InitTool Usability Poll

Discussion of initiative tool.

Moderators: dorpond, Azhrei

How do you feel about InitTool's interface and usability?

I think it is very confusing.
5
33%
I think it is a little confusing.
4
27%
I am somewhere in the middle (please explain).
0
No votes
I think it is kind of easy.
5
33%
I think it is really easy.
1
7%
 
Total votes: 15

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jay
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Post by jay »

Warderbrad wrote: I was thinking of something like a library file, a single file where a user could enter monsters and other common NPCs for fast set up. When you tell it to add a combatant you could click another button on the next screen and have it pull up the library list and you click the one you want to add, once it is added you can edit it for customization purposes.

Heck if something like this was done, at least for d20 the monsters in the SRD would be allowed to be commonly available.
There is already a tracker for this. I'll try to get to it after the index card and add combatant panel updates.

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jay
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Post by jay »

Big_Mac wrote:The plus of doing something like that would be that when MT and IT are integrated this could then be hooked to the tokens of MT.
That has always been the plan. Someday you will be able to set conditions in IT and have them displayed in MT. When the condition expires, it will be removed from both IT and MT. When the Character Tool becomes available, it will interface with that as well. Everything will be integrated.

Warderbrad
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Post by Warderbrad »

jay wrote:There is already a tracker for this. I'll try to get to it after the index card and add combatant panel updates.
I wish I could help you with coding and such but my experience is all VB based. I wish that cause I hate to ask my next question but here it is, what kind of time frame are we looking at for the update following the index card thing. I don't mind the idea of the index card (I never used them at a table top or online game) but functionality and such would be a welcome improvement. I have to spend at least an hour setting up for a short encounter due to having to input all the info for each combatant every time. While the index card idea could make things better I don't know if it will save time like the table input and other stuff would.

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RPTroll
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Post by RPTroll »

jay wrote:
RPTroll wrote:I agree with a computed fields column. That would be a great addition.
There is already a tracker for this. What is the expected functionality for a computed field?
Sorry for the late response:

A computed field allows for a formula to be applied based on one or more other fields with standard forumlas (ala Excel).

For instance, if there were fields for HP and Damage a computed field might by Remaining Hitpoints which is HP-Damage.

Another interesting ability is to have self referencing fields. An example would be Damage, as above but everytime you entered a new value it would do Damage(old)-Damage(new). Not really sure how you would code that though.
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jay
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Post by jay »

Warderbrad wrote:
jay wrote:There is already a tracker for this. I'll try to get to it after the index card and add combatant panel updates.
I wish I could help you with coding and such but my experience is all VB based. I wish that cause I hate to ask my next question but here it is, what kind of time frame are we looking at for the update following the index card thing. I don't mind the idea of the index card (I never used them at a table top or online game) but functionality and such would be a welcome improvement. I have to spend at least an hour setting up for a short encounter due to having to input all the info for each combatant every time. While the index card idea could make things better I don't know if it will save time like the table input and other stuff would.
I'm about half way through with the first drop of the index card view, so hoepfully it will be dropped in the next couple of days. I'll try to do a first cut of the loading values from a file with the add combatant panel updates, since that is where it will be used. So it'll be a week or so.

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Butter
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Post by Butter »

It's pretty easy. I don't love it, I don't hate it. I probably won't find myself using it very often, but it's a cool tool and a great idea. I love all the good work you guys do!

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jay
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Post by jay »

RPTroll wrote: A computed field allows for a formula to be applied based on one or more other fields with standard forumlas (ala Excel).
I wias thinking about adding full script support, first release will probably be javascript.
RPTroll wrote: Another interesting ability is to have self referencing fields. An example would be Damage, as above but everytime you entered a new value it would do Damage(old)-Damage(new). Not really sure how you would code that though.
I was thinking about adding something like this by typing something like '/$-23' and it would do the math for you. Make it like a little script. Then you could add special values like '/roll(5d8)+10 into groups as definitions of their custom values and have the little script executed when you move it to the encounter. Does that sound like it might work?

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Post by RPTroll »

jay wrote: I wias thinking about adding full script support, first release will probably be javascript.
RPTroll wrote: Another interesting ability is to have self referencing fields. An example would be Damage, as above but everytime you entered a new value it would do Damage(old)-Damage(new). Not really sure how you would code that though.
I was thinking about adding something like this by typing something like '/$-23' and it would do the math for you. Make it like a little script. Then you could add special values like '/roll(5d8)+10 into groups as definitions of their custom values and have the little script executed when you move it to the encounter. Does that sound like it might work?
That would ROCK!!!!!
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jay
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Post by jay »

OK, build 10 is out and it contains the ability to edit the creatures and timers from the index cards. I also added an editable notes field. I fixed the add timer dialog so that you select the creatures that are affected by the timer by checking a box in the first column in the table. Every place where you selected multiple items from a list like that now have the check box column. I think I've fixed all the bugs that were mentioned here as well. Including the problem where the last value you typed appeared as the value of the next cell when editing the custom properties inside of the table view.

Next I am going to work on the add dialog and tool that allows you to predefine all the different types of creatures in a file so that they are really easy to add to the encounter.

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Post by dorpond »

This recent update ROCKS Jay - thanks a lot!

I am really excited about the ability to save creature lists. So technically, we could have all the creatures from the SRD available in the list and we could share our lists with other people - correct?

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jay
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Post by jay »

Yes. Eventually. you will be able to add tokens to it and drag & drop onto init tool or map tool. The data structure will not be specific to D20, so it can be used for any game. Then we can create data files which are game specific. I plan to make it so you can load multiple data files. I also want the user to be able to categorize the data and show it in a tree. So, if you were to provide the data in the file, you could categorize your monsters by CR.

Anything else that you would like for the tool to do?

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jay
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Post by jay »

Warderbrad wrote:I was thinking of something like a library file, a single file where a user could enter monsters and other common NPCs for fast set up. When you tell it to add a combatant you could click another button on the next screen and have it pull up the library list and you click the one you want to add, once it is added you can edit it for customization purposes.

Heck if something like this was done, at least for d20 the monsters in the SRD would be allowed to be commonly available.
I added a first cut of this in build 11, and add icons to it in build 12. Take a look at it and see if I need to add some more functionality to it. I still don't have an editor for it, but they are pretty easy to edit by hand. In my gallery album there is a D&DMonster file that contains all of the SRD monsters with links to the monster manual image galleries.

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