Refining Fog of War

Since the fog of war release came out I’ve had some great feedback about it.  Much of my time has been spent refining the way it works and there will be another update with a few finishing touches.

I’ve also been laying the groundwork for saving of scenarios/encounters.  This becomes especially important with fog of war, as you want the app to remember which areas have been explored so far.  It’ll make it much easier to pick up where you left off, and will be the next major feature you can expect to come out.

A Megadungeon on an iPhone

Someone sent this to me and I just had to share it with you, I still get a kick out of seeing these things. It’s the largest map I’ve seen used in 3D Virtual Tabletop and proves you can use big battlemaps even on a phone, with multitouch making it so easy to zoom in and out. Most of the map is dim because this is the GM’s view and those parts are hidden by fog of war. The illuminated area shows what the players can see. Even with the resolution limit on a map this big, it’s still very playable when you zoom right in.

Fog of War Update Finally Released

It’s finally here, available now on Google Play and the Apple App Store.  There are still a couple of rough edges around fog of war that I need to smooth off, but I hope you’re pleased with how it’s working at the moment.  Unfortunately the one on the Apple App Store does have some significant bugs still as it’s a few weeks behind due to their long approval process. There is, however, a new update for iOS waiting in the wings, so feel free to wait 2 weeks before trying it out, you’ll be happier with it then.  I’m also trying to get a video made to explain how to use fog of war, it’ll likely be a week or so before that’s available. I have, though, tried to make it simple enough to work out by just playing around.

Resuming Work on the Web Version

Here’s something we haven’t seen in a while, 3D Virtual Tabletop running in a web browser!

While waiting for the fog of war update to be approved and released, I’ve resumed work on the web version.  It’s not ready for release yet, but as the next few mobile updates come out, I’ll also be improving the web version to catch it up with them.  Notice the on left toolbar, the extra button at the bottom for manipulating the fog of war.  It can do that, but you can’t add your own maps and miniature yet, that’s one of the few things left to do.

In other news, I upgraded my Nexus tablet to Android 5 and discovered that the fog of war update fails to start on the newer version.  It worked fine on Android 4.  I don’t know what’s causing it yet, so I’m not sure how long it will take to fix.  This is going to hold up the general release of the fog of war update.  There have been a few issues reported by other users of the Unity engine on Android 5, at least some of which have been fixed.  I hope it’s something simple, rather than a Unity issue, because then I can get the fix out and release the new version sooner.  Luckily this does not affect iPad/iPhone so no need to wait for that approval process, I can get the fix out immediately after it is done.

Fog of War With Miniatures Update Submitted

The good news is that the fog of war update has been approved for the Apple App Store.  The bad news is that while extending the fog of war to work with miniatures, I discovered a problem with large maps, so I won’t be releasing that update.  The good news is that I finished adding miniatures to the fog of war, and fixed the problem I found, so have submitted it for approval once gain.  The bad news is that last time it took nearly 2 weeks to be approved, so it looks like we’re in for a bit of a wait.  The good news is that it’s really cool, making it much more fun to use with the bad guys disappearing an reappearing as they go in and out of view.

Fog of War for Miniatures Preview

The fog of war update is still awaiting review, but here’s a preview of what I’ve been working on in the meantime. In that update, the fog of war only affects the map, not the miniatures, but that’s being rectified. This video shows the DM’s view of what happens when a creature moves in or out of an unexplored area. In the player’s view, the miniature disappears completely.

Fog of War Update Submitted for Approval

Yesterday I submitted the update with Fog of War to the Apple App Store.  Last time they approved a new version in about 5 days, so I’m hoping they’ll be that quick again.  There is one remaining issue that I need to fix in the Android app, but that should be done in time to simultaneously release it when the iOS one becomes available.

With this first version, the fog of war does not alter the visibility of the miniatures on the map, but that’s an improvement I can follow up with pretty quickly.  During testing I have noticed that with multiple devices on the same local wi-fi network, there can be a slight delay when updating fog of war, I’ll be interested to hear what your experiences are like.

I’m also in the process of getting a tutorial video made to show you how to use the fog of war, but it’s likely that the new version will be available before the video is finished.

Fog of War Sneak Peek

Since I know many of you are eagerly anticipating the introduction of Fog of War, here is a screenshot of it in action.  In the GM’s view the unexplored areas are partially visible, while in the Player’s view they are completely hidden.

I’m hoping to submit the new version to the app stores by the end of the week.  Since this update with Fog of War doesn’t work in multiplayer games with earlier versions, the Android release on Google Play will have to wait until the Apple App Store one has been approved.

The map used in the screenshots is “The Cellar” from Lord Zsezse Works.

New Update with “Show Grid” Now Available

The iPad/iPhone update that contains the “Show Grid” option has been approved, so I’ve released both it and the Android one to the stores.  I’m not sure how long it will take to propagate to your local app store, but it should be there within a few hours, probably by the time you read this message.

A reminder, you won’t be able to join games set up by older versions of the app, and they won’t be able to join yours.

With my work on Fog of War, the next version will differentiate between GMs and Players.  This opens up the options for a whole host of other features too.  One that I‘ve had requested a few times is requiring GM approval for miniature movement, as unlike a real table, players can move things around with the GM noticing.  Anyway, the fog of war addition is going well, and I’m looking forward to getting it out to you

Importing Your Own Miniatures in 3D Virtual Tabletop

Update for Showing Grid is Awaiting Release

I’ve completed the work to allow you to show a grid on top of the maps that you import.  It means you can grab a map from anywhere, even just a quick photo, and have your minis moving around on it as a battlemat in seconds.  You can turn the grid overlay on and off via the Settings screen, just like the “Snap to Grid” option.  At this stage the grid is square, hex grid support will be coming soon.

I need to wait until the Apple App Store has approved the latest version before I can update the Android one on Google Play.  This is because they don’t work with older versions in a multiplayer game that don’t know about the grid.  If you try to join a game created by an older version of the software that can’t show the grid, it won’t see the game. By releasing both versions at the same time I hope to avoid any confusion or frustration that this may cause.  Lately the Apple approval process has only taken 4 or 5 days and the last few updates have gone straight through without a hitch so it won’t be long.

Now it’s time for me to start on… duh duh daaa! Fog of war!

Importing Your Own Maps in 3D Virtual Tabletop

Keeping you Logged In

I’ve just finished another update to the app that keeps you logged in between sessions.  It makes 3D Virtual Tabletop a lot more convenient to use.  Hopefully you now only have to log in once, and it will keep you connected to your account whenever you open the app back up.  If you close the app or turn your device off, the next time you open it, it will log you back in and look for the last game you were playing and reconnect you if it is still going.  I’ve also added some status indicators to let you know when it’s syncing your maps and miniatures, and also when it’s downloading images from another player in a multiplayer game, so you know that the blank miniature or map you’re looking at won’t be blank for long.

The app on Google Play was updated yesterday, and I’ve submitted it to the Apple App Store, so it will be available to iPad and iPhone users within a week.

Now that I’ve got some of the convenience features out of the way, I can move on to more exciting things like showing the grid and the highly anticipated fog of war!

Smoothing out the Kinks with Automatic Multiplayer Reconnection

As I was testing the new iOS app in preparation for releasing the new version with automatic multiplayer reconnection, I found a few circumstances in which it didn’t properly restore the connection.  I’ve spent the last few days fixing those, and yesterday updated the Android version on Google Play and submitted the update to the Apple App Store. For those of you on Apple’s iOS, it should be available in about 5 days.

Automatic Multiplayer Reconnection

When coming back to your game in 3D Virtual Tabletop after running another app, it will now automatically reconnect to your multiplayer session, if other people are still there.  This means you can now look up some rules on the ‘net or refer to a PDF on your device, and a few minutes later when you swap back to the app, you can pick up where you left off with everyone else.  This makes it much more convenient for multiplayer games, it no longer matters if you temporarily lose your connection of if it times out.

I know you’ll enjoy this, because when I’ve been testing it out, whenever I had to go back to using an earlier version that didn’t have automatic multiplayer reconnection, it was a bit frustrating, to say the least.  It can take 5 seconds or so to reconnect, and there is an animating spinner on the top left of the screen to let you know that the reconnection is in progress.

I’ve just updated 3D Virtual Tabletop on Google Play, which should be available to everyone on a few hours.  Later today I’ll be submitting the update for the Apple App Store, it only took 5 days last time for it to be approved, hopefully it’s that quick again this time.

At this stage it works best when the app has just been sleeping in the background.  I still have some work to do for resuming after the app has been shut down completely, such as logging you back in automatically.  If do you log in manually though, it will then rejoin the game automatically.  So that’s the next thing I’m working on, better behaviour when resuming, such as logging in automatically, to make running the game a smoother experience.

On Google Play: http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.taponfire.threedvirtualtabletop

In the Apple App Store: http://appstore.com/3dvirtualtabletop