Use 3D Dice Anywhere with dddice v0.3.0
dddice (pronounced three-d-dice, i.e. 3D dice) is a platform to roll and customize 3D dice with friends.
v0.3.0 is, by far, our biggest yet. This release introduces the first version of the dddice API which can be used to create custom dddice integrations and dice themes. This release also unlocks massive potential for artists to build incredibly creative dice themes.
In celebration of this huge milestone, we thought it would be appropriate to talk about how we got here, what makes v0.3.0 so special, and what we have planned for the future of dddice.
Our story begins ...
dddice began as a simple need between friends.
Around October 2021, a couple mutual friends expressed interest in playing Dungeons & Dragons. We were thrilled as we love playing D&D. We especially love teaching new people about D&D. Since many of us were spread around geographically, the game was set to be virtual and held over Zoom.
We instantly started thinking of all the different tools we could use to play. We had a large party of mostly new players and needed something that was simple and fast. More importantly, we really wanted something that would give our players the real excitement of rolling dice at a game table. We wanted players to experience those epic moments where a natural 20 comes in at just the right time. We wanted them to feel those critical blunders that lead to dice being held in dice jail forever.
Our search for the perfect tool began. Specifically, it had to be:
- Fun, first and foremost. Playing tabletop games shouldn't feel like a chore. Rolling dice should be exciting!
- Easy, we didn't have time to teach complicated interfaces.
- Website-based, we didn't want our player's installing software on work computers or on their phones.
On our quest we surprisingly found no such platform existed - at least none that matched the experience we wanted to create for our players. So being the experience-obsessed programmers we are, we built it ourselves.
Over the course of a couple weekends, we built the original prototype of dddice which allowed Game Masters to share a URL with players. Connected players could customize their dice piles and roll together live. It was simple but solved our problem well. Our player's loved it - we loved it too!
Since then, we have been meticulously planning the future of dddice. We want to grow dddice into a creative platform that all tabletop player's will love.
Before we talk about how our future however, let's cover some of the exciting features that make v0.3.0 truly game-changing.
v0.3.0 Features
Previous to this release, the dddice experience was partially offline. Rolls between you and your players were synced locally without ever touching a server and any custom dice themes were stored in your browser. We purposely made this decision because we wanted to deliver real value to users quickly.
We always knew the secret to dddice was going to be a flourishing creative community. We have always been inspired by the creativity of the tabletop community and wanted to ensure that dddice could be extended and integrated with anything and everything. We needed to build a way for people to extend dddice for their own purposes with unlimited potential.
v0.3.0 is the first release to introduce the dddice API and SDKs.
🎲 API 1.0
The dddice API is responsible for delivering the dddice v0.3.0 interface. It handles all rolls, room updates, user updates, themes, and more. Everything on dddice can be recreated by a developer with no special hacks or modifications.
This API opens the door for an infinite world of possibilities. For example: VTT Ingrations, Browser Plugins, Zoom Plugin, OBS Plugin ... you get the idea.
We will be working on SDKs in the near future, specifically focusing on JavaScript (TypeScript) applications first and prioritizing other languages based on request.
SDKs will make the API easier to work with and will allow developers to render 3D dice using their own canvas. This will allow developers to build standalone applications that utilize the power and extensibility of dddice.
💥 Themes Unleashed
dddice offers a basic dice editor that allows users to quickly craft dice with different colors, fonts, custom values, and more. While the editor is awesome (our opinion), we are aware of the limitations and know that some artists and developers might want to do more with their themes.
For those with the artistic chops, v0.3.0 now supports the uploading of custom dice themes that are crafted using your own software, such as Blender. The new dddice API introduces an endpoint that allows anyone to upload their own textures, sounds, dice models, and shaders! ("What's a shader?" - Perhaps consider yourself lucky 🙂)
We cannot express how unlimited the potential is. Imagine dice that are on fire, big puffy snowball dice, or glass dice that crack when rolled. Anyone with the know-how could create these dice and share them with friends (or sell them? More on that in a second!)
We plan to write more about creating custom themes, textures, and shaders in the future. For those with an adventerous attitude, feel free to dive into the documentation!
What's next?
We've covered a lot and hopefully you are as excited as we are for the future of dddice! So what's next?
Accounts, for starters. Accounts will allow users to permanently save their rooms and custom themes, even share their custom themes with others! Accounts will be optional. We believe a big appeal of dddice is rolling dice with no account, and we plan to keep that.
Dice Pages. We know some of you are going to create insanely amazing themes that deserve to be shown off. We plan to build pages that truly showcase your themes - even showoff stats and usage data! (Are these dice actually cursed?)
Marketplace. Finally, we are working towards building a community-driven marketplace. We want artists to make money on their incredible dice creations. We want developers to earn income for their sophisticated integrations. We thrive when our community thrives and we plan to build best-in-class tools for our contributors.
Conclusion
What a wild ride it's been! We cannot express how grateful we are for our incredible community and cannot wait to continue building dddice with you all.
If you're interested in joining our growing community, join our Discord, follow us on Twitter, join the subreddit, and stay tuned for more updates.
Now what are you waiting for? Go roll some dice!