I saw the Mac version of hero lab is in beta testing .... Has anyone heard how far behind the iPad version will be?
If I had to guess we wouldn't see anything till 2012Q3 for beta at the earliest.
Bumping this since the Mac version is about to be officially out. No update on an iPad version in the March newsletter though.
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April 18, 2011.
The iPad, though, is a COMPLETELY different animal. All of the details for the iPad are entirely UNKNOWN at this point in time. For example, we have to solve the issue of memory footprint on the iPad, which is radically different from a desktop/laptop with comparatively unlimited storage, and that issue could impact what we can/can't do regarding licensing. We have to figure out how to reconcile what we want to do vis-a-vis Apple's extensive rules for iPad apps, which could force us to make changes to stay compliant with those rules. And then there is the issue of the huge commission that Apple takes off the top of all iPad app sales, which is on top of the royalties we pay to the game publishers. At the end of the day, we have to pay everyone's salaries that develop these products, which means our pricing has to take that into consideration. Those are just a few of the fundamental issues that will shape how we have to handle the iPad.
Almost exactly a year old, but as far as I know this is the last time it was mentioned on these forums.
There may be something more recent on their official site/forums.
It's a tough nut to crack. I'd be happy with a Hero Lab Lite that just allows high-level functionality. No leveling, adding magic items, etc.
I would rather they release it on the Android before the iPad. There are more Androids on the market overall now :)
That might be true, but it's far harder to develop for all those Androids devices then it would be for a "controlled" device like the iPad, since there's no standardization to screen size or resolution, nor can one be reasonably assumed to be using the latest operating system (which Android licensors have no impetus to maintain, update, or ship for their device).
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I would rather they release it on the Android before the iPad. There are more Androids on the market overall now :)That might be true, but it's far harder to develop for all those Androids devices then it would be for a "controlled" device like the iPad, since there's no standardization to screen size or resolution, nor can one be reasonably assumed to be using the latest operating system (which Android licensors have no impetus to maintain, update, or ship for their device).
That's not a very compelling argument. There's already quite a range of resolutions on iPhones and iPads; an application that works across all of them, at various zoom levels and in either landscape or portrait orientation, should work fairly well on other devices. And for the features needed for an app such as this I don't see much need for capabilities only introduced in the latest (let alone future) versions of the OS.
More relevant, in my mind, is the size of the potential market. While there may be more total Android users overall, that doesn't necessarily mean there are more people who (i) use Android tablets vs. iPads, and (ii) are prepared to pay for an app such as this.
Wearing my user hat I'd want the Android version first, because that's what I have myself. But wearing my developer hat I'd probably choose to release for the iPad first (although I'd also take a more detailed look at some of the multi-platform development environments).
FYI, the native Mac version release is only days away now, after which we'll be focusing heavily on the tablet version. We've got a tablet expert working with us on the effort, and we absolutely will be redesigning the interface for the tablet. We should be providing more concrete details on our tablet plans over the next couple of months. So stay tuned and thanks for everyone's patience... :)
As soon as you get the tablet version you have (more) of my money! I'm assuming it would be like an additional license to my current licenses (I have one primary and two secondary, with all the modules released except Bestiary III)?
That's great news. Waiting with much anticipation.
Would mean I would have to buy a tablet :-P
As soon as you get the tablet version you have (more) of my money! I'm assuming it would be like an additional license to my current licenses (I have one primary and two secondary, with all the modules released except Bestiary III)?
That is the ideal scenario that we are shooting for. However, some of the rules and restrictions of releasing products through the Apple App Store seem to complicate that strategy, so we're still navigating those waters. Other tablet platforms are easy by comparison in terms of the licensing model we can employ, so our focus is on complying with the Apple rules. If we do that, the model will work for any of the platforms. We should have answers on this when we officially outline the tablet plans in the next couple of months.
I'm an Android guy, so I'm all for the easier licensing model! ;^)
I don't think anyone here is expecting the editor to be in the Tablet version...but the combat tracker and character editor are a must.
How they figure out how to sync between the Tablet and Desktop is something I hope is nearly seemless.
Use case:
Edit a character on my Desktop
Send to Tablet (email???)
Play the game session
Update character
Send to Desktop updated version
That's how I would use it.
I wonder if HeroLab could read the file in the iTunes location kinda how you sync a directory for PDFs?
I just hope there's a large enough market for their Tablet version. The fact that they made the Mac version means it'll be easier to port to other iOS devices (Apple tries to make it easy in XCode).
How they figure out how to sync between the Tablet and Desktop is something I hope is nearly seemless.
Use case:
Edit a character on my Desktop
Send to Tablet (email???)
Play the game session
Update character
Send to Desktop updated versionThat's how I would use it.
There is a game called "Battle for Wesnoth" that has an in-app process of uploading a save game to a server and then download again, regardless of device (desktop or iOS - don't know about Android). If the HeroLab people are willing to set aside some server space, this could be an option.
Greg
There is a game called "Battle for Wesnoth" that has an in-app process of uploading a save game to a server and then download again, regardless of device (desktop or iOS - don't know about Android). If the HeroLab people are willing to set aside some server space, this could be an option.
They wouldn't even have to - with Apple's iCloud, you could sync between the Mac and iOS using Apple's own APIs. Of course, that'd had no parity with other tablets but, then, there's nothing similar for Android anyways AFAIK.
Not any expert on the subject, but we've been trying to push to get all players in a group to pony up and get at least the basic pathfinder on herolab (turns out this can be ridiculously hard to do.)
One finally got the hint that you can, without paying the fee, get the trial version, and at least see how it performs. He has a Samsung Slate 7, and is running windows 8. I think that the technology here has bridged the gap, because he said that most of the things he tried out seem to work perfectly so far.
It motivates me, because I'm waiting on a version of tablet that possesses, at the very least, an 8.5x11 viewing area. sharp pixels be damned if I have to pinch, pull, and slide all over the sheets I would like to read/utilize. The slate 7 is the closest I've seen so far, but also carries the price of a new and stacked desktop for me. Not crazy about that kind of investment.
Hopefully in the near future your tablet will just dock and you'll have a desktop.
You can already do that now with Apple Air play + bluetooth keyboard. Haven't seen a "mouse" yet though...but I've seen apps where you can use your phone as a mouse for your PC.
Can't wait to see what they have in store for us.
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There is a game called "Battle for Wesnoth" that has an in-app process of uploading a save game to a server and then download again, regardless of device (desktop or iOS - don't know about Android). If the HeroLab people are willing to set aside some server space, this could be an option.They wouldn't even have to - with Apple's iCloud, you could sync between the Mac and iOS using Apple's own APIs. Of course, that'd had no parity with other tablets but, then, there's nothing similar for Android anyways AFAIK.
There are several apps for Android that would work similar.. might want to do some more research and not assume just because you drank the Kool-Aid
There are several apps for Android that would work similar.. might want to do some more research and not assume just because you drank the Kool-Aid
I'm not talking about apps-specific sharing. I'm talking about an OS-manufacturer-supplied service that is available at the system level on all versions of the device with no criteria for the type of data being saved. It'd be easy as pie to replicate iCloud using your own servers for your own app - hell, "add Dropbox support and you're done!" - that's not what I'm talking about. You'll note that I *responded* to someone who suggested the exact same thing - a custom Hero Lab implementation.
The nearest thing I've found in the past (and if this is some new and unannounced or unpublicized service, please, link me to it!) for Google' own version of iCloud is its Google+ app, which isn't what I mean either. You wouldn't be able to put Hero Lab files into Google+ - only videos and photos. Similarly, other "iCloud on Android!" articles I've read have really been about integration with Google's existing services - Documents (which likely could work if Hero Lab added a conversion layer), Calendars, Contacts, Mail, etc. That's part of what iCloud is, certainly, but you can use iCloud for *any data*, such as game saves or custom data objects, which is the parity I'm talking about here (why would I care if Hero Lab could upload photos or videos or mail?)
Generally speaking, if you're going to "zomg, you're all Kool-Aid, man!", you've got to at least one-up your own response with proof of what you're saying ("faith" is why the Kool-Aid accusation works, and you've done nothing to oppose that). Given that you've provided none, I have to assume you've shared from the same cup you accuse me of ;)
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The cloud is also a convenient place to store your music and photos, so you can listen to your songs and show off your pictures no matter where you are or what device you're using. Last year, Amazon introduced the Amazon Cloud Drive. If you have an Amazon account, you already have the free Cloud Drive service plan, which gives you 5 GB of free storage for files of any kind and MP3 music files that you buy from Amazon don't count toward that limit. Or for $20 per year, you can upgrade that to unlimited storage for MP3 and ACC files, including ones you upload from your computer, plus 20 GB of storage for other file types. There are higher priced plans that offer more storage, up to a terabyte (1000 GB) at the somewhat hefty cost of $1,000 per year.
There are a number of cloud storage services available, both free and paid, and I've discussed some of them, such as Dropbox and Box.net, in prior issues of Win7News. Google recently introduced their own version, called Google Drive. As with Amazon, you get 5 GB free. Of course, it's integrated with what used to be called Google Docs, so many find it convenient to store their documents there. There is a mobile app for Android (with an iOS version in the works at the time of this writing).
Since Google is first and foremost a search engine, it should come as no surprise that one of the Google Drive features they're heavily promoting is the ability to search everything on your drive by keyword and to filter search results by file type, owner or other criteria. It can even use OCR technology to recognize the text in scanned images and search that content for your keywords, which is pretty impressive. Paid plans start at $2.49 per month for 25 GB. That's $29.88 per year, or $1.19 per GB, slightly higher than Amazon's $1 per GB per year. However, if you need huge amounts of space, you're better off with Google, which will offer 1 TB of space for $49.99 per month (just under $600 per year).
Of course, Mac/iOS users can store their files on Apple's iCloud, which is built into iOS 5 and OS X Lion. When you sign up for the service, you get (you guessed it) 5 GB of free space. But in keeping with Apple's propensity to charge a premium, $20 per year will only snag you an additional 10 GB, for a total of 15 GB. Plans top out at 50 GB for $100 per year (50 GB on Amazon's service costs half that and you can get 100 GB on Google's service for less than $60 per year).
Lets not forget about Skydrive by Microsoft. With (grandfathered) SkyDrive, Amazon and Google accounts, you can put a whopping 35 GB of data in the cloud without paying a penny. Then there's another 5 GB from Box.net, 2 GB from Dropbox and a myriad of other, lesser-known services. If you don't mind spreading files across a number of different services, you could easily find yourself with 50 GB or more of free cloud space.
I did not even mention Drop-box or anything like that. But thanks I will take Skydrive or Google over iCloud any day of the week.
::takes a drink of the MS and Google kool-Aid::
Most of this was cut and pasted from an article about Cloud Drives by Deb Shinder
WinNews Editor
If you want to see the entire article provide an email address and I might be able to forward it to you.
With my tablet I VNC in to my PC at home and use Hero Labs through it at my friends. It is just as fast as if I was using it in person. But then again my friend and I have very fast internet services. I do not use the iPad but use my Asus TF101 and my desktop at home. I also use my Laptop for Hero Labs too.. for printing and the like at my friends house. I have plenty of licenses with Hero Labs and also plenty of ways I use Hero Labs. I can hardly wait for Hero labs to come to Android but will it be something I truly absolutely need. No but it would make life a little easier and would not need an internet connection. But then again if I need an internet connection I always have one available with my mobile hotspot.
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It's here! I woke up and found the Hero Lab app at the App Store. It's free. A few things so far:
- You can't create characters on the app, instead you create them on your computer and then upload them (there are two ways to upload, I think the easiest is to e-mail them to yourself, then open that e-mail on the iPad and click the attachment - you'll see the option to open it in Hero Lab
- It comes with a few of the iconics that you can play around with
- For me the most useful piece here is to add in adjustments on the fly. For example, I just uploaded my elf ranger Erevel, and I can set it to activate feats like Point Blank Shot and Deadly Aim. Not all of my options (such as Ranger's Focus from his Guide archetype) can be "activated" in this way, although you can track how many times you've used spells, per day abilities, etc. You can click a button to reset abilities or spells to unused/unactivated (say, at the start of a new day).
- You can also apply conditions (shaken, nauseated, etc.) and your stats will be adjusted
- Click on any character option (feats, spells, etc.) and the description from the Core Rulebook or whatever source will come up
So far, looks great! I know they'll be building in more as they move forward.
You can't use it with original iPads :-(.
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Cape>
it's a license 'slot', when buying the PC software, you have 2 licence 'slots' included, and can buy 2 more for 10$ each
those licence can activate a copy of herolab (true for Ipad as well) with all purchased packages.
they intend to put a 5th buyable slot once they deliver the full version on Ipad.
