Pathfinder 1E Hero Lab Supports Pathfinder Roleplaying Game!

[LWDPressRelease]

On August 13th, Lone Wolf Development will release the eagerly-awaited Pathfinder Roleplaying Game data package for Hero Lab. The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game package allows you to create adventurers and NPCs in the world of Golarion, described in the upcoming "Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook" from Paizo Publishing.

The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game data package includes all the races, character classes, spells, feats, magic items, and all the new mechanics introduced by the Core Rulebook, presented in Hero Lab's award-winning user-friendly interface.

Like all of Hero Lab's supported game systems, the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game data package allows players to create characters in minutes, verify them with Hero Lab's built-in validation engine, and print out character sheets (or use Hero Lab itself at the game table). GMs can create NPCs, and use the Tactical Console to manage encounters between the players and their foes.

For more informatiom, please visit our website at Lone Wolf Development.

(Note - this is an early release of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game data package, so the integrated data file editor, prestige classes, and some other functionality are not yet available. These will be corrected in free updates that will be made available in the weeks after the initial release.)

 

[azhrei_fje]

Looks like it's Windows-only. Bummer.

It's my wish that someday developers will realize that a cross-platform language will net them more customers, but I'm not holding my breath waiting. Too bad, 'cuz Hero Lab sounds like a perfect complement to the PF PDF I plan to purchase on Thursday.

 

[Dire Bare]

Curse you Lone Wolf, curse you! Now I may be forced to purchase both the Pathfinder rulebook AND Hero Lab!!! Have you no respect for my bank balance!?!?!

 

[Dire Bare]

Looks like it's Windows-only. Bummer.

It's my wish that someday developers will realize that a cross-platform language will net them more customers, but I'm not holding my breath waiting. Too bad, 'cuz Hero Lab sounds like a perfect complement to the PF PDF I plan to purchase on Thursday.

Developers will need to realize that making software cross-platform will net them enough new customers to balance out the extra expense of going cross-platform. And seeing how developers for RPG software and many videogames repeatedly fail to see this leads me to believe . . . . that the answer is no.

Macs are awesome, to be sure. But if you are going to go with any platform other than Windows, you're going to have to be prepared to have less choices when it comes to entertainment software. It's just the way it works (well, for now, until Apple manages to increase the Mac's market share, which is very possible).

 

[azhrei_fje]

Developers will need to realize that making software cross-platform will net them enough new customers to balance out the extra expense of going cross-platform.

The extra expense is more mindset than reality, however.

Macs are awesome, to be sure. But if you are going to go with any platform other than Windows, you're going to have to be prepared to have less choices when it comes to entertainment software. It's just the way it works (well, for now, until Apple manages to increase the Mac's market share, which is very possible).

Heh, I never mentioned Macs.

Of course, I'm typing on one right now, but the rest of my machines run Linux.

<threadjack>
I can understand the ROI for video games on Windows; there is a huge financial investment in performance-driven software in that industry. But those criteria for development don't affect programs like HeroLab. A few milliseconds here or there are not going to matter. There's really no reason to shut out a large segment of the market (totaling about 20%) except fear of change. It's a typically human reaction, but not rational.
</threadjack>

 

[ShinHakkaider]

I have a mac...

...in fact I have several, including the one that I'm typing this on at the moment (2.4 Ghz Intel core Duo MacBook Pro). I run Windows XP through Parallels on my Macbook Pro and because of that I'm able to run Hero Lab with no problems.

I'd prefer my apps to be native but I like Hero Lab enough that it was worth it.

 

[LWDPressRelease]

I can understand the ROI for video games on Windows; there is a huge financial investment in performance-driven software in that industry. But those criteria for development don't affect programs like HeroLab. A few milliseconds here or there are not going to matter. There's really no reason to shut out a large segment of the market (totaling about 20%) except fear of change. It's a typically human reaction, but not rational.

If we were to start writing Hero Lab from scratch tomorrow, then your argument would have some merit to it. However, Hero Lab traces its roots to two other products of ours, and shares a common code base with them. Those products - and portions of the codebase - date back to 1997. Twelve years ago, there were no good solutions for cross-platform portability between Mac and Windows. Heck, many major companies wasted tens of millions of dollars apiece trying to develop suitable cross-platform solutions back in those days. Since Hero Lab is built on a foundation that long pre-dates the recent cross-platform solutions, it is tied to Windows.

Would I prefer to have a native Mac or cross-platform solution? Absolutely! But then we would need to stop forward progress for nearly a year while we re-worked everything for Mac compatibility. Alternately, we could re-write everything in a new language that provides cross-platform portability, but that would entail an even longer period (our active codebase is roughly 500,000 lines of C++ code). That's a huge opportunity for someone else to come in and overtake us in terms of features and functionality. So it's not a viable business option. And since our development staff is only two guys, it's not possible for us to do a port in parallel.

There is no irrational fear of change here - just practical business trade-offs being made, which are purely rational.

It's frustrating when very bright people take a myopic view of business from a single vantage point, without considering that there might be other factors involved. This lack of perspective results in blanket statements being made that are wholly inappropriate and patently incorrect. And then people like myself are left with the choice of either ignoring the misinformation (and allowing it to propagate through lack of any challenge) or rebutting it (and thereby having to "dress down" someone who I'm sure means well). It's a lose-lose situation, and I hate being stuck with it.

 

[dinelendarkstar]

If we were to start writing Hero Lab from scratch tomorrow, then your argument would have some merit to it. However, Hero Lab traces its roots to two other products of ours, and shares a common code base with them. Those products - and portions of the codebase - date back to 1997. Twelve years ago, there were no good solutions for cross-platform portability between Mac and Windows. Heck, many major companies wasted tens of millions of dollars apiece trying to develop suitable cross-platform solutions back in those days. Since Hero Lab is built on a foundation that long pre-dates the recent cross-platform solutions, it is tied to Windows.

Would I prefer to have a native Mac or cross-platform solution? Absolutely! But then we would need to stop forward progress for nearly a year while we re-worked everything for Mac compatibility. Alternately, we could re-write everything in a new language that provides cross-platform portability, but that would entail an even longer period (our active codebase is roughly 500,000 lines of C++ code). That's a huge opportunity for someone else to come in and overtake us in terms of features and functionality. So it's not a viable business option. And since our development staff is only two guys, it's not possible for us to do a port in parallel.

There is no irrational fear of change here - just practical business trade-offs being made, which are purely rational.

It's frustrating when very bright people take a myopic view of business from a single vantage point, without considering that there might be other factors involved. This lack of perspective results in blanket statements being made that are wholly inappropriate and patently incorrect. And then people like myself are left with the choice of either ignoring the misinformation (and allowing it to propagate through lack of any challenge) or rebutting it (and thereby having to "dress down" someone who I'm sure means well). It's a lose-lose situation, and I hate being stuck with it.

To bad it is written in C++. If it was VB I know a development platform that would port all the code for you and you would be cross platform in a couple weeks at most.

But I feel your pain when it comes to consumers not taking a look at the big picture. It is a give me what I want mentality no matter how much it costs you, as the business. Oh yeah and if you do give us what we want we aren't going to pay for it either. So again I have to agree with you and also say I think you all have a great app.

 

[LWDPressRelease]

To bad it is written in C++. If it was VB I know a development platform that would port all the code for you and you would be cross platform in a couple weeks at most.

The fact that it's written in C++ is definitely a liability for cross-platform portability. However, it's also been a huge benefit in allowing us to do some of the really cool stuff in Hero Lab. I've done some VB programming in years past and I'm honestly not sure that VB could achieve some of the things we've done - at least, not without being so cumbersome as to render the feature not worth adding. So, as with anything, it's a tradeoff, with everyone making their own assessment of which benefits are more important and which liabilities can be lived with.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys ultimately release. I'm sure you're not going to give us a moment to breathe with Hero Lab, so we'll have to stay on our toes. Users are definitely going to be happy about that!

 

[CodexofRome]

If it was VB I know a development platform that would port all the code for you and you would be cross platform in a couple weeks at most.

For those of us following along, what development platform would you be referring to?