I’m Zac, and I’m thrilled to introduce myself as the new Principal Product Manager for D&D Beyond’s Maps team, and to chat a bit about the exciting road ahead.
- Get Involved With the Future of the Maps VTT
- Why We Want Your Feedback
- Preparing for Upcoming Maps VTT Releases
Get Involved With the Future of the Maps VTT
In the spirit of TL;DR, I'll put the most important thing first: If you’re interested in shaping the future of D&D Beyond’s Maps VTT, I want to talk to you!
We're still developing exactly how these user feedback programs work, but for now, please fill out this survey to indicate your interest and tell us a bit about yourself. Over the next few months, I'll follow up with select participants via email to schedule phone or video interviews, conduct surveys, test clickable prototypes, and provide feedback on early design sketches.
(Full disclosure: several of our upcoming projects for the Maps VTT are DM focused, so for the next few months outreach will be pretty focused on DM feedback. That also means if you are a DM—please sign up!)
Why We Want Your Feedback
Involving you in the development process is very much in line with how I’ve spent my entire career. I’ve spent the last 15 years building software products in all sorts of places, from startups to Fortune 500 companies and even the federal government. The throughline for my whole career has been to help teams build the RIGHT thing really well. And the best way to do that is to talk to the people who will be using it early and often!
Expanding the Feedback Loop
As Brian's post mentioned, we haven't been the chattiest bunch lately. As a part of the shift in how we communicate with all of you, I'll be popping up as WOTC_Zac in the subreddits, Discords, and forums.
I'll be watching for your ideas and asking for your feedback on our Maps VTT. We also want to be more transparent and share what we’re working on now, what we're working on next, and get your thoughts as we go.
Preparing for Upcoming Maps VTT Releases
This summer and fall, the Maps team has been investing in under-the-hood upgrades to support the cool stuff we'll be releasing over the coming months (more details in Brian Perry’s blog post).
But as we look ahead to new functionality, we know the best way to build software is to release early and often, and we'll be moving in that direction. You can expect more frequent updates as we kick off 2026. We’re still figuring out the exact rhythm, but the goal is to keep you in the loop and iterate quickly based on what you tell us.
Stay Tuned for More!
I've been playing D&D for 20 years, and it's a great honor and responsibility to be in this position. My job is to support you—the community, the players, the DMs. To make it easier to play D&D. To make it easier to get new people into D&D.
My job is all about making sure we’re building the best tools for you, and the best way to do that is to have a close, transparent relationship where you have a strong hand in shaping how these new features work.
Looking forward to chatting with you all soon!
-Zac
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Posted Apr 19, 2026I think you're ignoring the "this is complex and kinda against the design philosophy behind the current stage of Maps VTT development" part of responses. Dynamic lighting would require a far bigger overhaul than everything else, and it's far lower on priority lists than other tools that are easier to implement and do follow the honda accord design philosophy.
Maybe one day it will be worth dedicating dev resources, but there's so much more that should happen first. The reality is that VTTs that have dynamic lighting ALSO have all of the simpler tools that the Maps team is prioritizing and would likely go back to those other VTTs if Maps reworked the engine and implemented dynamic lighting without having other tools ready.
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Posted Apr 19, 2026Where are you getting the info from that ppl don't use dynamic lighting?
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Posted Apr 20, 2026We need Dynamic Light !!!!
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Posted Apr 22, 2026I’m all for the simple stuff getting done first: condition markers, resizing tokens on the fly, campaign journals, better organization of maps, upload token images, and custom reveals. All this call for dynamic lighting is great for the immersive but I feel like that requires more complex coding and resources when we can accomplish the “honda” stuff before we get to “flying delorian” stuff.