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The New Funky Dice Roller: The Crawler's Companion

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 12:42 am
by tovokas
I’m excited to announce that after months of effort the “Funky Dice Roller” has been updated with a host of new features, and is being re-launched as “The Crawler’s Companion”.

Features include:
  • Funky Dice Roller: d3-d100 and everything in between
  • Critical Hit Charts: All player and monster charts!
  • Failure Charts: Fumbles, corruptions, misfires, deity disapproval!
  • Rules Reference: Many topics available for quick reference.
  • Spell Reference and Resolution: Yep, they’re all there!
The program is generally stable, but I’m labeling it “Beta” – primarily to figure out how things work on various platforms/browser combinations, etc. …I’m looking at you Mac people. ;)

You can try out the program at:
http://purplesorcerer.com/crawler

You can access a series of video tutorials I whipped up that goes over all the new functionality at:
http://purplesorcerer.com/crawler/help

So go forth and test away! As you play with things/discover issues, let me know how things go.

***

Tablets/Mobile
Now when you look at the program, likely the first thing you’ll think is “This would be great on my tablet/phone!” And I agree! I built the thing from the ground up to work as a native app on my Kindle Fire (as well as handle other ‘mobile’ screen resolutions), and it works very well. (I spent many hours optimizing things to get smooth performance from an Air for Android app.)

Android
As a result, on the Android side, if you have Air for Android installed on your device (it’s loaded on the Kindle Fire by default, and the Nook as well I believe) – the native app should work, though outside of the Fire, I don’t have any way of testing. If you are able to sideload apps, contact me and I can send you an APK to test on your device. If things don't work right, well, see below. :)

iOS
On the iPad side of things, it’s more complicated. I’m capable of producing a native iOS app from my development tools, and from the research I’ve done with the optimizations performed I believe the program should work as well on your iPad as it does on my Fire. But as a completely PC-enabled dude, I have zero way to test/optimize things for performance; access the app store as a developer, do hypnotically wonderful Mac things, really ANYTHING I'd need to do to make sure the thing works right for iOS.

If Enough of You Show Interest…
So for me to make the Crawler’s Companion (and any other utility I create) available for iOS, I’d need an iPad, the cheapest new-ish MacBook available, and an iOS Developer account. By my crude calculations this comes out to about $1800-2000. Since I’m committed to keeping all the Dungeon Crawl Classics utilities I create free forever, I sadly can’t cover these costs myself. If enough of you show interest, I’ll create a Kickstarter (with all the fun things that would entail) to see if we can make it happen! (And I’d likely fold in some additional Android device testing/Amazon app store availability, etc as well)

Regardless, try out the web app and let me know how things go. :)

Re: The New Funky Dice Roller: The Crawler's Companion

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 2:19 am
by Ogrepuppy
Suh-weet.

Working well in my (up-to-date) Google Chrome browser on Win7 x64.

Re: The New Funky Dice Roller: The Crawler's Companion

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 3:50 am
by Vanguard
I'm on an iPad and it doesn't work because it's Flash based.

Re: The New Funky Dice Roller: The Crawler's Companion

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 7:10 am
by GnomeBoy
:arrow: The controls are off the bottom of my browser window, and there is no scroll bar... (Firefox 12)

Re: The New Funky Dice Roller: The Crawler's Companion

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 7:25 am
by tovokas
What resolution are you running at GnomeBoy?

Re: The New Funky Dice Roller: The Crawler's Companion

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 7:37 am
by tovokas
And when you hit f11 does the entire utility show?

Re: The New Funky Dice Roller: The Crawler's Companion

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 8:10 am
by QuelessQuest
Please make this work in an iPad/iPhone. Flash based is bad for apple :)
It is difficult to use in a browser on the PC because of the gesture like interface, but would be something I would use a ton at the gaming table in my iOS device. I use my iPad all the time will running the game and having this stuff at the tip of my fingers would be great!

Re: The New Funky Dice Roller: The Crawler's Companion

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 10:28 am
by dunbruha
GnomeBoy wrote::arrow: The controls are off the bottom of my browser window, and there is no scroll bar... (Firefox 12)
Same with me.
Screen Resolution 1440x900.
F11 does not help.

Re: The New Funky Dice Roller: The Crawler's Companion

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 10:46 am
by tovokas
Firefox folks please try refreshing the page. (If it doesn't appear to change, try clearing your recent cache to make sure you have the latest version.)

Thanks!

Re: The New Funky Dice Roller: The Crawler's Companion

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 12:30 pm
by reverenddak
This is amazing Jon. I'm testing this on my Nook Tablet. Works in the default browser just fine. Works OK with Dolphin HD browser. Page wants to slide to the left, instead of scrolling, there are features on the left and right of the browser that seems to take priority over scrolling in the app. Couldn't get Flash to work/install on the Firefox Browser.

You should contract with Goodman Games and make this a genuine app on Google Play and Amazon Marketplace.

Re: The New Funky Dice Roller: The Crawler's Companion

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 1:12 pm
by Rick
That's all kinds of cool, and it works great on my HP Touchpad. You rock, dude 8)

Re: The New Funky Dice Roller: The Crawler's Companion

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 1:23 pm
by Colin
Spotted one error so far:

There's no d4 option on the Fumble table for not wearing any armour.

Colin

Re: The New Funky Dice Roller: The Crawler's Companion

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 1:45 pm
by tovokas
Thanks RAD Colin - that error has been squashed. :)

Re: The New Funky Dice Roller: The Crawler's Companion

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 1:57 pm
by Colin
You're welcome. I'll give it a more thorough going-over this weekend and report any other issues if they arise.

Colin

Re: The New Funky Dice Roller: The Crawler's Companion

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 3:28 pm
by dunbruha
tovokas wrote:Firefox folks please try refreshing the page. (If it doesn't appear to change, try clearing your recent cache to make sure you have the latest version.)

Thanks!
It is working now. The switching between screens at the bottom was hard to figure out, though. I have to click on the "half of a menu item", then drag toward the center. Maybe this would be more intuitive on a touch screen...

Re: The New Funky Dice Roller: The Crawler's Companion

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 3:32 pm
by Raven_Crowking
A very cool utility. It is working fine on Chrome.

Re: The New Funky Dice Roller: The Crawler's Companion

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 3:46 pm
by tovokas
dunbruha wrote:
tovokas wrote:Firefox folks please try refreshing the page. (If it doesn't appear to change, try clearing your recent cache to make sure you have the latest version.)

Thanks!
It is working now. The switching between screens at the bottom was hard to figure out, though. I have to click on the "half of a menu item", then drag toward the center. Maybe this would be more intuitive on a touch screen...
Yes, the interface is "tablet-ty" but if you check out the videos it should give you a good idea of how all the elements work. :)

Re: The New Funky Dice Roller: The Crawler's Companion

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 4:08 pm
by Harley Stroh
tovokas wrote: If enough of you show interest, I’ll create a Kickstarter (with all the fun things that would entail) to see if we can make it happen! (And I’d likely fold in some additional Android device testing/Amazon app store availability, etc as well))
Count me in.

//H

Re: The New Funky Dice Roller: The Crawler's Companion

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 4:40 pm
by tovokas
Harley Stroh wrote:
tovokas wrote: If enough of you show interest, I’ll create a Kickstarter (with all the fun things that would entail) to see if we can make it happen! (And I’d likely fold in some additional Android device testing/Amazon app store availability, etc as well))
Count me in.

//H
That's awesome Harley. I've created a brief video showing the program running on my Kindle Fire, and discuss a few of the advantages of a native app compared to running things in a browser. :)

http://youtu.be/yz3ogfR9UD8

Re: The New Funky Dice Roller: The Crawler's Companion

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 5:04 pm
by reverenddak
tovokas wrote:
Harley Stroh wrote:
tovokas wrote: If enough of you show interest, I’ll create a Kickstarter (with all the fun things that would entail) to see if we can make it happen! (And I’d likely fold in some additional Android device testing/Amazon app store availability, etc as well))
Count me in.

//H
That's awesome Harley. I've created a brief video showing the program running on my Kindle Fire, and discuss a few of the advantages of a native app compared to running things in a browser. :)

http://youtu.be/yz3ogfR9UD8
I'd like the try the APK. I sent you an email. But it might not be to the right address. I have a Rooted Nook Tablet.

Re: The New Funky Dice Roller: The Crawler's Companion

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 5:52 pm
by Harley Stroh
tovokas wrote:I've created a brief video showing the program running on my Kindle Fire, and discuss a few of the advantages of a native app compared to running things in a browser. :)

http://youtu.be/yz3ogfR9UD8
That's so sexy. The video clearly shows how this is a tablet app, that also happens to be a web tool, not the reverse.

//H

Re: The New Funky Dice Roller: The Crawler's Companion

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 10:29 pm
by TheRupert
Count me in for the kickstarter for iOS as well. I NEED this on my iPad!!! ;)

Re: The New Funky Dice Roller: The Crawler's Companion

Posted: Wed May 30, 2012 10:41 am
by Stainless
Click and drag to roll the dice is a bit of a drag (pun intended) with a PC (especially a touchpad). Any chance one can also roll the dice by simply double clicking on them?

Similarly, I get the bottom controls cut off with Firefox and no way to scroll down to them.

Lastly, I rolled the d7 A LOT of times and it was very biased towards 6 and 7 results (clearly so by eyeballing the results). Just how random is the algorithm you've used?

BTW, it's an absolutely fab app and I'd gladly support its development.

Re: The New Funky Dice Roller: The Crawler's Companion

Posted: Wed May 30, 2012 11:45 am
by reverenddak
The APP version is going to be AWESOME.

It's already amazing, especially for an AIR based program. It works really quick on my Nook Tablet. The dice roller is THE BEST dice roller on any platform that I've used. And the reference access is great and ability to pre-set 4 magic users? Brilliant.

If you have an android device, I highly suggest you get the beta app and test it out. The sooner we iron out any bugs, the better the product will be upon full release. I think Purple Sorcerer is kicking butt right now with this.

Re: The New Funky Dice Roller: The Crawler's Companion

Posted: Wed May 30, 2012 6:58 pm
by Ogrepuppy
TheRupert wrote:Count me in for the kickstarter for iOS as well. I NEED this on my iPad!!! ;)
Well, I'm an Androider, but if you'll support multiple platforms I'd donate to the Kickstarter without hesitation.