Hi All!
Today we pushed an update for Pro users: the Custom Sheet Sandbox! This is a tool for sheet creators to make it faster and easier to write character sheets, either for custom use in their games, or for submitting as a community sheet to the github repo. More information on getting started with Github is available on the wiki.
With this sandbox, you can also test out your sheet.json files before submitting them to the github repo.
We have also implemented support for Google Fonts in character sheets and roll templates.
These enhancements make it easier for our sheet authors and Pro users to make the character sheets they really want, a lot faster than previously. We've been using this tool in-house for over 3 months, and it results in a 30% decrease in the amount of time it takes to make changes to character sheets, overall.
What is It?
The Custom Sheet Sandbox is exactly that-- a trimmed-down "sandbox" for you to play in when creating custom sheets.
Please Note: You will need to store your custom sheet HTML, CSS, and translation.json files to your hard drive in order to use this feature. Many character sheet developers use code editors like Notepad++ or Visual Studio Code to edit these files.
Custom Sheet Sandbox games have the following limitations:
- You are the only player who can access the sandbox. You can't invite others into your sandbox game.
- There is only one page in the game, and there is no way to create additional pages.
- There is no Video or Voice chat in the game.
- You can only have 15 Custom Sheet Sandboxes at any given time.
- This is a Pro subscriber feature only.
How Do I Use It?
As a Pro user you will notice a new button called "Custom Sheet Sandbox" at the top of the home page once logged in. Additionally you will see a similar button (shown below) in the "My Games" section.
Click the button. You'll get a new sandbox game.
You can launch the game right away, or paste in your sheet.json file if you already have it ready.
Once in the game, you'll see there's a floating box with buttons to upload HTML, CSS, and translation files.
Clicking any of these opens a dialog box to upload the relevant file from your hard drive. As soon as the file finishes uploading, all characters in the game will be updated to the new source file. You no longer need to reload the whole VTT to see changes.
If you have your game settings page open in a second browser window, you can upload a new sheet.json file in that window and, from inside the VTT, you can click "Reload Sheet Default Settings" to have that sheet.json file update, again without reloading.
Do API Scripts Work?
The Custom Game Sandbox does include support for API scripts. Please note, however, that API scripts that interact with elements of the VTT that are disabled (such as other players, pages, etc.) won't work in these games. However, there is an API sandbox for the game, so you can test out sheet-affecting APIs before using or releasing your sheet.
Did You Say Google Fonts?!?
We didn't mean to bury the lede, but yes! Google Fonts are now supported in custom and community sheets!
You can call a Google Font in your CSS using the @import function:
@import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Sigmar+One&display=swap');
You can then call the font from inside your CSS with the font-family attribute:
font-family: 'Sigmar One';
To call more than one Google Font for your sheet, separate them with a | symbol:
@import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Sigmar+One|Sriracha&display=swap');
Supporting Google Fonts and other external font sources is a popular suggestion in the Suggestions Forum, and we're glad to make it an option with this update! For licensing reasons, this is limited to Google Fonts, available at fonts.googleapis.com.
