FAQ Questions/Answers - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

FAQ Questions/Answers

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
mudbunny
Feb 08, 2010 8:50:46 FAQ Questions/Answers

I am going to use this trhead to collect questions (and answers) for the FAQ I am going to start working on. If you have a question, please put it in here. If you have an answer to a question, also place it here. Loaded questions and answers displaying a clear bias will *not* be included in the final FAQ post.
#2
mudbunny
Feb 08, 2010 8:52:08 Will the DDI apps be ported over to other platfroms?? (Mac, linux, iPad, etc...)

This is from one of the (ex)-devs on DDI tools and macs:

I would have love to have done a mac version. I have a mac. I also have an iphone.

When I originally joined the project though I was given a 6 month time frame to full release, 3 months to beta, and by the way, that includes the time I could spend hiring a staff. Staff was, fortunately, hired in short order, and I was lucky to get some great people on the team. With the short schedule though we were making decisions between releasing it as a web app, or perhaps winforms. We mocked up a web app and it wasn't responsive enough, we mocked up a winforms prototype, and it was slow and lacked the ability to do all the things we wanted to do so we ported to WPF which set us back a week but was so worth it. We were able to do more things, have better control of the UI and development time was very fast.

Given the short schedule that we had it wouldn't have been reasonable to make a multi-platform version. Once we were done with the initial build I did cost out what it would take to make a mac version, as I think it is short sighted not to make one. The problem being that Wizards just doesn't have enough mac customers yet. They would need something like 10 times as many in order for it to break even, and that's not counting the fact that the majority of mac users can run windows apps in some sort of vm setup.

It's also entirely possible that by the time there are enough mac customers there will also be either native osx support for wpf, or some sort of rapid development tool for mac/iphone that could be trivially ported too. It's also possible that with the coming release of windows7 that XP will drop in price so much that it doesn't make sense not to have a copy running in a vm with your mac.

Now, does this mean that WotC will never port the tools to macs?? No. However (and this is just my opinion, and is not based on any insider info or anything like that) right now the focus of WotC is on delivering high-quality tools. While I am reasonably certain that porting the tools to macs are on a list of things to do, getting out the rest of the tools is much, much higher on the priority list.

Switching to porting now would mean a complete change in focus, in addition to the hiring of a new development team (I assume that the current team has no experience in porting fromone OS to another), which would significantly delay any further tools release.

DDI is a relatively (for a company that needs to look at the long term) recent addition to the WotC stable. Before they start changing how it works or dramatically changing the offerings, they need to obtain some decent baseline statistics, over several quarters at the very least, of subscription numbers. When a tool is released, how long does the hump last? Is there a change due to holidays? Summer? Campaign settings being released?
#3
mudbunny
Feb 09, 2010 8:26:56 Is there a free demo?/Where is the 10-day free trial as indicated in the back of PHB 1?

Since the PHBs have been printed, the trial for DDI has been changed. It is no longer a 10-day free trial. The Character Builder has a demo version which gives you unlimited access and use, however the powers and classes are limited to those from PHB 1 and PHB 2. The Compendium has the same limitations. As of yet, there is no demo version of the Monster Builder.
#4
mudbunny
Feb 10, 2010 21:07:06 Where are all the tools as announced in the back of the PHB?

The core rulebooks went to the printer approximately 6 months prior to the release of 4E. At the time, WotC fully expected to have all of the announced digital tools up and running. However, in the weeks immediately prior to the announced release date of the tools, they realized, and annouced, that they would not be available. CUrrently, the Compendium, Character Builder and Monster Builder are available.
#5
mudbunny
Feb 10, 2010 21:08:20 When are new tools coming out?

Wizards of the Coast have adopted a policy whereby they only announce new tools shortly before they are ready to go out to the public for use. As of the writing of this post, there is no information on the next tool that the DDI dev team is working on.
#6
dibly
Feb 18, 2010 4:52:16 Question: Will WotC make it easier for 3rd party developers to make D&D applications? Like having an online database that applications can interface with (and which is not OS specific, so that Mac and Linux etc programs can be developed), or change the online compendium so that applications can more easily interace with that? Also, will there be changes to the legal agreements of D&D (copyright and intellectual property etc) so that independent developers can more easily engange in such projects?

(I've seen this mentioned here and there, but I never seem to find a definite answer. Always just that they like the idea or that they are probably looking into it and so on)
#7
Azoun2
Mar 02, 2010 19:53:35 Can I share with my party one D&DI account?
#8
czarisyn
Jul 15, 2010 20:53:20 Will WotC ever have an API to use the Compendium?
#9
jaelis
Jul 19, 2010 21:29:47 How do I submit a bug report for the Compendium or Character Builder?
#10
Dunaria
Sep 18, 2010 0:49:41 update are delay , but my pc windows crash time to time. and now i need to reactivate builder for a 6th time since last update. I can't cause reset isnt done. How can i update it now?.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 mudbunny Feb 08, 2010 8:50:46	FAQ Questions/Answers I am going to use this trhead to collect questions (and answers) for the FAQ I am going to start working on. If you have a question, please put it in here. If you have an answer to a question, also place it here. Loaded questions and answers displaying a clear bias will not be included in the final FAQ post.
#2 mudbunny Feb 08, 2010 8:52:08	Will the DDI apps be ported over to other platfroms?? (Mac, linux, iPad, etc...) This is from one of the (ex)-devs on DDI tools and macs: I would have love to have done a mac version. I have a mac. I also have an iphone. When I originally joined the project though I was given a 6 month time frame to full release, 3 months to beta, and by the way, that includes the time I could spend hiring a staff. Staff was, fortunately, hired in short order, and I was lucky to get some great people on the team. With the short schedule though we were making decisions between releasing it as a web app, or perhaps winforms. We mocked up a web app and it wasn't responsive enough, we mocked up a winforms prototype, and it was slow and lacked the ability to do all the things we wanted to do so we ported to WPF which set us back a week but was so worth it. We were able to do more things, have better control of the UI and development time was very fast. Given the short schedule that we had it wouldn't have been reasonable to make a multi-platform version. Once we were done with the initial build I did cost out what it would take to make a mac version, as I think it is short sighted not to make one. The problem being that Wizards just doesn't have enough mac customers yet. They would need something like 10 times as many in order for it to break even, and that's not counting the fact that the majority of mac users can run windows apps in some sort of vm setup. It's also entirely possible that by the time there are enough mac customers there will also be either native osx support for wpf, or some sort of rapid development tool for mac/iphone that could be trivially ported too. It's also possible that with the coming release of windows7 that XP will drop in price so much that it doesn't make sense not to have a copy running in a vm with your mac. Now, does this mean that WotC will never port the tools to macs?? No. However (and this is just my opinion, and is not based on any insider info or anything like that) right now the focus of WotC is on delivering high-quality tools. While I am reasonably certain that porting the tools to macs are on a list of things to do, getting out the rest of the tools is much, much higher on the priority list. Switching to porting now would mean a complete change in focus, in addition to the hiring of a new development team (I assume that the current team has no experience in porting fromone OS to another), which would significantly delay any further tools release. DDI is a relatively (for a company that needs to look at the long term) recent addition to the WotC stable. Before they start changing how it works or dramatically changing the offerings, they need to obtain some decent baseline statistics, over several quarters at the very least, of subscription numbers. When a tool is released, how long does the hump last? Is there a change due to holidays? Summer? Campaign settings being released?
#3 mudbunny Feb 09, 2010 8:26:56	Is there a free demo?/Where is the 10-day free trial as indicated in the back of PHB 1? Since the PHBs have been printed, the trial for DDI has been changed. It is no longer a 10-day free trial. The Character Builder has a demo version which gives you unlimited access and use, however the powers and classes are limited to those from PHB 1 and PHB 2. The Compendium has the same limitations. As of yet, there is no demo version of the Monster Builder.
#4 mudbunny Feb 10, 2010 21:07:06	Where are all the tools as announced in the back of the PHB? The core rulebooks went to the printer approximately 6 months prior to the release of 4E. At the time, WotC fully expected to have all of the announced digital tools up and running. However, in the weeks immediately prior to the announced release date of the tools, they realized, and annouced, that they would not be available. CUrrently, the Compendium, Character Builder and Monster Builder are available.
#5 mudbunny Feb 10, 2010 21:08:20	When are new tools coming out? Wizards of the Coast have adopted a policy whereby they only announce new tools shortly before they are ready to go out to the public for use. As of the writing of this post, there is no information on the next tool that the DDI dev team is working on.
#6 dibly Feb 18, 2010 4:52:16	Question: Will WotC make it easier for 3rd party developers to make D&D applications? Like having an online database that applications can interface with (and which is not OS specific, so that Mac and Linux etc programs can be developed), or change the online compendium so that applications can more easily interace with that? Also, will there be changes to the legal agreements of D&D (copyright and intellectual property etc) so that independent developers can more easily engange in such projects? (I've seen this mentioned here and there, but I never seem to find a definite answer. Always just that they like the idea or that they are probably looking into it and so on)
#7 Azoun2 Mar 02, 2010 19:53:35	Can I share with my party one D&DI account?
#8 czarisyn Jul 15, 2010 20:53:20	Will WotC ever have an API to use the Compendium?
#9 jaelis Jul 19, 2010 21:29:47	How do I submit a bug report for the Compendium or Character Builder?
#10 Dunaria Sep 18, 2010 0:49:41	update are delay , but my pc windows crash time to time. and now i need to reactivate builder for a 6th time since last update. I can't cause reset isnt done. How can i update it now?.