D&D 5E Dungeonscape no more?

[jeffwhitfield]

The UI isn't pretty and the output format leaves something to be desired, BUT IT WORKS. UI and output formatting can be improved later but an engine that largely works properly at the PHB launch is pretty impressive.

Actually, no, Dungeonscape never worked. It was a confusing mess and wasn't at all useable, especially on tablets (ie. iPad).

The problem I had with Dungeonscape and just about every RPG utility out there is that all of them suffer from pretty poor design decisions. About the only one I'm using right now for D&D 5e is Fight Club which, even then, has a few bits here and there that could use some improvement.

I have yet to find a decent virtual tabletop app that allows me to easily import my own maps and icons with simple "fog of war" capabilities that I can use on my iPad.

I just don't understand why NO ONE can design simple applications that look nice and work well across multiple devices. It just seems everyone designing apps for RPG's are over-designing the interfaces and making things more complicated than they need to be.

 

[Jackal2100]

Actually, no, Dungeonscape never worked. It was a confusing mess and wasn't at all useable, especially on tablets (ie. iPad).

The iPad version was ahead of the others and worked very smoothly.

 

[Leatherhead]

I just don't understand why NO ONE can design simple applications that look nice and work well across multiple devices.

It's all proprietary policies from the OS companies to make their systems as non-compatible as possible so that everything is as exclusionary as possible.
Just imagine the iPad speaks Sandskrit using an enigma machine, and Android speaks Russian using a telegraph.

 

[jeffwhitfield]

The iPad version was ahead of the others and worked very smoothly.

That's news to me. Honestly, I didn't even know about the iPad version. All I knew about was the website itself. Strange. Wish they notified beta users better cause I probably would have tested it. Even then, I honestly wasn't too impressed with the website version. Just wasn't all that intuitive for the character generator and such. Too many UX issues.

 

[jeffwhitfield]

It's all proprietary policies from the OS companies to make their systems as non-compatible as possible so that everything is as exclusionary as possible.
Just imagine the iPad speaks Sandskrit using an enigma machine, and Android speaks Russian using a telegraph.

If you're talking about mobile applications, the only time that's a problem is if you're trying to create truly "native" mobile apps. You can create cross-platform apps that work well using PhoneGap along with various mobile frameworks out there, which is much, much easier to deal with than trying to build native stuff. Obviously, not everyone can go with that approach but, if you're a smart developer, you can definitely get away with it.

 

[Jackal2100]

The ios version was a closed beta because of restraints with apple. Also, I believe they were focusing on making it easy to use at the table, more so than just a character builder, so it was designed to be less intrusive. There are plenty of character builders out there, whereas the focus of Dungeonscape was having everything included with ease of use.

 

[weldon]

It's all proprietary policies from the OS companies to make their systems as non-compatible as possible so that everything is as exclusionary as possible.

Or it could just be that each is trying to provide the best experience possible on their platform. Cross-platform, least common denominator style development doesn't work very well in practice. The trend today is to build native apps for each platform that run faster, "fit in" and take advantage of unique platform features that make the app a lot nicer to use.

That said, a character builder doesn't have to be very performant. A responsive web app would satisfy a lot of people.

The ios version was a closed beta because of restraints with apple.

There has a been a limit of 100 devices for beta testing (devices, not users). Apple is rolling out a new beta testing program that allows for up to 1,000 users (users, not devices). The old limit was pretty restrictive and made it hard to get enough testers, or make changes when people upgraded devices, etc. The new program is a lot more flexible because there is no effective limit on the number of devices that can be used for testing. You can invite 1,000 people to participate and they can use all their devices for testing. This change came too late to open up the iOS test for Dungeonscape.

 

[Bugleyman]

The best thing WotC could do right now is:

1. Release water-marked PDFs of the 5E core books on dndclassics.com.
2. Make a licensing deal with Lone Wolf for Hero Lab support.
3. Let the community develop the rules app (as simple as laying off the "cease-and-desist" letters).

However, because these steps would be both highly effective and extremely fast, they are almost guaranteed not to take them. Instead, they'll dodge questions, speak vaguely about the "user experience," and lose another six months+ with zero progress.

 

[TarionzCousin]

I am starting to believe that WotC is cursed when it comes to electronic accessories. Is this how Chicago Cubs fans feel?

 

[MagicSN]

R

For me, this is the real frustration in the DungeonScape saga: by giving TT an exclusive license, it curtailed a lot of really awesome development within the community, which has put out some pretty outstanding apps for all platforms so far for 3rd/4th editions. Hopefully people are doing what you're doing and just developing stuff anyway, even if it never sees the light of day (though I hope it does!)

Do you have any kind of email list if the licensing does become available? I've tried about everything for 3rd edition and will try everything for 5th, too. Hope it works out for you.

I do not have a mailing list, but I will prepare some screenshots soon (some old screenshots are floating around the net, but I believe most timed out on imageshack).
If there are good news about a permission from WotC to publish my work I definitely will report to all relevant forums. But right now I am not counting on getting that permission any time soon. Why am I still doing this? Well, there are those people who claim dwarves could take lessens in stubbornness from me... I guess they are right ;-) And I LIKE coding. And I sort of thought "when the company I was working for 5 years ago could talk Activision into allowing me to port Heretic II to the Amiga Operating system, I should be able to talk WotC into allowing me to release a free Character Builder for 5e". Okay, some wrong assumptions there, and the comparision between Activision and WotC doesn't actually work ;-(

The current state anyways is that only very few things are missing for complete PHB coverage. For example no Multiclass with Warlock yet, Magic Item attack powers are not shown in the page 1 Attack table, but only on the Power Cards of the PDF Output, there's still a bug on Multiclass when your primary class is a non-caster and your secondary class a caster - the other way round already works - and the selection of the Monk's Unarmed attack's Damage Dice is not yet automatic (you currently still have to manually select the "correct" Damage Dice for the monk). I will still fix all of these issues, though. It is definitely possible to play with the current version though (as long as you do not want to play a multiclass-warlock ^^). Which makes it more frustrating that I can only use it myselves due to licence issues.

It is all very frustrating actually

MagicSN