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jkthomsen9
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Old July 20th, 2014, 11:47 AM
I have found a major limitation to using realmworks as my player view. I use a projector and in the past have used GIMP to run it. As I see it, If we are going to use RW as our fog of world, smart images have to be able to handle layers. As it is now you have two choices that I can see.

Choice one is to use the DM map. As the party explores use the fog of world to reveal the room with the pit trap in the middle of the room and a secret door on the back wall. As soon as you reveal it the players see both the pit and door. Roleplay to see if the characters do.

Choice two is to use the PLAYER map. Reveal as before but the traps/secret doors are not printed on the player maps. When the characters discover them you pull out your trusty wet erase markers and go back to your battlemat days, and in my case, prove you can not draw. This gets especially tedious if the secret door has several rooms behind it as they are usually not on the player map.

I would like to add a third choice. With the ability to have layers you could add each trap, secret door, or anything hidden as separate layer and reveal them as they are found. I prefer this method for meta game purposes as well. Paizo has done an amazing job with their player maps. When there is a secret door I can reveal the wall just like any other wall, Paizo has place the background graphic there and you can not meta game that something is amiss. When you reveal the secret door and the three rooms behind it, the mountain rock seamlessly changes to the wizards secret lab.

This same layer system could be used to implement other requests. You could have a layer be a grid to add to city maps, it could be the legend, or anything else you can think of. I saw someone that was MUCH better at gimp than I am make an animation of seven images of the campfire. When it was playing as a layer on top of the campfire it looked like it was burning. He also did it to water.
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AEIOU
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Old July 20th, 2014, 02:34 PM
Keep in mind that RW is not a VTT and doesn't appear to aspire to be a VTT....

Layers would be helpful in many ways though beyond using for reveal and play at the table. And it's been requested a number of times. I'd recommend finding a thread with lots of +1's and add your voice there.
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gamemasterbob
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Old July 20th, 2014, 03:00 PM
Since RW has maps that I can gradually reveal then it would seem only logical that users would expect expanded functionality. And why wouldn't RW want to VTT? Why not make this a one stop? RW needs the ability to at least allow me to put some markers on the map with different colors and sizes to represent entities. No smart markers but just perhaps circles that I can change the colors with a name and init and a facing point I can display and then move them around. This would be a great start. I know it's not as easy as I make it sound but I see how amazing RW is and I can't imagine this being above the abilities of the programmers. Just my thoughts.

GMB
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jkthomsen9
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Old July 20th, 2014, 07:52 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by AEIOU View Post
Keep in mind that RW is not a VTT and doesn't appear to aspire to be a VTT....
I would have to respectfully disagree with you. Rob has stated that he never envisioned printing anything with RW, but instead to use player view to show the players what they know. With the "Begin Game Session" revel history, Fog of World, and player view as a second screen makes RW ideal for for use with a projector. I envision RW coupled with HL to truly revolutionize tabletop gaming. I believe Rob has also been talking with Sirenscape to add audio files to RW. If this and the talks with Paizo come to fruition I can see a program that would add AP content with both audio and visual components. This is where LWD could truly make a killing with repeat customers. I would subscribe to a new dataset monthly as the AP's and core books are released, just as I do for HL currently.
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AEIOU
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Old July 21st, 2014, 06:50 AM
I would be ecstatic if full VTT capabilities were added to RW.

Adding robust VTT tools was one of my first requests last year as that would be the logical next step. If their stance has changed from the Kickstarter and what has been stated quite clearly in these forums, then I would gladly and very excitedly declare that I am wrong. But LW has been pretty clear that they are not creating a VTT.

I'm still hopeful that it evolves that way over time but given calendars, exporting, Mac/Linux, cloud unknowns, publishing.... I think they made the right decision to limit scope for now. VTT tools are still the logical next step.
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Dervish
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Old July 21st, 2014, 08:21 AM
Rob may correct me on this but I don't think they have the money, the time or the manpower currently to turn Realm works into a true VTT.
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jkthomsen9
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Old July 21st, 2014, 12:33 PM
Just to make sure we are comparing apples to apples, what do you consider a true VTT. If you mean some of the concepts that are using RFD chips to identify what is on the table and shows you what you can see, how far you can move, and blurs the lines between a PNP RPG and a video game, I completely agree that this will never be that. Nor would I want it to be.

I could be wrong, but I believe the vision of RW is to be used with a projection system during game play. To give you a 2D dumb image that is revealed in real time. A lot of work has been done to prevent meta gaming. IIRC the player version is to be used in and out of game, and has DM messaging capabilities.

My fear is that if RW does not have the capability of effectively hiding secrets; (Secret doors, concealed doors, and traps); then it is less useful in game. It would be a fancy personalized wiki of your campaign. I see far more potential in this program than that.
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jkthomsen9
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Old July 21st, 2014, 12:43 PM
Also lets remember that RW is still in beta and evolving as we speak. We humans are an amazing race, and there is nothing we can not do if we are willing to but in the time and effort. I believe this forums purpose is to clarify, as a community, what direction we want to go.
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rob
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Old July 21st, 2014, 12:50 PM
For most people I've personally talked to, the definition of a "true" VTT includes light sources, vision distance based on light sources, objects that block light sources, etc. Those are things we have no near-term plans of pursuing within Realm Works.

Flagging secret doors and traps, supporting a wide variety of (and custom) icons for pins, identifying complex areas in advance for quick revealing, and other things like that are DEFINITELY part of the plan for RW. Those things aren't a "VTT" in our opinion. They simply augment the existing concepts of incremental reveal that we're already providing.

Hopefully, this clarification proves helpful in getting everyone on the same page with us regarding what we do and don't envision adding to RW in upcoming releases.

Last edited by rob; July 21st, 2014 at 01:46 PM. Reason: Forgot a word
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jkthomsen9
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Old July 21st, 2014, 12:59 PM
Thank you Rob. That is exactly the answer I was hoping for.
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