Fog of War Improvements

Right now the fog of war, for players, is a black void. This is functional and makes sense, but can be jarring for the players with just how sheer the black appears. A textured background would help the players remain focused and engaged. I think it could be further enhanced if the GM could select some images that would be greyed out. So if the party is in a forest, a generic forest texture would appear. As the real map is revealed, the sense of tension or interest could be fostered as unexpected features appear. Further, right now the tools for revealing the fog of war are limited to rectangles. This works fairly well if the grid is squares, but poorly for hexes. Would it be possible to add a section tool where one could drag and reveal the grid squares or hexes that were selected? Thus, the GM could much more easily reveal a specific area based on the map grid? I think this would help atmosphere and flow greatly and would increase game flow.

It might not be a bad idea to make the FoW color-tintable like the polygons we can place on the table. Natural place to put it would be next to the FoW toggle; then have the FoW (when it is drawn) refer to that color choice, unless it isn't picked, in which case it goes to the default black. I like the black personally... but I can easily see non-traditional uses for the FoW if it were opaque but colorable.

One other thing I think would be nice is if instead of the FoW changes displaying immediately to the players, the GM had a publish option so they could make sure their FoW removals were correct before the players saw it.

+1 with what Dakcenturi said. Stack up the FoW changes until the GM decides to "send" them to the players. It's too easy to inadvertently reveal too much at the moment.

Yeah and although it's nice not having to remember to send out the changes I think the benefit doesn't really out weigh the risk of displaying the wrong things to players on accident.

I guess these are nice ideas? It's just asking a lot of "thing that covers stuff up so the players can't see it". I mean... children's bedsheets aren't particularly atmospheric and attention grabbing, but they've been in use at my table to cover areas.

I guess these are nice ideas? It's just asking a lot of "thing that covers stuff up so the players can't see it". I mean... children's bedsheets aren't particularly atmospheric and attention grabbing, but they've been in use at my table to cover areas. Are you kidding me? Children have the BEST bedsheets! Can you skin the fog of war to have choices between Spider Man or Thundercats? Man... This opens up a whole new revenue stream for you guys. DLC Fog of War... You can have My Little Pony for all the Bronies out there, or Star Wars/Trek for the space factions... Ok, sorry. I know I'm being silly, I just can't resist myself sometimes.

On a more serious note, I'd probably forget to "publish" my FoW changes, and the party would be sitting there blankly staring at a black map wondering what the hell I'm talking about.

I'd go for 5 alpha-blended pixels at the border, rounded edges and animated matrix characters on it. (I'm fine with "pick any two" ;)))

On a more serious note, I'd probably forget to "publish" my FoW changes, and the party would be sitting there blankly staring at a black map wondering what the hell I'm talking about. Modern wonders of UI design are capable of preventing this 98% of the time. Idea 1: All other UI elements but "publish FOW changes" and "cancel FOW changes" are inactive. Idea 2: Unpublished changed FOW areas are pulsating. Idea 3: FOW changes are auto-published when you change the current tool to something else but reveal/hide. Idea 4: There's a popup somewhere with "You have unpublished FOW changes. [PUBLISH] [UNDO]". Preferably in front of something important, like the player videos or the chat entry field.

Not sure if this belongs here, but another FoW improvement I'd like to see is User specific FoW. So if a sole person enters a room, for example, only he/she will be able to see the revealed FoW.

Not sure if this belongs here, but another FoW improvement I'd like to see is User specific FoW. So if a sole person enters a room, for example, only he/she will be able to see the revealed FoW. Some of this stuff is getting talked about in this lighting thread: <a href="http://community.roll20.net/discussion/277/light-and-dark-rooms#Item_23" rel="nofollow">http://community.roll20.net/discussion/277/light-and-dark-rooms#Item_23</a> The solution for this is a way's off, but I've done the demo with what Riley's planning and it is AWESOME.

The solution for this is a way's off, but I've done the demo with what Riley's planning and it is AWESOME. So... we get to nickname you "The Tease"? :)

So... we get to nickname you "The Tease"? :) I thought it was obvious that's what the "T" of my middle initial stood for...