Release… the update!
So you’ve spent hours designing this dungeon. You’ve filled each unique room with monsters, plot devices, benevolent NPCs, treachery, boons, banes, and a menacing final boss your adventurers have been tracking down for real-world months. You’ve curated your ambience playlist, assembled your friends and cracked open the doors to this rusty tomb. Swords were swung, spells were cast, good times were had by all. Until they reached the final room, hiding the BBEG. As your players scan the map and plan their tactics their eyes start to wander to the edge of the map and realize… there’s nothing. This epic dungeon you’ve spent hours of your time and creativity developing is set in a gray box, not the flowing lava rivers of the sacred volcano you had imagined. Of course, the heroes will still fight, but the players will be wanting for immersion. Until update 18 atleast!
So what’s new?
This time, the name of the game is ambience. One of the major benefits Harpy has had going for it in this category has been its 3D capacity. Where other major VTTs stick to 2D tokens, which work fine, Harpy has been perfecting the art of 3D virtual tabletop gaming. The HeroForge compatibility was one of the first steps in realizing the visions of your elaborate characters and now there’s an immersive setting to put them in that compliments your custom maps.
Now, it’s not just the catalog of backgrounds available. After combined days of playtesting across multiple subjects, a whole suite of important bug fixes, translations, and exciting new creative tools as well as a slick UI revamp hit the scene.
This update comes with a bounty of features we asked for and some we didn’t know we wanted. First, a very smooth and sleek UI update, always a plus. Previously, to add a token to the table one had to add it to a box with limited space then drag it over to the table. Now, getting tokens on the table is so much more streamlined. Instead of adding them to the tray then dragging them onto the board, skip the tray and just place them right where you want them. Editing their properties is handier too, with the addition of variable visibility. In the essence of ambience, they’ve added lighting (both indoor and outdoor), fog, and even adjustable sun positioning!
But wait, there’s more
In the interest of supporting this amazing and creative community, they’ve also laid the groundwork for another exciting program. If you’re not interested in making your own maps, never fear! Coming soon you’ll be able to get quick, seamless access to the precreated maps of your favorite patreon cartographers. In this update you can both reach out to the creators directly and request from the Harpy team to start a partnership to get their content accessible once the proverbial ducks are in a row.
One last very interesting feature is photo mode. Now with a click of a button you can save that exact scene and angle right then and there. When you’ve got the perfect setup for a scene like that climactic battle, or an especially touching scene, or just want to share a magnanimous moment with friends you can immortalize that moment and share wherever you like with whomever you like. Make sure to post them to our Twitter for your friends and the world to see!
Ad Astra
Harpy is a company invested in innovation, evidenced by their frequent and impactful updates. 60 times in less than a year have they endeavored to improve their service and have resulted in some very interesting concepts. Being in what ultimately amounts to an artistic community, streamlining, and adding tools to realize the users’ vision is essential and that’s exactly what this update achieves.
-Alec Pileski November 2022, alecpileski@gmail.com