Alpha Build 89 Notes

[trevor]

CHAT PANEL CHAT PANEL CHAT PANEL !!!!!

Ok, this is introducing the first pass at a new chat panel. Here's how to bring it up:

- Move your pointer to the bottom of the map window
- Hit '/' to start a command
- Use menu Tool->Chat
- When the panel is hidden and a new chat arrives a chat icon shows up in the bottom left, just move you mouse over it to show the panel

Features:

- YES you can type html tags (eg I said <b>DIE</b> monster!)
- You don't have to put /s to say something, just type something and it will default to '/say'. All other commands are still available by typing '/' like normal.
- Change the size of the chat panel by dragging the space between the chat panel and the map area

As long as the pointer is over the panel it will stay open. When you leave the panel it will go away. Currently the only way to keep the panel open even when the mouse leaves is to put a space in the command textfield.

Here are some very near enhancements:

- Make the chat panel have a sticky button (make it stay open always)
- Make incoming messages show up in the notification area if the panel is closed
- Auto colored player names/text

PLEASE PLEASE provide feedback on the panel. The chat panel has been pooped on more than any other feature, let us know if you like where it's going, and help us steer it to the right place

[Emryys]

I like it !

Having the default as "say" is a good move and the icon to alert works good.

The choice in coming features looks good as well (such good taste), but especially the "/me" feature would be helpful...
The GM speaking as an NPC using the "as" command typing might be a bit clunky, perhaps hilighting a token in the tokens sidebar will make the text/rolls etc. come out as the chosen token...
Same goes with the whisper command, having to type the name of the NPC, especially if its "Grimorandiferned the player killer" could get tedious

Here's a link to the Chat features I mentioned in another thread...

Peruse at your leisure

Looking...Hmmm.....Glorious perhaps

[trevor]

I'll see how many I can crank out tonight/tmrw.

I'm thinking I'll create a drop down that sits just above the text panel that contains a list of all the things you can speak as. For players it will be their user name and all the tokens they own (not sure what to do with non-strict token management ... hmmm). For GMs it will list all tokens on the map, and perhaps a textfield that will let them put in arbitrary text. For example, the GM might want a 'the magic sword' speach source.

[Emryys]

I'll see how many I can crank out tonight/tmrw

Excellent You guys are like machines! ...in a good sense

I'm thinking I'll create a drop down that sits just above the text panel that contains a list of all the things you can speak as. For players it will be their user name and all the tokens they own (not sure what to do with non-strict token management ... hmmm)

Maybe make it the same as the GM's, since it's non-strict...

For GMs it will list all tokens on the map, and perhaps a textfield that will let them put in arbitrary text. For example, the GM might want a 'the magic sword' speach source.

In GRiP there are 2 types of NPC's - Entities, which have there own sheet and icons for the map, and NPC's whch are just a name that you can speak as and have speech macros for. This arbitrary name sounds like the later... could be handy

[brisingre]

*Any HTML?* If so, you guys are absolutely <b>INCREDIBLE</b>, and if not you are incredible anyway, and I would like a list of working tags, maybe on the /h macro.[/b]

[trevor]

It's whatever html Java supports, which includes some css and all the basic tags

You could probably get a list by doing a google for java html support or something (I'd go find it, but gotta go give my girls a bath)

[trevor]

Well, this is what I got done, the others will have to wait until after 1.0:

- Clean up the UI
- Move the chat start to the ENTER key
- Make '/' start a macro like before
- Include the /me macro
- Create a better (and smaller) icon for chat arrival notification

I haven't made a build yet as I'll be adding more features shortly, but will probably build it to alpha on Friday (unless you are all dying to see these tweaks then I'll build sooner)

If anyone finds bugs are has ideas for small chat improvements let me know, otherwise I'll probably let it stay the way it is until after 1.0, at which point we'll waaaay flesh it out

Now, on to finish all those remaining M9s !

[rkathey]

<sniff> I'm just so <sob> happy. Its like Christmas in February. <sniff>
If I only had a hex overlay I could die happy.

But seriously:

1) /clr doesn't seem to work.
2) up arrow/down arrow to scroll through a command history would be nice
3) the ability to combine text with a roll, maybe parse out stuff in quotes such as
/r 'Dragon breaths fire on Duragar' 12d8


Other than that it rocks.

[trevor]

1) /clr doesn't seem to work.

Oops, I broke it. I'll fix it.

2) up arrow/down arrow to scroll through a command
history would be nice

Good idea, I'll impl that. Tracker created

3) the ability to combine text with a roll, maybe parse out stuff in quotes such as /r 'Dragon breaths fire on Duragar' 12d8

I'm actually going to reverse it, so you can write:

Dragon breaths fire on duragar for [12d8] damage

which translates to:

Dragon breaths fire on duragar for (12d8)=> 43 damage

[trevor]

1) /clr doesn't seem to work.

Oops, I broke it. I'll fix it.

Fixed, will be in the next build

2) up arrow/down arrow to scroll through a command
history would be nice

Good idea, I'll impl that. Tracker created

Done.

I'll get the last one (inline rolling) done Friday night and do a new build to ALPHA.

Thanks for all the feedback, I'm kinda even starting to like the chat/command panel now !

[rkathey]

I thought of a few other things that might come in handy

/ignore so if one player is bugging another the bugee doesn't have to see what the bugger is typing. Note ignoring the DM is a bad thing

The ability for the dm to silence a person in the chat (sort of like a a mass ignore)

While this can wait, at some point you're going to get a butthead in the game ruining the experiance for everyone. Its a shame when a few bad apples spoil it for the rest of us.

Saving the chat as part of the campaign file or having the option of logging it to a text or html file.

/alias command so you can turn something like
/alias WA Wolfgang rolls to hit [d20+4] and damage [d10+2]
when you type /WA it substitutes the line above.
/alias without any parameters lists your current aliases

/loadalias or a menu option to load an alias file so you can script all this stuff out ahead of time and load it into your chat session at the start of the gaming session

The ability to log your dice tool rolls to the chat or to call a dice tool function as part of the roll command. Note, with the alias command above this becomes less needed as you can save your formulas as aliases.

Once again, none of this is needed now since what you've got fulfills the basic requirements for gaming but they would be nice to have post 1.0

Regards,
rAk

[trevor]

/ignore so if one player is bugging another the bugee doesn't have to see what the bugger is typing. Note ignoring the DM is a bad thing

The ability for the dm to silence a person in the chat (sort of like a a mass ignore)

If you get a person who gets to this point, there is a tracker for a Boot Player that will be implemented shortly after 1.0. Trying to think of a case where you would want to silence instead of just boot. Perhaps as a time out ? What do others think, is there a strong case for /ignore as opposed to just booting them ?

Saving the chat as part of the campaign file or having the option of logging it to a text or html file.

This has come up before, but I can't find the tracker for it, so I made a new one: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.ph ... tid=724899

/alias command so you can turn something like
<snip>
/loadalias or a menu option to load an alias file so you can script all this stuff out ahead of time and load it into your chat session at the start of the gaming session

I like this, tracker added https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.p ... tid=724899

The ability to log your dice tool rolls to the chat or to call a dice tool function as part of the roll command. Note, with the alias command above this becomes less needed as you can save your formulas as aliases.

This integration will certainly happen, look for it post 1.0

Once again, none of this is needed now since what you've got fulfills the basic requirements for gaming but they would be nice to have post 1.0

Yeah, but they are so so cool (functional) and yet so easy to implement ! I'm excercising my 1,000,000,000 votes

Regards,
rAk[/quote]

[rkathey]

I was thinking of the /ignore more for player to player interaction. There are times when the GM likes two players but the players themselves can't stand each other. This isn't much of an issue with my group but I could see it being a problem with others.

The boot works well for the mass ignore unless you want to put the player in timeout. I agree that in most cases the DM is going to boot/ban the user but sometimes just silencing the character does the trick. A disable function might work as well where you don't actually boot the player but diable his/her input into the game so they can't add/move tokens or chat but can see the fun the others are having.

This functionality will become more important when DMs do open games on some hosting server (could be money in them thar hills) where the DM and the players have no clue as to who's going to be online or what shananagins they might pull but the DM wants to do something short of kicking them out.

Like I said, not important for now but might be needed in the future.

[trevor]

This functionality will become more important when DMs do open games on some hosting server (could be money in them thar hills)

As a side note, MapTool will always be free We have, though thought about a subscriber service that would provide a huge pipeline to run servers on, that way no one is bottlenecked by the server player's bandwidth. Basically provide a value service of bandwidth (server hosting). The cost would be very low, would probably be per game group (opposed to per player), and only so much as to help pay for the server.

Would that kind of service be interesting to any of you ?

[rkathey]

I think it might someday. For now we have 4 people gaming and my roadrunner/old Gateway running Linux. It seems to be keeping put with the demand. It did tank once during a game requiring a restart. Paying a small fee for a server that had some more horse power is not out of the question.

You could combine it with web space/bulletin boards/blogging ala IPowerWeb to complete the package. That way you would have a gaming site for characters vs something that just serves up maps. If I had the choice of my ipowerweb site or something that gave a value added like maptool I would choose the maptool service quickly.

This gets into more ISP kinda stuff and may be more than you'd like to do but I'm guessing there would be a limited number of users, at least in the beginning. You could then enlarge it to do other java support services as a value added: custom apps and development that is server based. Google and others are eating into the Big M$ this way. You might be able to find a nitch in the gaming market that could leverage into something much bigger.

Sorry, sometimes I ramble.

The short answer: Yes, I would consider renting time on a map server.