Hero Lab on Android

[Jamz]

Homncruse, I agree 100% with you but I also know how complicated HL is. It's probably not going to happen. If we were talking about just a tablet character sheet, sure. But I'm actually impressed in the amount of data the iPad app is working with. Not only does it handle conditions, but all feats, spells, powers, equipment. That's a LOT of data.

I had a fleeting thought of, "heck, I can take the HTML sheet and port it to Android, someone has done most of the work for the XSL". But there's so much more than applying conditions. And to start handling turning feats on/off etc would require really diving into the data.

Honestly I think they are closer to implementing full HL on iPad than they are away from it. There's so much under the hood it's humbling. I wish they would table the full HL (I too have no "need" to level up at the table and want to use HL "differently" on a tablet than on the PC) but I'm guessing there's a lot more to it than JUST doing the full version and probably more like, "we have to do this for x anyways so might as well do y."

Although, I DO hope at least, that once they finish HL on iPad for Pathfinder, they start on Android Pathfinder before taking on, say Shadowrun for iPad or some such.

[Homncruse]

Originally Posted by Jamz

Homncruse, I agree 100% with you but I also know how complicated HL is. It's probably not going to happen. If we were talking about just a tablet character sheet, sure. But I'm actually impressed in the amount of data the iPad app is working with. Not only does it handle conditions, but all feats, spells, powers, equipment. That's a LOT of data.

I'm sure that's true, but if there's one thing I've learned in my software development career, it's that no software worth doing is "easy". It's always a lot of work. If it's a matter of insufficient resources or expertise, the wonderful nature of Android (and other "open" ecosystems) is that if you present all the tools and materials, someone will build you a house. I think it would be a fairly safe wager that if the Lone Wolf team open-sourced -- or at least gave thorough documentation on -- their data parsing, a few unofficial and independent projects would sprout up, at least one of which would be of sufficient quality to use as a stepping stone into the official code base (disregarding all legal and "personal" obstacles for now, like licensing and a potential uncooperative open-source author). I don't know with which languages Hero Lab is currently developed, but Android isn't necessarily limited to all Java code. If the data parsing is done in C, for example, it *may* be possible to use the NDK (disclaimer: I've never actually looked at the NDK, I just know what it kind-of is).

Originally Posted by Jamz

I had a fleeting thought of, "heck, I can take the HTML sheet and port it to Android, someone has done most of the work for the XSL". But there's so much more than applying conditions. And to start handling turning feats on/off etc would require really diving into the data.

I've considered that in the past too, actually. I have yet to dive into Android development specifically, but I gave serious consideration to making a Hero Lab "Lite" my first Android project. I have a lot of what I think are great visions for how the app could function, and if I wasn't already working full-time as a developer with a dozen other things taking up my free time, I'd probably research how to do it and possibly approach the Lone Wolf team (seeing as how I'm a Seattle-based developer as well) with my ideas after completing a proof of concept.

Originally Posted by Jamz

Although, I DO hope at least, that once they finish HL on iPad for Pathfinder, they start on Android Pathfinder before taking on, say Shadowrun for iPad or some such.

This. Yes. I'm hoping that just because the Lone Wolf team deems the work as "hard" doesn't mean that they'll never do it, and that they'll do it sooner rather than later. I'm sure the iOS version wasn't an easy port either.

[alexdevus]

So... back to the very first post I made... is there anything I CAN do with an android tablet that works? Or am I stuck to paper? What kinds of alternatives do you guys use to just pen and paper?

[Homncruse]

You can use your Android tablet to access Hero Lab on your Windows PC over Remote Desktop. That's what I've done in the past. It's not very elegant, but if you have a sufficiently fast internet connection, it works.

[Jamz]

I also remote in to HL, SplashTop 2 and Jump both seem to work well but do require a decent interenet connection, works best on a LAN.

Another alternative I used for a few weeks was to use AncientOne's Sheet because 1, it's very nice, and 2, it outputs as HTML. I just then threw the HTML on my webserver and viewed it via android browser. It's not as dynamic as using HL but it saves on paper.

I thought about modifying it further to add in some simple "conditions" and track HP but started using RDP. Maybe throw in that suggestion to his thread and he can make the sheet more "dynamic".

Slight alternative would be to use the PDF sheet in a PDF viewer, easier to setup but not as dynamic.

[MusicMonkey5555]

I would also love to see it on Android.

I am not sure if this ever got brought up but if Hero Lab uses .net, which I am guessing it doesn't you can use monodevelop or numerous other environments to develop once and easily port to other platforms like OSX, Linux, iOS and Android. This may be an option. I also know that there are a couple to port form iOS to android. This would make it easier to keep them all up to date and use a centralized code base. It may be something to look into. Especially since the Nexus 7 is pretty cheap and sold a ton of units. I know me along with others would pay extra for an app.

Also I have seen this suggestion before, but why not kickstarter it. You could see if there was interest and fund it. Plus you have plenty of stuff to add as incentives. I think it would take off if done correctly. May even be able to get enough money to hire a team just to work on it or work on a system to make ports from platforms easy.

[Zuni Technomancer]

Remember, it's just not that you have to build HeroLab for another platform. There are certain things you can't get solved just with cross compiling. Different update mechanics, different ways how to work with possible in-app purchases etc. are in place. Sure, nothing you can't address.

Anyways, while I'm happy with my iPad i also vote for an android version so everyone in my group can play without paper.

[caudron]

Android-based Hero Lab would be so awesome. I'd love to be able to create, carry, and update my characters on my phone. I would pay good money for that.

That said, Lone Wolf could just do a Mobile Site and offer a web-version of the app. The development would be half the cost of developing either an iOS or Android app separately, and a fraction of the cost of of trying to put out both. Not saying I don't want a native app, but done right, a mobile-focused web site app would shut us Android and iOS people up for quite a while.

To make it easy to work with, allow people to download a PDF version of their character for offline use. The create/update functions could just require a connection.

If you did a web version, and stored characters centrally under user accounts, then you are a small step from allowing collaborative play. I mean, wouldn't it be cool to say as a GM "Group these 5 heroes as one party" and then whenever the group gets together, the GM would see the latest version of each character and have them loaded into his GM panel for combat tracking, etc.... Even more cool if he saw combat updates in real time on his panel. Player takes a wound and the hero the GM sees shows it. There are benefits to centralizing hero management and offering a web interface. Just saying.

[deinspanjer]

+1 for Android Tablet support
+1 for Kickstarter

I understand and agree with what the LoneWolf devs have stated in this thread about the challenges of a lean shop, a large project, the cost of on-boarding a new dev, and the uncertainty of both the iPad and the Android Tablet addressable market for HL.

One thing I would like to suggest as a possibility for consideration in the future though is that developing / porting HL to Android might not have the same cost as on-boarding a new general dev or porting from scratch such as was done with the iPad. The mobile market is huge. There are many developers and companies that have decided to specialize in it, and some specifically in the realm of porting from one mobile platform to the next.

If your iPad app does well with your users and turns out to be a worthwhile investment for you, then you have already done the lion's share of the hard work. You've ported your domain knowledge onto a new platform. If the app in its new platform is still able to provide the UI and UX to enable RPG users to get stuff done, then when it comes time to explore an Android platform, you don't necessarily have to bring on an Android expert who is also an RPG expert and so forth. You could potentially hire a company or individual who has specific experience porting from iOS to Android. Most of the UI/UX can be re-implemented by that dev without having to know a lot about your domain or stack, just about how to take ObjectiveC and translate it to Java and the Android SDK.

Of course there will be problems that will require special consideration. There will also be things that might have been easy on iOS that will be hard on Android as well as the inverse. But I think it is reasonable to expect that the ramp up time for such a project would not be months before positive results can be seen.

Obviously this is just my opinion based on my own software development experience. It is very possible it may not apply well to your specific situation or even that I might just be flat out wrong.

Regardless, I will continue to be a happy HL user on both Windows and Mac and hope for the day I can also take my Android tablet to a pnp game and use HL there.

[Romaq]

If we can't have Android, then yes... I could really see a cloud subscription where I use Android to connect to wolflair.com's cloud, save my character there, Wolflair already knows my licensed products, and I could just use online web through my tablet to handle it. I'd rather have the software *on* the Tablet, but ... (shrugs) I really want to ditch paper, one way or another. Getting an iPad just for Hero Lab isn't on my list. I'm not thrilled at the prospect of a Windows tablet either.