NetExalted

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A brewing character generator for Exalted. See thread: here.

Without having to explain too much (suffice it to say it is a habit to create such things for projects before they have ever gotten off the ground), I present to you a splash screen. ^_^()

looks nice, but a bit too solar for the stated purpose of an every-Exalt-Tool, imho -- hd42
Probably we could think about a logo which is more "neutral". - Danmor

The Team

Most Excellent Wringer of Hands

Resplendant Coder Monkeys

(feel free to add yourself if you wish to contribute!)

Some Basic Assumptions

  • We are coding in Java. It seems to be the language that the majority of the code-savvy people available are most comfortable with, and its being platform-independant is marvellous. We're going to run with it.
  • Everything must be as modular as possible. I'm not a code guy, so I don't know if that means our code is going to be split up into a million different .jar files or if we're going to have to end up constructing a sprawling database, or what. We'll deal with this more once we get a solid coder or group of coders.
  • My function is to get everything organized and make judgments when they are required of me. Once the project gets rolling I'll probably hand the ball off to someone more capable. ;)

Where We're At

  • I figure to get started, we need a core, base program of some sort. What I want is opinions from the coder guys on what, exactly, the core mechanic of the program should be able to DO, *without* any plugins or modules or anything. Just the basic core software. Should it be merely a template to shape the incoming information, or should it have rudimentary character creation data hard-coded in? Basically I want to get a mental diagram schematical thing going to get everybody on the same base to start with. When we have the basic outline decided, we can start assigning jobs. :)

NetExalted/XeriarProposal - At the moment this seems to be the most solid framework information anybody has come up with (and posted), so I'd like it if all the code-people took a look, and commented. ~ G

Core Feature Suggestions

  • Create Heroic Mortals
  • Stepwise undoable initial creation and xp spending
  • Display, save as PDF, print character sheets
  • Read every info needed from custom files (no hardcoded data)
  • Save and load settings and characters in any stage of the creation process - character file format should be compatible to Anathema
  • Ability to import and read Charm files
  • The core needs a working and easy to use plugin-interface, of course...
  • Check for legal combos (important at early stages because it requires more charm data to be entered)

(Much) Later Feature Suggestions

  • Random character generation based on set amount of freebies/xp
  • Option to automatically purchase prerequisites for a selected Charm, if they have not already been met
  • Cheapest-Configuration-Calculator - with which combination of chargen, freebies, xp do I get to my desired stat spending as little as possible?
Discussion

Alright, I'm looking for people who sare willing to *commit* to doing something, since I'm not going to get off of square one if all I have to rely on is myself. :) If you know for a fact there's something you can help out with, or if you just have random questions, post 'em here. By the way, I don't want to sound rude, but right now I'm not looking for "Well, I dunno, I guess I could do something maybe?" You will come in handy later, but right now I'm looking for a core group of people to get this started. And hopefully to pass the ball off to once I've outlived my usefulness. >.> ~ Grandmasta


I'm in. I am not great at Java, but if someone who knows what they are doing can tell me "Write a class that does x, y, and z I'm good to go. Pre-warning, I can only guarantee availability through July, though I will know significantly before then whether I will be losing net access or not. - Ky' Tlan

I'm already working on something like this, but I have very very strong preconceived notions about what it will look like (for instance, I'm doing it as an Eclipse 3.1 Rich Client Platform application). Maybe you can use some of my work on the data model. At the very least, I'd like to make sure we have a common data interchange format (probably XML-based). --MF

Thinking in larger terms, maybe we (your project, NetExalted and Anathema) should come up with a common import/export format?
Seems easier to me than coding a different import/export for every tool out there.
Should I draft an XML schema? -X
I don't see any problem with that. Draft away and I'll dangle it in front of The Team when I've recruited a sufficient amount of people. ;) ~ G

I'm willing to do development work and Java coding. Might have not much time to do real work before April due to exams though. - hd42

I'd be very interested in working on this. Although am just in my second year doing compsci at uni and have no real experience at all in anything larger than coursework, so might be a little out of my depth with the coding. I'd love to try though. - Setanta

I'd also like to help with the coding. I'm somewhat used to Java but i don't have real project experience except uni stuff. - Danmor

I'll put you on the list. ;) ~ G

I just wonder if there is need for a forum. Could be more handy for a Discussion. Interested? - Danmor

Since this is intended as an opensource project and words like "sourceforge registration" were already spoken,
getting forums won't be a problem, I guess. -X
I was planning on registering the project at Sourceforge once we figured out -exactly- how we're going to go about doing this. As they specifically ask to leave abstract and philosophical information OUT of the project petition, I don't think we're in good shape to be setting up there just yet. ;) ~ G

Rethought my position and decided that (1) I haven't done so much yet that it would be a tragedy to throw it out and start over, and (2) I'd rather work on the guts and leave the UI to someone else anyway (the principal reason why I was going with the Eclipse Rich Client Platform). So, color me interested. I'm good with XML Schema and XSLT as well as being a moderately experienced Java coder.

As far as what the base program should be able to do, it seems reasonable to me that it should be possible to create heroic mortal characters and keep XP records without loading any plugins. --MF

Not having had a chance to read through the thread yet, I've got a couple of questions. Do we actually have formal requirements and design documents, how much has already been done (if anything) and what size coding team are you looking for, bearing in mind how tricky it's probably going to be getting a few of us to work well together? - Setanta

I'm going to pause people signing on when I get somebody to write the core module (I'm looking at you, MF ;)). Formal requirements and design document writeup is basically the stage we are at right now. As for the ultimate size of the coding team, once we get a solid base going, the code we have will go on sourceforge (hopefully) and whoever wants to contribute from that point can jump in there. ~ G

What about plugins? I don't mean any plugin in specific, but should NetExalted be able to handle them? Should the basic version only support heroic mortals and handle all other exalteds as plugins? - Danmor

That's the direction we are heading in, yeah. ~ G

Hm... just curious, is someone familar with plugin mechanics using java? Also i think that the creation of heroic mortals should not be part of the core. Instead i think of it as something like a default plugin. Also we need some data structure to handle Charms and Backgrounds. Any opinions? - Danmor

It might be worth noting that heroic mortals aren't, in fact, the bare base upon which everything else is built. They get some things (in particular, access to some Merits and Flaws) that others don't. I'm also not sure if they make a decent base for Dragon Kings and heroic ghosts, who might have some significant differences. - szilard
Heroic ghosts are pretty much heroic mortals with Passions and Arcanoi. Dragon kings get some nifty attacks, paths, and Breed Abilities.
More realistically, I out to pull out my layout design from what I posted on the RPG.net forums, and add them underNetExalted/XeriarProposal or something, not that such things are being actively solicited :-) -Xeriar
Nice Collection Xeriar.
Probably we should make a list which tings are the same for ervy type of character and things that are not, so that they mus be handeled by the plugin? I.e. the skills are the always the same but the available backgrounds change from char to char.
Also i think i'll start with some class diagrams which we can expand as we see it fit. - Danmor

I'm in for grunt coding. I've got a lot of Java experience including the weird libraries like reflect. I think plugins would be best handled with the factory design pattern. Basically there should be a character creation interface and all plugins should implement it. I hate graphics work, so I probably won't help with GUI or printing - flymolo

I thought you might be interested in my Resplendence/CharmCards project. It's all database-driven. I'm sure you could think up a good way to use the charm data in your program. Resplendence

Thanks! I'll be sure to point someone in that direction when we start putting together our Charm database. ~ G

Alright, I've got a pretty solid mental model of the base program now. NetExaltedXP - while it's still not entirely flushed out, I believe the mechanics of the core program are clear - at least to me, now. Please go through and ask whatever questions you wish and prove me wrong. I still have to finish the Character class (And perhaps a resource manager), but the meat of the problems seem solvable now :-) -Xeriar

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