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Old 07-16-2016, 06:48 PM   #2
Celti
 
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: USA, Arizona, Mesa
Default Re: New combat helper program

Quote:
Originally Posted by JHDude View Post
In my free time (which isn't all that much), I've been poking at making a combat helper program. It's in its very VERY early stages, but I was wondering how much interest the community would have in this sort of program?
I've got a rudimentary start to two different versions of this of my own (one in Perl, the other in Rust), so I'm at least interested!

Quote:
Originally Posted by JHDude View Post
Additionally, I was wondering what sort of steps I would have to take to keep from stepping on Steve Jackson's toes (legally speaking).
For that, you'll want to thoroughly read the official SJ Games Online Policy.

Quote:
Originally Posted by JHDude View Post
When (if) this gets completed, I intend for it to do, at a minimum:
- Keep track of initiative order, and show whose turn it is
- Handle NPC and player HP levels and status effects (like shock)
- Prompt players and GMs to make rolls (for example, roll to prevent dying when HP too low), and automatically apply modifiers
- Auto-handle jumping checks
- Auto-handle random hit locations, armor values and attacks on various limbs

Basically, it would handle a lot of calculation stuff to streamline combat sections, and allow the GM to focus more on the game than on the numbers. This project was spawned by my absent-mindedness and desire to not have to pick up a rule book every time my players do something completely unexpected during combat turns.
I'd be careful about exactly what you automate, here. Implementing something that helps avoid tedium and errors of human memory is great. Implementing something that lets you play GURPS without needing the rules (because it embodies the rules in its code) is not.

Quote:
Originally Posted by JHDude View Post
Also, with Steve Jackson's permission, I'd like to have this program be:
- Free. As in, if you own GURPS and want to use this, go for it.
- Free. As in, if you know C# or F#, and want to add some features, go for it.
- Open Source (see above)
The first of these is required by the policy, the other two are well-supported by it (you might use the license terms I released my GURPS Aging Calculator under — I don't think something totally copyleft like the GPL is compatible with the SJ Games Online Policy, but MIT/BSD/Apache/etc. certainly are).

Quote:
Originally Posted by JHDude View Post
Would the community and SJ games find this sort of program useful and interesting?
In summary: heck yeah! I don't really do C# or F#, and will probably continue my Rust implementation, though.
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