The Roll20 Team
For the past few months, a team of developers here have been working on the all-new Roll20 Mobile, a companion app for iOS and Android devices.
The Concept
Roll 20 Mobile works in tandem with the VTT, acting as a second-screen to make playing on Roll20 a cleaner, more intuitive experience. Instead of trying to recreate the Roll20 experience 1-for-1 on a smaller screen, we focused on building a place for players to keep their dice, character sheets, everything they need--quite literally right in the palm of their hand.
In late December, we started opening Roll20 Mobile up to select members of the community for our closed Beta. During that time, we continued work to make sure the app was ready for prime-time; most notably, we got to work on tablet compatibility, though we made other tweaks along the way.
Now, we’re ready to enter the next phase of development. Pro Users: Welcome to Roll20 Mobile’s Beta.
We’ve opened up our work-in-progress version of the app to Roll20 Pro users with iOS or Android devices. We’re so excited to show you what we’ve cooked up for Roll20 Mobile, and, more importantly, we’re so excited to have you, the community, join us as development continues.
What To Expect Now
Like we mentioned above, Roll20 Mobile is a second-screen companion app, rather than a 1-for-1 port of the VTT onto mobile devices. It’s built to help you manage a character sheet and make dice rolls. As development progresses, we’ll be adding even more features and functionality that you’ll learn about at the bottom of this post. You can learn more about what you can expect from Roll20 Mobile in our FAQ here.
Right now, here’s what's in Roll20 Mobile:
5E compatibility
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During the Beta, we’re focusing on refining the app for the most popular system on our site: Dungeons & Dragons: 5th Edition. We’re only supporting Dungeons & Dragons: 5th Edition for the Beta.
A brand new UI
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The Roll20 Mobile UI has been built from the ground-up especially for mobile devices. Swipe and tap to select your games and character sheets.
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View a game’s name, description, art banner, and the last time it was played, all from your home screen.
Manage character sheets
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You’ll be able to view your character’s stats, skills, and proficiencies.
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The sheet’s heads-up display contains your character’s important information at-a-glance, including their armor class, HP, speed, and character portrait.
Make rolls
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Complete out-of-combat ability and skill checks and send the results directly to your game’s chat--all with a tap.
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Complete saving throws right from your character sheet.
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Send all your rolls right to chat, powered by Roll20’s signature Quantum Roll server.
Phone and Tablet Support
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Roll20 Mobile is your Roll20 companion, however you play.
Why Beta?
Community collaboration is at the heart of everything we do at Roll20. Our forums, our community character sheet authors, and our streams and events like Roll20Con are all powered by our users. Like with the dev server, which features the latest and greatest developments for Roll20, the Roll20 Mobile Beta is being opened up to our Pro users initially, so they can join us during development. Once the Beta is over, we'll open Roll20 Mobile up to all users, regardless of subscription.
When you log in to Roll20 Mobile during the Beta, you’ll see two notable buttons at the bottom of the home screen. One takes you to the bug reporting form, where you can let us know about any issues you might encounter while using the app.
The other links to our Product Board. This is something new for us, and we’re excited to see how it plays out. On the Product Board, you can view and vote on suggestions for future development. You can also keep up with the latest developments and work we’re doing on the app from the Product Board.
What To Expect Next
During development, we’ll sometimes put out surveys and other calls for feedback regarding specific issues or developments.
Here’s some other things we’re committed to working on:
Continued Iteration
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We’re continuing to iterate on how rolls are displayed.
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Changes are coming to how information is pulled and displayed for roll results.
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We’re also implementing backend functionality to mobile character sheets to power things like attacks & spells.
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We’re also working on changes to the character selection UI--powered by the feedback from our closed beta--to make it more robust and fun to use.
Adding New features
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Our next goal: Completing a combat encounter through the app.
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After that: Casting spells, using the appropriate modifiers and spell slots.
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We’ll be integrating support for languages other than English.
Beyond 5E
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While we’re focused on 5E for Beta, we’re laying down the architecture to other games and systems that will be compatible with Roll20 Mobile.
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We’re also working on tools and documentation to empower community sheet authors to bring their sheets to mobile.
How Can I Get Roll20 Mobile?
If you’re a Pro user and that all sounds interesting, we’d love to have you join us for the Beta. Sign-up is easy; just sign up for an invite at mobilebeta.roll20.net. You’ll soon get an email with further instructions for downloading the app for iOS or Android. Once you’re logged in, you’ll see a list of all the games associated with your account, and you’ll be able to get into any 5th Edition games from there.
If you have any more questions, check out our FAQ, join us over at the forums, or let us know on Twitter.
We’ll see you at the virtual table.
