Home » Articles » Paper & Pen RPG Games

Dundjinni

	Author: Jim Zabek Article Type: Paper & Pen RPG Games Publication Date: 12/15/2004 Developer: Fluid Entertainment Publisher: Fluid Entertainment Related Categories: Fantasy, Role-Playing, Scenario Design / Creation

Dungeon Architecture

Like many mapping applications the base tool is useful, but has lots of add-ons for Dungeon Masters who want more. Each of the modules and art packs is reasonably priced, but taken together can end up costing a fair sum. The version I reviewed is the base Dundjinni plus the Castle-Temple-Village art pack. Presently Dundjinni only has art focused on a fantasy or medieval theme. However, plans are in the works for a modern pack which is expected to be released in late January or early February 2005 and a sci-fi art pack is being planned. There is also a growing body of artwork being posted in the Dundjinni forum which has artwork for from all genres, and it appears as though individuals within the Dundjinni community will occasionally create custom requests made by posters, all of which indicates that Dundjinni is thriving and its usefulness is growing.

Interface

I quickly became familiar with the application and found the interface to be very intuitive. It is easy–to-draw lines (freehand, straight, or elliptical), fill in spaces, drop furniture into rooms, rotate objects, and erase things. The eraser is especially robust and Dungeon Masters can easily select the specific item they want to erase. In one instance, I found that I needed to erase a wall, but wanted to keep the door and the floor surrounding it. It was simple to adjust the size and shape of the eraser. Then all I needed to do was to select the object I wanted to erase from a series of buttons at the top of the menu. I could unselect anything I wanted to keep and with a couple of sweeps of my mouse, the map was clean. This is really good stuff and is obviously created by a development team who understand the tools needed to make things easy.

If I had one thing to grouse about it would be the organization of the objects. As noted above there are various art packs and token packs available for purchase. The way that they are organized makes sense from the perspective of an art pack, but not as much when looking at things through a user’s perspective. For instance, if I want a wooden floor I have to remember that it’s in the Dungeon Pack and not the Village or Temple pack. I’m sure the developers had a good reason for having the packs broken out separately; they’ve done everything else very well and it’s obvious the design team is bright. Perhaps it is in anticipation for new art packs that aren’t fantasy themed. At present, from my perspective as a user, all I care about is that I want a floor, not which art pack it came in. If I have the kind of floor I want, that’s great. If not, I probably need to know which mod it is in so I can buy it. In my view, once I have a particular texture, it doesn’t really matter which add-on it’s in, I just want the texture I had in mind without having to mull through all my add-on packs. In the overall scheme of things, this is a minor annoyance in an otherwise outstanding tool. And it’s probably possible to move all of the art into a single art pack by using Windows Explorer; I just haven’t tried it yet.

Object details are easy to note by right-clicking on an object.	Lining up the carpet can be a chore.

But Wait! There’s More!

Dungeon Masters don’t need to buy every item they want to place in their maps, however. There is a directory specifically created in Dundjinni where users can place their own artwork. I’m not exactly talented when it comes to art, but I can use the default Paint program that comes with Windows with surprising skill. For Dungeon Masters with a bit of time and inclination, the scope of objects that can be used is almost limitless.

The good news is that beyond purchasing art packs and creating them (or having a friend make them) there is a new download every week from the Dundjinni website. The current week’s download is available for free as well as downloads from the last four weeks. This is a cool feature that keeps me coming back to the site periodically not only to download new art, but also to look at what other Dungeon Masters are doing. This is in addition to the above mentioned user art that continues to be posted on the Dundjinni website.