Move to Screentop
I’ve taken the opportunity to move to a new online playtesting environment.
As a result of controversy generated by Beserk Games and their Tabletop Simulator software, I’m trying out Screentop.
Play Popoki on Screentop
What I like about it straight off is it’s free to use for publishing three games.
It’s also web-based, which is similar to Tabletopia; no additional software to download and install. That reduces the barrier to entry tremendously. TTS requires both Steam installed as well as their software to install in Steam. So, two accounts, two payments…that’s way too much to ask for a casual playtester, much less friends.
I was able to use most of my original assets, so that was helpful. The Beginner’s Tutorial was also helpful, but it wasn’t until I made my four different dice that I began to understand their concept of asset, component, variant, and object. That made it very easy to change the faces on each die for accessibility reasons.
I also liked how the orientation of the die is set after you roll; when you rolled on TTS, the resulting number of a face could be upside down. This would require one more click to re-orient the die. It’s a little thing, but I’m appreciating their object-oriented approach to how you build your games.
Downsides
It’s two-dimensional, so I’m not sure how to bring over my 3D cats. No worries for now, but I expect those features to appear when they move to paid plans.
I’m finding it difficult to arrange things in straight lines, but I’m guessing a lot of comes down to how you build your graphics for your containers.
It needs more documentation, that’s for sure, but I can tell they are early in their development cycle.
Regardless, I was up and running within two hours of working with my original assets. And their community on Discord is very helpful.
Release
So this blog post is my official release of the prototype!
Am I happy with the game? No quite. I’m not sold on whether this should be a roll-and-write or 18-card game instead of just a dice rolling/action drafting game, because I think the scoring is too complicated to make the game fast and fun.
But that’s why we prototype!
Published Jan. 11, 2022.
