Check your d20's with SCIENCE!

[Nylanfs]

Check your d20's with SCIENCE!

https://youtu.be/VI3N4Qg-JZM

[darrenan]

So have you tested FGs dice for balance ;-) Please, MoonWizard, tell us that FG has translucent dice inside!

[Nylanfs]

Okay, here are my results I could find 11 d20's. Two are clear with glitter (different colors so different runs), one is an older non-variegated opaque orange, the other 8 are opaque variegated plastic. I get most of my dice from Chessex so I think all but two would be from them. One of the clear dice had a very slight tendency to roll to the 11, the other clear die and the orange die had no discernible roll tendency. One of the other variegated dice (which was Chessex because it was the last set I bought) had no discernible roll. The other 7 had discernible to pretty obvious roll tendencies.

Results

Clear die 1 (no roll tendency): Out of 200 rolls, same number 6 times, the 16
Clear die 2 (slight tendency for 11): Out of 200 rolls, same number 11 times, the 11
Orange die (no roll tendency): Out of 200 rolls, same number 4 times, the 12
variegated die 1 (no roll tendency): Out of 200 rolls, same number 4 times, the 8
variegated die 2-8 all of these rolled better than 16 times out of the 200 rolls to the number that I had noticed in the heavy saline solution, one worst rolled 32 times to the 18.

[Zeus]

I hit this problem quite a few years ago and invested in several packs of GameScience precision cut and balanced dice for this very reason. They truly are the best that I have found for random results.

On the FG front, all the poly dice models use defined geometrical meshes and are subjected to simulated real-world physics when you roll them. I have seen the current code and you will have to trust me when I say the dice models when rolling are balanced. Whats more, moving forward and for the Unity build, it will be possible for us to do all kinds of new funky things with the dice ;) For example, Unity allows us to define dice with different materials (opaque plastic/metal/stone or translucent plastic/glass/gem) and if we want differing physics materials as well. The material along with the force of the roll can make a dramatically effect on the characteristics of the dice rolls as the dice hit the surface of our desktop and tumbles. Heavy denser materials can be made to require more force to roll for longer, whereas lighter dice can be made to require less force. This opens up some interesting options for introducing a variety of new dice types along with new roll types (simple drop roll (low force), shake in hand and roll, dice cup rolls, throw roll (moderate force), spin rolls (aggressive force), even cheat/fudge rolls are possible (though not sure that ones a good one to introduce).

[Mellock]

I would *love* to see a reproduction of my gamescience translucent gem dice :p

[Zeus]

I would *love* to see a reproduction of my gamescience translucent gem dice :p

I already have translucent dice running in one of the prototypes ;) I'll have to see if I can get a Glow in the dark material to work the way I want!

[Nylanfs]

Here's an idea for the shop then. While still allowing people to tinker with their dice colors (and new physical aspecs) you could sell dice setups for those that don't want to mess with anything more than the colors.

[Zeus]

Here's an idea for the shop then. While still allowing people to tinker with their dice colors (and new physical aspecs) you could sell dice setups for those that don't want to mess with anything more than the colors.

There are lots of nice features that moving to the Unity platform can open up in the longer term. I think along with allowing users to change the dice colour, textures and decals using the GUI and API interfaces, we may very well look at offering premium dice material packs via the store. More will be revealed in time.

[LordEntrails]

But if you make the dice lighter, do we have to worry about them bouncing out of the chat window? Can you make them so light that they float? And if you make the material softer so they don't bounce as much, will they take on permanent deformation? I'm worried now...

[Zeus]

But if you make the dice lighter, do we have to worry about them bouncing out of the chat window? Can you make them so light that they float? And if you make the material softer so they don't bounce as much, will they take on permanent deformation? I'm worried now...

You could turn off gravity altogether if you wanted to roll dice as they would in a vacuum or in space. Ha Ha. :o Not sure that would be very useful though for FG. In truth I haven't tested the full scope of whats possible yet, just skimming at the surface at this stage. As for dice bouncing around and outside of the chat window - we have methods of keeping the dice bound inside a 3D rectangle we define, regardless of how forceful the roll is made or however light the material of the dice is ;) As for making the dice material so soft that it absorbs kinetic energy from rolling, I have made both rubber and sponge dice but the rolling characteristics of these two are little crazy. The rubber dice simply take only a small amount of force to ricochet them around the screen and the sponge dice don't roll far enough regardless of force, they sort of float through the air, spinning very, very slowly and then plop roll. Sorry no deforming or exploding dice planned. :p