Hiring a lua programmer ?

[Maspalio]

Hey all,

I'd really like to have a cWoD Ruleset (v 20th) working as intended, and was wondering how efficient it would be to hire a lua programmer to do so.

I have all the design and graphics done, but the dice don't work as described by the rules. I found many similarities in other Rulesets, but none of them do exactly what i want. In top of that, i want it to be in touch with the CoreRPG for updates.

Do you think a random and canonical lua programmer can find a good basis with the FG3 files, or is it too dedicated to RPG players ?

There no big deal i guess : the main problem i get is with the successes, failure and botches on dice pool. But i'm a graphic designer and can't go further with programming.

Thanks for your thoughts.

[damned]

Hi Maspalio - most rulesets created by community members are created based on personal interest and not any commercial motivation. Why? Its programming and its non-trivial. It will often take an experienced programmer upwards of 100 hours of effort to build a ruleset. It may be less, even a lot less if you have good existing code - it also might not. But either way you can see that hiring someone could be very expensive... There are three main parts to the project - building the character sheets and NPC sheets, building the theme and building the code that makes it all work. You may be able to collaborate with someone else and sharer the work load - i had help on the coding side of things when I did Maelstrom RPG (thanks Trenloe and ianmward) but it was still a massive venture.
Finding a programmer with a shared interest in your ruleset is the best bet (but also not easy!).
Good luck!

Oh yeah - have a look at MoreCore - it is layered on CoreRPG (similar to a ruleset but made as an extension) as it has lots of comments. and touches on a lot of things - that a ruleset will so it has good examples in it.
You may be able to take the rolls etc from your existing sources and integrate them. Building Dice Pools is very much not a simple task either.

[Maspalio]

Thanks for your reply. I'll take a look at Morecore.

[damned]

Hi Maspalio - I dont want to discourage you I just want you to have a better understanding that its not a simple task. It is absolutely a doable thing but its good if you explore the code yourself and get a better understanding of it and then decide what you want to do. I tried twice and failed miserably. Third time I had a better understanding of what might be involved and was ready for the long haul! Im glad I did it even though it took me a lot of time and I bugged the heck out of a few people with my incessant questions :)

[Trenloe]

Some info in this thread might help guide you: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?20651-Modifying-the-CoreRPG-ruleset

Post #3 contains a link to a good beginners guide to LUA programming.

But, if computer programming isn't for you (and it isn't for many people), then you'll need to find someone who's willing to do that work for you. As mentioned above, your best bet will be to try to find someone in the RPG hobby who is interested in the same ruleset as you and work on it together - you doing the artwork, testing the interface, etc. and the other doing the LUA work.

If you hire someone then it will get very expensive for you (unless they're willing to work for peanuts). Someone how understands RPGs will be a much better bet than someone who isn't familiar with the hobby and is a good LUA programmer.

If you do hire someone, make sure you're very clear on the scope of the engagement. I've heard of a few monetary agreements to produce FG rulesets not being completed.

[Maspalio]

Thanks Trenloe. You're right, programming isn't for me. I did some twinks on rulesets here and there, but mainly graphical things : switching icons, fixing a button, and so on. The dice mechanics, tough i know how to explain what i want with IF and ELSE, is way out of my knowledge. I hope i can find a programmer found of RPGs : i need to achieve this ruleset because i want to play with some friends, and because it's a thorn in my side for too many years...

[Callum]

Post #3 contains a link to a good beginners guide to LUA programming.

NB. It's Lua, not LUA. ;-)

[dulux-oz]

Talk to Primach (when you can catch him on these boards) about the "issues" he had doing what you'd like to do.

He was successful in the end, but he went through some "stuff" before he found the right person - and before you ask, the person concerned doesn't have any spare time and their rates are probably outside your budget anyway (maybe not, but probably). :)

Cheers

[Andraax]

I have about 15 hours a week available right now. My rate is $60/hr US. Let that guide your decision.