As a status update, I have not made as much progress as I would have liked during the past week. I did manage to squeeze in some under-the-hood improvements, but adding new Bonus effects are still in-progress. In general, I use lulls at work to work on this new app, but the last week had fewer opportunities. I would like to finish my current train of thought before putting a new build, but I will put out a new build tomorrow regardless as long as there are no fatal errors.

ADDENDUM: Of which there are. I do need to implement adding new Bonuses on the fly before I can post a new build, as the app will not display user-made content otherwise.

HTML/JavaScript Character Sheet Prototype via Dropbox/Orangedox : DH2_HTML_October18

Let me try to make Tuesday night update night every week, or at least a status update if not an app update. Tonight's build features Bonuses and major behind-the-scenes work. I am slowly molding the core functions to be flexible enough to be used everywhere, though the real test will come when I get to working on Backgrounds.

For the next build, I plan to sharpen the Home World entry experience. As I was testing the new Bonus functionality, it became very clear to me that making new Home Worlds is painful at best. There is no need to have all the fields be handwritten when some drop-down menus would do. Prime candidates would be Characteristics and Aptitudes, though Fate and Wounds can use numerical drop-downs for a similar effect. Implementing drop-down menus would also make error-checking much simpler or even moot.

When the app has progressed a little bit more, I will open up my e-mail for anonymous feedback and volunteering opportunities. Once I can get user-input streamlined, I can ask you, the community, to help me do some of the heavy lifting when it comes to transcribing entries from the books. While things like Home Worlds and Backgrounds would be relatively quick, getting all the Talents written up would really cut into development time. Hope to see you then when it happens.

I know the current user on the board who is building a master copy of the talents for RT and DH2 at the moment, but drawing a blank on his name. But that could help you

I know the current user on the board who is building a master copy of the talents for RT and DH2 at the moment, but drawing a blank on his name. But that could help you

I have confidence in player-compiled sources, but the root issue still remains unfortunately. My limited time means I can work on app content or app functionality, but not both within an ideal time-frame. I spend 0-2 hours a day reviving my pet project, usually in small bursts of productivity as work allows. Sometimes I pursue a change that does not pan out, forfeiting however many days of progress. As well, I change the data structure of the app frequently, and matching old content to the new format would seriously cut into development time. This is where volunteer work could come in, if the community is willing. I can improve the back-end while volunteers supply the front-end content users actually see. Of course, this is the ideal scenario; I may end up doing both sides of the work anyway. Time will tell.

Incidentally, I seem to have broken the "Update" button in the 18th build. The fix will come next week.

I know the current user on the board who is building a master copy of the talents for RT and DH2 at the moment, but drawing a blank on his name. But that could help you

https://www.dropbox.com/s/g6036wj9lwqi3qr/Warhammer%2040k%20Talent%20Index.xlsx?dl=0

And a lot of DH2 char creation stuff is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-SeiatwZl05792p4re7ofNUQH9u9Bnh3t5Xa27xtQ_4/edit#gid=0

As advance notice, I will likely not have a build ready to share tomorrow night. I am currently replacing a number of the textboxes with drop-down menus. A drop-down menu 20 options deep does not meet my standards, however, so I am exploring options to make the menus more palatable. The new menu would be used in Backgrounds and Roles, so doing the work now means less work later. I also need to revise the back end once the new menus are in place.

I am hoping to have image previews to share tomorrow if not the actual new build.

Just wanted to stop by while I had a chance. I have been unexpectedly busy these last few days, but I will definitely make some time tonight to share an image preview. This image would describe the issue I would like to address before posting the new build, though functionality for that build may be broken while I work on the interface.

The new build will couple usability improvements and a new layout for future use. I would to slot it for November the 1st, depending on how much progress I can make in that time.

DH2_HTML_October_Preview.png

The changes I have been working on can be seen in red here. Having a drop-down menu is much easier to use than having to type everything manually (compare 2 clicks to spelling out "Ballistic Skill"). However, as seen with the 9 Characteristics and 9 Aptitudes listed here, a drop-down menu of 18 options (or 21 including General, Influence, and a blank space for readability) is unwieldy. My goal is to replace the standard drop-down menu with an equivalent that is both more usable and able to be graphically enhanced later.

I am aiming to have the new menus established by Tuesday, if not the interface changes I plan to couple with them.

Your image is very-very tiny!

Your image is very-very tiny!

Ah, that was my bad. I wanted to shrink it down as to not be obnoxious on the forums, but I must have overdone it. Provided a link instead here and above.

You're missing General from Aptitudes. I can see someone giving General as an aptitude as a way of allowing a free choice amongst characteristics without writing or a bunch.

You're missing General from Aptitudes. I can see someone giving General as an aptitude as a way of allowing a free choice amongst characteristics without writing or a bunch.

The General Aptitude is more for Skills and Talents; everyone is treated as having the General Aptitude implicitly. If the goal is to allow free choice, I would simply list "Pick One" as the Aptitude rather than General. Having a Home World give the General Aptitude is poor design, I feel, when there is an opportunity to finalize the details at the end of character creation.

That being said, the prototype's character creation flow will change in the future. I am considering a few alternatives, such as removing the "Preview" section and using only the entry fields. An explicit "Compare" option would be better for comparing two options. Selecting a new option with the fields already populated would bring up a save/discard changes prompt, or simply shunt the unsaved values to a temporary location. This change aims to reduce the number of actions needed to change an existing character option:

• Old : Select Home World -> Preview Home World -> (Optional) Update Home World -> Make and Save Changes
• New : Select Home World -> Make and Save Changes

Pick One is not the same as having a duplicate aptitude since pick one would allow non-characteristics.

I'm not saying it's a good idea I'm just saying I can see situations in which people would design a HW with General.a

Pick One is not the same as having a duplicate aptitude since pick one would allow non-characteristics.

I'm not saying it's a good idea I'm just saying I can see situations in which people would design a HW with General.a

Ah, I understand the issue. To that, I can include General as one of the options as a temporary measure. However, the situation you are describing involves simultaneous users rather than the isolated users of today. In the distant future, I want to be able to designate "gamemaster" versions of the app that gamemasters can distribute to their specific players. Gamemasters would be able to easily guide and review player choices with built-in tools. Any player-defined options would have to be manually reviewed for now, though.

I apologize for my lack of shared progress lately, as work has first priority. I have settled on a passable multi-column dropdown layout, but I have not yet tweaked it to my preference. As well, the Home World functions have been disrupted while I worked on the new foundation. I am hoping to set aside time this weekend to get a working new build out the door, as what I have currently is less usable than what I currently have available.

It's all good dude! Keep up the good work.

November 7th Status:

I am rushing to put together a crude test build for tomorrow. I would like to have an updated version floating about since the back-end complexity is increasing.The major changes are dropdown menus instead of text fields and storing interim data in hidden text fields. Your comments are very important during this period as exploring different approaches is harder later.

In other news, the poll recently passed 10 unique responses. The votes fell largely within expectations, though there were a few interesting outliers. At some point in the near future, I would like to cover the poll results, what my personal rankings are, and the roadmap for the app. Hope to see you then.

November 9th Status:

The new dropdown menus are finished, and I am updating the "save" function to use the new framework. After that, I am hoping that updating the "update" function will go smoothly. I am aiming for a new build later tonight or November 10th at the latest.

HTML/JavaScript Character Sheet Prototype via Dropbox/Orangedox : DH2_HTML_November10

I went ahead and kicked this new build out the door. The goal was to minimize not only the typing required for the character creation process, but the number of mouse clicks as well. However, I can see how the "hover-only" approach could cause some frustration. As I have a few blind spots regarding my own work, please leave any questions and comments here.

Pardon the mess. I front-loaded most of the functions to get the updated structure ready for testing. My next goal is to cut down on the clutter and restore some of the functions I disabled. I prefer to keep my JavaScript and HTML separate, but that would have delayed the build further. However, with the work I accomplished here, I am almost ready to begin work on Backgrounds and Roles. There are a few more changes to the structure planned, but the format I established in this build gives me a clearer idea for the future.

Hello everyone, I wanted to go over the results of the poll. The most popular responses are as follows:

• Fast and Easy Character Creation
• Easily Searchable Content
• Gameplay Tools
• Randomly Generated Content

These priorities align neatly with my goals, though gameplay tools are among the last things I can work on. Having all of the gameplay elements in place first is a requirement. I am working to clean up Home World entry and make the parts recyclable. For example, the process for choosing Home World Aptitudes can be reused for Background Skill selection. I hope to have some visible progress, and a more in-depth post, next week.

I apologize for the lack of updates, as I had to temporarily direct my efforts elsewhere. However, I have returned to working on the prototype in my pockets of spare time.

Primary goal:
- Have the new dropdown menus catch key presses.
For example, numerical input for Fate Threshold and Wounds can be done using the keyboard instead of the mouse. I would like to have even the Characteristic inputs take key presses such that WASD navigates through the menu. Enter or Tab will move to the next section of character creation as well.

Secondary goal:
- Modularize commonly used structures.
In other words, make numpads and Characteristic/Aptitude selection into small packages that I can add and subtract from other parts of the prototype. This would reduce redundant coding and make global changes easier.

Tertiary goal:
- Clean up the amount of attribute-based JavaScript.
This is mainly for my benefit or people poking around the source code.

My current goals are based on the lack of complaints on the dropdown approach. There are a few refinements I would like to make, such as having a consistent icon representing a dropdown menu rather than having text be the main indicator.

Excellent to hear that you're back working on this. Keep up the good work!

Hello everyone, there is not a new build this week as the keyboard-entry work continues. Still, I did want to take this time to answer a question some of you may have:

Why are you working on X when you could finish the sheet instead?

This is a fair question, seeing as I could more easily duplicate the old Excel functionality than work on new functionality. Alternatives exist to vanilla character creation, whether one uses the official app, my old Excel file, or something else entirely. However, none of the character sheets I know of have the functions I am looking for. Additionally, while the official app meets aesthetic and content needs, there are a number of usability points I would like to address. The solution, then, is to make a character sheet that meets my specific standards. My ultimate goal is a character sheet that is not only satisfying to work on but work in , being able to stand on its own without my intervention.

In short, I hope that the character creation alternatives can suffice while I work on a new user experience. Will the prototype be complete in a timely manner? Likely not, as the scope is rather large, but I am invested in seeing this through.

You're the person putting all the work in so I'd say stick to what motivates you in terms of accomplishing the project.

Hello everyone, while there is not a new build available yet, some of my experimentation has paid off. The next prototype build will be able to catch keyboard input as an alternative to mouse clicking. For example, Characteristics can now be selected by hitting an appropriate key. I want to use rulebook's abbreviations instead of single keys for consistency (WS compared to W), though I should be able to put out a new build by next week.