Hi everyone!

In light of recent news regarding the Open Gaming License and Wizards of the Coast, I want to share something positive that's been in the works. I've been working tirelessly on an exciting new project, and I can finally reveal it to you all - the next generation of Tarrasque.io!

Motivation

As some of you who have been around for a while may know, Tarrasque.io's original design was that of a simple virtual tabletop for in-person games. Initially, it was just a simple grid with a few tokens that could be moved around. But over the past couple of years, the project has grown to be much more than that. The community wanted more advanced features, and I wanted to deliver. However, as the project grew, it became more and more difficult to add new features and maintain the codebase, as Tarrasque was not designed to be a full-featured game management system. I knew that I needed to do something, but I didn't want to pause feature development while I redesigned the entire project. But after numerous attempts at refactoring the codebase, I realized that it was time to start over, and that's exactly what I did.

Introducing Tarrasque App

Over the past few months, I've been working on a rewrite of Tarrasque.io with the goal of making it open-source and self-hostable, and while it's not quite ready yet, I wanted to give you all a sneak peek of what's to come. This new version (codenamed Tarrasque App) is a complete rebuild from the ground up, designed to be more extensible and tailored to the community's needs and feedback. Did I mention that it's going to be open-source? This means that new features and bug fixes will no longer be at the mercy of my own time. Anyone and everyone will be welcome to contribute to the codebase and help build the virtual tabletop that we all deserve. Tabletop gaming should be open and accessible to everyone, and I want to make sure that Tarrasque App is a part of that.

Here's a list of some of the new features that will be coming to Tarrasque App:

• A new, modern UI
• Open-source for everyone to contribute
• Self-hosting on your own computer or server
• Plugin system for community features and integrations
• Offline support
• Dynamic lighting with Fog of War
• Character sheets
• Hex grid
• Token aura effects
• Handouts
• Crop tool for images
• Token borders
• Map folders
• Inventory management
• Reordering of campaigns and maps
• Multiple DMs per campaign
• ...and so much more!

These are all features that have been heavily requested from Tarrasque.io but just haven't been possible to implement with the current architecture, and I'm thrilled to finally be able to deliver on these features! I'm very excited to share this with you all, and I hope that you're just as excited as I am. I'll be posting more updates as the project progresses, so stay tuned!

Richard

P.S.: If you're a developer and interested in getting involved while the project is still in its early stages, shoot me a message and we can chat!

This update brings a few bug fixes that I've been working on over the past month, plus a couple of quality-of-life improvements. Enjoy!

Improvements:

• Default adventurer and monster are now more "vanilla" and default to 10 for all ability scores and be sized at Medium.
• Spell Importer is now a bit more relaxed with its types and has better defaults for missing properties.
• Tooltips now follow your cursor to avoid them getting in front of clickable buttons.
• Removed smooth snapping when the grid is enabled after popular demand to avoid tokens snapping to the wrong spot.

Bug fixes:

• Fixed a bug that caused the Save button to not be clickable in the Spells modal.
• Fixed a bug where a token could be multi-selected by right-clicking on it while having another token selected.
• Fixed a bug where deleting the active combatant would reset the combat encounter.
• Fixed a bug with the Combat Tracker HP Adjuster not updating when a creature's HP or temporary HP changed.
• Fixed a bug that showed a background on a token after an image was uploaded to its respective creature.
• Fixed an issue where the wrong payment plan would be highlighted as if it were active.
• Fixed a bug where the draggable asset panels would cut off a few pixels before the last item had finished rendering.
• Fixed an issue where a popup would show momentarily indicating that you've been disconnected, then quickly disappearing.

This update brings the ability to create external links in stat blocks, a better upload experience, and a new way to import individual monsters/spells from large JSON/XML files! Enjoy!

What's new:

• Stat Block Links. You can now quickly create links to external URLs from a stat block! Next up, links to spells!

• Selectively Import Monsters/Spells. Gone are the days of manually editing JSON/XML files or importing hundreds of creatures you'll never use. You can now select which monsters and spells to import when uploading a JSON or XML files!

Improvements:

• Uploading of large files should now be much more reliable and should complete much faster!
• Imported monsters and spells are now assigned to the active campaign to avoid polluting your global asset library with campaign-specific assets.
• Images will now only load when they're in view - gotta save those kilobytes!

Bug fixes:

• Fixed a bug with tokens snapping into a previous position after changing their HP from the Combat Tracker.
• Fixed a bug with notes not saving properly.
• Fixed an issue with long map names not wrapping to a new line.
• Fixed a bug with users being unable to restart a paused subscription due to multiple failed payments.
• Fixed a bug where the token color picker would sometimes not show after clicking on it.

I've been working on this one for quite a while! This update is full of small high-impact features and improvements - hope you enjoy it!

What's new:

• New stat block look-and-feel. The stat blocks have been redesigned to better fit with the rest of the app's design.

• You can now click the Edit icon on the top-right of a stat block to quickly jump into edit mode without having to scroll through the assets list to find it.

• You can now copy-paste stat block content with its formatting intact - no more manually making text bold/italic after pasting. Oh, and if you're copying text with links, they get pasted too - perfect for linking to spells!

• You can now rearrange Fog of War polygons to bring them to the front or send them to the back of the FoW layer. This should make it much easier to fix FoW mistakes instead of having to start from scratch.

• You can now lock shapes in place so that they can no longer be moved or selected until they've been unlocked. Also, you can rearrange them much like Tokens and Fog of War so that one is on top of the other.

• There's now a "Heading 3" and "Strikethrough" option in the Rich Text Editor.

• You can now see a creature's image on their stat block!

Improvements:

• Maps on the dashboard now take up a lot less space to give you the best screen real estate.

• Dice roll notations will now become automatically highlighted while editing stat blocks to indicate that they will be clickable upon saving.

• Shapes and drawings can now only be controlled and manipulated by the user who created them or the DM.
• Adding a token to a map now scales the token according to the map dimensions, even while the grid is disabled. This should fix situations in big maps where newly-dropped tokens were too small to be seen.
• Changed the background of the app to match the Fog of War color while in Player/Guest view, so that your players don't accidentally metagame by knowing where the map ends and where your fog begins :)

• Stat blocks can now be edited on mobile and tablet devices without an insane amount of horizontal scrolling.
• Improved the experience on devices with virtual keyboards. Text fields such as ability scores, HP, and initiative now properly only show numbers as valid input.
• Removed the light mode option from the app. This was used by less than 0.6% of users and was causing major delays during feature design as I had to design for two viewing modes. So it's gone now! Long live dark mode.
• The non-square grid warning now appears beneath the columns/rows fields to avoid interrupting your flow.
• Moving tokens across the grid should feel a little bit more snappy now while also allowing more free-form movement.

Bug fixes:

• Fixed a bug where you could accidentally show/hide a campaign's map on the dashboard by clicking on the right side of the campaign name text.
• Fixed a bug which caused double-click to ping location not work while using the Measure Tool.
• Fixed an issue where the text field content wouldn't be selected when pressing Tab in a stat block to move to the next field.
• Fixed a bug where token multi-selection wasn't very reliable.
• Fixed a bug where there would be a delay and a visible jump in values when editing the HP of an adventurer.
• Fixed an issue where certain window panels would appear behind existing ones and would need to be reopened to become visible.
• Fixed a bug where the window panels would move to different locations across the screen when the browser window was resized or moved to a different monitor.
• Fixed an issue where the user image in the Settings dialog wouldn't scale to its full width.
• Fixed an issue with crashing due to the grid allowing negative numbers.

To all 4000 of you: thank you for being here with me on this journey. Keep the suggestions and feedback coming - let's make the best virtual tabletop out there together :)

Today's update brings a few improvements, bug fixes, a new help center with videos, and, finally, a tutorial on getting started and getting the most out of Tarrasque.io!

What's new:

• A new Help Center with a lot of new guides, as well as a tutorial to help you get the most out of Tarrasque.io. Also, a few videos with the best practices on aligning the grid, hiding parts of your map, and more!

Improvements:

• The Circle and Triangle shapes can now be drawn in the middle of a grid square, allowing for effects to target individual creatures or begin from a point that's not an angle.

• When using a grid with non-square dimensions, you will now get a warning to let you know that this might affect the measurement accuracy.

Bug fixes:

• Fixed a bug where creatures with low hit dice (e.g. 1d4 - 1) had a chance to enter the map already dead 😂 
• Fixed an issue where real-time updates didn't kick in when giving control of creatures to players. Your players should now be able to see and control adventurers and monsters they are assigned to.
• Fixed a bug with the Chat always showing the DM and players as offline. You should now be able to see who's looking at each map!
• Fixed the messaging on the Manage Plan dialog for canceled subscriptions/failed payments.
• Fixed a bug with the "Update Payment Details" button sometimes not working.

I'm extremely proud to announce that Tarrasque.io is now 1 year old!

Join the celebration on Discord and use coupon code ONEYEAR to get 10% off all plans and merch. Valid until 31/07/2021.

It feels like yesterday, but last year on this exact day, Tarrasque.io launched in Closed Beta. The Reddit post announcing its release went pretty crazy with 16.2k upvotes, and the support from the community was nothing short of heartwarming. 

Open Beta followed in May 2021, which introduced the Free Plan and opened Tarrasque's doors to the public for the first time. More than 15,000 people visited the website during release week, marking a huge milestone for the app.

As of today, Tarrasque.io is the VTT of choice for well over 3,000 users, and hosts:

• 3,107 campaigns
• 7,676 battle maps
• 11,070 adventurers
• 70,132 monsters
• 40,305 spells
• 47.7 GB of images and video

To everyone who helped make this journey possible, THANK YOU! Your support has allowed me to continue working on something I love, and for that, you have my unending gratitude.

Thank you for an amazing year, here's to the next one!

Richard

Nothing to see here, just a tiny update to fix some critical bugs before the weekend. Enjoy!

Bug fixes:

• Fixed an issue where panels like the Combat Tracker and Stat Blocks would scroll to the top when regaining focus.
• Fixed a bug where clicking a dice roll notation or a Combat Tracker button while its panel wasn't focused would not do anything.
• Fixed an issue where guests/unauthenticated users would not be able to access public battle maps.
• Fixed a bug with the XML monster import complaining about legendary actions.
• Fixed a bug where the Shape Tool would incorrectly use the 5-10 method (when selected) for calculating shape measurements.

The other day I noticed my DM struggling with the toolbar being hidden by the Combat Tracker, and it made me realize how annoying this must be for some of you working on smaller screens. So this is for all you guys. Enjoy!

What's new

• You can now resize UI panels and move them anywhere you want! No more having to close the Combat Tracker to be able to see the underlying tools, or choosing between showing Chat or the Adventurers panel.

• Stat blocks are now consistent with the other UI panels, and have their own top bar where you can drag them around from.

Improvements

• The Dice Roller will now stay on screen after you have typed in a roll so that you can keep rolling without having to reopen it! You can also drag it around like the other panels, but not resize it.
• Dice rolls in the chat will now show the full dice breakdown.

• You can now click anywhere on a stat block to bring it to the front of other stat blocks and panels.
• The chat text field no longer suggests previously typed entries.
• The scrollbar is now thicker to make it easier for point-and-click scrollers.
• Hitting Escape while on the Dice Roller text field will now remove focus from the text field.

Bug fixes

• Fixed a bug with "Send to Back" requiring a refresh to see the changes.
• Fixed a bug where the Dice Roller would disappear as soon as you started typing on mobile/tablet.
• Fixed a UI bug where a long combatant's name would overflow and be hidden behind the Notes and Stat Block buttons.
• Fixed a bug on mobile where you couldn't click-and-hold a token to bring up its token actions menu.
• Fixed an issue where the 0 ft distance was being shown when holding a token.
• Fixed a bug that was causing too many rerenders and causing the app to crash.

Huge thanks to Prodigy for being an awesome test subject and unknowingly giving me feature ideas! 😁

Lots of fixes and improvements in this update, plus a few more things to give more control to the players and ease the load on the DM. Enjoy!

What's new:

• Players can now add their controlled creatures to the map! This works just like on the DM side, either through drag-and-drop or by clicking the Add to Map button.

• Players can now see and control their hidden tokens, as well as hide or show them themselves! Previously, if a token was hidden, only the DM could manipulate it regardless of who else had access to it.

• Added a new chain icon for map privacy settings, for when a map is shared by link but not visible in the players' dashboards.

• You can now select a token on the map by clicking the respective combatant on the Combat Tracker.
• Your group will now be notified when viewing a map without being signed in so that they can log in to control tokens. Also, the sign-in page now redirects you to the last place you were trying to access before signing in.

Improvements:

• Campaigns now automatically update on your dashboard when you're added or removed from one.
• Setting a creature alignment's in a stat block is now optional.
• For maps that are only shared by link, the battle map name is no longer shown in the browser title to avoid metagaming. Instead, the campaign name is shown.
• Combat Tracker will no longer scroll to a combatant when it's being highlighted or selected to avoid annoyances with things scrolling unnecessarily!
• When the DM disables the Draw tool or Shape tool from campaign settings, players that are currently using the tool will be forcefully switched away from it.
• Changing the total grid dimensions no longer messes with the square dimensions or column/row count.
• Added more Adventurer races to the multi-select field.

Bug fixes:

• Fixed a bug where importing a monster whose name is partly owned by another monster, would also import that monster.

• Fixed an issue where certain touch gestures were being overridden on Windows tablets, causing you to accidentally swipe back to the previous page.
• Fixed a bug where the leading 0 would remain when changing a numeric field like a combatant's initiative or HP.

• Fixed an issue where the app would crash if you used a 0d0 dice notation.
• Fixed a bug where users who switched from Titan to Standard would have a limited number of battle maps.
• Fixed a display bug with the movement measurer being displayed after deselecting a token.
• Fixed some browser bugs with the rich text editor.
• Fixed an issue where you'd be switched to the Select tool after using the middle mouse button to pan the map, even though you had the Pan tool selected previously.
• Fixed an issue where tokens would bug out when right-clicking them during movement.

A warm welcome to the 1200+ DMs who signed up to Tarrasque.io for the Open Beta! Here's the first round of improvements and bug fixes from your feedback. Enjoy!

Improvements:

• Moved the Dashboard button from the Battle Maps panel to the bottom bar of the app so that it's easier to get to!

• Added a close (X) button to the top right of every surface.

• Changed the look & feel of dialogs and panels for easier identification of actions and content through darker shades.

• Moved the round information in the Combat Tracker under the combat controls so that it's more visible when hovering over the buttons.
• Added a confirmation dialog to the Roll Initiative button on the Combat Tracker so you don't accidentally reroll initiative for everyone mid-combat. Also moved the Reset Combat button to the top as it's not one of the main combat controls.
• Player email addresses now get partially hidden after a user joins a campaign for privacy reasons.

• Merged first name and last name into a single "name" field for privacy reasons. No more last name requirement if you don't feel like it!
• Changed login session expiry from 7 to 15 days so that your group doesn't get logged out mid-session!
• Added the Note tool to the Keyboard Shortcuts.
• Change submit button wording from "Edit" to "Save" in update modals.

Bug fixes:

• Fixed a bug where the autocomplete input would not auto-select the first entry, and required you to manually select it before adding it to the list.
• Fixed a bug where error messages wouldn't show up when editing a stat block, thus making it impossible to save when there were errors.

• Fixed an issue with messages in chat that have special characters not rendering correctly.

• Fixed a bug where the app would pop up with a warning that said you were reconnecting to the server every few minutes, even though no disconnection had happened.
• Fixed an issue where an invalid error would pop up when trying to send back a token that was already at the back.
• Fix a Firefox bug with spacing between the battle map search field and the Sort/Filter buttons on the dashboard.