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Old 09-20-2019, 08:46 PM   #181
hcobb
 
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Location: Pacheco, California
Default Re: TFT Helper - beta test of app

What's the format to send in scenarios to be included in TFT helper?
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Last edited by hcobb; 09-21-2019 at 04:33 AM.
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Old 09-20-2019, 11:12 PM   #182
andreww
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Default Re: TFT Helper - beta test of app

Wrong thread? No, it says TFT Helper right there.

Currently there is no format. The locations were not very standardized because I wanted to do different things with them - traps, conversation trees, etc. I didn't do everything I hoped to do, but there it is.

I have been wondering how hard it would be to write code that would accept a "scenario" in CSV. I *think* the answer is "really easy!" Except that to function smoothly in the way we expect mobile apps to function (eg autosaving every bit of progress, even in the middle of a fight) there would have to be a way to store the new adventure on the phone, choose one of the stored adventures to play, store progress in a custom adventure, delete custom adventures, make sure characters don't continue an adventure that has been deleted, etc.

Additionally, Apple, SJ Games, and I would all require the app to check new adventures for security issues. Clever people find ways to give programs bad input so they fail in ways that leave systems vulnerable. You might not think that's possible with a set of rooms, connections, and critters, but I can think of two ways without putting much effort in. Of course, I can block all the forms of attack I can imagine, but I have to spend enough time trying to imagine them that I can be confident I have closed them all.

I love the idea of people creating and sharing adventures. That would be an entirely new dimension to the app. There are things I need to do first, certainly, and I simply may not find the time. But I keep thinking about it...

Last edited by andreww; 09-21-2019 at 11:24 PM.
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Old 09-22-2019, 03:42 PM   #183
Fuhrmanator
 
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Default Re: TFT Helper - beta test of app

Couple of things for my monthly visit here:
  • Android market share is misleading - later versions of Android only run on the latest phones (which is actually a small share of the market). It all depends on what version of Android you target with the app. But again, I suspect most people interested in TFT are not going to be in developing countries with low-end Android phones. Maybe us over 50-somethings will have old phones? It's hard to guess these things.
  • DMorte was mentioned on the The Fantasy Trip facebook page (which has a lot of traffic) as a tool for creating solo adventures. I'm sure somewhere someone has done this on a mobile app.
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Old 09-23-2019, 07:52 PM   #184
andreww
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Default Re: TFT Helper - beta test of app

DMorte is very cool. It doesn't have any combat mechanics, though, it's just a very, very cool editor for CYOA stories.

In my mind, you would create a spreadsheet. The cells in each line would be...
Location name - just for author's reference, app will ignore it
Location description - with some scheme for paragraph breaks
Foe stats - about twelve columns, blank if there's no one to fight
XP earned if you arrive at this location (probably by winning a fight)
Silver earned if you arrive at this location
Exit buttons - very short description and new location number, blank if there's a foe

That only allows a single foe per room, and simple foes at that. But it's an extremely straightforward scheme. That's essential because it has to be coded quickly and understood readily. You could do conversations with NPCs as different locations, no reason that wouldn't work. And while a location could only have one foe, there's only one character. Foes would not all be the same, some are archers, some beasts, some have pole weapons, etc. Two of the foes "stats" would be the location you are moved to if you win and the location you end up at if you lose.

Boom. I don't have to write an editor, and you could create a pretty nice adventure this way. I would create an example people could learn from. Since you would paste the resulting CSV into a text box it would be fairly well quarantined. The app would have to read it character by character and turn it into a savable object. That's the part that requires some thought, since that's where I'd have to detect both errors that would make the adventure unplayable and possible exploits. Exit buttons that go to non-existent locations, code injection, all that.

It seems so simple and it would be so cool. I'm not certain there's anything else out there like that.

My comments on Android market share are based only on the number of TFT Helper downloads. I don't know how many phones are out there capable of running TFT Helper or the latest versions of Android. Both platforms are equally important in my mind. Kindle is less important. It's not even in the scope of the project, but it *should* work so I want to try. It will load and run, but the app does not properly respond to the screen size. Should be an easy fix if I can find some time.

Doesn't matter, there are more important small things I need to fix on the app. I was hoping that would happen in September, but that looks unlikely now.
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Old 09-24-2019, 10:07 AM   #185
andreww
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Default Re: TFT Helper - beta test of app

UPDATE:

It is unlikely but possible that iOS 13 will break TFT Helper's data storage system. I am unable at this time to determine whether or not this is going to happen. It's unlikely, but possible. If that happens I believe after upgrading to iOS 13 you would not be able to access your character or adventure progress data, and would not be able to store any new character info. Most probably the app would give a strange error message on startup and either not load or work badly.

If anyone is using TFT Helper with iOS 13 please let me know. It would be an enormous help.

If you are considering upgrading to iOS 13 and you are attached to your character data, be warned.

In a few days I'll be in a position to try this myself and either start fixing things or put the fears to rest.
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Old 09-25-2019, 01:01 AM   #186
ak_aramis
 
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: Alsea, OR
Default Re: TFT Helper - beta test of app

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuhrmanator View Post
Couple of things for my monthly visit here:
  • Android market share is misleading - later versions of Android only run on the latest phones (which is actually a small share of the market). It all depends on what version of Android you target with the app. But again, I suspect most people interested in TFT are not going to be in developing countries with low-end Android phones. Maybe us over 50-somethings will have old phones? It's hard to guess these things.
  • DMorte was mentioned on the The Fantasy Trip facebook page (which has a lot of traffic) as a tool for creating solo adventures. I'm sure somewhere someone has done this on a mobile app.
Many new android phones still ship with older android flavors... Quite a few now are shipping 8.0 or 8.1 because the drivers are stable, and will OTA to 9 later, and many phones a year or two old are still in the distribution system and running 7.x...
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Old 09-27-2019, 02:27 PM   #187
Jack O'All Trades
 
Join Date: Jul 2018
Default Re: TFT Helper - beta test of app

In the Arena, thrown Spears get charge bonus damage. The two weapon limitation also makes characters with thrown weapons pretty hard to test out.
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Old 09-29-2019, 10:52 AM   #188
andreww
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Default Re: TFT Helper - beta test of app

Thrown spears with charge bonus? Ack! Will be fixed in 1.0.2.
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Old 10-03-2019, 04:08 PM   #189
andreww
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Default Re: TFT Helper - beta test of app

TFT Helper appears to be fine in 13.1.2. That means when I can shake some time free I can work on bugs & features, not fiddling with library versions.

I haven't run through all the functions, but my suspicion was that it would be all or nothing. I haven't heard a peep, either from Apple or from users.

Not that it matters but I'm not certain why it works. All the information that lead me to fear there would be a problem persists. But we're almost certainly okay until iOS 14, which informed people say will arrive in late 2020.
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Old 10-11-2019, 10:06 AM   #190
lweber
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Default Rope spell can't be cast?

I've looked through this forum and not seen anything about the Rope spell, so I'll mention that I didn't ever see an option to cast the Rope spell ... am I missing something? Thanks!
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