Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Geek Talk & Media
Can someone agree with me here?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="kenmarable" data-source="post: 3721487" data-attributes="member: 40359"><p>People have talked about this for years, and it isn't easy.</p><p></p><p>If you are going for another Digital Initiative, I wouldn't even consider it unless I had deep pockets and an experienced programming shop. I'm sure WotC is spending millions on it since that's really what it takes to build the entire DI that they are talking about. I think they've made some bad decisions early on that might ultimately doom major portions of it, but without at least a million dollars in my bank account to hire a team to pull it off, I'm just armchair coding. (Now, if there is anyone out there with a million to spend on this, I would gladly talk to them about how to do the DI right.) <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></p><p></p><p>As for specific tools, that has exactly happened with PCGen, DM Genie, RPXplorer, and who knows how many others I can't think of off the top of my head. The hard-core coders have spent their free time building tools with all kinds of functionality. I think that the software apps out there aren't uber-popular because most people either don't want to use a computer for their RPG or see the tools as more trouble than their worth (either because of needing to input WotC IP manually, bloated interfaces designed for maximum flexibility rather than maximum usability, lack of experience actually using the tool, etc.). When 4e comes out, people will continue to do the same thing.</p><p></p><p>You also mention specific content software. Now that is something interesting. It's something I've toyed around with, and with WotC pushing for more computer use in 4e I'll probably actually push to get some finished product out there. I've heard discussions about this for years, however, and no one has done it yet. I remember Clark Peterson's comments ages ago about how terrible PDF is as an electronic format. They are just book wanna-be's rather than true electronic products. The metaphor he used was making a movie of a novel by filming someone reading it. It's just a wanna-be and not an actual conversion to a new medium.</p><p></p><p>However, unlike the software tools mentioned above, this requires a convergence of both content and programming. Typically the people who want to put out content, write it and publish to PDF (or print). Those who want to program build the tools rather than specific stand alone products. It's two entirely different mindsets. I thought Code Monkey was getting close with their interactive adventures, but they never really made it anywhere with it, largely because it <em>appeared</em> to be that they were still in the "build general software" mentality which carries a lot more development and baggage along than necessary.</p><p></p><p>0one's maps are the only other contender I see for embracing a true electronic medium with individual content rather than tools. But they are a long way from what could be done.</p><p></p><p>But we'll see if anything actually hits that convergence and is even useful. People like general tools that they can modify as they like. So the sort of products I'm thinking about might flop. But it's something I've been thinking about and refining in the back of my head for 4 years now, and I'm finally getting off my duff and actually building something since I'm surprised no one else has in all that time.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="kenmarable, post: 3721487, member: 40359"] People have talked about this for years, and it isn't easy. If you are going for another Digital Initiative, I wouldn't even consider it unless I had deep pockets and an experienced programming shop. I'm sure WotC is spending millions on it since that's really what it takes to build the entire DI that they are talking about. I think they've made some bad decisions early on that might ultimately doom major portions of it, but without at least a million dollars in my bank account to hire a team to pull it off, I'm just armchair coding. (Now, if there is anyone out there with a million to spend on this, I would gladly talk to them about how to do the DI right.) ;) As for specific tools, that has exactly happened with PCGen, DM Genie, RPXplorer, and who knows how many others I can't think of off the top of my head. The hard-core coders have spent their free time building tools with all kinds of functionality. I think that the software apps out there aren't uber-popular because most people either don't want to use a computer for their RPG or see the tools as more trouble than their worth (either because of needing to input WotC IP manually, bloated interfaces designed for maximum flexibility rather than maximum usability, lack of experience actually using the tool, etc.). When 4e comes out, people will continue to do the same thing. You also mention specific content software. Now that is something interesting. It's something I've toyed around with, and with WotC pushing for more computer use in 4e I'll probably actually push to get some finished product out there. I've heard discussions about this for years, however, and no one has done it yet. I remember Clark Peterson's comments ages ago about how terrible PDF is as an electronic format. They are just book wanna-be's rather than true electronic products. The metaphor he used was making a movie of a novel by filming someone reading it. It's just a wanna-be and not an actual conversion to a new medium. However, unlike the software tools mentioned above, this requires a convergence of both content and programming. Typically the people who want to put out content, write it and publish to PDF (or print). Those who want to program build the tools rather than specific stand alone products. It's two entirely different mindsets. I thought Code Monkey was getting close with their interactive adventures, but they never really made it anywhere with it, largely because it [i]appeared[/i] to be that they were still in the "build general software" mentality which carries a lot more development and baggage along than necessary. 0one's maps are the only other contender I see for embracing a true electronic medium with individual content rather than tools. But they are a long way from what could be done. But we'll see if anything actually hits that convergence and is even useful. People like general tools that they can modify as they like. So the sort of products I'm thinking about might flop. But it's something I've been thinking about and refining in the back of my head for 4 years now, and I'm finally getting off my duff and actually building something since I'm surprised no one else has in all that time. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Geek Talk & Media
Can someone agree with me here?
Top