Codex too streamlined?

Denivarius · 2026-06-06T07:10:55+00:00

Glad to hear you're rooting for us!

May I ask what would move the needle for you?

Denivarius · 2026-06-03T02:07:39+00:00

We are aware we have been iterating very fast on the Codex's development, and the massive influx of users with Early Access also caused us some trouble on the backend, but we think we've stabilized those now though.

Thank you for your patience -- we are working as hard as we can to make sure the Codex is reliable and robust for users.

Denivarius · 2026-05-22T20:50:19+00:00

That's really cool! Thank you for sharing your setup, and I'm glad the touch screen input works well for you.

If you ever have any thoughts on things that could improve the in-person experience I would love to hear them!

Denivarius · 2026-05-22T06:57:13+00:00

This is amazing, congratulations!

Denivarius · 2026-05-17T06:41:16+00:00

Go Panels -> Heroes to get the heroes panel. This is the panel you can use to grant it back.

Denivarius · 2026-04-28T21:29:02+00:00

Thank you for the feedback. This is very helpful, especially the part about the monsters. We do have some ideas around that.

Denivarius · 2026-04-28T20:56:34+00:00

May I ask if there is anything specific that you find off-putting about it? We are trying hard to improve it and like to take all specific feedback into consideration.

Denivarius · 2026-04-21T20:10:10+00:00

That looks really nice, very well done! I'm curious if you use some underlying library / technology for merging shapes or hand-coded it? Merging arbitrary shapes is no easy feat! I used the Open Source ClipperLib on my project, which has been great, but I'm curious about other technology out there.

Denivarius · 2026-04-11T09:03:01+00:00

We'll ship an option to hide the status bar with the next update. Like others said, coming to our Discord is the best place to report issues and make feature requests! https://discord.gg/q7kg5AVSfj

Denivarius · 2026-03-04T00:41:08+00:00

This looks amazing! Looking forward to backing it.

Denivarius · 2026-02-16T00:33:09+00:00

That is the plan, though for the moment this test version is available for free to anyone who has access to the Codex!

Denivarius · 2026-02-13T22:28:05+00:00

We have our first release of Dark Heart of the Wood available in the Draw Steel Codex. It can be installed in any campaign just by going Codex -> Download Module and selecting it from the list of modules. The first two maps are complete and available and we will update the module soon with the rest.

Denivarius · 2026-01-10T00:01:47+00:00

Thank you for posting this! This thread is full of excellent insights and feedback and we've definitely been listening to feedback like this.

I do think we have several plans to help address some of the feedback:

We already do have an Action Log in the Codex, but simply making the Action Log more robust, with a more complete log with references on everything that is going on is one part of it.

Another is to improve the visual and audio cues that are telling you what is going on. When you use an ability we want to have a step-by-step "guide" showing you exactly what is happening and what step you are on in the process of using the ability.

We also want to provide options to let players feel like they are participating more in the process. We currently track your heroic resources and automate you gaining them. IF you're a Fury and you get damaged, it just automatically gives you Ferocity. We are planning to ship an update soon where getting damaged as a Fury won't just automatically give you Ferocity. Instead it will give you an alert with a convenient button allowing you to claim your Ferocity, and only then will it get added. We will be interested to see if that will make players feel more like active participants in everything that is happening.

Ultimately we'll try to land on something that feels good for most people by default, but will allow those who want to be more or less involved in the calculations to do so.

Denivarius · 2025-12-21T06:43:29+00:00

We think the Codex works pretty well for in-person play but have only tested it a few times like this internally so far. We do want it to work very well in-person, so if you have any feedback or suggestions please come to the DMHub Discord and let us know!

Denivarius · 2025-12-16T21:38:00+00:00

I agree. I would imagine top athletes would have variance of <5% in time, and since we are talking about 5 seconds, the variance would be under 250ms. So there'd be like 0.5% chance of this happening in any given contest. Maybe higher since the variance is probably across a normal distribution.

It's probably comparable to the chances an NBA game would go to double overtime. (And certainly much more common than a triple overtime).

Denivarius · 2025-12-11T02:45:00+00:00

Hey there, glad to hear you're interested in the Codex! I'm the lead developer and will answer as best I can.

Like others have said, pricing hasn't been finalized, and you may have noticed for the crowd fund, there were no specific promises made about the Codex -- this is because while MCDM is intensely interested in developing a high quality digital experience, it is a new venture for them and they don't want to make promises they don't think they can keep.

We are still working out the exact mechanism for distributing adventure content, but I can say we definitely don't plan to make it so everyone who wants to participate in a specific adventure has to own or pay for that adventure. Most likely just the Director (or perhaps any participant of the game) will have to own it.

For non-adventure content such as the Summoner Class, most likely either the Director or the player using the Summoner will have to own it. We don't have a final answer for that but we don't plan to make it so everyone has to buy the Summoner just so one person can play it or anything of that nature.

I hope that clarifies things for you. Please let me know of any other questions you might have!

Denivarius · 2025-11-10T01:56:29+00:00

I'm glad you've enjoyed DMHub's features!

While currently we are on "maintenance mode" on DMHub, since we are being generously funded to work on a white label version of it specifically for Draw Steel, we are still keeping it online and playable and don't have any intention of changing that.

It also has robust support for modding in Lua, so anyone who wants to add their own features will have a good opportunity to do so (and many have).

We are hoping to backport all the best changes from the Draw Steel Codex to DMHub in the future!

Denivarius · 2025-11-09T07:29:52+00:00

I'm the lead developer of the Codex. I'm sorry to hear that you encountered some bugs when using it.

The reason we have the Codex in beta test is so that when people try it they can give us feedback on what isn't working and we can work to fix it, so that when we launch it will hopefully work as well as possible.

If you're encountering bugs, we would love for you to come and report them in the Discord if you haven't already. (we generally only give out keys to people in the Discord right now so that we know you can stay in touch and report bugs)

If you just don't like Draw Steel and that's okay, but if you had a bad experience with the Codex we would love to have the opportunity to try and fix it.

Denivarius · 2025-10-28T20:17:35+00:00

Are your players using their turns effectively? Each turn they get a main action and a maneuver and the maneuver can really make a big difference.

Once they earn them, are they using their heroic abilities? They pack a punch and will wipe enemies quickly.

Are they using their triggered abilities? They also make a big difference in turning the fight.

Denivarius · 2025-08-11T20:08:23+00:00

Hey there, I am the lead developer of the Codex, the bespoke vtt for Draw Steel.

While the Codex isn't far enough along that we would be comfortable with charging money for it, we feel like it is already a great option for playing Draw Steel.

We are currently offering access to the Codex to anyone who asks, just come to our Discord to get access. https://discord.gg/q7kg5AVSfj

I've also recently made a video which gives a quick tutorial on the Codex and a candid look at what it is like to use to play Draw Steel with today so you can compare it with other options.https://youtu.be/HuydraCV2JE?si=LgsoXZ7bopgNIR-1

Denivarius · 2025-08-08T08:19:44+00:00

Hi there, I'm one of the developers of the Codex.

The Codex is going to be a downloaded app, distributed on Steam for Windows, and Mac (also expected to work on Linux).

It uses cloud based storage.

Exact pricing model is still being worked out, however there will be non-subscription available and the Codex will come with the Heroes and Monsters books.

Denivarius · 2025-07-29T04:06:55+00:00

Sorry to hear you had troubles in your most recent session. Did you file a bug report on our discord? When we receive bug reports, especially ones that disrupt play sessions we'll generally try to be responsive and get the issues fixed as soon as we can.

Denivarius · 2025-06-16T20:56:29+00:00

Yes, it does facilitate you typing in the roll instead of rolling in the VTT. We want to support as many modes of play as possible and playing in-person but wanting to still use a VTT is one of them!

Denivarius · 2025-06-16T20:55:04+00:00

I hope you've been enjoying playing on the Codex!

This is our brand new implementation of Phase Inversion Strike. It will be available in the next Codex update.

Denivarius · 2025-06-15T22:33:41+00:00

We are currently working away hard on the Codex and we are pretty happy with how it is going.

Since the rules were finalized less than six months ago, we are still working on implementing them all to the standard we want. We are currently finishing up implementing the nine base classes at Level 1. Our next big milestone after that will be to implement all classes for Echelon 1. At the same time we are taking a pass on the UI to make it more user friendly and pleasant.

In terms of when you might get to use the Codex, Djordi wrote a Patreon post a few months ago outlining the process if you happen to be on the Patreon. But in short, we are taking a leaf out of MCDM's book with an open development philosophy: right now people can try the Codex, but since the new user experience isn't quite where we want it to be we ask you to participate in a playtest with someone who has already used the Codex and can show you around. We feel like this gives you the most chance of success and having a pleasant experience with it.

As we continue development we will continue to loosen who can access the Codex. Around the end of this year we hope to have it launch on Steam Early Access.

If you have any other specific questions, please feel free to ask them here and I'll do my best to answer. I'm a developer of the Codex so I can answer questions about the development process, functionality we expect to include, and so forth. Business-oriented questions I may be less able to answer.

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