https://www.dungeonalchemist.com
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/10 ... lchemisttm
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1588 ... _Alchemist
Briganti wrote:Dungeon Alchemist is AI-powered fantasy mapmaking software that enables you to make awesome-looking maps, really fast!
Dungeon Alchemist is the first-person super-mapmaker from Belgium whose Kickstarter reached $2.5 million when it launched back in February last year. For comparison, TaleSpire reached 3,542,035 Norwegian kroner, which is like 20 dollars (it's about $400k). I sort of gushed about it in my FPGMRPG thread when I first stumbled upon it in December: https://culture.vg/forum/topic?t=7601
It's been in beta for a while, but now it's in Early Access, and it's getting rave reviews: at the level that TaleSpire was getting when it launched, and it's still getting. It's almost certainly getting March 2022 Insomnia Game of the Month, and I just bought it.
Currently, you can export maps made in this to Fantasy Grounds with doors, walls and line-of-sight, or to Foundry with all that stuff plus animation. This is all 2.5D, meaning 3D graphics but viewable only from overhead 2D. However, since their promotional videos show real-time first-person exploration as if you're playing Doom, I asked the developers about this on Twitter and they told me that they've partnered with an upcoming first-person VTT... They wouldn't divulge further details, so not sure if it's supposed to be real-time too... I doubt it, but we'll wait and see I guess. It's astonishing news because this has never been done before, let alone at this level of quality. I mean I HAVE seen a couple of first-person VTTs, and even a real-time one: they aren't out yet though, I don't think, plus they are fairly bland if not downright ugly. This on the other hand is freakin' gorgeous, even if I have this complaint that everything looks too shiny and new, which will work well with some types of assets, like a palace, but not very well with lots of the kinds of assets you'd want in a fantasy campaign. But the devs are releasing a lot of content, like TaleSpire, so I am confident this will eventually be addressed, plus they'll allow users to add custom content, again like TaleSpire, so I am not worried. This thing has a bright future.
Note that on top of the 3D and first-person aspects, the main selling aspect is the AI. It's the AI that designs the rooms. You just make a square and say what kind of room you want, then you can modify it after the AI has built it. So map generation is super-fast. I could generate taverns on the fly pretty much as you visit them.
On Steam Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjN-paPVFmc
First-person view video can be seen here: https://twitter.com/dungeonalchemi1/sta ... 7590178826
Promo screens from the Steam page. Keep scrolling down as the better ones come from users after.
The promo screens on Steam IN NO WAY do justice to the power of this program, again as with TaleSpire, so I'll be posting thousands of screens here to show you what other people are making. I am getting this stuff from their Twitter, and from searching Twitter: https://twitter.com/dungeonalchemi1
https://twitter.com/KaatVanThillo/statu ... 4413255683
https://twitter.com/DungeonAlchemi1/sta ... 4126166018
You can even put your own images in the paintings lol: https://twitter.com/SydneyAshcroft/stat ... 3375652865
That's Arco's wolf from Hero Forge if I am not mistaken.
Here's a video demonstrating the power of the tool that changes images in paintings: https://twitter.com/DungeonAlchemi1/sta ... 2754206721
You could put illustrations from Paizo campaigns in there; you could have a whole hall in your castle with images of all the battles you've fought etc.
More maps:
https://twitter.com/HighlandL4ss/status ... 4710588420
https://twitter.com/DungeonAlchemi1/sta ... 0798665736
Dungeon Alchemist @DungeonAlchemi1 wrote:And it looks so innocent... :)
Harraquis @harraquis wrote:Definitely not a mimic
https://twitter.com/DungeonAlchemi1/sta ... 3301508097
https://twitter.com/DungeonAlchemi1/sta ... 1833112588
Detail is amazing, CERTAINLY higher-fidelity assets than in Baldur's Gate 3 or any other isometric CRPG.
Check out this video to see how smoothly secret doors and traps are animated: https://twitter.com/DungeonAlchemi1/sta ... 0583649281
Video of iron maiden, don't miss it: https://twitter.com/DungeonAlchemi1/sta ... 9514174464
The devs tagged Iron Maiden's Twitter lol.
Video that shows that you can place individual items like say bottles on shelves: https://twitter.com/DungeonAlchemi1/sta ... 0858989573
So eventually you should be able to have every item you own placed in your room or house WYSIWYG-style: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/ ... 2789105019
More animation in spellbooks: https://twitter.com/DungeonAlchemi1/sta ... 3232658443
Check out this Serpentine Statue video to see what the animation looks like, it's pretty stunning: https://twitter.com/DungeonAlchemi1/sta ... 7174712324
As I said, we won't have animation when exporting to Fantasy Grounds, but we will have eventually in Foundry, and of course in the promised first-person VTT when it releases.
Devs have great sense of humor: https://twitter.com/DungeonAlchemi1/sta ... 3911545866
Dungeon Alchemist @DungeonAlchemi1 wrote:We're probably catering to some audience, but it's hard to say which...
This is what playing with 2D tokens on a 2D VTT looks like: https://twitter.com/ColdFaeHeart/status ... 7223607300
However it does have some of the same issues as TaleSpire, e.g. with round rooms: https://twitter.com/DungeonAlchemi1/sta ... 4392603657
Dungeon Alchemist @DungeonAlchemi1 wrote:I admire the lengths all of you will go to to create round rooms...
I hope these issues will be overcome by modders/custom assets/future updates. They won't be an issue for us, but they will be an issue for whoever tries to recreate published adventures, which is why we won't be using the tool for this, just like with TaleSpire.
https://twitter.com/DungeonAlchemi1/sta ... 1294925824
https://twitter.com/TNThusky/status/1508850083697209352
When you place the camera in isometric view it starts to look like TaleSpire but more natural due to the less Minecrafty blocky terrain and assets: https://twitter.com/Brokenzodiac/status ... 6457840642
Half-submerged boat: https://twitter.com/Aitealeeso/status/1 ... 6539097088
https://twitter.com/PansLabyrinth99/sta ... 8919016454
Complex scene and mood controls: https://twitter.com/PansLabyrinth99/sta ... 3579314177
This is the closest attempt I have seen to make a whole town/village really: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/ ... 2789510162
I don't know what's up with the lack of roofs... I hope that is addressed eventually. The whole verticality aspect is way inferior to TaleSpire's, where you can basically build space elevators. I think people will start asking for more verticality soon.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/ ... 2785207404
Love this shot of a well at the edges of town. The immersion is unparalleled, especially once you're able to move in first-person.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/ ... 2785315016
Coolest dungeon I have seen yet on the platform.
Keep in mind the EA only launched six days ago... Imagine where it'll be six months or a year from now.
Patreons are already popping up that sell content, thought I haven't seen anything yet at the quality of Istallri from TaleSpire. Here's one example: https://www.patreon.com/sydneyashcroft