Computers, Projectors, and Battle Maps.

[kurtsparkuhl]

Unreal tabletop mod

I thought I'd post this here in hopes of getting these guys some more support:

ZomBPir8Ninja

Apparently the developers behind the Unreal Engine game Alien Swarm have decided to make a 3D dungeon builder for tabletop gaming. This is by far the most inventive and advanced use of the digital gaming display that I've seen.

Let's hope this thing makes it out to the public, it drops my jaw every time I watch the videos.

 

[Blue Max Studios]

That's what I'm taking about! The only thing I'd do differently is put the map on the wall and use either virtual or magnetic counters. That way the table is open for books, sheets, dice, and most importantly, popcorn and pizza!
Seriously, that program looks awesome. I will show love on my blog.

 

[cyderak]

I thought I'd post this here in hopes of getting these guys some more support:

ZomBPir8Ninja

Apparently the developers behind the Unreal Engine game Alien Swarm have decided to make a 3D dungeon builder for tabletop gaming. This is by far the most inventive and advanced use of the digital gaming display that I've seen.

Let's hope this thing makes it out to the public, it drops my jaw every time I watch the videos.

I've seen the UDK battlemap video and yes it is freakin amazing. Do you know if it is going to be a stand alone program or does it have to be used in conjunction with the UDK game engine software?

Did pirateninja say when he might release it to the public? Is he going to charge?

 

[kurtsparkuhl]

Alien Swarm, the game that they made and published on Steam is free so I wouldn't be surprised if this is too. I'm not sure if it's stand alone or not, from the sounds of it they are running a custom script in UDK to accomplish that stuff so probably not.

But I don't know all the details, I'm just trying to get them some support so that they hopefully finish the project since I know a lot of people here, like myself, would be very interested in this.

 

[cyderak]

Alien Swarm, the game that they made and published on Steam is free so I wouldn't be surprised if this is too. I'm not sure if it's stand alone or not, from the sounds of it they are running a custom script in UDK to accomplish that stuff so probably not.

But I don't know all the details, I'm just trying to get them some support so that they hopefully finish the project since I know a lot of people here, like myself, would be very interested in this.

Same here........I'd use that animated battlemap software in conjunction with this:
EN World: D&D / RPG News & Reviews - cyderak's Album: Gaming Table - Touch Screen

 

[Thraug]

Wow, that UTK tool looks awesome. I saw one of the devs reply to one of their Youtube video about 2 weeks, saying they were still working on it! Yeah! Anyone have any more info on it?

 

[Ferrety]

For fast maps I've used pre-made tiles on the maptool. By scaling different map elements to the same grid-size I can create maps on-the-fly just by dropping them on map with the snap to grid enabled. Constructing tiles do take some work, but once you have them, it is fast. And if using plain graphics (ie jpg, png) you can use them on (almost) any software you wish.

I've seem to have around 1gb graphics on my mapping library, but I cannot share them, as they are mostly not mine to share.

Links to some resources I've been using from top of my head:

Cartographers' Guild - The Front Page
Gallery
pymapper | Dungeon Tile Mapping Software
The Mad Mapper - Home
RPGMapShare.com | Your source for gaming maps and mapping objects

I also use lot of objects from CSUAC, but they do not seem to exist anymore on the net.

On projectors, I think there has been several threads on using projectors on the table top, so it might be useful to search for them. Here are couple of more recent ones

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/270562-projector-advice.html

http://www.enworld.org/forum/genera...ing-portable-projector-setup-rpg-mapping.html

 

[OnlineDM]

I also use lot of objects from CSUAC, but they do not seem to exist anymore on the net.

There's a huge torrent file with tons of objects and textures that you can use in MapTool that I believe is the CSUAC file, but now hosted on rptutorials.net. The direct link to that torrent is here, and my blog post on the topic is here. I've gotten a ton of mileage out of those images.

 

[jcayer]

I will second that. That torrent has more images than I could ever use. Well worth the bandwidth.

 

[Aplus]

These maps are the best I've ever seen. I wish there were more like them:

Temple of Demogorgon – The Maps | Zitting Cisticola