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ETA on a finished D20Pro product.

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by cyderak, May 3, 2017.

  1. cyderak

    cyderak Member

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    So is there an ETA for this to be completed?

    We're going on 2 years past the promised Kickstarter date now....... I want to stay optimistic but its kind of hard to when you guys did another Kickstarter (World Engine), when you haven't even delivered on the D20Pro Kickstarter.

    How is the time being allocated? 50% D20Pro and 50% World Engine?

    I think 100% of the time should be allocated to D20Pro to finish the Kickstarter and save face with already doubting D20Pro users.

    You have a potentially great product but you seem to be stuck in neutral.

    Whats the timeline looking like? I think a linear timeline graphic detailing ETA's for certain features and for releases of D20Pro itself would be useful.
     
  2. Tay-Dor

    Tay-Dor Active Member

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    From what they've said, the people working on World Engine are people who don't have the skills for what they need on D20PRO, so it doesn't take any of the workforce away from D20PRO. Someone will correct me if I'm misspeaking.

    They (Mesamundi) have been pretty upfront about their progress. Keep in mind, they weren't the ones who started the D20PRO kickstarter. They picked it up after the original team gave up.
     
  3. cyderak

    cyderak Member

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    Yeah but then they should have changed the Kickstarters delivery date.
     
  4. cyderak

    cyderak Member

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    @owlbear - Can we expect a D20Pro release that showcases the new and improved look of D20Pro and its new features soon?
     
  5. Whirlingdervish

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    I, as a backer am happy with the progress and the communications. Asking for a hard release date does nothing for the team or the community except give the team ulcers and irritates the community when deadlines are missed it is a lose lose situation IMO.
     
    Tay-Dor likes this.
  6. Wesley Gorby

    Wesley Gorby Production/Community Manager
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    I agree with Dervish, hard deadlines don't help anyone in this arena.. Progress is being made forward in large strides. There have been some 20+ releases, in 2 years.. that is not a bad record by any software standard. If you go back and look at some of the 3.1 screenshot, then come look at things today I think you'll agree.. We've stepped forward in big ways.

    So, hardlined dates, I doubt you'll see that from the dev team. Always, willing to chat, share news, info and get your opinions and thoughts on the software, each and everyday the dev team is here for you.
     
    Lonewolf147 likes this.
  7. Remaker

    Remaker Member

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    Is there any way that non-backers can get in on the beta? I didn't back the Kickstarter, but I have been with D20 since nearly the beginning, and I feel kind of frustrated hearing about all these features that we've been promised for over half a decade finally being implemented, but still being shut out of the process.
     
  8. Tay-Dor

    Tay-Dor Active Member

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    I think there was mention of a public beta next week.

    If you join their Discord channel, Owlbear posts a lot of updates there as well.

    Me too!
     
  9. Wesley Gorby

    Wesley Gorby Production/Community Manager
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    You certainly are not shut out of the process, The backers/kickstarter group get earlier (usually a week or 2 weeks at most) access to some things.. We usually always do a Public Beta as well.. We constantly ask for input and for people to give suggestions about what we are working on. Also the Dev Team has never been as accessible to the community as they are now (email; forums, facebook groups, discord chat and other social media).

    I have openly said numerous times, if you can not reach one of the devs, I am here for you as well. I am always willing to chat, take notes and relay to the team.
     
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  10. Remaker

    Remaker Member

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    That's good to hear, but I haven't been able to find these public betas anywhere. Where are they?
     
  11. owlbear

    owlbear Administrator
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    As @Tay-Dor and @Krilion_GD have mentioned, the plan right now is for a public beta with feature library and some (not all) of the 5e support features next week. Many of the beta builds have been backer only due to the agreement between Mindgene and the Kickstarter community.

    We've been honoring that arrangement as best as we can.
     
  12. owlbear

    owlbear Administrator
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    @cyderak About your concerns on time. Generally my time and the D20PRO contractors time is 100% on D20PRO dev. I spend both my work weeks and weekends working on the project because we need to be out from under the Kickstarter as much as you folks want the kickstarter to be fulfilled.

    World engine has it's own team doing work. I consult with them and help when they get stuck as the original design and concepts were built by myself and one of the original Mesa Mundi dev team. As much as possible, my involvement there is focused on knowledge transfer and they're doing a great job of picking up and carrying on quickly.

    the two projects are distinct and should be considered as such.

    I do have one backend dev working on both projects. This is because the backend for D20PRO and World Engine are unified -- and account on one is functional in the other. It all comes down to license grants on the shared account.

    In any event, we realize how crazy far behind D20PRO "unlimited" is. However, I'm extremely excited by where we're at now and the progress we've made in the year since Mesa Mundi's internal devs took over. Thraxxis was uber helpful in getting the final bits of Shadow casting in place before signing off of the project last march. Since then we've rebuilt the entire core engine logic to allow for an on-demand, plugable rules system. In addition, we're gearing up to roll out a full flow-based programming system for building effects, special abilities and the like.

    As an example, with the FBP system, we can create a fireball for 5e and 3.5/Pathfinder with just a few tweaks. Additionally, the spell with honor casting source, be it wand, staff, wizard, sorcerer, etc. Replete with level enhancements to dice counts and support for some metamagic and overcasting capabilities.

    With this system, we can have equipment that actually changes stats, skills, and attacks. There is now a full trigger system which allows a GM or player to place templates (visible or invisible) that will cause changes to a creature entering, exiting or staying within the area. This accommodates everything from a delayed blast fireball to difficult terrain. Prompting spot checks when a creature enters an area or even presenting game log text.
    (the gamelog text is super new and will get better after the initial release -- for now it's just simple orange stand-alone text)

    upload_2017-5-8_1-54-2.png

    upload_2017-5-8_1-54-59.png


    So yeah. We've been pretty busy and I feel very strongly that the wait will have been worth it. The UI needs more work, but we'll launch before that's done so as to get folks into the system as soon as possible. There's a major UI refresh which we plan to roll in with the map redux and token work that comes next.
     
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  13. Tay-Dor

    Tay-Dor Active Member

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    That's really cool! Might save us poor DMs from having to constantly say, "Hold up...don't move." We'll be able to have the flavor text auto-generate. :)
     
  14. cyderak

    cyderak Member

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    Well, I guess.......Holding pattern it is.
     
  15. owlbear

    owlbear Administrator
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    Sorry for the holding pattern. Really, truely working as fast as we can and still provide a reliable working product.
     
  16. Wesley Gorby

    Wesley Gorby Production/Community Manager
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    I hear the red cross has been flying in 'Mt Dew and Hotpockets' to his house in a relief effort, due to the long coding hours being put in. :)
     
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