There is a massive new update out today. It is not an exaggeration to say that this is the largest single update we have ever released. Most of this has been built over the last month, so there's a lot of large code changes involved. As a result, I'll be hitting the highlights, but there are probably things that changed (e.g. bug fixes) that aren't specifically listed here. We'll be doing our best over the coming week to clean up the bug reports forum and make sure that only bugs that are currently active remain open.
New Rendering Engine
The largest change in this update is the release of a completely new rendering engine based entirely on HTML5 Canvas. In practical terms, you should find that your campaigns render smoother and more quickly. The engine can also handle extremely large (1000x1000+) maps without any noticeable slow-down in speed, which should be great for you war gamers who need massive maps. This also increases Roll20's compatibility greatly, and as of today you can use it with Safari, and we're also working on support for IE for a future update. This new engine also brings us one step closer to support for mobile tablets. Finally, the Canvas tag is becoming increasingly optimized by browser vendors (including hardware acceleration); as those optimizations continue, Roll20 is positioned well to take advantage of them to get even faster.
You shouldn't really notice too much of a difference in terms of your campaigns (they should be pretty much as you left them), but there are some other differences you will notice. For example, the new engine has resize handles all around the object, instead of just in one corner. It also resizes from the center of the object instead of the top-left corner. There are others as well, but hopefully it shouldn't be a very big learning curve at all.
This does mean that there may be new bugs introduced, so please let us know if you find anything that's not working as it should (note: there are some known issues that we've listed at the bottom of this thread as well that we're already aware of).
Looking for Group System
We're also rolling out our new Looking for Group system. You should see a new button along the top of your screen when you're in your Campaigns listing. Clicking it will show you a list of all campaigns that have currently indicated that they're looking for additional players. You can filter based on a number of criteria including game system, time of day, language, and more. We intend to expand on this feature further to add a reputation system and even better filtering, but we think it's pretty good as-is and wanted to get it into your hands as soon as possible.
So if you're a player looking to join a game, be sure to visit the new Looking for Group page. After you find a campaign to join, click its name and you can click the "Apply to Join" link along the left-hand side of the full listing to send a message to the campaign's GM asking to join the game.
If you're a GM who wants to start a Campaign and look for players, visit your Campaigns Details page and click the new option on the left-hand side labeled "Looking for Players". You'll be asked a couple of quick questions and then your campaign will be listed!
Notifications
We've added a notifications system. You'll see a number next to your name in the top of the screen (in the black bar area), which allows you to view notifications regarding site actions that may interest you, such as a comment left on one of your campaigns, a player applying to join your campaign, and more.
Improved Player Management
An integral part of the new LFG system is the ability to manage the players in your Campaign. We've completely overhauled the player invitation system to make it easier to invite players, and remove players who are no longer in your campaign. Visit the Campaign Details page and you should now see an "Invite Players" option. This lets you send individual emails to players inviting them to join your campaign, even if they've never been in-game with you yet.
In addition, the Campaign Details screen now lists all players in your campaign, and if you hover over the player, you have the option to remove them from your Campaign (which will remove them from all in-game lists as well as keep them from re-joining the campaign unless you explicitly re-invite them), and the ability to promote the player to GM (yes, you can now have multiple GM's per Campaign!)
The final change relating to this involves the way that players receive their invitations. Whether you invite a player via email directly or send them your share link, they'll now be prompted to log in or create an account before they join you in-game. After they do, they'll be taken to the Campaign details page, which now serves as a sort of "landing page" for your Campaign. They can then click "Join Game" to enter the actual game.
You'll notice in your Campaign listings there are now two buttons: "Campaigns You've Created" and "Campaigns You've Joined." As you may guess, players now see the same option so that they can view a list of all campaigns they've previously joined -- so you don't need to send them the invite link every time.
The Campaign details page now also provides you with a place to leave comments outside the game, great for communicating with players OOC about game scheduling and other housekeeping tasks.
Measurement Tool Changes + Custom Units
The measurement tool has been overhauled. Now whenever you measure other players in the game with you will see your measurement tool as well as you move it around the board. So you can use it to show others what you are measuring, and also as a simple "pointer" tool to point at an object on the board (in addition to the map pinging).
We've also added additional settings under the Page Settings dialog which allow you to change the units (e.g. inches, feet, kilometers) for the measurement page. You can also now set the scale.
