Question: Is "user development" just for game systems?
 

TL;DR: Is there a plugin system to upgrade/replace functionality in Hero Lab, or is all "user development" under the category of creating new game systems, or tweaking old ones?

Noob question and I'm pretty sure I know the answer, but I just wanted to confirm:

All these user projects and "developer" topics and such: I'm presuming they're solely within the realm of "creating another game system to use in Hero Lab", and not for customizing the functionality of Hero Lab itself. Am I correct?

To clarify: I use Hero Lab for Pathfinder, and I find it an outstanding prep tool. It's great for helping get everything together for a session, great for review, great for building PCs and NPCs. At the table itself, however, let's just say I would have made significantly different design decisions. I've pretty much abandoned the tactical console and the encounter library, while sitting in a session. I'm speaking from a GM standpoint here: a couple of my players use it at the table as players, and they all like it. But when we get into combat, I feel like I stop playing Pathfinder and start fiddling with Hero Lab, losing the touch of the game on the table.

So I've decided I need to do some custom development for a more streamlined combat helper. It would be convenient if I can keep inside the Hero Lab application, but thanks to HL's wealth of export options, it's not a dealbreaker.

TIA.

The way I understand it, the authoring kit sub is for whole new game systems, and user projects is for anything else you wish to share.

For the packaged game systems, you can replace or adjust most of the content for that game, but you will not have access to all of the pieces. The Tactical Console is one of the parts that is not accessible.


Improving the tactical console is a project that is on our to-do list for all game systems.


Before you start your own work, make sure you've searched our forums (mainly Pathfinder's forum) for other people's projects towards the same goal - there may be something existing that helps.