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:
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?
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?
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