Should I buy Hero Designer? Help me to make my mind up please!

[Static UK]

I haven't got Hero Designer yet. I've kinda been watching how things progress on these boards. One thing that concerns me is the number of bugs that seem to crop up, one thing that impresses me is how quickly they are addressed.

So, a couple/ few of questions:

1: (a) Are these bugs cropping up because people are really trying to 'break the system' (i.e. to find bugs), and,
(b) if you are making normal non-complicted bog-standard characters is it a case of 'no bugs' appear?

2: (a) I keep seeing references to v2 already. When is this projected to come out?
(b) Should I buy what is on offer now, or wait for v2?

3: (a) How easy is it to customize parts of the program, ie, language lists, Science skill lists?
(b) Is it possible to add new skills not currently part of the Hero system, or even new items introduced in other Hero books?

I think I'm going to buy it anyhow (I have so many characters to convert to 5th edition, and a computer program must be faster than pen, paper and calculator, surely?). I just want some pushes and nudges in the right direction!

I used to use the DOS-based program called Heromaker, for the 4th edition, I thought it was very good, and I don't remember any problems when I created characters. I even managed to customize some of the features without giving myself a headache!

Thanks for you help! :)

[Fitz]

I'd recommend it. There's no point in waiting for version 2; it's a wee way off yet, and the references to it are more in the vein of long-term planning than something that is just around the corner.

Personally, I haven't found any of the bugs others have encountered to be a particular problem, though it has to be said that I seldom stretch the capabilities of the program. As you mention, any bugs which do crop up tend to get fixed pretty smartly once they're brought to Dan's attention.

Customization of things like Language and Science Skill lists are trivially easy -- the templates in which the information is stored are plain text, editable in a basic text editor, and the syntax is easy to follow for the most part, even if you're (like me) a complete doofus when it comes to programming. Some other things, like Talents for example, are trickier (or impossible) to customise, but there's generally a way around if you look for it.

In general, I'd say go for it. I never used Heromaker, but I did use Creation Workshop (and then MetaCreator) for a long time, and I wouldn't go back to it now. Just one caveat: make sure your computer is up to the standard required in terms of ram and cpu -- especially the ram. I think the minimum spec is 128MB of ram, though I'm sure someone will happily correct me if I'm wrong. It runs just fine and dandy on both my machines -- a 1GHz Thunderbird with 768MB ram (win2k), and a PIII with 256MB (WinXP laptop).

[Simon]

1) There have actually been very few bugs found recently. The bulk of what you see on these boards that are listed as bugs are typically misunderstandings on the part of the poster (or just mistakes). Those bugs that are found are typically fairly obscure at this point....anything "major" was found long ago.

I'm sure there are still bugs in the app....but they will be found with time and fixed. This is true of any application.

2) v2 will not be out until (at the earliest) December of this year. I'm going to be halting the update schedule on v1 in June (bug fixes only after that point) and starting development on v2. Unlike v1, I'll be taking my time on v2....I have no desire to put myself through the "hectic" schedule that I had for the last half of last year....

3) Customizing things like the lists of Languages that are shown is generally very easy. Offhand, I'd normally say that your best bet for a simple "display" change like that would be to make a prefab which contains the pre-built Languages that you're interested in.

As for defining new Skills and abilities, it really depends on how "new" they are. If you're talking about a new Skill that follows an existing format (for example, a roll-based Skill whose roll is 9+Characteristic/5) then, again, your best bet will be to use prefabs. You can make any Skill definition that you want using the existing items in the list. Power Skill allows you to choose from any characteristic for the base roll....all that is left is for you to type in the name. Custom Skill goes several steps beyond, allowing you to define whether it is roll-based or flat value, what the roll is based off of, what the roll actually is, what the cost is, etc.

If you want to define a completely new type of construct, you'll need to edit the template. This is designed to be as easy as possible and as flexible as possible. There are some things that you can't do in a template edit, but overall, the system is designed to be very flexible.

Hope this helps!

[Static UK]

Thanks for the replies. Payday is tomorrow! So I suppose I'll have to part with some more of my hard earned cash to support the game I enjoy most! Damn you Mr. Long! ;) :D

[zornwil]

There's a couple good threads on this. Bear in mind the performance issues are less than they were and a few odds and ends have changed.

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=278
http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1383

[Static UK]

Originally posted by zornwil
...Bear in mind the performance issues are less than they were and a few odds and ends have changed.

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=278
http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1383

Zornwil, thank you very much for those threads, I've plowed through the majority of them and have been impressed at the general 'happiness' people have towards the product.

Yes, every application has it's problems (especially v1's).

Yes, there will always be people who find it doesn't do quite what they want.

You can't please all of the people all of the time. Hell, some people you can't please ever! :rolleyes:

I guess I'm going to buy the product now, just need to check my home computers capabilities...

Dan, say "Thank you Zornwill." ;) :D

[zornwil]

Glad I could help! Enjoy!

[Static UK]

No sooner than I decide to buy the HD program than the flaming computer I use at work dies! It has a broadband conection, my home computer does not! Therefore I intended to download it at work (lots quicker than doing it at home!) then stick it, along with most recent updates and necessary templates onto a rewritable CD (that way I can keep up with updates and template changes). Oh, the best laid plans... eek! :eek:

It looks like I'll have to wait a week before I can download it now! :mad: :(