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
Why's it so hard to create a character generator that rocks?
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="barsoomcore" data-source="post: 1573909" data-attributes="member: 812"><p>What are you talking about? This is sheerest nonsense.</p><p></p><p>Unless you're trying to convince me that I should just completely ignore PCGen for the rest of its existence, and tell everyone who shares my needs to not even bother. Is that your point? That I should just shut up and find some development group that actually cares about what I want?</p><p></p><p>This is NOT the attitude I've come to expect from PCGen folks -- who in my experience have been sensible, committed programmers trying very hard to create an extremely complex tool. And doing a good job. My job, as a committed user, is to indicate my needs when the opportunity arises and point out the product's shortcomings. You don't like that, you're in the wrong business.</p><p></p><p>Statements like this reflect poorly on the PCGen team.</p><p></p><p>I understand that. I even SAID that. I think they're wrong, and I think the evidence (PCGen's terrible interface, numerous fatal bugs and obtuse methods of customization) supports me.</p><p></p><p>The big secret of leadership is -- if the team won't do it, you're going to have to do it. Figure out a build process that automatically runs the tests. Fix the issues that break the build. Only bring programmers onto the team who are willing to work according to the process.</p><p></p><p>You don't have to let every willing hand help out. Just because you're not paying people doesn't mean you can't fire them.</p><p></p><p>I make movies with entirely unpaid crews and let me tell you, if somebody doesn't follow instructions they are OFF my set RIGHT NOW. The other crew members see that and they think, "Hey, these people mean business. They don't let just any yahoo on board. Hey, I must be okay if they haven't fired me yet. I must know what I'm doing. Cool." People WANT to be held accountable for their mistakes. They WANT to be treated like professionals, even if they're not being paid.</p><p></p><p>Maybe ESPECIALLY if they're not being paid.</p><p></p><p>The "We're Open Source, we can't follow proper processes" line is bunk. I don't FORCE my people to write unit tests. I HIRE people who write unit tests. There's no reason PCGen can't do the same thing.</p><p></p><p>Open Source software should be held to HIGHER standards than commercial software, because the pressures of time-to-market are lower, so there's TIME to do things the right way.</p><p></p><p>Sorry, got on a bit of rant there. Of the things I feel strongly about, software development leadership is close to the top of the list.</p><p></p><p>See, this is my position exactly. If the product was USELESS, I wouldn't bother posting my concerns and wants. It's almost AWESOME. But the failures are so complete, so debilitating that it breaks my heart to see.</p><p></p><p>If the team can gather the vision and leadership to fix the failures, PCGen is going to be an amazing product.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="barsoomcore, post: 1573909, member: 812"] What are you talking about? This is sheerest nonsense. Unless you're trying to convince me that I should just completely ignore PCGen for the rest of its existence, and tell everyone who shares my needs to not even bother. Is that your point? That I should just shut up and find some development group that actually cares about what I want? This is NOT the attitude I've come to expect from PCGen folks -- who in my experience have been sensible, committed programmers trying very hard to create an extremely complex tool. And doing a good job. My job, as a committed user, is to indicate my needs when the opportunity arises and point out the product's shortcomings. You don't like that, you're in the wrong business. Statements like this reflect poorly on the PCGen team. I understand that. I even SAID that. I think they're wrong, and I think the evidence (PCGen's terrible interface, numerous fatal bugs and obtuse methods of customization) supports me. The big secret of leadership is -- if the team won't do it, you're going to have to do it. Figure out a build process that automatically runs the tests. Fix the issues that break the build. Only bring programmers onto the team who are willing to work according to the process. You don't have to let every willing hand help out. Just because you're not paying people doesn't mean you can't fire them. I make movies with entirely unpaid crews and let me tell you, if somebody doesn't follow instructions they are OFF my set RIGHT NOW. The other crew members see that and they think, "Hey, these people mean business. They don't let just any yahoo on board. Hey, I must be okay if they haven't fired me yet. I must know what I'm doing. Cool." People WANT to be held accountable for their mistakes. They WANT to be treated like professionals, even if they're not being paid. Maybe ESPECIALLY if they're not being paid. The "We're Open Source, we can't follow proper processes" line is bunk. I don't FORCE my people to write unit tests. I HIRE people who write unit tests. There's no reason PCGen can't do the same thing. Open Source software should be held to HIGHER standards than commercial software, because the pressures of time-to-market are lower, so there's TIME to do things the right way. Sorry, got on a bit of rant there. Of the things I feel strongly about, software development leadership is close to the top of the list. See, this is my position exactly. If the product was USELESS, I wouldn't bother posting my concerns and wants. It's almost AWESOME. But the failures are so complete, so debilitating that it breaks my heart to see. If the team can gather the vision and leadership to fix the failures, PCGen is going to be an amazing product. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Geek Talk & Media
Why's it so hard to create a character generator that rocks?
Top