4 ms·

If you're really going for an "interactive book" instead of a character generator / combat tracker / DM tool that supplements a traditional print/PDF publicatio

by mhd 16y ago

If you're really going for an "interactive book" instead of a character generator / combat tracker / DM tool that supplements a traditional print/PDF publication, then the integration will take a lot of design work. You might really be better off learning the requisite skills yourself, as otherwise I'd predict a lot of back and forth talk between you and the developer. Which can be more frustrating than learning Cocoa/Objective-C, never mind that lots of iterations are usually quite costly. It all depends a bit on how thorough your vision is and with how many mockup drawings you could provide the programmer. How hypertext-y do you imagine your full product? Lots of interaction or more a few mini-apps that contain links to a textual copy provided (e.g. a character generator that would link to the relevant texts in an integrated PDF viewer if required, but otherwise would look like a desktop program). I'd say that most of this could be done as a webapp, which would make the app more universal (players could use their laptops, too) and would increase the pool of potential developers. Clicking on a table to select one result randomly is a trivial javascript addition, character generation is a bit more involved (I haven't seen a good character generator for any RPG yet.)

JimmySwill 16y ago
Wayfarers is pretty old school, and I fully intend that the game remain on the table top, so not so much of an interactive book. Basically this: The tables in the book can randomly generate results (layout remains more or less the same), and there is a character sheet that has fillable fields. (I suppose that the sheet would be the most difficult, because it would be nice if the logic would provide adjustments, -such as a damage bonus for high strength.) Also a basic dice-roller, and bookmarks. But that is it to begin with. I imagine the app aping the book design/layout, but having a few dynamic elements. Maybe a webapp is the way to go. Thanks.
- JimmySwill 16y ago
  No, on second thought, I think I'd rather the overkill of the iPad app over a webapp. It leaves some very interesting development doors open for the future, and has a consistent interface like a book.

by mhd 16y ago

JimmySwill 16y ago

Wayfarers is pretty old school, and I fully intend that the game remain on the table top, so not so much of an interactive book. Basically this: The tables in the book can randomly generate results (layout remains more or less the same), and there is a character sheet that has fillable fields. (I suppose that the sheet would be the most difficult, because it would be nice if the logic would provide adjustments, -such as a damage bonus for high strength.) Also a basic dice-roller, and bookmarks. But that is it to begin with. I imagine the app aping the book design/layout, but having a few dynamic elements. Maybe a webapp is the way to go. Thanks.

JimmySwill 16y ago
No, on second thought, I think I'd rather the overkill of the iPad app over a webapp. It leaves some very interesting development doors open for the future, and has a consistent interface like a book.