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ruhar
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Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Oak Harbor, WA, USA
Posts: 616

Old November 7th, 2015, 09:54 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by weogarth View Post
Yeah....me too. My soapbox comes out to sign the praises of RW whenever I can.
I do the same thing. I have even suggested it to those disgruntled at Obsidan Portal since it's been broken for several years. LOL That doesn't mean I'm not going to be disappointed about not having a calendar system yet or that I'm not going to occasionally poke the issue. Aside from that, and sometimes bug issues that infect I mean affect my realm RW is the greatest thing since sliced bread. LOL I think all GMs should check it out.
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ArgoForg
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Old November 9th, 2015, 04:49 PM
Usually, despite my own lack of recent use with RW, I speak very highly of Lone Wolf and I am usually pretty up front with other GM's that RW is well worth the money, but I also add the caveats-- if you're looking to run a game with a laptop at the table. Most of the GM's I know have that old-school curmudgeonly streak like me and like a less tech-heavy game experience. I tell them that as a game database, it's still worth it, but I suggest that they understand that it's still a work in progress as far as that goes... your data cannot be exported or printed in any meaningful manner just yet, although it's promised in the future. It's more set up as an around-the-table application, but even just as a databasing utility, I've found it well worth the time and cost, especially when export finally comes about.

The calendar thing is something I have personal gripes about, but I don't know that it's a make-or-break for any of the GM's I know.

Darker Age Press - Writer and Developer
Realm Works Projects: World of Phantasie (Castles & Crusades)
RPG and Art Software Used: Realm Works, Hero Lab, Campaign Cartographer 3+, Cityographer, Hexographer, Fractal Mapper, Evernote, Scrivener, OneNote, Photoshop, Poser Pro, Cinema 4D, Vue 8 Complete.
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jfos
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Old November 29th, 2015, 06:09 AM
I had anticipated posting a question asking how we make a template to load/use like the Gregorian but representing my campaign timeline (Im setting up time triggered events... so its sorta required to track the dates)

A difficult to use tool, is better than no tool at all.

If there is existing WORKING code... release it as an "advanced" option? Maybe a template (like the Gregorian has been presented)? Even if its ugly, if ugly works...

Looking at the threads, folks WANT it, it seems there is working code... or is there a way to use a calendar other than the Gregorian, which fits the smallest range of users, that I missed?

Not complaining, just confused at the pace (this thread is over two years old), IF there is WORKING code. I bought RW to use on the web when that comes out (soon... I know =P), and by then the calendar and virtual dice will be the only things in my way and virtual dice I can write a python prng to fake till it comes. Looking forward to the new feature.
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Areinu
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Old December 3rd, 2015, 06:03 AM
Well, +1. I wouldn't mind even if custom calendar was to be "programmed" with some script language, and that script would have to be pasted somewhere. Without real UI. After all community would quickly make scripts for common calendars like Forgotten Realms, Star Wars etc.
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Vargr
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Old December 3rd, 2015, 06:32 AM
It is a tough call for LW.

Release a much-asked-for feature (calendars) with a difficult to use interface (or none at all) with required pseudo-code programming will surely alienate a lot of users.

While a small group of dedicated people might get something useful out of it, the majority of users (the ones with no idea of how to use or inclination of using some sort of coding approach) will be put off and might (rightfully?) claim that the calendar system is broken, difficult, stupid, incomprehensible, etc.

Will this be beneficial for the product and LW as a company?

Probably not.

And then it won't be beneficial for us - even those of us screaming for calendars.

Tough choice for LW - I am glad I don't have to make the call.


Please note, that I really, really want calendars, I want them now, and I don't mind making pseudo coding to make it work.

Vargr
Deputy Calendar Champion


Legend has it, that the Tarrasque is a huge fighting beast, perpetually hungry.
Sleet entered History when he managed to get on the back of a Tarrasque only to be ridden out of History shortly after.

Using Realm Works, Worldographer (Hexographer 2), LibreOffice, Daz3D Studio, pen & paper for the realm World of Temeon and the system LEFD - both homebrewed.

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AEIOU
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Old December 3rd, 2015, 07:52 AM
My understanding is that calendar code was mostly in place since the Kickstarter early release. It was only available to closed beta testers. I've only seen comments from one beta tester that actually got something sort of usable before it was pulled due to the interface being half-baked. But it wasn't easy. And I've not heard of anyone else that was successful.

The calendar is by necessity completely new code by LWD. They can't just take some standard calendar code off the shelf and plug it in because...well...because all you could do then is Gregorian calendars.... I'm sure they play or know people that play fantasy, modern, horror, sci-fi, multi-dimensional games that may have alternate physics and understand how convoluted and non-standard gamers tend to make things when given the opportunity.

If the beta team couldn't grok it right away and Rob feels it really isn't ready for prime time, then I have to agree with their decision. I may want RW to go in different directions or for priorities/features to be different, but Rob can see the bigger picture that we can't and despite a few marketing stumbles his decision-making is rock solid. Releasing something that the majority of the user base wants to use but can't figure out would be baaaaaaaad.

It's frustrating to wait but you may find that tracking timelines in Excel and then adding each item later would work for you. I've been using Excel in this way in hopes that next month we'll get calendars, or maybe the NEXT month... But after two years of it not coming next month, I recently broke down and have been adding date snippets to hundreds of categories for cities being founded, major battles, milestones, calamities, etc. Because I've got a solid Excel spreadsheet of all the dates and all of the events it is very quick work despite the clunky interface for picking dates. I'm glad I waited rather than tried doing it as I created the entries as it is MUCH faster. For dates outside the current structure I can add a note for the correct date or not add it until later.

Hang in there.
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kbs666
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Old December 3rd, 2015, 08:55 AM
Just think about a world with 3 moons with different cycles and 3 cultures which base their calendars around the different moons. Now try and sync the calendars. I tried it. It was a mess. A computer should be able to do it no problem but it is messy to do by hand.

Building a UI that will allow you to design an arbitrary number of calendars that mesh with each other in any number of ways is a very difficult project. I have no idea how to do it.
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Asandir
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Old December 12th, 2015, 06:56 PM
While I too have been waiting for calendars, I just came across tonight this software called Aeon Timeline. They have a 20 use day Trial version for Windows and Mac. I am just installing the Trial version now to see what it is capable of doing. Found some additional notes on the website.


Fantasy/Custom Calendars

Back to Category List

What type of fantasy calendars do you support?
What about historic calendars such as Julian calendars?
Will you support other types of fantasy calendars in the future?

Q: What type of fantasy calendars do you support?

At present, Aeon Timeline allow you to create custom calendars that have the same basic components of our standard calendar system: days, months, years, and eras. The number and length of weekdays, months and eras is configurable, as is the number of hours in a day.

Leap years are supported in a limited form, and eras can move in both the forward and backward direction.

To ensure that calendar systems are continuous, calendars must have a first era that counts infinitely backwards, and a last era that counts infinitely forwards. Although these must exist in the calendar system as “Distant Past” and “Distant Future”, timelines can be limited to include just the other eras if required



Q: Will you support other types of fantasy calendars in the future?

We hope to be able to improve the flexibility of the calendar system in future releases.

If you have a particular suggestion for a type of calendar that you wish to implement, make a feature request and we will see if we can accommodate it in a future update.

Bear in mind that building significant flexibility into calendar systems, while still being able to calculate the time between different events, can be quite complex, and so we may not be able to support all types of calendar systems.

Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, minutus carborata descendum pantorum.

Last edited by Asandir; December 12th, 2015 at 07:11 PM. Reason: More notes from website
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MNBlockHead
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Old December 12th, 2015, 09:48 PM
I tried Aeon Timeline a when I first bought RW about a year ago. It seemed promising, but ultimately was not what I was looking for. Unless I totally missed it, or unless new features are now available, it did not support multiple calendars or do any calendrical conversions. I could enter a time line in one calendar and the then toggle it to show in another calendar. Aeon is a powerful and popular timeline tool that many writers like to use to map out story plots and histories. But it does not provide the functionality that RW's calendar feature promises.

RW Project: Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition homebrew world
Other Tools: CampaignCartographer, Cityographer, Dungeonographer, Evernote
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Vargr
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Old December 12th, 2015, 10:56 PM
I have to agree with MNBlockHead.

I tried Aeon out and found that it only supported one calendar and didn't really provide the tools I understand (maybe wrongly) that RW calendar is set up to handle.

It seems they have updated Aeon recently and added a few extras. But there still seems to be only one calendar in play at a time.

I just had a quick scan for calendar tools and of the five promising ones I found none supported custom calendars; they all used good old Gregor's system, so Aeon has that feature going for it.

If someone know how to be able to switch between two calendar systems in Aeon (on the same timeline, just changing the dates to another system), please let me know.

Vargr
Deputy Calendar Champion


Legend has it, that the Tarrasque is a huge fighting beast, perpetually hungry.
Sleet entered History when he managed to get on the back of a Tarrasque only to be ridden out of History shortly after.

Using Realm Works, Worldographer (Hexographer 2), LibreOffice, Daz3D Studio, pen & paper for the realm World of Temeon and the system LEFD - both homebrewed.

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