That’s a wrap on Roll20Con 2021!
We had three awesome days of incredible giveaways, community games, and raising money for Code2040! Videos of convention panels (including games featuring tabletop veterans like Aabria Iyengar, Brennan Lee Mulligan, Jasmine Bhullar, Amir Hamzah, and Gabe Hicks) will be available on our YouTube channel, but for those who missed the Roll20Con Roundtable, we’ve compiled a list of VTT announcements for the future of Roll20!
Now Available (AS IN RIGHT NOW):
The Roll20 Mobile App is now available in the App Store and Google Play! This companion app for our virtual tabletop focuses on player experience for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, but more character sheets and system support is coming soon. Even though we’ve left the Open Beta, we’re still responding and updating according to user feedback through the Beta Channel. Check out our Product Board for more information on incoming features and bug fixes.
Isometric and Dimetric Grids are now on the Dev Server! Not-quite top-down and not-quite from the side, these new grid options add new dimensions to your Roll20 games. Our marketplace already has a fair share of options for isometric maps, and we’re happy to be able to support these better via the virtual tabletop.
Duplicating a page in the Page Menu now duplicates ALL layers! When you go to duplicate a page via the Page Menu, just check the boxes next to the layers you want to copy over. And speaking of the Page Menu, you can now add a new Page anywhere, rather than just at the end.!
Big win for the power users: We’ve now got Unique ID for Turn Orders, so that it can be reliably targeted in CSS. Happy scripting!
We’ve got some very exciting news for tokens and decks: Logical Image Placement is available - no more time wasted stretching Marketplace maps and creatures to the ideal size. Additionally, tooltips are also here, along with our Safety Deck (with brand new 52 card deck backing), which is automatically added to each new game.
The Toolbar also got a makeover; a circle tool has been added (one less hotkey to memorize) and the Hide/Reveal tool has been updated - pretty handy for folks who love the Fog of War system. New to the Toolbar is the Place Light tool, which allows you to quickly add light sources to the VTT with a single command.
Character sheets by Roll20 clean up nicely: Along with beautiful new layouts for immersive systems like Dune and Vampire: The Masquerade, we’ve added an integrated macro bar to the bottoms of sheets to help you drag and drop commands quickly.
We’ve also got wider CSS options and you can now access multiple Compendium entries with the same names (shout out, Blood Imps) in your journal tab!
The Compendium has also seen an overhaul, though many of the updates are behind-the-scenes. Add to that a snazzy new VTT Tutorial and some redesigned user-facing modals for logins, and we’ve got the makings of a beautiful She’s All That remake - Roll20 style.
Coming Soon (End of 2021):
jQuery for Character Sheets is coming! We’re hopeful that this will go a long way to making character sheet development more approachable for new sheet authors.
The days of accidentally selecting every NPC, tree, and piece of furniture are over: Soon, you’ll be able to lock your tokens in place on the VTT, so you’ll never accidentally move that darn torch across the dungeon again! And, with the updates to Image Placement, tokens are sure to be the perfect size (and place) that you want them.
We’ve gotten tons of requests for folders to organize your Page Toolbar, but we’re taking it a step further: Introducing Categories, a tagging system intended to help and sort organize Pages to ensure you always have the right map for every encounter.
The VTT itself is undergoing some big changes as well. We’re working on optimizing dice rolling speeds and reducing load times for the virtual tabletop, both when entering a game and during play. The work we’re doing on Roll20 Mobile created a nice opportunity for us to tweak and tune these speeds.
Speaking of mobile, we’ve got a lot of work incoming on character sheet documentation for the Roll20 Mobile App so sheet authors have the tools they need to create responsive character sheets. This documentation has been a long time coming, but it is on the way. With these new updates, we’re working hard to ensure you get to play your way!
The Future of Roll20 (2022):
First, the big headline: We’re updating our color palette and designing for accessibility! That means embracing universal design with some color changes, adjusting to pass contrast ratio tests, and - yep! - dimming the lights a little. Learn more in our blog post here.
The Roll20 Mobile App is getting some awesome updates, including expanded system support viamore character sheets. In addition, we’re working on Compendium support within the app, to make looking up rules and stats during play easier than ever before.
The UI inside and outside the VTT is in for some major upgrades! Our users think of Roll20 as more than just a VTT and we’re ready to show you that we do, too. We’re working on unifying these UI elements to make the site feel more cohesive and modern. Stay tuned for more news soon.
Adventuring is about so much more than the maps and macros, after all, so we’re pulling our character creation process OUT of the VTT and into the Character Vault! This will be available for ALL existing character sheets, and you’ll be able to edit both inside the VTT and outside of it. You want to make 10 gnome barbarians with slightly different aesthetics, backgrounds, and abilities? You got it.
Speaking of expansion, we’re integrating internationalization by taking a look at updated language support and displaying localized currency. Our partnerships with Jambo Editora and the team behind Das Schwarz Auge will help us pilot these programs.
Finally, we’ve got some big plans for community support - with Danny Quach joining as our brand new community manager and updates to forums planned, Roll20 is committed to embracing and uplifting our community’s voices!
Wow! That was a LOT to report! So much in fact, that we had to split this update into two blogs! So, if you’re looking for the licensing announcements (including Wizards of the Coast releases, Cyberpunk RED, and Tormenta!!!) you can read all about that here.