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sentry0

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Posts posted by sentry0

  1. Here is a draft of the first page of the character creation chapter.  The purpose here is to give a high-level overview of character building without being bogged down by game terms.  It's supposed to be a soft entry into a 5-9 step process, depending on what you need to buy to meet your concept.

     

    GeminiCharacterCreation-bg.thumb.png.551981f05a63d540c4e4a5c6263360aa.png

     

  2. 7 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

     

     

    I don't know if this os the sort od thing you are looking for, but one thing that has bugged me in Champions since 1e is that we can buy attacks (HKA, H-t-H--  edition dependant as to appearance and pricing) and those same powers exist as a separate listing as "Energy Blast," RKA, etc.

     

    Yet "Range" exists as a modifier that can be applied to non-ranged powers.

     

    Why is there not just "deal damage" where dice of damage are bought and then the "Ranged" element bought to the desired degree of range?

     

     

    I hope that is something worth pondering, anyway.

     

     

    I know what you mean. You could break things down even more in some cases. I can't speak for Hero, but I can speak for Gemini. One reason to keep them separate is that the base damage calculations differ between a ranged and melee attack. Melee attacks add strength damage, but ranged do not, which means you should expect balancing issues as melee attacks get a 'head-start' on the damage dice. Keeping them separate in Gemini makes sense because Gemini doesn't have the same sophistication regarding the math side of things compared to Hero.

     

    Here are the two powers that do damage in Gemini. The 'Attack, Melee' baseline effect starts at +1 pip, while the 'Attack, Range' baseline effect starts at 4D.   It seems weird initially, but it makes sense once you factor in the character's strength dice.

     

    image.png.4c1ba3c4757ca6516cda189e240ad094.png image.thumb.png.40f30ed6936d9bd03041b38abca9dd72.png

     

    The other consideration is that the more abstract you make something, the more work you have to do to get it working. Pointing to a concrete power and saying 'use that' to a player is more accessible than saying, 'Start here, then apply x, y, and don't forget to factor in z.'

     

    FYI - As a point of interest, Gemini omits Knockback on base attacks, but it is an Enhancement, which I think is more in the spirit of what you are saying. 

  3. As January winds down, I'm looking into wrapping up the open beta.  I think sometime in February, I will pull down the beta.  This means that it will no longer be publically accessible in the app store for Google and Testflight for iOS.

     

    It's been great to connect with the folks I have with this project.  I'm grateful for the feedback and bug reports I have received.

     

    I am open to any feedback. 

     

    If you have been on the fence about giving Gemini a shot, now is your last chance to get in there and play around with it.  I have the rules and some pregens I can pass along as well.

  4. On 12/2/2023 at 1:43 AM, mallet said:

    Can you link to what the Gemini Game is? The official website?

     

    Sorry, but I have never heard of it and the links provided only go to the app, which isn't much help since I still have no idea what the game is, and even the app ad on youtube doesn't have a link to the actual game website, and searching for "Gemini game" on google only brings up the 90's game console.

     

    I am guessing it is a TTRPG? What genre? or is it a universal system like HERO? Is it based off of HERO? 

     

    Links to something other then the app would be helpful.

    Hey, apologies for the late response... Christmas makes this time of year a little much.  If you are still interested, I can send you the rules to review.

     

    To answer some of your questions:

    • There is no official website for Gemini
      • I'm sort of using these forums and the unofficial Discord server as my home
    • It's a fast-playing TTRPG game that takes a few design leads from Hero
      • Power building should feel very familiar to a Hero player
      • The math is much more straightforward (pro or con, depends on your viewpoint)
      • It's designed to be genre-agnostic in that it's unopinionated on the subject of genre

    DM me on this site or via Discord (Sentry0 is my tag).  Email me at phil.guinchard@slackdaystudio.com if you are like me, old.

     

  5. Gemini Studio is the companion app for the Gemini game system.  This app is available for iOS and Android via the app stores.  I’m happy to announce that the app has finally entered an open beta.

     

    Open beta means anyone can use the app now.  The beta will be running until the new year.

     

    Features of the app include:

    • Build characters in the genre of your choice
    • Use the built-in tools to play your character in a game
    • Print characters using the built-in print templates
    • Export your characters to Roll20®
    • Share characters with other players or GMs by exporting them
    • Use the help system to reference game rules
    • Check out your die-rolling stats

     

    Some general notes: the app does not ask for any weird permissions, nor does it track you or otherwise invade your privacy.  

     

    Here are the links to the Apple App Store and Google Play Store to download the app.

     

    Apple App Store (iOS)

    https://testflight.apple.com/join/0BC5yPYA

     

    Google Play Store (Android)

    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ca.slackdaystudio.geministudio.beta

     

    If you need access to the Gemini book, please email me at phil.guinchard@slackdaystudio.ca, and I’ll get you a copy.

     

    Happy bug hunting, and direct your feedback to me directly or leave it here.

  6. It's been a bit since the last video.  A lot has changed in the Gemini Studio app in a month.  I have received some good feedback and made some changes to the app based on said feedback.

     

    Have a look at this video for some of the high level features that were added.

     

     

  7. I released the 2.1.10 build of HSM the other day.  There's not much new for people to play with other than a new toast message look and feel (toast messages are the little pop-ups that appear on the bottom of screens for some actions).  Under the hood, I ripped out an entire UI library as it is apparently not being supported by the upstream devs any longer.  There may be some look and feel changes but they are minor, like the buttons on the Combat screen look a little different.

     

    Patch Notes:

    • Upgraded toast messages
  8. On 3/24/2023 at 1:26 AM, C-Note said:

    Loving Hero System Mobile!

     

    Reporting an issue: Calculating damage for a Killing Attack using Hit Locations is not utilizing the BODY multiplier. In the attached screenshot, a 16 was rolled for KA damage with "Arms" as the hit location. The BODYx is "0.5", so total KA damage should be 8, but it is displaying 16.

     

    Screenshot_20230324-011200.thumb.png.ea7256412e6316dceb5c225c7a3851ad.png

     

    I just wanted to close this loop.  

     

    According to the RAW in 5th and 6th the BODYx multiplier is applied AFTER defenses, so this isn't a bug.

  9. I created a high-level overview video for Gemini.  Unlike my previous overview video, I go more into what Gemini is like from a macro level.  I discuss character Creation Points and review some foundational concepts, such as paying for abilities with points and what Attributes are. I go through an in-depth example of building a power in Gemini as well.

     

    This video is really aimed at people who know nothing about the game but may be curious.

     

     

  10. Notes for the 2.1.8 release.

    • The home screen has been redesigned
    • Added animated dice to the dice rollers
    • Redid the look and feel of the cards in the character viewer
    • Animations can be disabled on the Settings screen
    • Added icons to the drawer menu
    • Removed the main subheading on the view character screen
    • The characters screen now prints by character name, not file name
    • Added a hex-grid to the app background
    • Improved the display of partial dice on the Result screen
    • Changed the chart on the statistics screen
    • Fixed Mental Defense totals in 5th edition
    • Fixed Elemental Control costs in 5th edition
    • Added support for No Figured Characteristics in 5th edition
    • Fixed a bug with HKAs and adders
    • Stylized the gutters on switches so they are more visible
  11. More context: for people wondering why this matters.  It doesn't for this app.  The languages' built-in tools to generate, at max, 50 numbers at a time between 1 and 6 are acceptable for this type of app.

     

    Now, if this were an app where money is changing hands, like a betting app, then yeah... this matters a lot.  There are plenty of examples of people breaking the PRNG in casinos - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_vdoaKsP5Y.  In that type of computer, you want something different than the built-in language functions.  You want a big, beefy algorithm to generate the most random numbers possible.  You don't want a scenario where Sally breaks the bank because she gamed the machine.  That's how developers cry.

     

    The same goes for apps dealing with personally identifiable information (PII).  PII is very sensitive, and you probably want to protect parts or all of it with good cryptographic keys by default.

     

    HSM is for pretending to be a superhero (or secret agent, barbarian, etc.).  No money is changing hands (that I know of) and it certainly does not track PII.  One of my primary commitments in the design of this app was to not ask for anything I didn't need to know - https://github.com/slackdaystudio/hero-system-mobile#:~:text=it is also ad free%2C respects user privacy%2C and it will remain that way.

     

    With all that said, it's in the app now if it will help you sleep better at night.  Context matters. This is not an app that you'll lose the house because of bad RNG.  HSM generates at most 50 numbers between 1-6 at a time.  It lacks the scale and seriousness for this feature, but here we are.

     

  12. I added in support for better PRNG with this commit - https://github.com/slackdaystudio/hero-system-mobile/commit/94270479e3123f65531c05cd4734352a20b3d2e1

     

    It uses xoroshiro+ as its algorithm by default - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xorshift#xoroshiro

     

    I changed the settings tab to have a 'Performance' section with a few options for people to toggle on or off.  Animations will probably get you more bang for your buck in that section than turning off the extra roll entropy.

     

    This is on by default.

     

    prng-overkill.thumb.png.f7ef1f058973f3b5dcdf0b59d47d16e0.png

  13. 3 minutes ago, unclevlad said:

    No, I don't, which is why I've mostly stayed out of this thread...but you asked for feedback on a UI aspect that's pretty much independent, and hey, we started talking about damage rolls and stun probabilities in the 5E/6E comparison thread, and that got me to put my mathematician's hat back on.  That's always dangerous.

     

    MT is fine if you have an implementation.  It takes some space, but even with Android or iOS apps, you're not exactly starved for space.  I may switch, because it looks like Java 17 makes things easier, with good generators that are faster.  I sometimes do some VERY large Monte Carlo sims for grins.

     

    Well, thanks for stopping by. See you around.

  14. 8 minutes ago, unclevlad said:

    Can you find out which RNG is being used?  And what are you developing in?

     

    I use Mersenne Twister.  Reasonably small, readily available.  It may also be what you have.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mersenne_Twister

     

    I note that NumPy went to a PCG64...

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permuted_congruential_generator

     

    The code for this is incredibly simple, and the notes say it's passing all the tests that matter for an app like this.  It's also smaller.  You might need to write the little secondary stuff (like converting the uint to an int in the [x...y] range), but it's likely in any precompiled library.

     

     

     

     

    I originally was going to use Mersenne Twister.  I had an implementation that I was going to use but decided against it as this is an app for a game.  There's no money involved and it's not using any crypto.  

     

    Do you use the app?

     

  15. 12 minutes ago, unclevlad said:

    I'm not sure what the goal of your statistics page is.  Right now, I see no value in it, but let's start with that question:  what's the goal here?

     

    And since you brought it up, do you know the RNG your code's using?  I *hate* bad RNGs...and very often, the easiest to use, built-in ones are pathetic.  

     

    The stats page is just for fun...

     

    What would you suggest I use for better PRNG?

  16. I am pushing a new release candidate build to the app stores.  I just swapped out the charting lib and tweaked the settings screen on this one.

     

    This will likely be the build I push to production later this weekend.  Many things changed under the hood, but I don't bore people with those details.  I confine my patch notes to what you can look at and play with and bug fixes.

     

    Here are the combined notes for what users should expect.

    • The home screen has been redesigned
    • Added animated dice to the dice rollers
    • Redid the look and feel of the cards in the character viewer
    • Animations can be disabled on the Settings screen
    • Added icons to the drawer menu
    • Removed the main subheading on the view character screen
    • The characters screen now prints by character name, not file name
    • Added a hex-grid to the app background
    • Improved the display of partial dice on the Result screen
    • Changed the chart on the statistics screen
    • Fixed Mental Defense totals in 5th edition
    • Fixed Elemental Control costs in 5th edition
    • Added support for No Figured Characteristics in 5th edition
    • Fixed a bug with HKAs and adders
    • Stylized the gutters on switches so they are more visible

    With that, I need to walk away and give this time to settle.  I'll pay extra close attention after the app is pushed into production for bug reports so I can address new or existing issues as appropriate.

     

    Thanks to all my testers, and happy Hero-ing all!

  17. I needed to remove the ring chart from the app.  The library I was using is no longer maintained and was flagged by my NPM as having 5 critical vulnerabilities.  Because of this library, I also had to turn off the recommended protections to install the app dependencies (F is --force, never a good sign).  It had to go.

     

    Now, my build system is reporting 0 vulnerabilities 🎉

     

    The new charting library I have is much nicer to work with and has a lot of options.  Who knows, maybe it will see some more use in the future.

     

    Here is the revamped Statistics chart.  Does it make sense?

     

    revised-stats-chart.thumb.png.bf1dfa0baa64056124f2a4d40aef4868.png

     

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