miklocho wrote:I also an very interested in this. I could see setting an ipad down on the table and using it as a virtual battle map for my players when traveling. I currently use a projector with maptools running at home. Using an ipad would be fantastic for this sort of play style. Also I see a point in the future where the cost of a tablet device drops to the point were you might use 2 or more ipads at the table. One for your character sheet and one for the map for example.
Thank you for all of your hard work on this!
So right now, the first priority is getting The Dicenomicon with character sheet support done and shipping, and there are several iPad related updates that I'll be working on. The MapTools "ideal world" game plan breaks down into three different branches:
- "Client only" (which is coming along nicely) This would include a stand alone iPhone/iPod client, integration with The Dicenomicon (complete with the dice rolling), and possibly an iPad version.
- "Full blown editor" (iPad only)
- "Server" (iPad only)
Obviously, there's a lot more work to add full editing support - and that just plain isn't going to be practical in 320x480 (with a finger that takes ~40 pixels).
Similarly, making a version that can act as a server is going have some severe technical problems, since there is no indication that the iPad can act as a WiFi base station (I'm assuming it will be the same chipsets as the iPhone and iPod Touch which don't support that). As a result, to do the "GM has an iPad, players all have iPods/iPhones", the networking would all need to be done via GameKit.
One possible solution to these two issues would be for the "client only" version to support loading scenario files using the new file sharing APIs, so you'd create the various encounter maps at home, upload them to the iPad and then take that and use it as the center of the gaming table.
