Java Program

[Emryys]

There is a similar Java Program called Gametable.
They just released version 1.2 and it has some interesting features...

Gametable 1.2

Private Map
Private messages
Emotes
Styled chat
Load/Save Macros
Active pogs (initiative)

Read at your own discretion

[trevor]

Yeah, they started roughly the same time we did. We asked at that time if they wanted to combine efforts, but they weren't interested.

Actually, we have a link to them in our links page.

Feel free to look for interesting features there too.

[Emryys]

These are quotes directly from the Link Above

"Private Map: Each user now has a "Private Map" in addition to the Public Map. The Public Map is the map that everyone can see and make changes to and is the basis of Gametable. That's old news. The Private Map is for you only. you can make changes to it, and nobody sees it. Each user has their own. You can do everything on a private map that you can on the public map. And you can "publish" sections of your private map to the public map. The intended purpose of this is to allow GMs to pre-draw maps, then expose only the parts they want as the players see/enter new areas"

"Styled Chat: The chat area now supports styled text using a (very) simplified word-like interface. e.g. ctrl-B will make text bold, ctrl-I will make it italicized, etc... It will also scan text for URLs and make them clickable in the chat pane to launch your default browser, much like most IM clients. Other nifty features including rollover text for dice rolls and clicking user names to send private messages"

"Load/Save Macros: Macros can now be loaded and saved seperately from the preferences. They are also now saved in a human-editable XML file instead of a binary format"

"Active Pogs: This is another panel that shows all of the active pogs on the map, with their attributes. It can be reordered, propagating the new order to all other clients (useful for initiative order)"


The interface is similar and has tabs on the side for the various "pog" areas and dice rolls. They have an area where you can make dice macros and they become buttons.

It also has underlays that are like the "placables" I mentioned and hexes, but you can't load your own maps

These features look interesting and all around promising...

Pretty good, but needs maps!

[rkathey]

I looked at game table a while back. I liked the hex maps and their default pogs a nice ( I stole them for maptool use ). You can switch back and forth between hex map and squares. Mostly it appears the hexes give different snap points.

IMHO Hex overlay and placables are the needed features in maptool that appear in gametable.

If folks really want control-b for bold and control-i for italics in chat I guess keyboard macros could be enable so you can map key strokes to html tags.

Extending that idea, allowing players to map things like control-d to alias /roll d20 might not be a bad idea.

But this idea is really low on my priority scale.

[Emryys]

The active pogs for initiative is interesting... You can change the order of the pogs that are in play on the side area...like initiative/turn order..

[rkathey]

I went back and looked at the active pog window. It is nice.

You can set attributes on the pogs. You enter them in name, value pair. When you mouse over they show up. When you left click on the pog, the pop menu lets to edit the attribute. These attributes also show up in the active pog window. This is nice but you can't edit the attributes from there.

In the chat window you have /commands just like maptool. In fact, there chat tool looks eerily familiar.

One of the nice commands in gametable chat is poglist. So if you set an initiative attribute then set it, you can do poglist initiative and it will list the pogs in initiative order.

They have a mini dice tool in one of the tabs on the side bar. It allows you to define a dice roll and name it. When you hit the roll button it show up in the chat. I liked that was well.