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Beneos 2023: A Half-Year Review
🕑 Added 2023-07-07 17:16:48 +0000 UTCKickstarting 2023 with Dynamic Map Sizes
The year 2023 marked a significant milestone for Beneos Battlemaps with the release of "Molten Court" and "Scorched City". These releases were the first to feature dynamic map sizes, a testament to our commitment to innovation and quality. We began the year with a massive overhaul of our video files, squeezing every pixel to achieve the highest quality and smallest file size possible. The result? A fully animated map of the "Headisport Harbour Storage" with a resolution of 7000 x 4400 px and a massive 70x44 grid, all compressed into an incredible 150 MB video. This optimization has set a new standard in the VTT community, making our video assets the best and most optimized available.
Revamping the Iconic Argynvostholt Map
Following the successful releases, we undertook a rework of the iconic Argynvostholt Map. The location was completely rebuilt, and the map was made more playable through the aforementioned optimizations. For the first time, we added multiple sequences, including the revenant encounter in the chapel and the Vladimir confrontation in the audience hall on the third floor. These additions brought a new level of immersion to Argynvostholt.
Delivering More Dungeon Content with the Modular Dungeon
In response to the growing interest in dungeon content, we released the Modular Dungeon pack. With 29 maps and sceneries, it was our largest release to date. We combined individual dungeon rooms with traps, dynamic doors, and secret passages to create a mega-dungeon that can be played without preparation.
The Unwanted Daughter: A Personal Triumph
The release of the Unwanted Daughter, a fully walkable ship with day, storm, and battle variants, was a personal triumph. I learned a lot about animated water and nautical maps, knowledge that I applied to improve the subsequent major release, Headisport Harbour. The harbour has received positive feedback from many users who have already utilized its scenes, from the lonely beach to the bustling dock.
The White Dragon Lair: A Surprise Dungeon
The last major release of the first half was the White Dragon Lair. Originally planned as a single map release, I decided to turn it into a small lair dungeon complete with an animated dragon token, animated lair actions for the boss fight, and environmental storytelling elements like paw prints and frozen adventurers.
Increasing Diversity with Single Map Releases
In addition to our major packs, we increased our diversity with single map releases. The aim was to provide standalone map themes that can be presented to players without extensive explanation or preparation. The Ankheg Nest, the Necromancer's Kitchen, the Temple Boss Arena, and the Weathered Church are not only wonderful additions to Curse of Strahd but also a great arsenal of unique maps.
Looking Ahead: The Next Six Months
In the coming months, we aim to listen more to our supporters. We are working to democratize the map decision process by regularly asking for map suggestions in news posts. The comment with the most votes will likely be brought to life. If you want to play your map in Beneos style, don't forget to whitelist Patreon or reactivate notifications for my Patreon!
Beneos Tokens: A New Focus
Due to the significant changes in the Foundry data structure introduced in version 11, we are making many adjustments to our Beneos Tokens module and workflow scripts. Beneos Tokens will no longer focus solely on tokens but also on items and spells. We will soon offer a vast archive of high-quality spells and items at no additional cost. These can also be printed and used at the table, making for a cool archive.
Launching Our First Battlepack
In the next six months, we will launch our first Battlepack on our website, Beneos-battlemaps.com. These are complete encounter kits with story, tokens, items, spells, and of course, cool maps. We also plan to publish SciFi content, which will be released outside of Beneos Battlemaps and Patreon due to the majority voting against Cyberpunk and SciFi.
Loyalty Tokens: A Token of Appreciation
This year, we started offering Loyalty Tokens, high-quality and complex special tokens that are sent free to all active patrons every month. These tokens are not part of the regular Beneos tokens backlog and do not take up "release slots". They are a thank you to those who remain loyal to us.
This first half of the year, like the time before, has been incredibly fun, and I am so grateful to each of you that I can do this madness as my main job. THANK YOU!
Stay healthy and enjoy your games,
Ben
Comments
zachary kolvoord
your maps are excellent, I love the immersion I can bring to my cos game thanks to you. I must say, the world needs Beneos Witchlight.
Beneos Battlemaps
Hey Kovacs, sorry for the late reply. As you can imagine I'm incredibly busy :D Thank you for the feedback, that was of course not intentional. The old Argynvost map does have the suffix "old" but Moulinette didn't show it. I've adjusted it and it should be updated soon for all to see. Merci =) -Ben
Kovacs
The quality has been great this year. So much so that the it's only this post that reminded me of the one bit of feedback I intended to give. With the Argenvostholt remakes. You may wish to consider adding something along the lines of 'remade' or 'improved', to the end of the Moulinette listing. At the moment new and old are listed as CoS Argenvostholt and CoS Argenvostholdt. For us older Patreons we can see the difference, but new and future subcribers may be confused about which to download and only go for the older thinking it is more complete as it appears has 32 items compared to the newer 21. Either way, keep up the good work!
Andy Ross
Excited about the Beneos Battlepacks, especially those that are SciFi. I've been using some of your maps for my Star Wars campaign when I can - looking forward to dedicated SciFi maps. Prefer if it was a Patreon but you need to do what makes sense for you.
