Things Lackey needs to (better) support tabletop games

[Trevor]

I am adding an oft requested feature presently: PNG with transparency support. This will help make tabletop games look a lot cooler in Lackey. I've done some of this so far, and it looks really cool, especially in combination with the 3D engine I have.

I am adding improved grid functionality, including measuring tools. Several games have figurines stand on a checkerboard of sorts, and a figure will have a certain range. A measure tool will be helpful for using a system like that, and I'm working on making it work with a bunch of different styles of games.

At present, all cards on the table are automatically scaled to be the same size. But with tokens, some pieces are supposed to be larger than others, and there are mechanics that rely on this. I will add the option for images to remember their scale relative to a reference image. So if the reference image file is size X, and the figuring image is size 2X, you will see that figurine twice as large as the reference image.

If you can think of other things that I can add to support playing a tabletop game, post about it here.

[d3vtr0n]

thank you so much for taking time to add these features(whenever it happens).
adding table top games to lackey will make it even more enjoyable

[Picks-at-Flies]

This might be already covered:
- Ways for backgrounds to be auto-loaded based on plugininfo (not all games, just some)
- To make sure that each piece for each player is shown on the same 'square' of the bg.

[d3vtr0n]

just thought of something

maybe have some sort of map maker, where you get to place tiles to make rivers, mountains, forests, so on and so forth
some characters in table top games get boosts from being on certain terrain, so itd be cool to incorporate it into the game

[Trevor]

just thought of something

maybe have some sort of map maker, where you get to place tiles to make rivers, mountains, forests, so on and so forth
some characters in table top games get boosts from being on certain terrain, so itd be cool to incorporate it into the game

That's more of a plugin specific thing. I would imagine people will make those things with photoshop or something similar. Lackey will have improved grids and things, but I don't intend to get into too much of the nitty gritty of content creation via Lackey.

[d3vtr0n]

just thought of something

maybe have some sort of map maker, where you get to place tiles to make rivers, mountains, forests, so on and so forth
some characters in table top games get boosts from being on certain terrain, so itd be cool to incorporate it into the game

That's more of a plugin specific thing. I would imagine people will make those things with photoshop or something similar. Lackey will have improved grids and things, but I don't intend to get into too much of the nitty gritty of content creation via Lackey.

so i take it you'll allow a way for a ttg(table top game) designer to incorporate map creation in the updates?

[Trevor]

just thought of something

maybe have some sort of map maker, where you get to place tiles to make rivers, mountains, forests, so on and so forth
some characters in table top games get boosts from being on certain terrain, so itd be cool to incorporate it into the game

That's more of a plugin specific thing. I would imagine people will make those things with photoshop or something similar. Lackey will have improved grids and things, but I don't intend to get into too much of the nitty gritty of content creation via Lackey.

so i take it you'll allow a way for a ttg(table top game) designer to incorporate map creation in the updates?

Creation of maps will not be directly related to lackey. A plugin make can make a map, and one of the new functions I will enable is the ability to load a playmat to your opponent, so you both have the same one.

[d3vtr0n]

oh cool, that'd be really cool

thanks for taking all the time to make lackey such a great game

[Alastair]

I know you mentioned using a grid for position, what  you might want to remember when coming up with it is that some games use a square grid, others use a hex-grid. So that should be kept in mind when designing the additions.

[Trevor]

I know you mentioned using a grid for position, what  you might want to remember when coming up with it is that some games use a square grid, others use a hex-grid. So that should be kept in mind when designing the additions.

Oh, good point. Can you give me a specific game?

[Gattison]

Battle Masters is a game that uses a hexagonal, six-sided, grids for game play, and in this game, the DIRECTION the figurine is facing is important and needs to be kept track of.  I don't know if that is even an option for you to have Lackey keep track of... maybe have little arrows appear over a figurine, pointing in the direction they're facing.

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[KwaiLo]

Timers
Line of sight
Line of fire
Destructible terrain
Fog of war/ Double blind
Elevation
Pre-loaded skins to fit the era of the game, ancient, modern, fantasy etc.
Visual dice
Modifiable dice, eg http://tinyurl.com/3kfycvw


I'll edit as I think of more.

[Trevor]

There are some things that I don't think I will support in the near future, such as elevation and other complex 3D elements. I will try to learn a few games and see what sorts of things are typically needed with this genre of game.

[KwaiLo]

This video shows the type of elevation I mean.  I would hope it would be included, as it is common in MANY games, and I can't see a workaround function when it is included.

http://www.beastsofwar.com/warmachine/shooting-elevation-daily-tips/

[Fian]

You shouldn't need any kind of elevation stuff, other than contours or something on your playmat to delineate height differences. If you are really desparate the possibility to add a z coordinate kind of thing should suffice.

Another good hex grid game is battletech.

Buckets of dice, games like warhammer you roll 1 die per attack, when you get to big units of figures, you can be needing to roll an awful lot of dice.