Handout Generator Updates
Added 2024-10-18 07:00:04 +0000 UTCHello to everyone!
We have big news and we wanted to communicate them early with all of you!
The next version of handout generator is almost ready and we are going to put it out live within the next weeks! This is the result of more than a year's hard work and we are more than excited to share some details with you, along with some screenshots.
What's New
Free handouts
All the handouts will be free. What?? Yes, you got that right, the whole watermark thing was a burden to maintain and at the end of the day what we really want is to allow anybody to create handouts for their games. So, in this new version all 108 current handouts are going to be completely free for use. We plan to provide early-access to new handouts to paid members, but eventually those will be free for everybody to enjoy.
User accounts
In this new version of handout generator we implemented a proper backend and user accounts. That means that you will need to register in order to use it. The registration is needed as you will be able to save handouts in your account and edit them again in the future. It also helps us understand how many people are using the handout generator and communicate any new features, handouts & ideas with them.
Complete rewrite
The new version is a complete rewrite from VueJS 2 to Angular 18. As Vue 2 was sunsetting we had the option to go with Vue 3 but we instead decided to switch to Angular 18. This means that the whole handout creation process is completely re-written and we are very proud with the result! It is now much easier to create a handout and the user interface is now much more UX friendly.
New handout creation process
As per above, we re-written the interface where you create the handouts from scratch and we added cool features like Copy styles, Clone Objects, Undo/Redo capability, Zoom functions and many more. You can have a preview of the new interface below.
New google fonts implementation
We weren't happy with the way google fonts was implemented. Until now we relied on 3rd party libraries which were kind of slow and hard to navigate the fonts. So, we decided to create a custom library to handle the whole google fonts rendering and selection. The result is amazing and finally you will be able to choose the appropriate fonts for your handouts easier.
My Handouts
A major new feature is the ability to save handouts on your user account. You can now create folders, place handouts in them, and edit them in the future.
Overlays
Another one allows you to put some overlays in your handout to create some effects like blood, dirt, cult symbols and many more that will be added in the future.
New Foundry Module
A new foundry module was created to support this new version, and it is going to be enriched in the future, like the ability to import a folder of handouts from your account and more. The Handout Generator Lite module is going to be deprecated as it is not useful anymore.
Obscure disclaimer for those that want to join the cult
Roadmap
We have a concrete roadmap and some very cool ideas we want to bring to life. Some of those are:
Handout sharing
Proper commercial usage of our handouts to third party content-creators
Share your scenario with the community so people can download and/or edit your handouts.
We are considering the option to auto-generate a letter according to user input (AI features)
Community created handouts
and much more that we cannot currently share
Patreon changes
As this new endeavour is done with collaboration with other developers we needed to have a clearer way to split responsibilities and arrange all financial matters. That's why we created a new patreon page that will be connected to this new handout generator.
Cthulhu Architect's Maps patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/cthulhu_architect) is going to be used for our maps distribution and the new Handout Generator patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/HandoutGenerator) is going to be used for anything related to the Handout Generator.
The paid membership on the new patreon page is going to give you access to more storage to save your handouts, the new foundry module and many more cool features available for paid members.
What will happen with the existing Chthonian tier level users?
We are going to remove the 1 euro tier from Cthulhu Architect's Maps patreon page as all the current features (create and download handouts) are going to be available for free. If any of you want more storage to save e.g. the handouts of your current campaign or create the handouts of the multiple scenarios that you are running, you can subscribe to one of the tiers and enjoy the new features.
The 1 euro tier is going to be removed when the new version is going to be launched.
Final notes
Handout Generator started as a random fun idea and after all these years it feels very good seeing that many of you loved it besides all the flaws that it currently has. The love and support we received from all of you made us understand that there is a great need for simple tools that will help the GM immerse the players on the table.
We really want to make this tool the one-stop place for all your handout needs. We have some plans that we cannot reveal yet, but will make this dream come true.
We would also like to thank all the beta testers that gave us valuable feedback during the past few months! We couldn't do this without you!
Thank you all for your support during all these years, and looking forward to the new generation of Cthulhu Architect's Handout Generator!
Stay tuned!
P.S.: If you want to get notified when the next version of handout generator is going live, we urge you to join our new patreon page for free (https://www.patreon.com/HandoutGenerator). You will also get a bonus of more storage once the new version is published. You can also join our new discord server (https://discord.gg/7u6TRa6mU3)
Comments
Thanks! Our goal is to make handout generator the main place where people can create and share handouts with others. More cool features will come soon!
Panagiotis I
2024-10-18 11:50:52 +0000 UTCOk, great, so you also got a second subscription from me … you’re doing awesome work
KarstenW
2024-10-18 11:42:31 +0000 UTCThe main benefit of paid subscription to the new version is going to be the extra storage as it has a monthly cost for us too (the new version is utilizing a backend in php, a db and storage making this pretty costly). Also, the foundry module is going to be available only for paid members as it is going to include some features related to saved handouts e.g. import a whole folder of handouts into foundry. We have plans to improve the foundry module and add more features like e.g. better handout import into single/multiple journal entries, more options on how things will be created (permissions and more). We want to have the resources to collaborate with people that can help us improve the module and make it even better. We also have plans to release new handouts much more often than what we currently do. Again, we need to resources to do that and we want to collaborate with people like Aslo who created the last batch of handouts you see on the current version of Handout Generator. Besides the above, the paid membership will also include some cool features like overlays, early access to new handouts, voting in polls to decide on what we are going to work on next, custom handouts and we are also experimenting with some AI features to automatically generate the text of e.g. some letters. You may want to have a look on this beta version of the benefits of paid membership in the new patreon page. https://staging.handouts.cthulhuarchitect.com/become-a-cultist The main reason of why we created the new patreon page is that this endeavour is now a product of collaboration of multiple people (and not just Cthulhu Architect) and the most honest approach to everybody involved is to separate Handout Generator from the CA Maps page and treat Handout Generator as a separate entity. I am more than happy to discuss more details (I cannot fit everything in this comment) in discord if you want, my username is cthulhu_architect, I would be happy to explain to you the whole idea and what our plan is. Also, I would be happy to listen to your ideas and proposals and discuss more.
Panagiotis I
2024-10-18 11:19:14 +0000 UTCYes, understood, sorry, I’ve been unprecise: Will there be advantages regarding the Handout Creator (especially earlier access to new things - personally I would not need space for saving, just the Foundry Module and earlier access to new Handouts) or will it be completely separated in the future?
KarstenW
2024-10-18 10:27:22 +0000 UTCThanks! We hope to get this live during the next weeks.
Panagiotis I
2024-10-18 10:15:08 +0000 UTCThanks a lot for your support! We hope you enjoy!
Panagiotis I
2024-10-18 09:22:22 +0000 UTCHey, will you won't need a subscription to be able to create and download handouts. All the handouts will be available for free so you will get the existing functionality for free. The new patreon page is for those that want to organize their campaign/one-shot and save all the handouts in their account and edit them later.
Panagiotis I
2024-10-18 09:12:54 +0000 UTCalready patreon !
Niko Tackian
2024-10-18 08:41:07 +0000 UTCVery cool, sounds great. But will the Generator also stay part of the higher (over 1$) Map Tiers? Would be not so great, if we need additional separate and costly 2nd Patreon!? And will the pictures be with alpha background?
KarstenW
2024-10-18 07:38:26 +0000 UTCThis is what drew me in originally though I stuck around for the maps. I'm looking forward to using the new generator.
Paul Te
2024-10-18 07:07:06 +0000 UTC
