Announcing Project Jumpgate: Our Modern Overhaul of the Roll20 VTT

Hmm.. a tool that swaps the token between GM/Token layer, regardless of the layer it's on? I can see the usefulness. I think I'd rather have a way of making a token "invisible" to players, while retaining its layer, so that the GM can continue to move or access it before revealing it. Similar to the Bump script, but more seamless.

keithcurtis said: Hmm.. a tool that swaps the token between GM/Token layer, regardless of the layer it's on? I can see the usefulness. I think I'd rather have a way of making a token "invisible" to players, while retaining its layer, so that the GM can continue to move or access it before revealing it. Similar to the Bump script, but more seamless. That's sounds better than my idea. We have some precedent in the eye icon for secret doors. If the eye (or some other obvious means) showed the token was invisible, that would be fantastic. Invisible on token layer would probably still show up in initiative order, requiring being on the GM Layer to hide its initiative entry. Edit: The only advantage that reaching into the GM layer has is that it is backwards compatible. Publishers wouldn't have to update their catalogs to speed up play.

Since you are a Pro user, you should look into the Bump script if you haven't already. It puts an invisible-to-players proxy of the token on the token layer and shifts the parent token to the GM layer. Anything you do with the proxy is reflected on the parent. The parent's state is respected by the Turn Tracker. You can issue a macro to toggle this state (I have it on a button). But yeah, having a native feature would be nice. I'm not sure if it's in the purview of this thread, but a Suggestion would be something I'd add a vote to.

keithcurtis said: Since you are a Pro user, you should look into the Bump script if you haven't already. It puts an invisible-to-players proxy of the token on the token layer and shifts the parent token to the GM layer. Anything you do with the proxy is reflected on the parent. The parent's state is respected by the Turn Tracker. You can issue a macro to toggle this state (I have it on a button). But yeah, having a native feature would be nice. I'm not sure if it's in the purview of this thread, but a Suggestion would be something I'd add a vote to. Sure, but as someone who is making adventure products, I have to assume the user has no ability to run scripts (or that a given script will function as it currently does a year or two down the road).

Ah, I forgot you had led with that, since the post is now on the previous page. Yeah, I have the same issue with Token Action Maker. I had to make sure all the actions it create don't require the API at run time.

Hey Riley and Team.  Glad to hear this is rolling out soon.  I have used Roll20 exclusively for gaming since early 2020 and the pandemic, and after a long learning curve, I was shocked to learn that I like gaming ONLINE as DM better than in-person.  I was always a heavy maps and minis DM, which is very expensive and time consuming, so being able to access everything instantly and digitally for me allowed to continue that creative outlet with a fraction of the cost. And no commute time for anyone.  Anyway, about the Jukebox: I love uploading music and sound effects, but the organization of music is clunky. Is that going to be streamlined at all?  

Looking forward to breaking things in the Jumpgate beta. :-p

vÍnce said: Looking forward to breaking things in the Jumpgate beta. :-p At least it is for NEW Games and COPIES of existing Games ONLY, so old and existing games are at no risk of breaking (at least I hope so!) Will definitely try it out and hope there will be a noticable performance increase even for older PCs / Laptops!

Can you elaborate more on the new FX tool?  The current one is clunky and limited, and I often as DM can't see the effect until after a substantial delay.  

I'm probably more excited for the new "Beacon" 5E sheet (which doesn't have a release schedule yet, apparently) than the under-the-covers Jumpgate changes, particularly as a player. Don't get me wrong: I think Jumpgate is a great idea, and overdue in many ways. And I'm hopeful that my more hardware-limited users will have a better experience because of it.  I've lost a couple of people to one too many frustrations. But if Roll20 was a house, its a bit like repairing a cracked foundation verus remodeling the kitchen.  The kitchen has curb appeal, an unrepaired foundation just kills the sale.  The former matters to buyers (players and DMs), and the latter is really to allow the seller (Roll20) to stay in business. Which, I'll admit, is something I do consider worthwhile. So, I've read the nearly content-free hype post about the new 5E & "D&D 2024" sheet. When's it coming?

Ken S. said: I'm probably more excited for the new "Beacon" 5E sheet (which doesn't have a release schedule yet, apparently) than the under-the-covers Jumpgate changes, particularly as a player. Don't get me wrong: I think Jumpgate is a great idea, and overdue in many ways. And I'm hopeful that my more hardware-limited users will have a better experience because of it.  I've lost a couple of people to one too many frustrations. But if Roll20 was a house, its a bit like repairing a cracked foundation verus remodeling the kitchen.  The kitchen has curb appeal, an unrepaired foundation just kills the sale.  The former matters to buyers (players and DMs), and the latter is really to allow the seller (Roll20) to stay in business. Which, I'll admit, is something I do consider worthwhile. So, I've read the nearly content-free hype post about the new 5E & "D&D 2024" sheet. When's it coming? Hi Ken! This has been asked several times on the sheet announcement thread . There has been no answer given as of yet; I suspect the date is not yet known. Almost certainly before the new PHB releases in September, but that's just speculation at this point.

Great!  This is what I wanted, more native built in bells and whistles that don't require any script or mod or anything, it just works out of the gate natively without system bog down.  Riley D. said: JASON H. said: Can you elaborate more on the new FX tool?  The current one is clunky and limited, and I often as DM can't see the effect until after a substantial delay.   Basically we're going to be reworking that entire tool into a native piece of the new engine, and greatly expanding the types of "effects" you can create (not just particle effects like the current tool, which will still be supported and likely with even more settings, but also animated graphics, pings, etc.) It's still early in the development cycle right now which is why it won't be part of the initial Jumpgate Beta release, but it will be done before Jumpgate leaves Beta.

keithcurtis said: Hmm.. a tool that swaps the token between GM/Token layer, regardless of the layer it's on? I can see the usefulness. I think I'd rather have a way of making a token "invisible" to players, while retaining its layer, so that the GM can continue to move or access it before revealing it. Similar to the Bump script, but more seamless. I love the idea of giving the token an invisibility property. It would be nice that when a character casts invisibility, that the token could be made invisible but that the player and GM can still see it, maybe a ghosted image, but the other players couldn't. Useful for immersion into the game.

I'll be happy to test the Jumpgate Beta with my 13th Age and The One Ring games on my Mac Mini, Macbook, iPad Pro, and Chromebook devices.  <steeples fingers> Interesting!

Will the fog of war become more than just a visual thing? You interact with everything under it and see token widgets. Tooltips notably are not obscured by it, making them useless. I can only hope we don't get back into the numerous issues of tokens flickering under it again.

Will Jumpgate fix the incredibly slow response times for special effects. I have simple beam and most of the time it will take 30 seconds to a minute before the effect is displayed, often times, nothing happens at all.

As for the Tooltips there are suggestions to add a "See" permission for those. If nothing is entered there, only the GM is able to see those. It has enough votes for the tread to stay open, but it seems none of the devs or any official has noticed it by now! It would be a huge improvement over the tooltips we have now... As for the other changes I am really curious. I will definitely use one of my active campaigns to test it with my players (a copy I create as soon as jumpgate is a thing)... Tiraelina said: Will the fog of war become more than just a visual thing? You interact with everything under it and see token widgets. Tooltips notably are not obscured by it, making them useless. I can only hope we don't get back into the numerous issues of tokens flickering under it again.

MadCoder said: Will Jumpgate fix the incredibly slow response times for special effects. I have simple beam and most of the time it will take 30 seconds to a minute before the effect is displayed, often times, nothing happens at all. This is a also a huge problem for me.  The special effects generally works ok when tested alone, but in game there is terrible response time, and sometimes even when testing alone it fails to work.  That entire tool needs an overhaul actually. It could be incredibly useful to draw colored spell templates and such. 

A couple questions:  We still on schedule for the new Beta Jumpgate being released tomorrow and at what time?   Do we know if the new API/Mods version will be released with Jumpgate?