D&D: Insider Tools - will they succeed?

[pallen]

I'm pretty much sold on 4e. From the few crunchy details we've seen, I know that I'll at least be buying the core books in June. The D&D Insider "content" that's supposed to replace Dungeon and Dragon magazines, I'm much more skeptical of, but there are several other threads discussing that.

I'm curious what everyone thinks of the D&D Insider Tools. (The character builder, the adventure builder, the digital tabletop, etc.)

From what I've seen so far of the D&D Insider Tools is that:

• (Edited) They're being designed by Radiant Machine, who's only other released product at this point is Gleemax.
• The trickle of details we have about the digital tabletop is that there are a lot of features that they have planned, but will not be available at release
• So far, the only thing they have to demo are static screenshots and pre-rendered video.
• I haven't seen any discussion of a pre-release beta test period

I think it's safe to say that the execs at Wizards think that the D&D digital tabletop and tools will draw a lot of people into paying monthly D&D Insider fees. But I wonder if they're underestimating how difficult it is to release a quality software product. Multi-user, online software isn't easy to develop. And it requires a lot of testing to release a product that won't alienate your customers. Yet, we don't see any of these playtest groups running their game with a test version of the online tools. And if the tools aren't ready for in-house testing now, I don't see how they'll be ready for large scale testing next spring. And I think that would be absolutely necessary if they plan to release their tools in parallel with the core rules in June.

Anyway, does anyone else suspect that the D&D Digital Initiative is headed for a rocky start?

 

[DaveMage]

Anyway, does anyone else suspect that the D&D Digital Initiative is headed for a rocky start?

Yes, but most software has a rocky start.

 

[Charwoman Gene]

Unforunately, no.

 

[Lord Xtheth]

Well, I'm going to subscribe to insider anyway.
I mean it comes with 2 things I wanted all along for 3.5
A character generator/database
and a map design tool

Even if thats all I got with insider, I would consider subscribing, but you also get information, a support system, and the ability to Roleplay with all your friends arround the world convieniently in one neat little package. I personally hope it does succeed.

And who knows, maybe they hired >>>GOOD<<< media designers this time.

 

[JoelF]

You forgot my biggest concern:

a) it's a subscription model
b) it will be bundled with the digital Dragon and Dungeon magazines - this means they will price it beyond the point where people who only want the digital tools are willing to pay.

 

[Imaro]

Well, from the Dragon & Dungeon "previews"...to the suggestion of added fees for digital miniatures, digital books, etc. I have not been impressed enough to want a subscription. I have basically lost what little interest I had in the online mags, and let's just say I'm not expecting to be wowed enough by the other features at launch to get stuck in a subscription model.

 

[KoshPWNZYou]

And who knows, maybe they hired >>>GOOD<<< media designers this time.

If Gleemax is any indication, they haven't.

One of the key reasons I've been wary of the DI from the beginning is the fact that it -is- being designed by WoTC. Their website has always been a poorly designed, graphic-crammed mess that takes incredibly long to load on my dialup connection. Gleemax is no improvement. So it looks to me like they're catering their DI to the high-speed crowd. :\

 

[Ander00]

Speaking as one of the people who probably won't subscribe due to the reasons JoelF mentioned, I believe they could reach more people if different subscription plans were to be announced. As unimpressed as I have been with their digital offerings so far, the tools are the only aspect of Insider I am interested in. I think a rocky start is more than likely, but given proper support, the tools definitely have potential in the long term.


cheers

 

[Gundark]

So it looks to me like they're catering their DI to the high-speed crowd. :\

And this is different from most on line games how????

 

[Ry]

So it looks to me like they're catering their DI to the high-speed crowd. :\

Forget the high-speed crowd. Busy, squinting, can't-find-the-new-features myspace-page-by-my-ten-year-old-cousin crap sucks regardless of your connection speed.