iPad App

[osarusan]

The iPad is the perfect gaming device. A FG client would be a godsend for it. Just think, you've got the potential for voice/video chat right there, built in. A good VTT like FG could roll a few other features together to make a killer tabletop app. You'd need a built-in PDF reader so you could load up for rulebooks/modules. You'd need a built-in dice roller (take a look at the Dicenomicon for an example of the *perfect* iOS dice roller) and then some way to load jpeg files for maps, a token set, and a character sheet viewer.

Fantasy Ground's best killer feature right now is the character sheet and would probably be the hardest thing to port over to an iOS system. I think it would be shame if it was nerfed for an iOS version and forced into a single ruleset. I'm not sure the logistics that would go into making the various modules and rulesets work on the iPad, but I think it would be worth the extra effort.

There are a lot of good web-based VTTs coming out recently that are not as good as FG, but could easily become as good some day. Having an iPad version (and being the first to do so) that works with any game system and integrates video and voice would probably secure Fantasy Grounds the lion's share of the market.

[damned]

isnt the screen too small? my laptop screen is much bigger than that and I am constantly juggling screens trying to find what I need...

[Moon Wizard]

Building an application for an iOS device would require a complete redesign of the interface.

I'm not even sure that it would make sense to build an iPhone version as it would be challenging to provide a useful interface that would provide enough information to actually make decisions without having to jump between several screens (character, map, combat tracker, chat, ...). There's just not enough screen real estate.

For the iPad, I'm a bit more optimistic; since the screen is large enough to provide more options for layout.

Cheers,
JPG

[VenomousFiligree]

I wouldn't want to use the iPad as a GM. Player yes, GM no.

[StuartW]

I think you'd be talking about a re-write, whichever route, as the DirectX codebase wouldn't easily lend itself to a port. Screen real estate is a limiting factor, but there are other differences too (there isn't a concept of mouse hover, for example, so any code which uses onhover would be tough to replicate).

Stuart

[Moon Wizard]

Just talking hypothetically, if I was going to start an iOS project for Fantasy Grounds, I would probably just build a ruleset-specific player client to sound out all the items that would need to be addressed with the network interaction. I'd start with dice, char sheet and chat; then, move to map and tokens.

Cheers,
JPG

[Zeus]

Supporting DirectX might be doable on iOS. I have been playing around with Unreal's UDK for the past few weeks and its built atop DirectX 9.0c and supports PC and iOS platforms. I made my first iPhone app the other day, nothing fancy, just a top down 2D render of the 3D maps I have created recently.

I agree with Stuart though, FGII's current user interface would require tweaking for multi-touch surface support in order for it to really be useful on devices like an iPad.

I also agree with JPG and think starting with client networking, dice roll functionality and perhaps a character sheet could be a good place to start. I can see a number of my group who have smaller screen real estate to work with, using an iPad as a companion device to their regular PC based FGII setup.

I am not convinced the iPad makes a good platform for the map and token play. You would probably end up spending more time switching between the views of maps, chartsheet and chatwindow than roleplaying.

[osarusan]

As it stands now, I would agree the FG UI isn't great for the iPad. But that's a problem that every app for the iPad has had to overcome. It wouldn't be impossible at all, it would just take some rethinking of the UI.

You could probably do well with a tabbed interface at the bottom, replacing the hotkey buttons. One tab for each player's character sheet, one tab for each open map or image, one tab for the rules library. Within each tab, replace the side menu with the important commands from the radial menus, like Enter Mask Mode, Add Token, Item and Spell libraries, etc. The most important thing is to accomplish each task with as few touches/gestures as possible. So the character sheet should be stored on one page, maybe 2 pages tops when you include inventory, and there should only be one item viewable at a time in order to maximize screen real estate and keep it visually clear.

It would take a bit of redesign, but its definitely doable. And if you can integrate the iPad's camera and mic you can have a built-in conferencing that would be a real killer feature for the app.

[Master]

I dont think an iOS ap will ever see the light of day but it seems feasible for Android.

[VenomousFiligree]

I dont think an iOS ap will ever see the light of day but it seems feasible for Android.

MurghBpurn wonders why that would be...