To the DEV

[Jackal]

To the DEV,

Thanks for the great software and tools upgrades since launch, "great job" . I am here to make a request but also to tell you how I use your software (at the request of your community manager) and why my players enjoy it.

I am a Dungeon Master with years of experience playing D&D before the Greyhawk Campaign run by Wizard of the Coast (yes, I know my hair is now white) and your software is all that I needed to best complement my games. I DM for seven (7) to height (8) players a game who come twice a month and group up around the House Table to play D&D. We play on Saturdays from 1200 to 1700 with the pizza or else feast lying in the kitchen background. I have set up a 50-inch TV in a wooden box that I set up on the dining table plug the laptop into it and then run Steam – Dungeon Alchemist.

My players use phones & tablets to reach their D&D Beyond characters sheets and some (old folks) use printed paper character sheets. One player is in charge of relating past game action at the start of the session, one player keeps the initiative of the group, one player of the sound effects and pieces of music that she can play using WIFI speakers in the corners of the room however she wants, one player is in charge of keeping the quest information, one player of keeping the encountered NPC’s information, one of the numbers of kills made, etc.… this to relieve me of some current duties so I can focus on the story, description of the scene and rules. This is to keep them all invested and keep things fast running.

I relate the area by using an image or a bird's view of a town/area before the game starts. I then use my Dungeon Alchemist Maps during encounters or specific investigation scenes. My Dungeon Alchemist maps are to the biggest 50 by 45 demonstrating a general area or a portion of a town demonstrating one or two specific buildings and then I use the black parchment map setting in Dungeon Alchemist for the added inside rooms of buildings, caves, underground floor, second floor etc.… The maps load quickly on my 2018 Laptop so I don’t have any problem on that side. The players don’t know if the next place or room will be small or large and it's always fun to see their reaction since a lot of details can be put within a small map when using Dungeon Alchemist. I can also zoom in to show them only what I want and not the entire map.

On my Dungeon Master Screen side, I run a Tablet with my notes and with the D&D Beyond monsters Tab open for the monsters I am to run during the game. Plus, my set of dice and white paper to take quick notes or calculate by hand some scores. I have also two tabs open to our Legendkeeper campaign database for quick roleplaying tables access that I use when someone asks what’s on the menu at the inn for example.

"Why I love Dungeon Alchemist" – well during my prep time before the next game I create the maps that will be used and this gives me time to think and see what is found within the rooms or around the encounter emplacement. It gives me time to prepare where my monsters will come from or what objects I need to link to the situation. The software is really easy to use, fast to find the objects needed and the grid system is perfect to plan things up. I have even made maps on the go because someone in the group wanted to go through the forested area that I simply hinted was east to them. Made a trail in the woods in seconds... Faster then he could eat his slice of pizza... Plus I love the blank sheet that you can simply load an image upon it... it make things very interesting for the players to find and for them to ask to zoom upon it.

"Why my players love Dungeon Alchemist" – well they know exactly what the room looks like... that if a broom, a plate, a table, or a chest is on the map it means that they can interact with it in their roleplay description and do something with it if wanted. Like stepping on a table, grabbing a bowl of food, doing a jump to swing themselves using the ceiling light, and throwing the bowl in a monster face… well... they can... LOL ... Sometimes a player will ask me to see a different angle so they can better act their character action... and by simply doing a 45-degree circular angle all around the entire group goes nuts.

NOW TO MY REQUEST… I know that the number of assets used within the software plays on how fast the software responds on the loading screen and for this reason, I am not asking for more assets but just maybe to better them.

1) Some items have dark brown colors and some light brown like the staircase but when doing different floors sometimes or having different approaches for the items they won't match. For this, you have introduced the color variation tool which is "great" but it does not encompass the brown skin. Your tool gives full black, full white, green to red and purple, etc.… but not a lot of the brownish/beige color scheme variation. Adding 3 or 4 brown variations in the color tool would help greatly.

2) Some items like the firewood’s come in two very different skins depicting objects that are very different in coloration which makes it difficult to combine them like making different wood piles. I put wood piles beside campfires, stoves, beside houses, in the wood beside cut trees, changed size piles and all, etc. The objects would need to be somewhat of the same skin but of different mash-up to create different wood pile looks. Maybe add a third wood pile that looks like both.

Example of objects when put side by side = A – A – B, A – B – A, B – A - A

Right now it looks weird when the two wood piles are put side by side even if flipped 180 degrees… In other words, I am looking to make different unique wood piles without too much work.

3) You have created plenty of weapons that can be put on tables but you don’t have them set up to be put on the wall. Adding a circle on the left side of the object when tagging-it to turn it 90 degrees-up would correct this. You could then use the weapon and put it on a wall without having to have more assets made. This 90 degrees-up tool could be used to flip a table on the side for a character to hide behind it, or, to flip a chair on the side to look like someone pushed-it, or, to put a barrel on the side so more fit in the back of a wagon like a pyramidal pile-up. The tool would help in using assets already made to be used differently on the map and push Dungeon Alchemist to the next level.


Tks for the read

PS: If you could add a Woodsman Axe and some very simple Peasants / Merchants / Townsfolk tokens it would be a plus. LOL

[MACx3D]

Thank you for the kind words and suggestions!

Regarding suggestions 1-3, we plan to add more asset variety, but as an indie team of less than ten people, this takes time. I recommend using the assets on the steam workshop or the asset importer to increase your asset diversity. The collection of assets available essentially doubles our stock assets and gives you aesthetics that breach outside our planned fantasy themes.