3.7 Status Update

Hello everyone,

Some update news for you concerning the (3.6.9.1 Closed Beta / 3.6.10 Open Beta) and the 3.7 scheduled release.

We know delays are disappointing, however we feel that it is better to get something done and implemented, rather than do them halfway or in an only semi-functional state just to meet a release schedule.

There are a few other logistical reasons as well, part of the team is going to be traveling next week for vital (and extremely exciting) business regarding D20PRO. The downside is that this travel involves our core coding team, who will be unable to, well, code during that time.

We are currently looking at a Closed Beta going out on the 23rd of September and then doing an open Beta version release on the 29th of September. Of course, this assumes that we do not run into any show stopper bugs or problems noted from the Beta.

So, I hear you saying “what is all the hoopla that is making it delayed?”

Aside from the information covered above, there are some new things that are just plain taking more time to get done than what we had originally suspected. However, once in place, they will make a huge improvement to the core application.

• Rules API (hot jars): This feature is going to allow us to offer content which can be changed on the fly. It will allow things like:
  
  • Change rules systems or other assets without reloading D20PRO.
    
    
  • Allow us to offer encrypted rules files, which are needed in order to offer non-OGL or copyrighted material.
    
    
  • The delay is caused by a need to separate the existing D20 rules systems into discrete sets -- i.e. D&D 3.5, 4e and Pathfinder
    
    
  • Update the existing 5e ruleset to allow for more complete OGL support

• ManuallySpecified files: In order to enable the above option and for several other new features, the “ManuallySpecified” files are being rewritten. Not just to included things like “I create a token as a level 4 Fighter and it auto-fills in Fighter traits and abilities for me,” but also the entire format of these files is changing to something far more robust. We are moving away from the older tokenname=somevalue|someothervalue to full on json objects!
  
  
  • Separation of core rules files from user created (manually specified) files. You will still be able to have your class tweaks and custom spells, house rules and the like; they will just be separate from the core files. This will allow us to provide a more stable and up-to-date control over the core data for a game system, yet still allow for GMs to have their custom tweaks.
    
    
  • Easier Customization. For example, say you wanted to put your custom classes on your website so your players could have easy access to them, since they will now be in json format, that will be very easy to do. From a web perspective it will also be lot cleaner than the old tokenname=somevalue|someothervalue format.
    
    
  • Faster, Easier Data Reference. We will be able to create lists based on such categories as “show me everything that is conjuration.” Or, if defining a class, we will be able to do things such as “restrict this class to divine and illusion spells only.” This drastically reduces having to manually enter in data and/or duplicate things such as spell lists for each class.
    
    
  • Marker and Status folder solution rather than zip file solution. This will allow for dynamic updates of markers and status icons rather than adding files to a compressed archive.
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• In-App editor to edit Manually Specified files: This will allow customizing your files without the need of a specialized text editor or the knowledge of convoluted templates or languages. (Possible but unlikely to be finished in time)
  
  
• Additional UI Cleanup. Some clean up of some of the UI assets to make is easier to find things as well as make some elements a bit more intuitive. For example, tabbed traits which will include tabs for each source such as Class or Race making them easier to find, read, and edit.

We’re committed to making and sticking to our release schedule, both in terms of the core application and content. We appreciate your patience as we work to make D20PRO bigger, better, and faster.