Software Alpha

[snakefing]

Thanks for your feedback. Guess I'll take a look at pcgen, just for fun. Right after I finish downloading the source code for Java. I had it on my old desktop, but when the company upgraded me to this PowerBook, it didn't make it over. 55MB of pure fun :P

[snakefing]

Okay, got a new version. This one is pretty much identical to the old one, but it's been converted to use my look and feel implementation instead of a lot of specialized painting code.

Features:
Create, save, and print characters. Can save characters as a party for easy reloading.
Support for feats, skills, etc.
Dice rolling, ability to do skill checks and attacks straight from the main screen.
Editable data files allow you to customize skills, feats, classes, primary and secondary characteristics.

Experimental feature:
Set the "game.data.path" variable to load data files from an alternate path. This is untested.

Limitations:
Does not (yet) support class features. It will, I'm just not sure yet how I'm going to add them.
Does not enforce prerequisites, skill point totals, feat totals, etc. To some extent this is deliberate because once you do that, you also have to add the ability to create exceptions.
Print All function may not be working.
Various minor cosmetic bugs.

Screenshot:
http://75.70.105.39:8080/images/screenshot.jpg

Rather than upload it, I'll wait to see if there is any interest. I can send it in IM or email as well. Just let me know what format you want it in.

[brainface]

The screenshot looks nice.

u/l it man. i request jar.

Also: did you ever look at pcgen?

[Ishmayl-Retired]

I want to try it out!

[snakefing]

Okay, by popular demand...

But first, a word about licensing:
I haven't completed all the licensing details for this. This is not for general distribution. (And furthermore, I am responsible for all the content, the CBG is entirely blameless.) Most likely, the game parts of this will be freeware, or at most shareware. (If I had a good hosting solution, I might even make it open source.) Furthermore, I haven't included all the requisite OGL notifications. All the data files included here are copyright by myself, covered by the OGL, with due respect to the copyrights of Wizards of the Coast, etc. etc.

The application as distributed is granted a license for your personal usage, under conditions that it not be redistributed, yadda yadda yadda.

The look and feel distributed with this is granted a license for your personal usage, solely in connection with the character manager software. If there is one part of this that I might make commercial, this would be it.

Files included:
*.dat - are XML formatted data files.
*.properties - controls the colors and images of the look and feel
charman.exe - windows front end to launch the jar file
dsp.jar - executable jar file for the main application
tlnf.jar - executable jar file containing the look and feel and sample app


File: 1161184249_155_FT15063_dsp.tar.gz

[Túrin]

This is not a ZIP-file. How do I use it?

The n00b explanation please. ;)

Túrin

[snakefing]

This is a compressed archive similar to a zip file. I know that WinZip (http://www.winzip.com) understands this. If you download a free evaluation copy of winzip, you can just double-click on the archive and it will open in winzip. Then click on Extract... and tell it where you want it unpacked.

If you have cygwin, or are not using windows, you should be able to unpack it fairly easily from command line. Copy the archive to the directory where you want it unpacked, then untar it:
# tar xzf dsp.tar.gz

But, for your viewing pleasure, here's a zip file.

File: 1161187044_155_FT15063_dsp.zip

[snakefing]

One more thing, for those people interested in helping:

Here's a list of features I am considering adding. Some feedback on which of these you think are most interesting would be appreciated.

And, of course, any other features you can think of, or any problems or bugs you encounter. Even things you just find confusing, so I can create some documentation or come up with simpler ways to handle it.

For example, one thing that might be less than completely obvious: You can right-click on the task DC button for a character's skill, to bring up a popup menu of possible tasks and their DC's. I'm not sure how to make this more obvious without wasting precious screen real estate.

So, here are the proposed future features:

Class abilities. Especially things that aren't feats, like rage, evasion, etc. They'd probably show up on the screen in the abilities area, but they'd be activated automatically when you reach the appropriate class level.

Enforcing prerequisites. I don't want to actually enforce prerequisites. But I'm thinking of adding some indication on the screen when you select a feat whose prerequisites are not yet met.

Internationalization. This would make it easier to create versions of the software in languages other than en-us.

Optional critical/fumble tables. This would make it possible to integrate (editable) critical or fumble tables.

Edit skills/feats/etc. This would allow you to edit the skills, feats, and such from within the program rather than directly editing the XML data files.

Better filtering. In particular, the list of feats can be pretty extensive. Some limited ability to filter the list is in place based on the source, but it might be nice to have other filtering capabilities.

Other house rules. There's some limited ability in place to have various rule sets, such as open-ended rolling or such, for attacks, skill checks, saves, etc. I'd still have to implement the Edit Rules option, as well as having a decent selection of options.

[brainface]

I'm gonna take this opportunity to whine about the .dat extension again--some of us have things associated with .xml which we want opening those files. :)

Using .dat breaks that, can break syntax highlighting, etc.
 Either of those are fixable by the user fiddling with his system, but it's still an additional pain.

Also, you've still got plaintext in weapons.dat--is that intentional?
[spoiler=weapons.dat]

Code Select Expand


Shuriken, T, 1, thrown, piercing, exotic, 1, 1, 2, 10, up to three per attack
Net, M, 0, thrown, exotic, 1, 1, 1, 10, entangling attack
[/spoiler]

[snakefing]

Well, let me add that to my bug list so I can look into it. It looks like a cut and paste type error.

I'm going to listen to your whine and rename those files for the next version. I just have to update all my build scripts, which is why it hasn't been done yet.

[brainface]

yay! whining accomplishes things!

[snakefing]

I did look at pcgen, but for some reason I couldn't get it to work properly. Trying to get it to load a rule set and let me do anything just wasn't working for me. No doubt I was missing something.

BTW, my editor (jEdit) recognizes XML files by the <?xml?> PI at the start, so I get all the syntax coloring and auto-completion stuff. It would work better if I used a DTD or schema, but nah.

[snakefing]

yay! whining accomplishes things!

Well, useful whining about valid complaints does, anyway.

I realized that originally I named them with .dat because I wasn't sure I wanted to encourage stupid user tricks, like screwing with the data files and messing up the whole program. Then later I decided that a user-friendly format helps to solve licensing issues. This way, people who own other expansions that are not OGC can add feats, classes, etc. to the data files under fair use rules. Hypothetically they could also share these data files with their friends, provided they continue to respect copyrights and fair use. Which all makes the program more useful.

Once I decided on a more user-friendly file format, I should have gone back and made the file extensions more user friendly. I just didn't think of it.

Anyway - I'm wondering if I shouldn't add some kind of include-file capability to the data files. That way you could create separate data files for various source books and supplements, and then create a master data file that includes only the ones you want to use.

Add that to the future features concept pile.

[snakefing]

First an update, then a request.

The update: Although still in alpha, I do have an updated version of the software. Also, I've put the source code in an Apache subversion repository on my home computer. If you don't know what that means, you don't need to. If you do, PM me for access information if you are interested.

I've finished the class features. Class features that are not optional will be automatically added to the character when you add levels. I get bored with testing various class combinations, so there could be flaws in the process. That's why we call it an alpha release.

The other thing I've added is prerequisite checking. On the screen to add special abilities, it not only displays the prerequisites, but it highlights the ones you don't meet. You can still add feats and features even if you don't meet the prerequisites, to allow for house rules, and odd cases like rangers' class features that grant feats without prerequisites.

The request: I need some input on my next feature.

I've decided that I want to work on the ability to generate, tweak, and save groups of NPC's, monsters, etc. That way, you could create them once, reload them during a game for use, save them for future reference, etc.

But they really need to be distinct from the actual PC's. So you can use a simple menu command to dismiss all the NPC's/monsters at once, while keeping the actual characters. The question is, with limited screen space, what is the best way to organize this?

One possibility would be to load them into the usual character list, but mark them with an icon or different text color or something to distinguish them visually. This keeps everything together in one place, but doesn't really keep them very separate, at least not visually.

Another possibility would be to put them in a separate top-level window. This would mean switching between windows to view PC stats on one window and NPC/monster stats on another.

A third possibility would be to have a toggle button that allows you to switch between PC and NPC views within the same window. Same as the above, only instead of switching windows you just toggle the view within the same window.

Anybody who has a preference, feel free to chime in.

Also, I think it would be really cool to add a chat feature, so users of the program would be able to set up a "game room" and chat to each other, synchronize characters, etc. Although I'm perfectly capable of writing a chat server, I don't much care to do it myself. Anyone know of any good open-source servers that I could tweak for this purpose? Preferably something that doesn't require a full-scale application server?