A new type of tabletop tool.
Abdolah Pouriliaee
Scalable, sustainable teams and technology | Some nice people call me a leader.
A month ago I set out to build a new type of digital tabletop tool.
I wanted it to be easy to use, and to play any resource a browser could load, directly from the users hard drive.
This tool would avoid server side limitations and require no account login.
Once this was done, I figured, I should go a step further and develop a proper platform where tabletop gamers like myself could appreciate a library of functions and maps for their gaming needs.
The DMGE Kickstarter was started as a result.
Today, the Kickstarter is less than 48 hours from completion and over 150% funded.
What is digital tabletop?
Services such as Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, Tabletop Simulator and many others aim to provide a virtual table top for gamers so they can play remotely in the same session.
Fantasy Grounds goes a step further than Roll20 and provides a replete campaign management system as well.
What makes the DMGE different?
All of these platforms have their own marketplaces replete with resources available for a variety of games and provide online storage for users to store their maps and the inherent resources.
The DMGE is designed to avoid the hassle of online storage and the limits thereby. Instead, the design of the DMGE approaches tabletop gaming much as we approach online first person shooters, in that maps are loaded from local copy without having to conduct server side interaction.
This means the bandwidth requirement for play is next to nil. Aside from logging into the service, users don't need to interact with the server to conduct any map making, or saving. The system packages resources together to be stored on the users local drive and as the game is played, the game can be saved in its current state to be loaded later through browser storage and portable archive.
This also means you can use anything on your hard drive as your game map and the only limit in what you can use is what your computer can handle in terms of memory and storage!
What is the DMGE made of?
As a Drupal developer, the base system behind the DMGE is a Drupal 7 installation. This handles user accounts, permissions, and more, out of the box.
The DMGE itself, is an arrangement of javascript technology packaged in a Drupal 7 module of my own development.
Aside from that, it's made of my hopes, dreams, blood, sweat and tears.
"Why would I back the project?"
Simply put, you would back the project because you are a table top gamer who uses a flat screen or a projector and you want a system that is geared for your specific needs.
Also, I'm giving out some very cool tabletop accessories that I designed and produced myself.
Flatscreen and Projector specific features
One example is a feature for the full version I call "autogrid."
This feature allows you to enter the size of your screen and the grid, be it quad or hex, is automatically calculated to an inch by an inch.
How is it a platform?
Aside from providing users with an easy to use map tool, the DMGE will provide users with an easily searchable catalogue of map producers and their inherent Patreons, and free works thereby.
The platform aims to provide an advertisement portal for the various artists who create maps and map resources, and a free outlet for those resources where folks who wish to pay can simply click through to someones Patreon.
Business model?
In order for the DMGE to sustain itself, folks who do not back the tool will have to pay a monthly subscription for the service.
Add to this the prospect of charging artists for featured listings, and premium memberships not unlike DeviantArt or other such websites, and it becomes clear that there is some real potential in monetizing the platform.
Anything else?
The original free tool was developed over the course of a week.
It was built specifically to play anything as a map, and it stands today as a simple and effective tool in providing tabletop gamers with what they need.