Foundry V10, Third party dependencies and lessons learned - Wednesday Ben's Day News #41 (Patreon)

As most of the Foundry Tier Supporters probably noticed, Foundry v10 is out. While this fixes some major core bugs (like scenes turning black after some time, making it impossible to navigate them until refreshing via f5, for example), this also means that we need to get Beneos Battlemaps and Beneos Tokens up to speed and ready for v10. 

We are still waiting on the update for Points of Interest Teleporter, the last module we depend on to not be updated yet. 

As you can probably already tell, our dependency on third party modules irks us as much as you. This circumstance not only restricts us in regard to our capacity for innovation and implementation of new features, but, as we are experiencing right now, it also affects our flexibility concerning problems and updates. 

User Vestium kicked off an intensely constructive discussion on our Discord - if I feel hemmed in and restricted by a reliance on third party modules, why haven't I worked more on our own module to finally achieve independence?

As the whole Beneos construct is based on a learning by doing concept, we are working hard to let you feel more of the doing part, then the learning part, so to speak. Functionality and usability were our prime concerns, and we've made some vast improvements over the past nine months. The new render settings for maximum quality, the switch to Unreal Engine 5, the swap to Moulinette and the update of all older maps with said modules to offer the very best experience.

I already thought about combining Multi level tokens and point of interest teleporters into one working inhouse module, but instead we decided to focus on content - there is maybe one major release and the shake up accompanying it per year, so looking at all the things we did, this was not very high on our to-do list.

This is the reason why I, like many other content creators, always recommend to wait at least a few weeks before updating foundry, especially if you have an ongoing game. 

We are taking your needs and feedback into consideration and continue to try and improve the Beneos experience on every level - in terms of content, usability and stability. We have a lot of plans and ideas for the future, and we'll make sure to prioritize preventing those issues in the future! Here are some points on our to-do list:

- Building an online search engine to sift through tokens and battlemaps, to find and choose your specific content quicker and more precise.

- Converting the Beneos Battlemaps module into a quality of life module, providing all the features currently offered by third party modules and improve them with additional features, for example interactive sounds.

- Phasing different maps without leaving or reloading the scene. Great for multi phase boss fights or fancy effects.

- Web browsing integration for the Beneos webshop for future adventures and original content.

- Our adventure Vigil's End, with animated maps, voice over narration, a custom soundtrack, items, creatures and much more - the first of many.

We are working on consolidating the modules and developing in-house solutions to further improve your experience. 

Speaking of development - if we are going to tackle this, we are going to do it right. And by right we mean that we want to incorporate features you actually want and need. 

So - please feel free to tell us - either in the comments or via Discord - if there's anything you'd like to see integrated into an all-encompassing Beneos Module!