MapForge (battlemap-making software)

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weepingminotaur
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Re: Trying to gauge interest in new battlemap-making softwar

Post by weepingminotaur »

I just watched the intro video and have been reading some of the comments. This looks absolutely amazing, heruca. I particularly like what seems to be an easy, intuitive method of generating windy dungeons with randomized tile sets. I can't wait to use MapForge!

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heruca
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Re: Trying to gauge interest in new battlemap-making softwar

Post by heruca »

Thanks, weepingminotaur!

We're down to the last 5 days of the MapForge Kickstarter campaign! Only 33 slots remain for the new "Commercial/Publisher Bundle" pledge level that was recently added. These are going fast, especially now that they will include more art for the same price.

Be sure to check out the new video I posted yesterday in Update #8.

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heruca
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Re: Trying to gauge interest in new battlemap-making softwar

Post by heruca »

The MapForge Kickstarter campaign is down to the last 2 hours!

Now with over 1800 backers. All Stretch Goals unlocked (again!).

MapForge is now officially the highest-funded mapping software project on Kickstarter, by a decent margin.

Read this Update if you've been on the fence. It might just change your mind.

Always try to end on a high note, they say. :)

Elyre_Elan
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Re: Trying to gauge interest in new battlemap-making softwar

Post by Elyre_Elan »

As one of the 1800, I gotta say I'm pretty excited. :)

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heruca
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Re: Trying to gauge interest in new battlemap-making softwar

Post by heruca »

It was a fun campaign, although it gets quite busy with that many people commenting and sending PMs, on top of all the promoting one has to do for the entire length of the campaign. Not to mention sometimes communicating with 10 or 12 partners to be able to make quick calls on matters that crop up.

Looking forward to getting back to programming, after a brief and much-needed rest.

BTW, the final tally was $82K and 1828 backers.

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heruca
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Re: Trying to gauge interest in new battlemap-making software

Post by heruca »

Hi again, folks.

Just dropping by again to let everyone know that my MapForge mapping software was recently released (last March), that MapForge has a new website, and that the MapForge Store is now open for business.

Some gaming genres were sorely under-represented by the original 50 content Add-Ons for MapForge, so I'm currently running a follow-up Kickstarter campaign to fund the creation of 26 more content Add-Ons for the software, to better support sci-fi RPGs (e.g. Starfinder, Star Wars, Traveller, Shadowrun, etc.). There's also some great new content for Fantasy and Modern Day genres. I hope you'll check it out. It's down to the last 3 days.

MapForge v1.0.4 should be out within a couple of days. It adds support for hexgrid overlays, among other things.

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heruca
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Re: Trying to gauge interest in new battlemap-making software

Post by heruca »

That last Kickstarter campaign I mentioned failed to fund, so I've relaunched a smaller campaign to focus on developing JUST the Sci-Fi content. Much lower funding goal, faster turnaround, and there are now pledge levels that include a license (which I didn't offer last time). Note that this is new content, in addition to the 10 sci-fi content Add-Ons that are already out for MapForge.

The MapForge software itself has been continually improved in the meantime, and now supports random dungeon generation via Donjon, except that you can edit the randomly-generated layout to suit your needs, add textures of your choice, and filter effects (like wall shadows and bevels) can be added with just one click. It's also possible to create custom dungeons as easily as clicking and dragging on virtual graph paper. You can see how that all works in this video.

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heruca
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Re: Trying to gauge interest in new battlemap-making software

Post by heruca »

Hi. It's been quite a while since I posted here.

Quick update about MapForge: Having added features like Donjon support, a "tracing layer", and a snap-to-hex function in recent releases, MapForge is now up to v1.0.9, with v1.1 due out by the end of this month. The app recently expanded it's "strictly-for-battlemaps" focus, thanks to a recent Kickstarter campaign that brought hex-tile mapping content to the platform, meaning that MapForge can now be used to create area/regional maps, too.

But the reason I'm here is to announce the latest KS campaign.

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A large majority of the 80+ content Add-Ons already available for MapForge are for the Fantasy genre, but with Fantasy being by far the most popular RPG genre, it only follows that making even more Fantasy content available would be a good thing.

So this campaign seeks to broaden MapForge's current fantasy-genre offerings by producing 15 more fantasy-themed mapping content Add-Ons, to better support tactical-scale battlemap creation for RPG systems such as Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, Savage Worlds, GURPS, Mage: The Ascension, Rolemaster, etc.

We've got some great new content lined up, and are raising funds to cover the porting/development costs. Two of these new Add-Ons will allow for publishing or commercial use, the rest are for Personal Use Only.

With this much great fantasy mapping content available, MapForge will offer more ready-to-use battlemap-scale mapping content to GMs of fantasy RPGs than any other map-making app, by far.

Click here to check out the Kickstarter campaign, which launched three days ago.

Fairly quick delivery of rewards is expected (August), and there are no shipping costs involved, since it's all digital downloads.

Campaign launched on: May 22, 2019

Campaign ends on: June 17, 2019

PS: And if you'd like to see many more free Add-Ons made available for MapForge, see our Patreon campaign.

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masterclif
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Re: Trying to gauge interest in new battlemap-making software

Post by masterclif »

Some concerns:
The demo video on your page is about a tropical island. But that isn't even included. It's ten bucks more. Did you intentionally showcase something that doesn't come with the initial purchase, or have things changed since you made that video? Because the latter is just a mistake that needs correcting. The former is...well...false advertising. I understand that you are using a video from the first shootings, but it's the first thing people see on the webpage.
Your picture is in a hex. Did you ever incorporate hex grids? Not hex tiles. The grid layover.
Have you included scroll wheel functionality yet?
I'm having problems finding reviews to see if your software is viable, and only could find a couple older ones that were dated before you even finished the software. When was the last time you gave a reviewer a copy of the software to try out?
The latest review I could find was may of 2018. And it was you, reviewing your own software. You are now a year wiser. Do you still believe that there is no other tool that can make tactical battlemaps?
You say a lot of my and I when talking about this thing, and then the occasional our is spoken. Which is it?
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heruca
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Re: Trying to gauge interest in new battlemap-making software

Post by heruca »

masterclif wrote:
Sat Jun 22, 2019 2:56 pm
Some concerns:
The demo video on your page is about a tropical island. But that isn't even included. It's ten bucks more. Did you intentionally showcase something that doesn't come with the initial purchase, or have things changed since you made that video? Because the latter is just a mistake that needs correcting. The former is...well...false advertising. I understand that you are using a video from the first shootings, but it's the first thing people see on the webpage.
The demo video is not about a tropical island. It's about how the app can be used to stamp down geomorphic tiles and other assets. Those assets happen to depict a tropical island. They could just as easily have depicted a cave, or a dungeon, or a tavern. I chose the island because it also allowed me to show off the Day/Night feature.

Do I really need to add fine print at the bottom explaining that the content being shown isn't an integral part of the app? Do we need to be told with fine print at the bottom of a cup that the coffee it contains may be hot? Or is that just the world the complainers have forced us to live in?

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When you see this image, do you think it's false or misleading advertising? Would you feel ripped off if you bought that iMac, took it home, set it up, and realized that the video project and all the assets shown weren't included with the computer? Of course not! The point of the pic was clearly just to show it being put to good use by a professional.

When marketing a product, the idea is to put your best foot forward, to make the product look as appealing as it can. If I just showed a blank map canvas, how well do you think the app would sell, compared to showing some gorgeous content in use?
masterclif wrote:
Sat Jun 22, 2019 2:56 pm
Your picture is in a hex. Did you ever incorporate hex grids? Not hex tiles. The grid layover.
Hex grids were actually added first. A snap-to-hex feature and hex-tile content came later. So the answer to your question is yes.

In any case, my hex-shaped app logo/icon is shaped the way it is for consistency with my earlier products. Not sure why that was even brought up.
masterclif wrote:
Sat Jun 22, 2019 2:56 pm
Have you included scroll wheel functionality yet?
Yes, for zooming in/out with it, for scrolling the thumbnail images, for rotating assets, perhaps some other functions, too.

masterclif wrote:
Sat Jun 22, 2019 2:56 pm
I'm having problems finding reviews to see if your software is viable, and only could find a couple older ones that were dated before you even finished the software. When was the last time you gave a reviewer a copy of the software to try out?
Any reviewer is welcome to download the free software and write a review. But I can't force anyone to write one, and I'm certainly not going to pay for one. That would be unethical.
masterclif wrote:
Sat Jun 22, 2019 2:56 pm
Do you still believe that there is no other tool that can make tactical battlemaps?
I'd be the first to admit that there are a lot of tools out there for making battlemaps. I most definitely never claimed what you're insinuating I claimed.
masterclif wrote:
Sat Jun 22, 2019 2:56 pm
You say a lot of my and I when talking about this thing, and then the occasional our is spoken. Which is it?
Hard to answer without knowing specifically what you are referencing, but I suspect the "we" might be in regards to the content developers and myself, and the "I" would be referring to me, the sole developer of the app.

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masterclif
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Re: Trying to gauge interest in new battlemap-making software

Post by masterclif »

is that just the world the complainers have forced us to live in
Ah, so you infer I am a complainer when I ask a question you are not sure how to answer. Gotcha.
Your picture is of hardware. You notice the picture shows a monitor and something on it, but fail to notice what the picture is for. You should have noticed that the picture is actually part of instructions for Target Display Mode. If you looked at the full image, and the website it is from, you would have the full context.
Look, I can bring up random images that have nothing to do with it too. However, I wont post huge pictures to inflate the page.

https://cdn.quizai.com/994139fd-8966-47 ... 50x469.jpg

You are advertising a product that is standalone. By including content that only works by spending additional money, you are creating a fake image of your product.
When marketing a product, the idea is to put your best foot forward, to make the product look as appealing as it can.
You can't do this with your already free packs of art? So do you need to note that additional paid content is required for the full product? Yes.
That would be unethical.
I can see where you may think that. How about finding a few people who already review this kind of thing, and give them a full version of the software? That is how businesses do it if they do not want to pay for it. It's not like you would be giving to random people. Find popular reviewers or youtubers that specialize in tabletop content.
Hard to answer without knowing specifically what you are referencing
Sorry about that, but you figured it out easily enough.
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anuhya@123
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Re: Trying to gauge interest in new battlemap-making software

Post by anuhya@123 »

Truly for sure, bunches of planning applications and sites out there, with the vast majority of them free. Add to that the way that many picture editors (Gimp, Photoshop, and so on.) are additionally "rivalry", of sorts, since GMs who have aced such apparatuses may adequately be out of the market. Be that as it may, with DJ good and gone throughout recent years, I see a chance, particularly at the lower end of the value run. A large portion of what's out there are so rough and restricted that it's most likely not going to be paid attention to.

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heruca
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Re: Trying to gauge interest in new battlemap-making software

Post by heruca »

"Diverse Dungeons" Kickstarter (Dungeon-themed mapping content for MapForge)


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If you've ever struggled with your dungeon maps all looking basically the same, here's a solution. This crowdfunding campaign seeks to broaden MapForge's fantasy-genre content offerings by producing 9 more fantasy-themed mapping content Add-Ons, in order to better support the creation of top-down tactical-scale dungeon battlemaps for tabletop RPG systems such as D&D and Pathfinder.

Quick delivery of rewards is expected (May 2021), and there are no shipping costs involved, since it's all digital downloads. Note that it's a short campaign, which ends in 9 days.

Check out the campaign

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heruca
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Re: MapForge (battlemap-making software)

Post by heruca »

The campaign is ending soon (24 hours), and it looks like it's going to be a very close thing. I'm hoping the new pledge level announced in Update #4 will help. The campaign is just $137 away from funding.

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heruca
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Re: MapForge (battlemap-making software)

Post by heruca »

No interest in purchasing and rewriting DJ. MapForge is simply a DJ-like app, primarily used to stamp pre-existing assets made by pro or semi-pro content developers.

Since I'm here, I might as well announce the latest MapForge Kickstarter campaign, which ends soon. It's for porting much more Modern Day mapping content for use with MapForge.

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PS: Yes, I know the campaign almost certainly won't fund.

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