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Designer's Diary Articles

B

BJ

Administrator
Staff member
We've added a new form of "news" to our website in the form of a Designer's Diary blog! These articles will focus on tutorials, tips, tricks and other useful information on how to use Realm Works.

The first two entries are live now, go check them out!
 
Nice! I like this new feature. It is nice to have well-written, nicely laid out instructional material that doesn't require open a file in a PDF reader or MS Word. I'm looking forward to more Designer's Diary posts.
 
Excellent.

As a suggestion can we get some detailed information about the advanced import options with some test cases of the way we can expect the data to change based on the choices made.
 
I'm working on this stuff as fast as I can while still getting everything else done. :) Covering the advanced options is definitely one of the planned subjects, although it might actually end up being multiple articles. Coming up with material that is clear, concise, and not ridiculously technical is proving to be a lot more time-consuming than I first anticipated!
 
Mate as someone who managed it service desks for many many years and worked daily to improve the knowledge articles.. I really enjoyed the write ups :) they would have passed our QA checks.
 
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rob said:
I'm working on this stuff as fast as I can while still getting everything else done. :) Covering the advanced options is definitely one of the planned subjects, although it might actually end up being multiple articles. Coming up with material that is clear, concise, and not ridiculously technical is proving to be a lot more time-consuming than I first anticipated!
Click to expand...

Oh, and lest I forget, not a zillion pages long. :)
 
rob said:
I'm working on this stuff as fast as I can while still getting everything else done. :) Covering the advanced options is definitely one of the planned subjects, although it might actually end up being multiple articles. Coming up with material that is clear, concise, and not ridiculously technical is proving to be a lot more time-consuming than I first anticipated!
Click to expand...
Ridiculously technical is ok if it is detail on the why or how of the process. The more we understand of that stuff the better we know what is and isn't possible.
 
I have not yet used the export/import feature.

But reading these, you have made a complex undertaking simple and easy.
With a few mouse clicks!

Great work, on both the features and new instructions.
 
MaxSupernova said:
"I have made this longer than usual because I have not had time to make it shorter." - Pascal
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I've always seen that quote attributed to Mark Twain, using in the form of "I would have written a shorter letter, but I didn't have the time."

Time to hit up Google for some answers!
 
The next one is going to be really long, simply because there's a ton of stuff to cover. About three times the length of the initial two. Once you see it, let me know if it's TOO long. It COULD be broken up into multiple entries, but that seemed like more work, plus it would result in lots of folks not getting the complete details (i.e. those who only read part 1 and not part 2). I'll be interested to know what you guys think about bigger entries vs. multi-installment entries after you see it.

Note that the new long one is NOT intended to become the norm. However, there are a number of additional titles on my todo list that WILL be long. So I'm looking for guidance on how best to handle those in the future.

I anticipate that the new entry will be posted sometime on Friday, possibly late on Friday. Once it goes live, BJ or I will post an update here in this thread. So this is just a "heads-up" post for everyone. :)
 
kbs666 said:
Ridiculously technical is ok if it is detail on the why or how of the process. The more we understand of that stuff the better we know what is and isn't possible.
Click to expand...

Agree and disagree. The more technical it is, the more the techies will understand. But the more likely the non-techies will react negatively and feel that Realm Works is too technical for them. There are a zillion non-techies out there playing RPGs, so I have to be ever-mindful of that and do my best to cater to them as well. Consequently, I have to be as non-technical as possible, but I also have to be sufficiently technical to clearly explain the complicated aspects of everything.

It's NOT a fun dilemma to deal with, and everything ends up taking a whole lot longer as a result. <sigh>
 
Maybe the two can be combined.

Make a non-techie article.

Then inter-spaced within that article have some text boxes with gray background and write some technical/in-depth explanations, that are not needed to use the feature(s) in question.

Remember to make clear at the beginning that the gray text boxes are optional/not required and intended for those interested in the technical details.

I use this when making manuals for my instructors (they are not supposed to teach that which is in gray text boxes, it is for their in-depth understanding) and it works well.
 
Or just start the top with the low-technicality explanation, and provide a more technical explanation as a sub-section after that. It winds up being longer, but may be easier to manage overall.
 
Solid suggestions. I'm just worried that the articles end up:

1. Becoming much longer (and therefore "scary" to new users)
2. Have sections that all of us OCD gamers feel that we MUST read, even when we're told not to, which adds confusion
3. Take more time to both write and post with all the special formatting

So I'm also considering splitting them up into two articles, with one focusing on all the basics for everyone and a follow-on delving into the technical depths. Again, more work to write, but possibly a better approach with regards to less technical users. Even with theoretically simple stuff like this, nothing is ever easy. <sigh>
 
rob said:
Solid suggestions. I'm just worried that the articles end up:

1. Becoming much longer (and therefore "scary" to new users)
2. Have sections that all of us OCD gamers feel that we MUST read, even when we're told not to, which adds confusion
3. Take more time to both write and post with all the special formatting

So I'm also considering splitting them up into two articles, with one focusing on all the basics for everyone and a follow-on delving into the technical depths. Again, more work to write, but possibly a better approach with regards to less technical users. Even with theoretically simple stuff like this, nothing is ever easy. <sigh>
Click to expand...

I for one would be happy for you to put your Magnum Opus on hold and push out the 5e changes instead, so I can get back to work entering stuffs for my campaign. :)
 
@BigSkyRPG: Rob is waiting for my birthday tomorrow. And then for the next business day. Sorry, it's all my fault. If it's any consolation, I agree with you but I totally realize we already burned our Luck stat last week to get weekend support. Rules are rules. Rob doesn't make then, he just enforces them....
 
aeiou said:
@bigskyrpg: Rob is waiting for my birthday tomorrow. And then for the next business day. Sorry, it's all my fault. If it's any consolation, i agree with you but i totally realize we already burned our luck stat last week to get weekend support. Rules are rules. Rob doesn't make then, he just enforces them....
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lol:d
 
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