An Update from Rob

[Nikmal]

Originally Posted by MaxSupernova

Yes it has.

In the kickstarter (almost 7 years ago) they claimed to have been in development for 3 years.

It was in "development" (beta) not released until after the kickstarter. So hence me saying it has not been around for 10 years.

[Exmortis]

Originally Posted by Nikmal

You left out the true reasons, small (very) business and very poor health of lead developer of software for almost 3 years. The software has not been around for 10 years

You left out how LWD blamed Paizo for the delays.

[Nikmal]

Originally Posted by Exmortis

You left out how LWD blamed Paizo for the delays.

I don't remember seeing that. I remember them (LWD) taking the blame for their own delays and the reasons behind them.. but not putting the blame on Paizo at all.

While it might sound like I am defending LWD.. I am not. I am saddened by them not furthering RW as I have been around since the beginning of the Beta and have many many years of data in my realms. I will miss the potential that RW could have had.

[Acenoid]

I think as well that it's a bit of overreacting it's not like our life or job depend on it.
Many IT Projects still fail now adays... vor various reasons.

[EightBitz]

I have a lot of things I'd like to say on this point, negative and positive.

The one thing I think is worth saying, with all sincerity and honesty is this:
Rob, regarding your health issues, you've been in my thoughts, and I'm glad you're well now.

[adzling]

Sad day, however the writing was on the wall when it was clear that the user interface was not a priority for the dev team.

ok, now that realmworks is dead does anyone have a suggestion for a web platform that can easily accept content exported from realmworks?

anyone?

thanks!

[Murrdox]

I've been reluctant to say it loudly because I like to be supportive, but it's been my thinking for quite awhile that Realm Works is never going to go anywhere with Lone Wolf. They just don't have the resources to keep working on it, obviously. It also seems like they barely have the resources to work on Hero Lab Online and Hero Lab Classic. Hero Lab Online already seems to be floundering.

Honestly I think the only hope for Lone Wolf and its products is a merger with another game company, or doing something like selling Realm Works to another company to make some money that they can put into completing Hero Lab Online.

I'm curious if DriveThruRPG would be open to host user-generated Realm Works content. We're obviously never going to get it into the Content Market itself. I might experiment with that down the road myself.

[thekwp]

Originally Posted by BJ

"Lone Wolf is undergoing several major changes and I wanted to personally take the time to update everyone on what those changes are and how they will impact our users.

Thank you for taking the time to write this both to your clients, and to us on the forums here. I know this cannot have been easy.

Originally Posted by BJ

To start with, effective immediately, we are officially suspending work on Realm Works while we focus on improving our other products. Realm Works is “my baby”, and there’s a great sadness in making this decision, but the reality is that, despite our efforts, Realm Works is failing as a commercial venture with what limited resources we can put into it. There are quite a few things we could do to improve it, but that would require a significant investment of time and resources, neither of which we currently have.

I cannot say I am surprised by this. Saddened, disappointed, and frustrated, but not surprised.

Realm Works fills a need I definitely have as a Game Master. My campaigns tend to run 3-5 years; having a source that lets me track my world and what is know, etc as well as relationship, connections, plots, etc. This is something I have worked on for myself with wikis and other tools. I had very high hopes for Realm Works.

I bought and found it... close enough to what I need to find real value in it, and had hopes it could evolve into what I really wanted. In the years since, with the minimal development that has happened, I began to suspect the evolution would not happen. I have worked a few decades in IT now; I recognized the patterns.

I will continue to use Realm Works for my current campaign for the next couple of years. I am not sure I will use it for my next one, even though I am ready to start to doing development work on that now. I want to use a tool that will get to where I need, and will support the interactions with players that I think will really add depth to the game at the table.

Having said that, I would be very interested in hear what options the community comes up with to share. I would support an open source effort. I will even watch carefully to see what features creep into HeroLabs -- I don't use that product (primarily because I do not like the output formats) but many of my friends do.

I will continue to (mostly) lurk here. I will continue to use it for several years to come. I have hopes to see something rise phoenix like from the ashes here, but I don't any high expectations. I will also be very, very interested to hear what replacement options the people here discover and pursue as well.

What I think I will miss most (next to the support from the forums for making things work) is not seeing an adventure that was written to make real use of Realm Works -- not just an import of an existing adventure, but one written with the tool in mind and its features.

Thank you Rob for a serious effort to give the Game Master the tool sets to run an in depth and vibrant campaign. I am very glad your heath has improved. I hope Lone Wolf survives the changes you have to go through now and prospers in the future. I'll be around here, with my irregular lurking habits, and hope to read about improved progress in the future.

[Konig-Wolf]

Originally Posted by thekwp

I will also be very, very interested to hear what replacement options the people here discover and pursue as well.

So I echo all your sentiments. As replacements for Realm Works, I would recommend looking at World Anvil, or checking out the Kickstarter for GM Binder now.

I really hope Lone Wolf comes back to Realm Works, but given the way things seem to be at this time, I'm not holding my breath. It's time to focus on looking for a new tool for this purpose.

[kbs666]

Originally Posted by Konig-Wolf

So I echo all your sentiments. As replacements for Realm Works, I would recommend looking at World Anvil, or checking out the Kickstarter for GM Binder now.

I really hope Lone Wolf comes back to Realm Works, but given the way things seem to be at this time, I'm not holding my breath. It's time to focus on looking for a new tool for this purpose.

Unless it's changed since I last looked World Anvil only does manual linking. As far as I'm concerned that's a deal breaker.

BM binder? I still have no idea what that is supposed to be.