dikdastard
September 9th, 2017, 12:45
Not sure if this is the right place to post this but just some thoughts about possible future development around this area.
I've been trying to run Ikael's excellent SavageW updates in test mode which seem to be updating almost on a daily basis right now, and most of the issues I have been having stem from the handful of extensions I run getting broken by the core ruleset update. Often the fix is already there but I have to manually log in to the forums, hunt down the individual threads, find the latest version of the extension, then manually delete the old one and copy across the new one. Bit of a pain at the best of times but could be a real turn off for casual users who just want the extra functionality without the complications. In other words, its not user friendly- and that potentially equals less users and less sales!
Other software I have used which has a strong open source development community keep such extensions in a central repository, often with the option to auto-update to latest version.
My suggestion is this: create a facility for community developers to publish extensions into the FG store!
These could be kept free to "purchase" as at present, but the developer could have the option to try and monetize their work by charging a nominal fee if they think their extension is worth it, similar to buying an app on android or apple at present. Either way, if the extensions (apps) became part of my list of purchases they could be automatically kept up to date via the FG updater mechanism. The quid quo pro is that to get into the store there would need to be some sort of certification process so the FG updater would automatically know if a given extension has been updated and at least claims to be compatible with the current version of Core RPG and/or Ruleset that the user has installed. This would potentially cut down a lot of grief from trying to use an incompatible extension then blaming FG because things don't work. In with the certification process there should also be a mechanism to flag Core RPG extensions that are still known to be incompatible with certain rulesets to be inactivated- I am thinking here of Trenloe's enhanced images extension which I would dearly like to try, but it simply breaks a lot of the image handling in the Savage ruleset for some reason, even in the latest version. Yes I am warned this is the case in the associated forum thread but if I forget, or didnt read the post thoroughly enough, having just been using it in a 5E campaign for example, there is nothing to stop me trying to activate it in a Savage ruleset campaign and breaking things.
Taking this logic further, there could be some merit in putting the individual rulesets, or major updates to existing rulesets on to the store as addon packages either for free as at present, or for subscription or one off purchase. I am very lucky given my current chosen ruleset is being actively developed by Smiteworks in the form of Ikael with great new features being added all the time right now, but I'm sure there are other systems people use on FG that could desperately use development but there are no resources to do it. As long as the pricing was not too onerous, I think most folk would not begrudge paying for the work being done on their behalf to improve the software especially if its adding new features and functionality they would actually use. If its not, then they should have the option to remain on the previous version though I suppose, and this might end up with a complicated user base with effectively multiple versions of FG, rulesets and extensions all having to co-exist somehow!
Anyway just my thoughts for what it is worth. I'm sure lots of us are happy to stick with the kludgy system and lifetime free upgrades to the present software which is really a very generous sales model from Smiteworks at present once one gets over the initial purchase price, but ultimately if we all want the software to continue to develop and grow new functionality it can't all be down to the good will and charity of a few talented community members and sales to new customers. Perhaps this is all another thing that will be most opportunely changed as part of an upgrade path to Unity when it is completed.
I've been trying to run Ikael's excellent SavageW updates in test mode which seem to be updating almost on a daily basis right now, and most of the issues I have been having stem from the handful of extensions I run getting broken by the core ruleset update. Often the fix is already there but I have to manually log in to the forums, hunt down the individual threads, find the latest version of the extension, then manually delete the old one and copy across the new one. Bit of a pain at the best of times but could be a real turn off for casual users who just want the extra functionality without the complications. In other words, its not user friendly- and that potentially equals less users and less sales!
Other software I have used which has a strong open source development community keep such extensions in a central repository, often with the option to auto-update to latest version.
My suggestion is this: create a facility for community developers to publish extensions into the FG store!
These could be kept free to "purchase" as at present, but the developer could have the option to try and monetize their work by charging a nominal fee if they think their extension is worth it, similar to buying an app on android or apple at present. Either way, if the extensions (apps) became part of my list of purchases they could be automatically kept up to date via the FG updater mechanism. The quid quo pro is that to get into the store there would need to be some sort of certification process so the FG updater would automatically know if a given extension has been updated and at least claims to be compatible with the current version of Core RPG and/or Ruleset that the user has installed. This would potentially cut down a lot of grief from trying to use an incompatible extension then blaming FG because things don't work. In with the certification process there should also be a mechanism to flag Core RPG extensions that are still known to be incompatible with certain rulesets to be inactivated- I am thinking here of Trenloe's enhanced images extension which I would dearly like to try, but it simply breaks a lot of the image handling in the Savage ruleset for some reason, even in the latest version. Yes I am warned this is the case in the associated forum thread but if I forget, or didnt read the post thoroughly enough, having just been using it in a 5E campaign for example, there is nothing to stop me trying to activate it in a Savage ruleset campaign and breaking things.
Taking this logic further, there could be some merit in putting the individual rulesets, or major updates to existing rulesets on to the store as addon packages either for free as at present, or for subscription or one off purchase. I am very lucky given my current chosen ruleset is being actively developed by Smiteworks in the form of Ikael with great new features being added all the time right now, but I'm sure there are other systems people use on FG that could desperately use development but there are no resources to do it. As long as the pricing was not too onerous, I think most folk would not begrudge paying for the work being done on their behalf to improve the software especially if its adding new features and functionality they would actually use. If its not, then they should have the option to remain on the previous version though I suppose, and this might end up with a complicated user base with effectively multiple versions of FG, rulesets and extensions all having to co-exist somehow!
Anyway just my thoughts for what it is worth. I'm sure lots of us are happy to stick with the kludgy system and lifetime free upgrades to the present software which is really a very generous sales model from Smiteworks at present once one gets over the initial purchase price, but ultimately if we all want the software to continue to develop and grow new functionality it can't all be down to the good will and charity of a few talented community members and sales to new customers. Perhaps this is all another thing that will be most opportunely changed as part of an upgrade path to Unity when it is completed.