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Mellock
June 6th, 2008, 13:51
https://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/insider/gametable

Just out of curiousity: does anyone else think those dice look familiar? The third pic down. 5 7 1 3 5 1 is even the same start position they have in FG2.

Goblin-King
June 6th, 2008, 14:06
Yes it seems like Wizards have taken the graphics for their game table dice roller directly from FG. They did do some minor postprocessing.

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/misc/wotcdiceanim.gif

The original picture this was taken from is here:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/misc/gametable3.jpg

And here is the FG starting view with the dice in their initial orientations:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/misc/fgstartsmall.jpg

We're waiting to see what else they have "borrowed" and look forward to any original ideas they might have :).

mr_h
June 6th, 2008, 14:30
Wow, what are the chances? Two different groups rolling identical dice and getting identical rolls with the dice falling in identical locations?!

This is like, a sign...it's gotta be. The Apocalypse, or the Second Coming of Jebus, or That Geeky Kid in High School finally hooked up with a hot chick....

Or it could just be outright theft....but that's just silly.

Sorontar
June 6th, 2008, 14:37
WotC are evil incarnate, there's the proof :)

Please knock 4th Edn on the head and let someone develop a 4th Edn ruleset elsewhere.

Strike a deal to package a generic ruleset and the 3rd party 4th Edn ruleset with FG and be a welcoming presence for all those disillusioned by WotC and their $15/month.

God get on board with Piazo and Pathfinder or have a convo with Hero Games who are getting press in the MMO world at the moment because Cryptic have just bought the IP for Champions for their new Super-Heroes MMO.

If Hero are stoked about getting an MMO they may be just as stoked about being a flagship ruleset for FG.

I know it's all up in the air at the moment and you guys are obviously going to let us know "soon" about what your plans are but KevinM's podcast was awesome and it got me excited about what could come to FG in the future.

*crawls off exhausted to hide in a dark place*

:D

Valarian
June 6th, 2008, 15:06
We're waiting to see what else they have "borrowed" and look forward to any original ideas they might have :).
Careful ... they'll probably sue if you use their original ideas. They get to use other people's ones though, of course. :pirate:

Sorontar
June 6th, 2008, 15:13
SW should have protected rolley dice in a VTT :)

Dachannien
June 6th, 2008, 17:27
Oh mah gord, it's in 3d!

Of course, that just means it's that much more difficult to make custom content, which means that DMs would become enslaved to the WotC micropayment wallet suction pump.

Tokuriku
June 9th, 2008, 14:30
Well, maybe you have a chance at suing the big giant for a change!
There's no way you could loose.

Griogre
June 9th, 2008, 20:38
It's just a mock up picture, though the artist was really careless to not at least rotate the dice or something to cover the fact he plagerised the dice for the screen.

This is an interesting example of how an artist can get the rest of a development team in trouble if he does not tell them he grabbed a screen from a compeditor. This is fairly typical in internal concept docs, but it should not have been released to the public. They use a different 3d dice pic in the PH - which may not have been ready by the mock up deadline.

It will be interesting to see whether that dice graphic makes it into DDI.

richvalle
June 9th, 2008, 21:30
I showed this to a friend and he had to go and figure out the odds.

Not taking color into effect the chances of all WoTC's dice being on the same numbers as FG's dice is about 1 in 500,000.

If you take color into account assuming 64 colors its 1 in 33 Billion.

I pointed out this doesn't take into account the die orientation (all the die are sitting/pointing the same way)... if you say there are 8 directions its in about 1 a 'quadrillion'.

:)

rv

Ged
June 11th, 2008, 20:13
Yesterday SmiteWorks notified WotC about the infringement with a cease and desist demand. WotC seems to have made their record in updating their website. The image was apparently from a "very early design document", which seems to justify the use in WotC's (more accurately, of one of people working for WotC) opinion. (Here (https://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1043881) is the reference.) Well, this might not be a matter of opinion...

It's of course good that they reacted quickly, but taking and giving back (after considerable use) is not quite the same as not taking in the first place.

As we noted elsewhere, we are very surprised that Wizards of the Coast, whose business heavily involves intellectual property management was so ignorant on intellectual property rights that it chose to take distinctive graphics directly out of the most prominent head-on competing product.

Sorontar
June 11th, 2008, 20:20
I can only say that I had a good old chortle to myself, because whilst a serious matter, in the back of my mind I couldn't stop thinking about the reaction at WotC.

Bravo.

Master
June 12th, 2008, 16:25
I like this snippet at the bottom of the page.


BTW, many of us here think Fantasy Grounds is a very nice product and hope our game table can live up to and exceed the standard it has set.
__________________
Scott Rouse
Senior Brand Manager – Dungeons and Dragons
Wizards of the Coast

That is a pretty good quote IMHO. I am appalled at what WOTC did through sheer neglect. I hope that it isnt a representation of what to expect from their actual product. If that was an alpha screen though what does that say about their progress when all of the other screen are from the same build?

I wish them luck though, competition is normally good for the end user :)

Alyais
November 6th, 2008, 15:57
You should steal their light source idea. Then we'd be really pimp. Heh.

PneumaPilot
November 6th, 2008, 21:13
Well, they DID give everybody D20...

Brenn
November 15th, 2008, 01:51
Well, they DID give everybody D20...

As much as I'm done with the whole D20 thing, you have to admit without d20 and the SRD, I doubt FG would have become what it is today.

I'm very happy with what they have made it into. I remember the early days, couldn't achieve what I wanted shelved it and came back to find that FG2 has enabled me more than I actually hoped for.

Good job SW and keep it coming.

Valarian
November 15th, 2008, 08:10
Well, they DID give everybody D20...
What, you mean the system used by Dragon Warriors in the 1980s?

turelus
November 15th, 2008, 11:32
We should totally put that quote from wizards all over the page with titles like "This is what wizards think of our product" and then that. brilliant.

PneumaPilot
November 15th, 2008, 17:07
Then SmiteWorks should say: "And we will exceed whatever you exceed by a factor of 10!"

Master
November 18th, 2008, 05:02
What ever happened to the DND VTT? Have they released it yet? I stopped following it once 4th edition came out and I hated it.

PneumaPilot
November 18th, 2008, 14:15
It's still in the 'coming soon' stage as far as I can tell, although I thought from the way they were pimping 4th ed. prior to its release that it would be available at launch. I thought it was a part of the whole 'new face of D&D' and all that. Oh well.

Master
November 18th, 2008, 18:15
I figured it would have been released by now as well. Maybe they were not as far along as they led everyone to believe.

Griogre
November 19th, 2008, 06:41
Probably mid next year is my guess.