(Sent via email but repeating here so people can see what you have been receiving.)
Wow, what a fantastic start!! So easy to use and love the dynamic movement and lighting. The addition of the Map tool is a must. Well done.
I found this from the Reddit post you put up in the r/DnD sub, and would like to give you feedback. This is in order of priority in my mind for use with D&D:
- Is there any way you could have a tool in there to raise and lower the ground, like a sculpt tool? This would allow you to make exact details of locations rather than relying on the pre-generated lands you have included. (It would be good if the tool had some indicators as to the relative height you will paint to by some lines on the surrounding land, but not sure show easy that would be to code.) For example, would be great to be able to create cliff faces and deep holes in the ground, or make rivers really deep.
- To be useful as a mapping tool, we really need to be able to make roads and paths, with texture that make cobble-stones or dirt tracks. Many outdoor adventures are by roadsides or at least some sort of track. (Extra bonus for making textures that look like horse and carriage tracks. 😊) Even being able to “spray-paint” sand or dirt into the ground would work.
- When saving a picture, could you have in the settings the ability to set the folder, rather than the program folder as the only option?
- At present you make a square block. Could you make one that is rectangular? Most D&D maps are on printed pages or these days (and this is what I’ll be doing) displayed on TV screens, so 16:9 would be ideal.
- Is there any way you could output these (even if only available in Map view), to be animated loops (like QuickTime or GIF), along with the sounds you have available. Having an animated loop, along with atmospheric sounds played on the battle screen would be awesome!
- Not sure how this would be possible, but you are obviously very clever… The water is all fairy static in terms of height. Could you instead specify a water source and make water flow naturally from there? (During placement of the source, maybe only an outline of where the water would flow is shown, then once dropped, you do your fancy water physics and allow user to set flow rate?) This would allow to make running streams or rivers. Or if the physics of that is too hard, what about a water painting tool, with options for slow and fast running water, whitewater going over rocks or such, waterfalls, and even swamps.
- Backgrounds… The skies and backgrounds look great reflected in the water… But they are not ideal being in the background in terms of creating a realistic photos of a natural settings. Really not sure how to achieve this other than to have backgrounds that are grasslands, rolling hills, mountain pass, deep forest, jungle, pine forest, snowy hills, etc. Basically so that when you place the camera at “human eye level” and take a photo looking down your terrain, that it looks like a natural photo rather than a floating square in space. (That said, I am going to be using it mainly for making maps so that’s why this is further down the priority list.)
That’s about all I have for now. Once again, what you have achieved already is fantastic! The interface is easy, the results are amazing and you could just doodle for ages. Congratulations and wish you much support and success with continuing development.
Regards,
Mark Jelic
(Sydney, Australia)