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derthnada
May 22nd, 2007, 15:30
...so far (and I hate to say this), I feel like purchasing FG II was a complete waste of my money. As a consumer suffering from buyer's remorse, I would like to provide some feedback on exactly why I feel this way, hopefully in a constructive manner.

Why I made the buying decision:

Tried the demo. Great features, great interface. Just what I was looking for.
A lot of support from third parties, with gobs of rulesets and adventures already out there, ready to be used.
XML and Lua...sounds like it will be easy to whip up custom rulesets.


Why I regret it:

All the really great stuff out there is for 1.5. For my part, I'm not all that interested in d20, so I'm basically stuck with Iron Heroes as my alternative. This was my mistake, though. I should have done more research on this board before I dove in. If I had, I would have realized that:
(This is, by far, the biggest reason): There is no conversion utility from 1.5 to 2!? I'm sure it's a technical challenge, and I understand that, but by neglecting to produce one, you've successfully made all the work that people have done for your product *obsolete*! How is alienating your allies like that anything other than a really, really bad business decision? :confused: :mad:
The approach to the rulesets mashes game rules, presentation, and GUI logic all into the same mess of XML. Greater minds than my own frown on such lack of separation (from a software engineering perspective), and for good reason. "Rolling your own" ruleset in FGII is a daunting task--not because it's technically challenging--but because it's just...confusing. I'm not saying it's completely worthless or anything, it's just not something I'm willing to take on in order to reinvent the wheel and compensate for the lack of a conversion utility.


I'm sure there are plenty of folks who enjoy this product, and for good reason. If publishers decide that it's worth reworking their stuff for FGII (and risk having to do it again for FGIII?), I may become one of them. But in the meantime...is there any way that I can get my hands on a copy of 1.5?
Valarian
May 22nd, 2007, 15:34
Are there any ruleset you're particularly interested in? You may find someone else has already done the work (or started it).
nezzir
May 22nd, 2007, 15:50
Hang in there. People are working really hard to convert the rulesets. Some of them, like the one at https://www.roleplayingonline.us (plug!) are already complete. I'll be announcing my first mini-campaign in a few days.

I think someone's working on a modern ruleset and there are several old ones on the process of conversion. This version of FG has only been out of a little while. In a month or two there will be a flood of ruleset offerings.

In the meantime, visit that site listed above and join or run a game.
Dachannien
May 22nd, 2007, 18:07
I disagree with the OP. Not providing a conversion utility may be a minus, but there are so many pluses associated with FG2 over FG1.05 that it's a pretty obvious upgrade. In fact, the biggest reason there's no conversion utility is because of one of the biggest new features of FG2: scripting.
Deuce
May 22nd, 2007, 20:06
But in the meantime...is there any way that I can get my hands on a copy of 1.5?

I think you'd have even greater buyer's remorse trying to find a game for 1.05. I'd go out on a limb and suggest that the vast majority of games still run in 1.05 are in the process of converting over.
TarynWinterblade
May 22nd, 2007, 20:55
I think someone's working on a modern ruleset...
...In a month or two there will be a flood of ruleset offerings.

Sounds like about a fair estimate of when I might get it done... if my second job doesn't utterly kill -all- my development time (70 hours a week on actual work... when am I going to have time to work in my free time? >.<) :(



As far as the conversion tool: SmiteWorks already stated that they'd try and put one out, probably after they got done with the documentation.
derthnada
May 22nd, 2007, 21:34
Well, I'm glad I'm posted. Thanks for the encouragement, corrections, and news. I guess just I'll poke around with d20 for a bit and sit tight for now...
Kalan
May 23rd, 2007, 09:07
Just hang in there :) We're shooting to have our Savage Worlds ruleset converted here soon enough, and there's a company out there who's working on a ruleset editor package - so it'll be easier to make rulesets for your fave systems :)

And the nice thing - FGII no longer transmits the entire ruleset/rules to the client machines...what does this mean?

The possibilty that we'll be seeing a lot more "official" rulesets out there soon enough :)
derthnada
May 23rd, 2007, 16:45
Just hang in there :) We're shooting to have our Savage Worlds ruleset converted here soon enough, and there's a company out there who's working on a ruleset editor package - so it'll be easier to make rulesets for your fave systems :)

And the nice thing - FGII no longer transmits the entire ruleset/rules to the client machines...what does this mean?

The possibilty that we'll be seeing a lot more "official" rulesets out there soon enough :)

Funny that you posted, Kalan. Savage Worlds is really what I'm waiting for!

So...quit posting to message boards and get back to work!!! ;)
Dupre
May 25th, 2007, 08:27
Thanks for all the feedback. We made the decision to break the ruleset compatibility in FG2 in order to get past the limitations of FG1 rulesets. Development time for FG2 was long as it was and we didn't want to push that any further by including a conversion tool.

The great majority of scripts in the d20 ruleset are in separate files under the scripts-folder. While some scripts in the d20 ruleset XML-files are inline scripts, it is possible to have a strict and complete separation of presentation XML and Lua-scripts.

Also, hopefully our upcoming User Guide, Ruleset Modification Guide and XML & Scripting Reference will help getting over the initial learning curve of building and modifying rulesets.