Web Tools

We are always looking for new tools to create to help facilitate the table top gaming experience. Let us know if you have an idea for a new gaming tool you'd like to see. (Note: this is NOT for feature requests on existing tools!)

Moderators: dorpond, trevor, Azhrei

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Steel Rat
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Web Tools

Post by Steel Rat »

I don't know how useful this kind of thing would be for the average RPTools user, but for me, someone who plays all my games on forums, I would LOVE to see web-based versions of all of the various maptools.

Basically I need to use InitTool to keep a forum-based combat session going, but at work I can't load the software. so I'm kind of stuck if I start an encounter on my laptop at home, have to wait to get back to it to continue.

With web-based tools, the GM and players even, could create accounts so their encounter and map data would be private to them, encapsulated. And could be used from any web-connected machine.

I know this is probably a bit of a pipe dream, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

If anyone is interested in pursuing something like this, I'll provide the web server.
Steel Rat
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RPGMapShare.com - RPG Maps and Mapping objects.
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trevor
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Post by trevor »

Unfortunately, the web is an entirely different platform, and ports are not feasible. You'd lose a (very) large amount of richness trying to move to the web.

The webstart was intended to handle the no-install setups so that you could run it without "installing" it. This of course assumes two things: you have write permissions to your user directory, and you have or can install Java SE 5.0.

An alternate approach is to set up a secure vnc connection or something and remote host to a running instance of the tools.
Dreaming of a 1.3 release

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giliath
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Post by giliath »

I have been thinking about this for sometime and would definitely like to see Web Based tool implementations. In general we tried to design the tools with a separation of display from data, so that is not the problem.

Currently the problem with doing something like this is that we don't have a web host that supports a java front end (JSPs and Servlets). This is a requirement because we choose to implement our tools in java. Ideally we will move to something like that in the future so that we could look into hosting games.

This is a suggestion, thx for the input.
~Giliath

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giliath
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Post by giliath »

You "would" lose a large amount of richness from MapTool, but not from some of the other tools. Also, I think we could implement a subset of MapTool's functionality (basically player only stuff) from a web page and get a huge draw from people who host play-by-mail games.
~Giliath

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Steel Rat
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Post by Steel Rat »

Well, I have complete control over my server, so if you need support for something, I can implement it.

Definitely don't want to take away from current tool development, but if a hiatus is reached at some point, maybe it's worth playing around with.

I didn't think of using VNC or Terminal Services to connect to my laptop. Certainly something I could try.
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RPGMapShare.com - RPG Maps and Mapping objects.
Discord Server

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trevor
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Post by trevor »

Hmmm, if you have full control of your servers, it might be an avenue to actually host MT server instances, that would be pretty neat :)
Dreaming of a 1.3 release

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Steel Rat
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Post by Steel Rat »

Definitely do-able. No idea what's involved, but we can sure talk about it.
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RPGMapShare.com - RPG Maps and Mapping objects.
Discord Server

TheWretched
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Post by TheWretched »

I'd be interested in something similar. Currently I use MapTool in conjunction with a forum based campaign. There's a time difference of 7 hours between the DM and the players, so the current version is pretty much useless as a client-server app for me.

At the moment I use MapTools locally, make any moves and then export a PNG snapshot to the server. The players then respond in the forum with their moves, with me making the changes on my end and re-exporting a snapshot after each player.

It works, but it's a little clunky. What would be awesome would be some way of giving control, in turn, to each player of their own token on a live map. I don't really care about initiative and stuff that can be handled in the forum. It's really things like token moving, FoW and vision that are important to me.

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trevor
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Post by trevor »

We'll be seeing improvements to the stand alone server in 1.3 so that you can just leave your server up and running and people can connect whenever they want.

I could imagine though that we need to implement turn management so that it's easier for you to see the path they are taking, the official "This is my move" path. This is also planned.
Dreaming of a 1.3 release

TheWretched
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Post by TheWretched »

Now that sounds perfect. :)

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Hawke
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Post by Hawke »

trevor wrote:the official "This is my move" path. This is also planned.
A "this is my target" would be equally useful! :)

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