the Builder]

Nevermind...I see that this requires 10.5.8 or greater. I'm Running OS X v10.4.11

[Hadrian the Builder]

Well, I upgraded to snow leopard...now I would like to know what developments are planned for V2.0.

[applenerd]

Awesome! I upgraded to Snow Leopard a bit ago and have been really happy with it. 2.0 is probably still a ways off so I haven't mapped out exactly what features will be in there yet. Right now I'm just beginning to work on a 1.1 release and figuring out what I want to do for that.

I am going to be looking for beta testers for future releases to help make sure they are ready for prime time. I had a small pool of beta testers for 1.0 among my friends and gaming group but I'm looking to expand. I'll probably be picking people to extend beta invitations to from the folks who enter the contest since I'll know that they're familiar with the app.

So the best way to know what's coming in future versions of RPG Table will probably be to become a beta tester. By definition the builds would be buggier of course, but if that's sounds exciting instead of frustrating, you might be just the person I'm looking for!

[Hadrian the Builder]

Well, I would love to beta test, and so would my group. HOWEVER, I'm about a month from sitting for my Professional Engineer license, so I'm not planning on entering the contest.

When you deicde on what you want to try to include for 1.1. Would you post an update here?

[heruca]

I suspect the #1 requested feature for future versions will be to allow a user to import a bitmap to use as a map.

I like the fluid zoom feature, btw, and there are some very nice "polish" effects, considering this is a v1.0 release.

[applenerd]

Originally Posted by Hadrian the Builder

When you deicde on what you want to try to include for 1.1. Would you post an update here?

Absolutely!

Originally Posted by heruca

I suspect the #1 requested feature for future versions will be to allow a user to import a bitmap to use as a map.

A number of people from my group want this as well. ;-) It ended up being a bit ambitious for 1.0. But, yeah I really want this too!

Originally Posted by heruca

I like the fluid zoom feature, btw, and there are some very nice "polish" effects, considering this is a v1.0 release.

Thanks!

[applenerd]

So just a couple of notes on some stuff I've got lined up for the 1.1 release of RPG Table. I just finished coding full screen support with a pretty spiffy zoom animation the other night. I've also sped up app load times for people with big mini collections by about 4x (I have to launch the app a lot naturally as I develop it and the squeaky wheel got the grease). More stuff is in the works which I'll reveal the details on as I finish them up.

[applenerd]

Hey everyone,

In honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day, I'm putting RPG Table on sale for just $10 all weekend! That's 60% off!

Why? Cause it's my app and I like pirates!

Just enter the coupon code "PIRATE" during checkout. Cheers!

dan

[Hadrian the Builder]

Well, here's what i would like to see:

1) Fill patterns (like this:http://www.iupui.edu/~webtrain/image...ts_pattern.gif
2) 1/4 Grid snaps for drawing (or 5x5 points inter-square might be more clear?)
3) vision and light
4) vision and light blocking terrain integrated with the drawing object. I don't want to draw an encounter, and then need to redraw it on the vision blocking layer
5) import maps, graphics, other object, since there is a wealth of game table art freely available.

[applenerd]

Oops… (double post). Sorry.

[applenerd]

Hi Hadrian,

Thanks for your feedback! I work on this in my spare time so feedback really gets me fired up! I've entered some of the feedback into my bug database already. I have a few questions and comments inline below which I hope you don't mind answering.

Originally Posted by Hadrian the Builder

Well, here's what i would like to see:

1) Fill patterns (like this:http://www.iupui.edu/~webtrain/image...ts_pattern.gif

I have written this one up and added it to my bug tracking system. I'm hoping to get this into 1.1 and I already have an idea of how I could do this.

Originally Posted by Hadrian the Builder

2) 1/4 Grid snaps for drawing (or 5x5 points inter-square might be more clear?)

RPG Table already snaps drawing to 1/8th of a grid. Is this not what you mean?

Originally Posted by Hadrian the Builder

3) vision and light
4) vision and light blocking terrain integrated with the drawing object. I don't want to draw an encounter, and then need to redraw it on the vision blocking layer

I've added these two to my bug tracking database. Thanks!

Originally Posted by Hadrian the Builder

5) import maps, graphics, other object, since there is a wealth of game table art freely available.

I've written this up and added it to the bug database. Hopefully this one will get into 1.1 or 1.2 but it may not make it until later. (I'm tentatively hoping to have a new release every month or so)

If you want to email me at dan@codechemistry.com, I can send you a build to try out when I get something together for #1 above.

Thanks again for the feedback! It is very much appreciated!

dan