sentry0

I think universal focus is enough in this case, given the genre.  I think in another genre, say Super heroic, it would be inappropriate but fine in Fantasy.

I spent my time today working on loading multiple characters into the app, here's how it works:

• There are 5 slots in the app for characters
• When loading a character you must select a slot to load them into
• You can clear a character slot by long pressing it from a character viewer
• You can also directly load a character into an existing slot

Here's a screenshot of the modified character load/import screen... note the line of text that reads "Load character into:" followed by a slot drop down.

Here is what the character viewers now look like.  Note the footer at the bottom of the viewer.

You can see by the footer that 2 of the 5 character slots have characters loaded into them.  It's pretty hard to see from the screenshot but the UI does highlight the currently selected character as well.

Pressing on an empty character slot will take you to the character load/import screen and pre-populate the drop down with the correct slot.

Long pressing on a loaded character (other than your currently selected character) will bring up the following confirmation dialog:

I'm still working on some little things but most of the work is done on this one.  You should be seeing this in the next build.

I added in a tab for notes for Hero Designer characters.  The notes section itself a catchall spot for user to use to keep track of campaign notes, equipment, or anything else they need to.  I gave it a 10k character size limit so you should be able to cram a lot of info in there if need be.

I also made it so when you import a character that already exists in your list of characters that current combat state (STUN, BODY, CVs, etc) and notes get copied over to the incoming character.  This means that if you ever delete a character from your list, all combat state and notes will go with them (as one should expect).  However, if you are just importing an updated version of your character the app will automatically transfer your notes and combat state over to the new version of your character.

Here's a screenshot of the notes section:

Portraits will be available in the next build for the Hero Designer character viewer 

I'm still testing some scaling code I wrote but it looks like this one is a sure thing for next build.

I just pushed the 1.4.0 build out to production for Android and iOS.  This build adds a couple of new features such as support for tablets and sounds.

Patch notes:

• Added support for tablets
• Added in the ability to manage characters within the app
• The app now plays sounds when rolling dice
• Added a back button in the top left corner of the app

The default sound when rolling is a dice sound but if you have picked a SFX for a power from within HD it will play a sound based on the SFX.  I realize that not everyone will be happy with the sounds I picked for the effects which I hope to address by allowing you to customize SFX sounds in a future release.   Sounds can be disabled from settings too if you would prefer not to play them.

The reason for the change in how characters are loaded and stored by the app is for features I want to implement in the future such as loading multiple characters at once, viewing portraits, and equipment/notes fields.  It's a little different than it was before but it shouldn't cause too many issues... I hope!

The patch should be available over the weekend.

I finally got my Mac VM to update to Catalina after 2 days of time consuming and boring install attempts and rollbacks.  

The good news is that I can now access files via iCloud again which means I can test the character viewers.  I already found and fixed some display issues and am continuing to test as I write this.

It all looks pretty promising for a release soon, probably tomorrow morning.

Work on tablet support is nearing completion.  I added icons and splash screens for iPad's tonight and fixed some issues with the header on various sized devices.

I have a very annoying issue that I've been fighting on the iOS side.  I don't own an iPad or iPhone so I usually use the Simulator tool that Apple provides to developers to do my testing.  Unfortunately, my Simulator tool is refusing to load iCloud files for me at the moment, it throws an error message when I click on a file regardless of the device I'm simulating.  I'm going to try to bypass iCloud entirely but it's a bit of pain to do.  

That's a long way of saying that I haven't seen the character screens because I can't load a character  

Anyways, barring any further issues with the Simulator tool I may end up pushing a build as early as tomorrow morning.

2 hours ago, Spence said:

 

Ah, youu mean roll low to determine success, roll high for effect/damage?  Correct?

 

If yes, that is true for all the roll low systems I know of.  But it does clear up my confusion.

 

Thanks

 

 

A couple of the guys are programmers and I had a process engineer and a teacher at the table... they may have just been overthinking things

12 hours ago, Spence said:

I simply don't get the entire point. 

Right now I play far more games by Chaosium and Modiphious than anything else and they are all roll low.

I've yet to meet anyone IRL that found roll low harder than roll high. They are just die rolls with a target number.

HERO is both a roll low and roll high system at the same time.  My new players were pointing out that it's a little weird to do both.

It doesn't bother me and probably the vast majority of users on these boards but it was honest feedback from fresh eyes.

I think Chimpions just started a new season.  

I started work on tablet support last night, I figured it was a sure thing with regards to the poll.  I'm applying scaling to the application and working through the UI glitches as they come up but I wanted to show some early progress so you get an idea of how things will look.

Current App - Samsung Tab S (8.4")

New Build - Samsung Tab A (8")

As you can see from the screenshots the app looks much better now on the Tab A due to the application scaling.  There's still lots of little things to tweak but the coarse work has been done, now it's just details.  I don't like how long the buttons are on the new build for example, I'll probably be tweaking it... the logo is too big too...

Now if only I could get my iOS simulator to load a character... ah well, a problem for another day.

Another quick update...

I added a "Back" button to the left hand side of the application header, mostly for iOS.  I had to center the logo in the header to get this to look right... I think it turned out pretty good.

Here's a screenshot of the new header, note the back chevron to the left of the logo.

I have been working on some fundamental changes to how characters are managed by the app based on the anticipated future needs of the app.  These changes revolve around how characters are loaded and stored by the application.  The way characters are managed by the app is changing in order to support loading multiple characters into the app and other features like "Notes" and freeform "Equipment" entries.

To understand the changes I think it's necessary to describe how character management currently works:

• The app can manage one character as time by picking it from the filesystem
• Loading a new character will erase any data about the currently loaded character like combat state
• Information about the currently loaded character is saved between sessions via platform specific data stores

All the above means is that the app can only effectively manage one character at a time.

The next major release of the app will have the new model of character management, which is:

• Importing a character will save them locally to the app
  • You will have a list of characters that you may choose to load from
  • You may delete characters as well
• Character state is saved in the local version of the character
  • Basically, combat state and if you have the "Include Secondary Characteristics?" switch flipped
  • Loading a character will also load their saved state into the app, if any
• Loading a new version of the character via the import button will overwrite the old character

Here's a screenshot of the new character management screen:

1 hour ago, BigJackBrass said:

A note on adding sounds: does anyone actually need sounds in an app like this? It only came to mind as I keep the sound switched off by default when I'm using a computer, whether it's a 'phone/tablet or PC, and it seems as though sounds files would add to the program size quite a bit.

You can choose not to play any sounds at all in the app by going to the settings screen and flipping a switch.  It was the first thing I thought of when Doc requested this feature 😂

All of the audio files add up to about 1.1m of bloat in the app.  That's roughly a 10% increase in size on the Android side... not too bad.  The PDFs I used to distribute with the app took up about the same space.  Actual runtime memory should be low too because I load sounds on demand and not all at once.

But yes, no one needs this feature but it's a nice little option for people to use if they want.

Also, I need something to keep me busy while I wait for the poll to finish 😉

Sounds

I finished the first pass at adding in sound effects... here's how it works right now:

• You need to select a "Special Effect" for a power in HD
• The power must have a roll associated with it like a Blast or Entangle
• Sounds will play when you make your roll
  • Each special effect in HD has a sound in the app... all 48 of them

You can choose to not play any sounds in the newly redesigned settings screen of the app.  Alternatively, you may also choose to just use the dice rolling sound regardless of the SFX assigned to the powers.

All the sounds are here if you're curious. 

What I'm thinking for phase 2 of this feature is this:

• I'll add a screen to upload a sound (and delete one too)
  • You will pick from a dropdown on this screen what SFX it should play on
• When loading a SFX the app will first check the list of user uploaded files and load anything it finds for the SFX
  • All SFX sounds are loaded on demand (and then cached) to keep memory under control
• Failing to find any user defined mp3's for a given SFX will cause the app to use the default SFX sound

Tablet Support

While we're talking about features, I want to discuss what I mean by 'Tablet Support' as it is currently ahead in the poll.  I will be using a technique to scale up the UI to a reasonable size based on the device screen size and resolution - that's it.  I have no plans right now to make special screens based on the size of the device.  Making screens based on device size adds a level of complexity to my development process that I just don't need right now, especially when weighed against the other feature requests I have in the pipeline.  To reiterate, it will look better on bigger devices but there won't be a changes to the UI beyond the addition of scaling.

Perhaps this will change someday but for now I want to add in this first step and move on to other features.

3 hours ago, Doc Democracy said:

Was thinking about this, and how fussy folk are.  Would it be easier, in the round, to allow users to add their own sounds and label them rather than hard coding in a fire or electricity SFX?

You are absolutely right that people are fussy.  I have the hardcoded version complete from the coding perspective, I just have a few more sounds to pick out.

I'll look into the ability to upload custom sounds and see how much work that will be.

1 hour ago, bluesguy said:

In Heroic games players are often left having to track inventory (money, equipment, trinkets, etc).  Many of these items are not recorded as 'Hero Equipment' but in a separate inventory 'tool' (piece of paper, notebook, spreadsheet, etc).  Something to help with 'inventory management' would be nice.

This isn't the first time I've been asked for this actually.  

The issue from the app perspective is that it doesn't have any concept of multiple characters... the app only knows about the current character.  Which means when you load in a new character it forgets about the last one entirely including anything in persistent storage.

This may be a nice stepping stone to loading multiple characters or an excuse to just do that feature outright.

1 hour ago, ScottishFox said:

I hadn't realized how hairy power construction could get until I started converting some Pillars of Eternity spells and had to use compound powers and custom powers here and there.

 

On the character sheet the combat summary (on Tasha's Ultimate) is so brief the players can't use it, but the full power description is so heavy that nobody can read it.  These are guys that play Anima, Pathfinder 2.0, D&D 5e and other games.  Veteran gamers looking at me like, "Bro, I can't read this shit.  What do you want me to do?".  This is our 3rd FH campaign...

 

So I'm in HERO Designer (an amazing product) and I'm going through the characters to simplify all of the charges, incantations, gestures, and other limitations into VERY simple things like Lim: Spell -2, Cast Time: 3.0s and it's taking HOURS.

 

Then later I was in the restroom and pulled up my Advanced Player's Guide 2 book and on the back of the book in giant yellow letters - "EVEN MORE RULES!".

 

Which made me want to read an adventure, only they basically don't exist.

If you haven't done it yet there is an option in HD to not print Advantages/Limitations on MPs and lists items.  It will still print on the root element, just not the children.

Very helpful at times.

Here you go @Doc Democracy... took about 30 minutes to setup

Need to pick out sounds for SFX now...  that'll take longer than the coding lol.

2 hours ago, Doc Democracy said:

I would love something like this to provide SFX for powers.  I realise that is not in the purview of the app - it is not a numbers thing and would hugely increase the memory use but being able to roll damage and have it sound like the power is going off would be really cool....

 

😉

 

Doc

That actually wouldn't be a huge deal to implement... it would mostly be a question of finding public domain sound effects and getting them to play on a roll... there should be a way to stop the app from playing them too. 

There would be one more permission required by the app too but that shouldn't be a big deal.

Now that the dust is settling on my last big feature I've been thinking about what to do next for the app.  I don't really know which feature to work on next so I thought I would open up the choice here.

Let me know what you think the next big feature should be.

I pushed the 1.3.6 patch early this morning after Apple found an issue in QA with the 1.3.5 patch.  It's a relatively small patch but fixes some bugs which snuck in to the Settings screen and app boot.

Patch notes:

• Added the ability to display notes to powers, skills, talents, etc
• Pressing on your strength die code from the characteristics tab will now bring you to the damage screen
• Fixed a couple of bugs with the settings page and clearing caches
• Changed the "Free Form" line item to "effect" on the statistics page

The build should be live for Android devices and hopefully going live on iOS later today, QA pending

I just pushed the 1.3.5 build to the app stores.  

Note: Clear your caches (under settings) before you use the build

Patch notes:

• Added in a new tool called the "Effect" roller which replaces the "Free Form" tool
• Effect results now show a message regarding the effect such as the number of segments a target is flashed for
• Pressing a phase bubble will highlight it in gold to indicate the phase has been spent
• Long pressing a phase bubble highlights it on red which indicates the phase has been aborted or lost due to stunning
• Added Dexterity and Speed to the phases section of the combat screen
• Added the defenses section to the combat screen which lists PD, ED, Power, and Mental defense
• Fixed an issue with tabs not immediately updating when toggling the "Show Secondary Characteristics?" button
• Fixed a bug with custom martial maneuvers which caused a crash
• Complications now display more useful information as a glance

You will probably start seeing the build on your devices later tonight would be my guess.

I've been sequestered in my home because of a snowstorm for the past day and a bit... the good news is there's plenty of time to program .  I've been squashing bugs and writing new features with the occasional break to shovel my driveway and watch The Witcher.

There's a couple of new things to go through...

The Effect Screen

I have replaced the "Free Form" rolling tool with a new tool called the "Effect" roller.  This screen still allows you to roll dice "free form" style but you may also now pick the effect you're rolling for.  When you hit the "Roll" button you will be taken to the "Result" screen per usual but there will now be an informative message.  For example; if you pick "Flash" as your effect type you will see the number of segments that target is flashed for when you press the "Roll" button.

In addition to using this tool stand alone I added in intelligence to the rolls you make from the Hero Designer character viewer.  When you roll for your "Flash" power effect it will automatically roll for you and tell you the segments your target is flashed for simply by pressing the die code on the power. 

Here it is:

Complications

I decided that the "Complications" tab on the Hero Designer character viewer needed a bit of love so it could fall in line with the ther tabs.  The primary issue I had with this tab was that it didn't tell you useful information at a glance.  It listed the type of Complication but no other useful information was present.  I changed it so there's more useful information available at a glance now.

Defenses

I finally got around to adding in a defenses section to the "Combat" tab of the Hero Designer character tab.  I won't bore you with the implementation details other than to say there's too many ways to get defenses in this game

That's all for now... I may push a build out later today or tonight depending on how things go.

I worked a bit more on the combat screen today for Hero Designer characters... here's a screenshot (apologies for the quality)

As you can see, the Dexterity and Speed of the loaded character are now displayed below the phase bubbles.

The phase bubbles themselves are now interactable:

• Touching a bubble will highlight it in gold to indicate the phase has been spent
• Long touching the bubble will highlight it in red to indicate the phase has been lost due to aborting or being stunned