What’s in beta-11? I’ll go into that in detail, including recording a screencast or two, but for tonight, lets leave it at:

• Fixes for some of the bug reports that have come in lately.
• Ad-hoc drawing (draw on the background of a map or tabletop, just like you would on your battlemat)
• A much-enhanced text object for maps/tabletops. You can set font, color, size, border, and fill.
• It accepts and records license keys, so those who took advantage of the pre-release deal at Gen Con have something to do with the license key they got!

Watch for more later tonight/today. Also, don’t forget that the first in a new series of demos starts tonight at 10PM. Hope to see some of you there!

You can signup for Saturdays session, or if that doesn’t work for you, feel free to request a different day/time in this other thread. I can’t guarantee that I can accommodate every requested day/time, but if you give me some candidate time slots, I’ll do my best.

Brennen, Jeremy and I are back from Gen Con, and I’m hard at work on getting EpicTable beta 11 out the door. Beta 11 is what we demoed at Gen Con, and I’m pretty excited about a couple of the new features we were able to get in:

• ad-hoc drawing tools, allowing you to draw freehand on your map or tabletop
• lots of options for customizing your “plain” (until now) text objects on the tabletop

Look for details in the next couple days.

Here’s another exciting piece of news. We sold pre-orders at Gen Con! The beta has reached a point where it’s stable enough for our weekly game, so while it probably has about 3-6 months of beta left, I felt like EpicTable was finally ready for some limited, pre-release sales. So, we were offering special pre-release pricing on EpicTable demo at our booth. Don’t worry forum folks–I wouldn’t sell to convention goers without giving you guys a similar opportunity to pick up EpicTable before its official release. (Details on that later.)

Look for some new faces on the forums. I let loose the 3rd wave of beta participants, and of course, the pre-order folks have access to the beta.

Finally, if you couldn’t make it to Gen Con, you’re not out in the cold. I’m going to get a virtual demo booth going, and we’ll run a set of demos. Whether you’re in the beta currently, or just curious, you’re welcome to visit the booth. I just have too coordinate with my three year old boss, who was at home with her Mom while I was at Gen Con….

What’s on the tour?

All four demos contain the same content:

• 30-minute “guided tour” of EpicTable
• 30-minute Q&A session

I’ll be using GoToMeeting to share my desktop and for voice chat. GoToMeeting has worked out really well for me. It allows me to share my screen and has integrated audio and recording capabilities. As an attendee, you normally don’t need to install anything as long as your browser supports Java. Information about joining the demo is available below.

Demos On-Demand!

Okay, maybe not on-demand…how about upon polite request? If none of the demo times work for you, please let me know. I’d be happy to schedule a demo for you and your gaming group. Also, I hope to record some of these sessions and make them available after the con.

EpicTable FUMcon Fall 2009 Sessions

Demo starting times are as follows. Please allow yourself an extra couple minutes to get GoToMeeting setup and watch your timezones carefully. There’s a link below for each session. Use your microphone and speakers – a headset is recommended. Or, call in using your telephone.

Session #1: Nov 7, 2009 5 AM GMT (Nov 7, Midnight Eastern)
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/join/347093138
Phone Info:
Dial 217-287-4117
Access Code: 347-093-138
Audio PIN: Shown after joining the meeting

Session #2: Nov 8, 2009 3 AM GMT (Nov 7, 10 PM Eastern)
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/join/904466987
Phone Info:
Dial 213-286-1200
Access Code: 904-466-987
Audio PIN: Shown after joining the meeting

Session #3: Nov 8, 2009 4 PM GMT (Nov 8, 11 AM Eastern)
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/join/398190587
Phone Info:
Dial 712-338-7101
Access Code: 398-190-587
Audio PIN: Shown after joining the meeting

Session #4: Nov 8, 2009 7 PM GMT (Nov 8, 2 PM Eastern)
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/join/401136547
Phone Info:
Dial 213-286-1203
Access Code: 401-136-547
Audio PIN: Shown after joining the meeting

Google Calendar of EpicTable Demos

The only downside is that since both blog posts and development blog posts go to the forum (for the sake of comments), the forum feed has some redundant content if you happen to be subscribed to the blog feeds already. However, this might be an option for you if you’re interested in a feed of new threads started in the forums and can bear the cost of seeing my posts twice.

You can see the full list of EpicTable feeds at: http://www.epictable.com/subscribe/