Early impressions: similar, but better in pretty much every way than Tabletop Simulator (TTS), with the exception being fewer games available (it *did* only launch a few hours ago).

The most notable difference: TTP (this game) feels WAY less fiddly and more polished than TTS. Is it perfect? No. But moving pieces is less error prone than in TTS; there's even a key you can hit to send the object you're holding back to its previous location. I've thrown a piece onto the floor, and managed to click on it in the distance (despite it being tiny) and bring it back to the table without adjusting the camera.

Speaking of the camera: there are multiple ways to zoom in on precisely the components you want to explore. And it is glorious. In TTS, I often end up moving the camera around constantly because a stationary camera isn't enough to figure out what everyone is up to. You *could* do that here, but you really don't need to. Hitting the space key will zoom in on whatever the mouse cursor is pointing at, and there's a key to just make the object you have highlighted take up your whole screen so you can see fine details. Default controls are still not perfect for a touchpad (no mousewheel/dedicated right mouse button), but they're servicable. And I've looked into developing games for TTP - that's where I'm really excited.

Based on the level of Dev interactivity on the Steam forums/Discord, I also have high hopes that the Early Access period will allow people to directly give feedback and suggestions/requests and actually get a response. That might not persist as they get busier, but I'm pretty happy with their public presence!

TTS "gets the job done," and "feels" like a board game table, but it's glitchy. I can't tell you how many times someone has tried to draw a card from a deck and accidentally moved the deck, or accidentally dropped the piece they were moving, or otherwise struggled with basic interactions. My early impressions suggest these problems are going to be rare compared to TTS, especially the more a game is scripted.

Scripting support is in its early stages here, but already much better than what TTS has (except the documentation is minimal right now). I'm pretty confident that we'll see FULLY scripted games showing up after a while. I know I'm planning to fully script all the board games I've designed, and use this as my primary prototyping system going forward.

It's worth noting these are still early impressions. But even the 30 minutes I've spent so far felt refreshing, compared to loading up TTS. The control scheme is probably 75% overlap with TTS, yet is just more comfortable. And that, plus better scripting, is all that I wanted.

One major downside: no mac support.

Still, though: I was convinced enough with the 30 minutes with the copy I bought on Steam that I then bought a 4 pack on the Humble store, so I don't have to convince friends to get TTP. With my discount from Humble Choice, the 4-pack was only $36.

You and your friends have a favorite cocktail bar. The drinks are alright, the bartender's nice enough, the price won't break the bank. You've been going there for years.

Then another bar opens up across the street, so you check it out. The drinks are a bit better, and a little cheaper. All your favorite drinks have different names, and the menu is written in this weird font that makes it a bit harder to make out. The bartender is nicer than the one at the other place, but they have a really heavy accent, and they don't speak English quite as well. And the music isn't quite what you're used to. It's nice, yes, you even need to admit that this is a nicer establishment. The problem is that it's, well... It's FINE. But it's not HOME. So while you'll admit the other place is 'better,' you're going to keep going to the other one. It's where you and your friends hang out. it's comfortable. Maybe it's not 'as good,' but it's home.

This is the problem that Tabletop Playground encounters. On any measurable level, it is a superior product to Tabletop Simulator. It has more features, runs more smoothly, it's better optimized. In every way I can think of describing, this is the better product.

The problem is that it's not THAT much better. And on top of that, though there are a lot more features, they aren't as simple and easy to navigate. Add to that the fact that they're unwilling to use the Workshop to host mods, the problem isn't that TTP is a bad system. It's not. It's actually better. The problem is it's just not 'better' enough to justify learning a new UI and control scheme, especially when it's much less intuitively laid out.

If you don't play TTS, then you might find this good. But TTP needs to provide more than an incremental improvement on TTS in order to justify someone who uses the other one switching. My friends and I used to use a different virtual tabletop ages ago, we switched to TTS because that one was 2D and TTS is 3D. Big, important difference. The number of players and modifications TTS has is its best selling point, and TTP needs something more than just being a bit better. If I can recommend anything to the devs, it would be to try to pick out something specific to focus on, because a small improvement everywhere won't outdo a big improvement in one place. So that instead of being "The better TTS" you can be "The TTS for (X type of game)." With what they have, I'd focus on being TTS for competitive wargaming. That's a group of players/buyers who are going to care big about small changes. Alternately, perhaps easily programmable AIs so that it can be TTS for Solo. Whatever it is, it can't be "TTS for people who just want a slightly better TTS," because that's not enough to make up for the smaller community and mod list.

Once this gets the mod support of Tabletop Simulator, it will be the superior alternative.

This software is much faster, and far less buggy than the competition.

It's a better version of Tabletop Simulator. That comparison is unavoidable, and you'll see that for most reviews. It runs better, doesn't crash, handles physics better without lagging, and the mod system has been consistently superior, instead of half the assets loading in broken or without textures.

The discord is active, and extremely helpful. The game is constantly getting new updates and features. I think them being the 'underdogs' has really driven the team behind it to put in way more effort into improving the experience for players.

The real deciding factor for myself was the editor for creating your own games. Compared to TTS, it has been an absolute dream. It's so much more editor friendly that I honestly think if TTS modders got to try it out, there'd be a mass switch over from the 'I guess it's functional'.

The one downside is, and most reviews will mention this: it's currently less popular, because TTS showed up first. So for now, there's a smaller player base and game amount.

If you are just playing with your friends, or make your own games, it's worth trying it out. It's cheaper, and is a no-brainer buy when it's on sale. When I first got the game, I would have only made a tepid 'maybe' recommendation, but with everything they've added, I feel way better about recommending it.

[non-modder point of view]

Tabletop Simulator but more polish(+reliability, +performance)
but less feature(+customizability)

It doesn't have much Garry's mod feel compare to TTS.
<less freedom, also no weird physics behavior lol>
no UI icon (idk how to feel about this;
because there's less feature so it doesn't need UI buttons Yet)

I'll watch your future with great interest

A much better version of Tabletop Simulator; however, the depressing truth is that TTS came out first and had 5 years to accumulate a dedicated community. The 2 major downsides are tied directly to what I just stated.

Downside 1 - Mod.io
- TTS has a much more inclusive and extensive workshop (mods/board games) library with about 85,000 items.
- TTP uses mod.io (instead of workshop) and only has around 300 items.
*I personally don't think Mod.io itself is a downside. I think that the problem, currently, is that TTP doesn't have enough games on Mod.io........ which is because of the smaller player base.

Downside 2 - Player base
The simple and brutal truth. Tabletop Simulator was already THE game for tabletop. It already grabbed up all the players looking for it.

TLDR -
The only 2 reasons to buy Tabletop Playground. 1. You think Tabletop Simulator is lazy and could have done a better job with its game. 2. You want to support TTP. Bonus reason: If TTP has a game that TTS doesn't.

This is clearly supposed to be a Tabletop Simulator clone/alternative/replacement. But there's one thing the other negative reviews fail to mention: This game--as opposed to Tabletop Simulator--does not have support for Steam's Workshop feature. Instead you will have to create an account for mod.io.

Why? Why use mod.io? Why forego Steam's Workshop? Why not have both?

(I WILL KEEP ON UPDATING THE REVIEW)
This released about 10 hours earlier but already has a library of really popular games already; Pandemic, Cosmic Encounter, Secret Hitler, Carcassone, Dominion to name a few.

Built on Unreal Engine 4; graphically and as a 'Physics Simulator' it looks way better than Tabletop Simulator in my opinion. The motion and the smoothness of the objects (Cards, Dice, Boards, Chits & Tokens) feel and seamless & awesome. 2020 Material. Period.

Controls are similar to Tabletop Simulator but is more restricted towards gameplay; if you are coming from Board Game Arena you might like this a lot. However, if you are coming from Tabletop Simulator you might feel this a tad bit limiting. (No option to flip a table still!)

My biggest gripes:
(1) I CANNOT GROUP CARDS AND CHITS TOGETHER! (You can group with Ctrl+G)
(2) I cannot slide a card underneath the card deck.
(3) Might be a habit issue but still: Shifting between Ground Mode and Regular Cursor becomes confusing sometime while playing games. A cursor with a different color while shifting might solve it.
(4) There are some loading problems with the game for me. Dominion for example is not loading for some reason.
(5) The sound effect for dropping an item in a box is weird.

My Conclusion:
As an early access game, Tabletop Playground is highly promising. I hope the devs give the mod creators enough materials to stay engaged and give them the freedom to create the mods easily. I will surely look forward to play games here from my next gaming sessions.

The game engine wise is significantly better than that of Tabletop Simulator. Unfortunately the game has a few issues. The inability to scroll in when zooming in on a PDF file is one, it makes reading rulebooks very annoying and sometimes impossible. Secondly, the game's UI needs improving. It looks too plain, and is just not fun to look at, and something about it looks clumped too. I don't have a way to describe it really, but it's not as good as TTS. The game's biggest problem without a doubt though is how you get games. TTP does not utilize the Steam Workshop. Instead it forces you to login to a mod.io website that I don't really feel inclined to use, and not only that, the game lacks games. It has the basics, and of course the popular well known ones such as Pandemic or Catan. But they're without expansions, without any kind of scripting, and is just a chore to not only get (due to mod.io), but are a chore to setup. This game has a phenomenal amount of potential. The engine is 100% better than TTS, it's not even comparable, although it does need some optimization is there is a bit of stuttering when moving around, especially diagonally. But the lack of games and the hassle it is to get them is going to be the biggest reason this game fails. I really want this game to succeed, but they need to address these issues.

While I'm giving this game a thumbs up review because of its potential, I do not recommend getting this game at this time. Wait til more games are available at the very least. I really hope this game succeeds.

There is no workshop support. You need to use mod.io. The developers seem staunchly against using Steam Workshop. The primary reasoning cited is to avoid tying the game to Steam. However, that's a benefit for the developer; not the user. Many games support Workshop as well as other mod sites. Such a limitation shouldn't exist.

Can't wait to see what it's like after Early Access. Unfortunately, the more I use it in it's current state, the more limitations become apparent. The biggest one is the lack of documentation, combined with a generic software name. Half the questions I search on Google are returning results for TTS, the main competitor, and don't apply to what I'm trying to do with the editor.

I won't give a positive review a choice while the program sacrifices a basic portion of the steam user experience for developer's benefit.