MapTools on Homebrew Multi-Touch Table

[nimrand]

I've been researching multi-touch and similar technologies for some time. So, after seeing Tyren's work, and seeing the price of projectors falling, I finally decided to build my own multi-touch game table.

Though I still have some work to do to finish the table (like adding the cabinet doors for the base), I managed to get the it fully operational last August:

The original blueprints done in Google Sketch-Up:


The table (turned off):


The table showing a map:


Me moving a token on the map:


My setup is fairly simple. The multi-touch is implemented with FTIR/CCV. I have a very simple program that converts the multi-touch commands into standard windows mouse commands, so that one can interface with applications using touch just like they would a mouse. It is limited to left-clicking and dragging, but it is sufficient for players to move their tokens around in MapTools. I simply run MapTools in fullscreen mode on the table, connected to my laptop as the MapTools server, which I use to swap out maps, control NPC tokens, and update token statuses.

I haven't made much progress with the table since last August, mostly due to a heavy work schedule and my involvement with the FGII LFR group. However, my friends and I have played through two long game sessions of D&D 4E using the table, and the setup has worked very well, especially for not having done much of any work on the software side of things. That is a real testament to how versatile MapTools is!

That being said, there is definately some room for improvement that would greatly enhance the experience. I am going to explore that in detail in another post (which I will provide a link to), but the two most pertinent needs that we've identified in our play sessions are:
1. More robust tracking of conditions (i.e., automatically applying ongoing damage and removing conditions when they expire).
2. Ability for players to do more than move their tokens around without the DM's intervention (e.g., apply damage and conditions via the multi-touch interface).

Rumble's 4E framework looks like a good starting point for the former, but the later is going to require more significant modification, which is what I want to explore in my follow-up post. I wanted to post this first to set the stage for that discussion (and to show off my project a bit ).

Incidentally, if anyone has questions about building their own table, I would be happy to share, though I am by no means an expert. You can find lots of information on the NUI Group website, which is where I got most of my information from. I built my table for about $1,300 US, the most expensive part being the short-throw projector, which I bought for $700.

[Azhrei]

[...] I finally decided to build my own multi-touch game table.

That's very cool, nimrand! Thank you for posting!

Regarding your two immediate needs to make the table more useful, your first (condition tracking) would require a robust way of handling timers and other asynchronous events. Event handling has been discussed a lot here and I have great hopes for a robust system being implemented in 1.4; even if it's not that significant initially, I still think something with timers tied to real-time and timers tied to the init panel should be possible.

Your second need is a bit more problematic. We would need some way to provide numeric input in a game-system-independent manner. Someone recently posted a link to a video using a similar touch technology that allowed for a "marker" to be dropped on the table. The marker was picked up visually and when the marker was rotated left or right, various options would appear. It worked sort of like adding a control knob to a token by dropping it on the table... We might be able to do something similar with a double-click on the token. Then a radial menu could display and single-clicks could be used from there. In the short-term, we could also present a calculator-style numeric pad that allowed for numeric input (perhaps including the letter d?).

All of the above is pie-in-the-sky for right now, but hearing about your needs is great because it allows the devs to know what kinds of things to keep in mind for the future. And thanks again for the great pics!

[nimrand]

Thanks for the response. You and I are thinking a lot alike. Having event-handling hooks into the initiative tracker and implementing some kind of radial menu were exactly what I was thinking.

I've got the MapTools source code downloaded on my computer. I've poked around long enough to get a sense of how the map rendering works, and I'm thinking about modifying the source code to build a simple prototype with a radial menu. Trying to get the immediate improvement with minimal development effort, my idea would be to use a modified version of Rumble's 4E Framework macros to track conditions, and then implement a radial menu that let's the player activate those macros. The menu would display the macros of the token that has initiative (rather than the selected token). This way, the current player can select the target of the power, and then select a power to use on that target. The macro would apply damage and conditions to the selected token. If the power requires an attack roll, the player would roll that first with physical dice, and then the player would simply not activate the macro if he/she misses. This way, the player never has to actually enter any dice rolls. It's not the final, ideal solution, but if I can get that prototype implemented, it would be a solid first step. And, I might be able to reincorporate some of the code I develop back into the main development branch if it fits into you're design approach and development path.

All your other ideas are good, too. There's definately lots of possibilities. Something else that would be useful would be to be able to setup overlays with player stats around the edges of the screen. I'd eventually love to be able to have control objects (e.g., the dial you mentioned), and even for the table to read off dice results from dice lying on the screen, but that's a ways off. My hardware can't even do that right now (I need a special kind of glass that costs $300 to do it).

[Imper1um]

What you can do is just get a Wireless Keyboard and use that for anyone to input anything they need to.

You can also use Windows' Built-in Accessibility tools to do this.

[nimrand]

I do have a wireless keyboard. Since it's running on standard Windows, there's times when I definately need it. I've also used the accessibility tools keyboard for grins, though typing on it actually tends to be very slow.

As far as using it in play session to enter dice roll results and the like, it's a fine interim solution, but it leaves a lot to be desired. The table already gets pretty cluttered with character sheets, dice, and books, and having to pass a keyboard around just adds more clutter. There's also the fact that I have players sitting on three sides of the table, which means some of them will be reading sideways while typing, which is hard to do unless the font is really big.

Overall, though, I'm trying to avoid the need to enter dice rolls at all, as it tends to slow the pace of the game, regardless of how it's done, and there's a lot of more pertinent things for me to focus on at the moment.

[Nonsapient]

silly question, but why are you using physical dice and not maptool's built in dice functions?

[nimrand]

With my current setup, player's don't really have a good way to access the dice roller through the touch screen. If I set up a way to activate macros (such as the radial menu discussed above), then that might be a moot point. Although, the players wouldn't see the results, because those are displayed in chat which isn't visible in fullscreen mode, so that might still be an issue.

However, the other reason is that there's a certain tactile enjoyment that comes from using physical dice. People have come accustomed to rolling physical dice, and have come to associate that act with all their fond memories of playing D&D. For that reason, there is an advantage to at least giving players the option to roll physical dice. So, I wouldn't want to completely remove that from the experience.

[Cosworth]

In our face2face games the players also prefer physical dice rolling. One way to allow the chat window open and work full screen is to oversize the regular maptool window so that the borders are outside the screen area.
Ideally a physical die roll should be read by the program. This could be achieved using fiducials. Have a look at this video for an example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drRDMnizUQM
It's not hard to envision a die roll as well!!

[nimrand]

I'm not set up to read fiducials, yet. To work with my setup, I need EnLighten glass, which is super expensive (about $300 for the size I need, IF I can buy it at roughly the size I need). Now that I'm actively working on this project, I am thinking of buying it, though, if I can find a supplier or group buy with the right size.

I'm also not certain about how well the fiducials can be applied. When I watched some of the SurfaceScapes videos, I noticed that you could see the fiducials on the bottom of the objects. I also don't know if the fiducials can be applied without disrupting the surface of the dice such that it interferes with the fairness of the dice. That all said, it's definately something I want to experiment with.