Ironwood Omnimedia

Yeah, yeah. Its been a while between posts. Too long in fact. There really is no reason except for the lack of progress up until last week. Furthermore, there is a new development coming along I can’t really divulge yet until some things are final. So, I am sorry for the silence, and the lack of any real news. However, there is some coming and I can’t wait to divulge it. As for progress, well I am happy to report that I have made some really large leaps and broken through a particularly challenging part of the character generator.

I had mentioned in a previous post about the inventory management of computer and console RPGs and how this would ultimately extend to character managers and character creation programs for PnP RPGs. While the ultimate design was locked in, there were some programming challenges that kept popping up. Eventual the code got so convoluted I basically slammed into a brick wall and just could not make it work. I eventually had to step back, take some time away, delete all of the code I had for it, and start from scratch. I started that on Tuesday and finished it on Thursday of last week. Now the entire management works and seems to be bug free (at the moment anyways). I am taking this week to integrate it into the character sheets and that hurdle is effectively passed.

Its still too early to say that I am looking at an end to this, but I can safely say that I do see that statement coming. I have systems built in and working that will and can be used to manage other systems for character creation already. For instance, managing spells uses a very similar code base as managing skills. Vehicle and computer management uses the same basic elements as Item purchasing and possible inventory load outs. The character sheets are coming along nicely as well. A single last big hurdle, which is modifying characters after development is still in development stages but I do have a very clear vision of that.

If I were only making a character generator I could hazard a finish date of a few weeks. However, I want a full management systems for characters which requires some more development. What little news I can hand out is that I am looking at releasing the character generator as a demo with a portion of the Fantasy Sagas campaign file. It will let you create characters only for Fantasy Sagas and it will be restricted to only human characters and perhaps some other limitations.

At the moment, I am looking at the character generator fully realized in generating attributes, meta data, purchasing skills and equipment, and managing equipment into load outs. I still have to go through spell purchasing, computer systems management, and vehicle management before I am completely satisfied with the character generation. Then I can move onto character management.

So far, the CRM looks all but finished. I still want a GM screen but it may have to wait until after release. Furthermore, I may extend the reports to use XHTML rather than the current rich text format. This will actually enable a users to customize the complete report by using style sheets which may make things more user friendly on the customer’s end. However, I am at a stage with the CRM where I feel that I would be happy to release it “as is” and make any further changes in updates or patches. Whatever I do, I won’t charge for updates to the program that involve adding things I had said or thought would be in a release version. So, no matter what, I won’t charge you for a digital GM screen.

Lastly, when I do release I will be following that up with a HUGE announcement. It will involve DPnP, and it will involve a master plan of making your gaming as versatile and unrestricted as possible.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 6th, 2010 at 9:22 am and is filed under Campaign Resource Manager, Developer Blog, DPnP, E-RPG General Development, Overall Development, Player Character Creator. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.