I’m a designer, I have a game in development with a publisher, and I plan to host a live playtest session on the VASSAL server that would be open for anyone to drop in and watch the game in action.
Question: Does a spectator need to have a copy of my game module in order to launch it, navigate to the server and the room, and watch the session?
If so, then does that mean I would have to post my playtest module publicly beforehand on my module’s VASSAL page?
Question 1 yes
Question 2 no, you can always give it to them privately if you wish via email download etc…
Yes, users need the module (containing your image data and such) to view the game.
If you don’t want to distribute it publicly just yet, you could always record your game and post a video instead, or try something like twitch if you want a bit more interaction with the viewers.
Good idea, and thanks – I think I’ll just e-mail the module to my playtester, and then record our live VASSAL server session using Screencast-O-Matic for editing and later upload to YouTube, etc.