Version 2.0 update: Reference documentation preview

[Goblin-King]

We're all home from a very busy Gen Con and back to our regular schedule, so another small update on what's going on.

First let me thank all the interested folk who visited our booth at Gen Con and gave us very encouraging feedback. I think by everything we saw down there, we're headed the in the right direction with things.

I'm very happy to be able to share something a bit more concrete this time: a preview of our version 2.0 ruleset reference documentation. Before you click on the link below, I'm going to ask you to keep a couple of things in mind...

• The reference is work in progress, and some things might be adjusted, change altogether or even be removed
• This all applies to version 2.0, and won't be effective until that is out, unfortunately. Also, please try to keep any discussion or feedback to this thread or a limited number of others as this board is mostly about what is available now.
• The reference is not complete, many elements are still missing. We'll be adding to this once we get more of it ready, so keep an eye on this thread for updates.
• This reference will be accompanied by a plain english (as plain as it can get...) guide that will explain how to set things up. The reference itself might not be that much for nontechnical people, but it should give more technical people an idea on what you can do.

All that out of the way, see the documentation preview here.

Regarding other issues with the update, we're pretty much still working with the actual implementation. Unfortunately it's kind of difficult to give you any more information about that at this time, but I expect to be back with some screenshots relatively soon.

[joeru]

Looks like a great start at a first glance! Take your time to work things out.

[Toadwart]

The documentation looks good

[joshuha]

Yes, I am salivating at the elements stuff right now. I see those as the most useful while customizing.

[sunbeam60]

OMG, bring it on! If all your documentation is up to this standard, FG will end up doing things no one has imagined. Thanks for the preview.

[Griogre]

Yes very nice. I only glanced through it but this seems pretty similar in quality to some of the Neverwinter Nights Scripting Documentation (done by users). The dice stuff looks very nice.

[Cantstanzya]

I hope everyone now knows why this is taking longer than expected. The documentation looks great. The possibilities look endless.

[Zuxius]

I sure don't understand it, but I am liking it For those who know what this means, broaden our understanding (or dumb it down for us idiots).

[Oberoten]

I do see however that backwards compatible it ain't. Will there be some kind of conversion too or will we have to go through the work of learning a new but similar form of the XML from scratch up to rebuilt what we allready had?

What about the people that have payed for modules and rulesets etc?

[Goblin-King]

I do see however that backwards compatible it ain't. Will there be some kind of conversion too or will we have to go through the work of learning a new but similar form of the XML from scratch up to rebuilt what we allready had?

This is basically the recommended format of doing things with 2.0, the way you should do it if you started from scratch. We'll also be working on compatibility where possible - most of the basic structure will be intact and it's possible to, e.g. treat "<bounds rect=... />" the same as "<bounds><rect>...</rect></bounds>". It's likely most of this work will happen after we start the testing phase where users can participate so we can respond to feedback at that point.

There will be some incompatibilities, this is the primary reason why 2.0 will install parallel to 1.05 so you can transfer your campaign when you feel ready for it.

The adventure (module) and campaign formats shouldn't change, they will just be expanded with the new data types.