Progress
Boy oh boy, we have things to share now. A whole new Cartographer experience. The first phase of the Media Library is done, and the foundation is there. There is a LOT of changes, and quite a few controls and functions have been reworked.
Here are some highlights of the new update :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjR4ntjybtI
Content and their placement – Content is not organized by placement type anymore, as all content can be placed, in any way. Textures can be used for walls, animations can be brushed, objects can be tiled… No more limits to your imagination. We have prepared some tutorials for newcomers, but even the seasoned veterans could take a cheeky look for some of the basic controls on our youtube channel!
Custom palettes are here – Now you can organize the content you own, the way it makes the most sense to you, and most accessible. An included search-bar should make digging through presets history. You can group assets and save them to your presets on your palettes, for example, build your own ship, group it, save it as a preset, pop it on your palette tool, now you can build an armada in a matter of seconds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cClTp1ew8-E
Do not use the pack creator much from now on as it will be phased out with the next public release. Our import tools allow you now to expand your library within the Toolkit without the need for manual import of packs through the launcher.
Tutorials are now built-in !
That’s right! Right on the main menu, check out our tutorials and tips and tricks videos, or browse the community uploads! Click on these bad boys to bring up all of our media! We are in the process of showering you with short mini-tutorials for every process in the toolkit. You will soon be able to quickly and efficiently learn any kinks of the software!
Where on Earth are my Tokens !?
As we communicated earlier, unfortunately without these back-end changes and a massive revamp of the content library, official token support (the way we want to present them to you) is not possible. I know both you, and a lot of our marketplace sellers can not wait for the characters tab in Encyclopedia – we are no different – but these quality-of-life improvements finally got our Cartographer module feature ready and now it is in Beta phase. Cartographer now proudly stands up to competition, and no longer feels like a work in progress.
So are tokens next now? Yes and no. Here is how things will work :
- We roll out the second phase of the Content library which will enable Pack creation, some advanced content management tools
- Give the current system a bit more polish
- We need to build a back-end for Game systems – so we can give functions and stats to different content
- Create character entries – which will be placeable as tokens
- Amazing token functionality! Vision filters, movement calculation, and all that fun stuff 😊
Basically, we want our tokens to be done right, and to be the best, most seamless experience possible.
Last of the monthly updates
There has been some silence again, during October and November. There was no monthly update while we were working hard on our updates and improvements. Nathan pointed out that still if there are no changes to the public stream, articles like these are a great way of communicating to you. I often put these together trying to remember all the major things we did, digging up discord and checking calendars. I feel like instead of monthly updates, I write updates in different tiers. More frequent personal updates on our Instagram, behind the scenes stuff, while giving you toolkit/company-related news here on the website, then linked to facebook and twitter and mailed out to your inbox.
On the other side, Nathan will be starting small monthly update series focused on the state of development. You’ll get solid info on what’s currently being worked on, what’s up and coming, and possibly even some development tips! He’ll also be streaming development on occasion at twitch.tv/arkenforge.
Between the two of us, you’ll be getting much more comprehensive updates in the future. 🙂
Bottom line is, that you will see a lot more news on the website, and more activity on our Social media feeds.
Black Friday
Black Friday was solid this year, and we welcome a lot of new users on board! Thank you so much for supporting us, and welcome to the Forge! Check out James’s Tips and Tricks videos, join our Discord channel, and check out our youtube channel!
Conventions – PAX UNPLUGGED
Philadelphia here we come! James Nathan and I are heading down to PAX Unplugged! Look for us in booth 3647! For the first time in the US we can demo our software on a proper digital table ! Thank you very much for Maergoth for bringing his beautiful table and letting us show it to the masses !
What to expect from December?
Well Santa is coming, and so is the end of the Year. But we have a surprise coming your way so better put your socks out!