I'm Making Pathfinder App for Android / iOS / PC / Mac / Web (will be free for non-mobile)

[LovesTha]

Switching gears: What platform are you developing with?

[Chance Wees]

LovesTha wrote:

Switching gears: What platform are you developing with?

Unity3D.

[tocath]

Random request from a GM:

I'm looking to get an iPad next week, and plan to use it in game extensively.

One thing I find I am doing constantly is swiveling a laptop around so folks can see a picture of a baddy on screen.

Here would be my ideal "use case." Your sheet has a slot for a picture. If I doubletap that picture, it zooms into full screen or opens a full screen image so that I can hand that to players so they can see the enemy without seeing any fun crunchy text.

That is all. This is sounding great and I'll be buying when it hits the app store!

Josh

[Chance Wees]

tocath wrote:

Random request from a GM:

I'm looking to get an iPad next week, and plan to use it in game extensively.

One thing I find I am doing constantly is swiveling a laptop around so folks can see a picture of a baddy on screen.

Here would be my ideal "use case." Your sheet has a slot for a picture. If I doubletap that picture, it zooms into full screen or opens a full screen image so that I can hand that to players so they can see the enemy without seeing any fun crunchy text.

That is all. This is sounding great and I'll be buying when it hits the app store!

Josh

That should be possible, I'll make sure to put that in my to do list.

By the way, I have posted a Kickstarter for this project. If you're really into it, please consider contributing. It'll make cover the costs associated with dedicating all of my time to this and publishing it on all of these systems. The URL is below:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1652808152/better-pathfinder-rpg-e-char acter-sheet-mobile-web

[CalebTGordan]

Looking at the kickstarter video, I don't like the appearance. I have a hard time taking it seriously. I would remove the jagged edges and try other font styles. Possibly a different background as well. You may want to display a few appearances and ask which one looks best.

As it is, I would probably pass it up just on appearance. That might sound harsh, but if I can't take it seriously I can't use it.

[Vic Wertz]

Chance,

Please read this post about using the Pathfinder brand with apps, and please adjust your kickstarter project listing accordingly at your earliest opportunity.

(I'd also recommend you acquire a solid understanding of the OGL, which may mean consulting an intellectual properties attorney.)

[Chance Wees]

Vic Wertz wrote:

Chance,

Please read this post about using the Pathfinder brand with apps, and please adjust your kickstarter project listing accordingly at your earliest opportunity.

(I'd also recommend you acquire a solid understanding of the OGL, which may mean consulting an intellectual properties attorney.)

Thank you for letting me know! I was unaware that "Pathfinder" was not included in the OGL. I will be sure to update my app accordingly.

I am fairly well versed in the OGL, as I have worked on other RPG publishing works. I will be certain to follow it to the letter.

Do you have an department that I could send an advance copy to for their approval? If worse comes to worst I will just release it for free and eat the publishing costs myself. I'm making this more out of passion than for profit.

[Chance Wees]

CalebTGordan wrote:

Looking at the kickstarter video, I don't like the appearance. I have a hard time taking it seriously. I would remove the jagged edges and try other font styles. Possibly a different background as well. You may want to display a few appearances and ask which one looks best.

As it is, I would probably pass it up just on appearance. That might sound harsh, but if I can't take it seriously I can't use it.

Thanks for the feedback. I want everyone to be able enjoy using it, so if the Skin is that distasteful to many of you, I will definitely implement another variation ;)

The current skin is just my first attempt to make one that is "decent" I don't like how drab most of them are. What kind of skin for your gaming apps does everyone here prefer?

[PoisonToast]

Chance Wees wrote:

CalebTGordan wrote:

Looking at the kickstarter video, I don't like the appearance. I have a hard time taking it seriously. I would remove the jagged edges and try other font styles. Possibly a different background as well. You may want to display a few appearances and ask which one looks best.

As it is, I would probably pass it up just on appearance. That might sound harsh, but if I can't take it seriously I can't use it.

Thanks for the feedback. I want everyone to be able enjoy using it, so if the Skin is that distasteful to many of you, I will definitely implement another variation ;)

The current skin is just my first attempt to make one that is "decent" I don't like how drab most of them are. What kind of skin for your gaming apps does everyone here prefer?

I'm at work right now, but when I get home I will throw together a static image or two. I design and make custom character sheets for all my games as I get board of looking at the same sheet all the time and I frequently need space for house rules such as armor dr, etc.

[LazarX]

Chance Wees wrote:

LazarX wrote:

Chance Wees wrote:

erian_7 wrote:

Make this app capable of importing data from HeroLab and you are golden.

That is not something I had considered, but shouldn't be difficult. I think I'll have to save that for version 1.1 however, which is when I'll add the ability to do saved data transfers to the mobile versions.

Hero lab can output to an XML format, my data format is JSON, not too big of a deal converting between the two if I make a mapping function.

The other option would be to import from any of the formatted outputs that Herlab can export such as html, formatted text etc. Since the text format is controlled it should make parsing it less complicated.

True, XML is easier for my purposes though, the platform I'm using has built in XML parsers. If anyone has a spec doc for the XML schema that HeroLab uses, though, it would be extremely helpful in making an importer a reality. I did a quick search of the HeroLab site, and short of purchasing the software I didn't see any way to get any info about the XML other than the changes made in version 3.7.

There are several people on the Lone Wolf boards who've made their own exporters to HTML. Perhaps they could help you out.

Alternately you could get the Beginner Box version and look there. That one's free.

[CalebTGordan]

Chance Wees wrote:

CalebTGordan wrote:

Looking at the kickstarter video, I don't like the appearance. I have a hard time taking it seriously. I would remove the jagged edges and try other font styles. Possibly a different background as well. You may want to display a few appearances and ask which one looks best.

As it is, I would probably pass it up just on appearance. That might sound harsh, but if I can't take it seriously I can't use it.

Thanks for the feedback. I want everyone to be able enjoy using it, so if the Skin is that distasteful to many of you, I will definitely implement another variation ;)

The current skin is just my first attempt to make one that is "decent" I don't like how drab most of them are. What kind of skin for your gaming apps does everyone here prefer?

Smooth edges and rounded corners are better, as they don't distract from the content. Also, the font does not need to be fancy, just readable and non distracting. I want to focus on my character, not the app or how it looks. Finding a layout and format that allows me to do that will make your app so much better. I suggest looking at best selling apps in the productivity category and using those as examples for what works.

The background wasn't all that bad. I think solid colors are better, but I don't mind lightly patterned ones.

[CalebTGordan]

I suggest you promote your Kickstarter in several different forums as well. RPG.net, giantitp.com, and enworld.org are great places to start. Paizo forums are great and all, but still small and limited in comparison to other sites.

Oh, and I do plan on sending a dollar or two your way once I have money.

[Vic Wertz]

Chance Wees wrote:

Do you have an department that I could send an advance copy to for their approval? If worse comes to worst I will just release it for free and eat the publishing costs myself. I'm making this more out of passion than for profit.

We don't have the manpower to examine everything people want to make; we generally rely on the community to let us know when people do things they're not supposed to.

If you're willing to eschew commercial use entirely, you may want to check out our Community Use Policy, which can be used for apps, and gives noncommercial users access to even more than the Compatibility License does. (Note that it would be used in conjunction with the OGL, not in place of it.)

[LovesTha]

I presume you've taken down the kickstarter project . . as the link don't work :)

[Chance Wees]

LovesTha wrote:

I presume you've taken down the kickstarter project . . as the link don't work :)

Nope, didn't take it down, for some reason the link just wasn't working as I originally posted, it had an extra symbol in it for some reason. I have reposted it below:

Click Here to Go to The Kickstarter Page

[Tal_Akaan]

I think I would have to CalebTGordan on the look of the app. It feels more like a novelty than a powerful player tool with the way it looks. I think I understand what you were going for, but I think you can achieve that and still tone it down a bit.

[Chance Wees]

Tal_Akaan wrote:

I think I would have to CalebTGordan on the look of the app. It feels more like a novelty than a powerful player tool with the way it looks. I think I understand what you were going for, but I think you can achieve that and still tone it down a bit.

Hi Everyone!

So far the Kickstarter for this project has gone quite well, so has development. In response to the complaints about the appearance I have even added two new skins which give you more options for how you want the app to look.

The Kickstarter

It's now the last day of the Kickstarter and I'm doing a final push for funding. Please come check out the Kickstarter, anything you can contribute would be appreciated. Even if it isn't funded, I will be completing it, it just make take a bit longer.

My original development schedule has slipped, mostly because I got so many awesome suggestions for how to improve on my original design. My anticipated release date will be some time in may at this point. Stay posted for a beta of the new improved app with ll of the community suggestions added, which should be done in the next couple weeks.

[Zonto]

Congrats on reaching your funding goal!

[CalebTGordan]

Congrats on reaching the funding goal!

I like the new skins, especially the dark grey one. The font is still a little silly, but that is more of observation then a complaint.

I can't wait to see this thing in action.

[Deanoth]

LazarX wrote:

Take a look at your competition. And then tell us why we should buy yours over theirs. As you might infer from my post, you're not the first in this field. It's becoming a fairly sizable pack, so you're going to have to do something to stand out.

Marketing 101.

LazarX, currently there are NO character managers where you can enter feats, conditions, skills and items/magic items on the market at all.

BTW marketing 101 includes research on your part to to critique with accurate information.

[Jason Stormblade]

I'm Jason and I support this message.

Roll this baby out for Android! Just got my Galaxy Tab 2 10.1" and would love to see a good app for running on it

[Pixel7777]

Any progress on this? I agree with comment that there are no other apps on market that promise to do what this one is.