Collective Reviews

[MaxSupernova]

Originally Posted by mirtos

The kickstarter, in my opinion, did a bad job at managing expectations.

Ding.

[Dark Lord Galen]

Originally Posted by MaxSupernova

Ding.

Ding ding and +1
I agree, a lot of the turmoil Rob and his staff are now facing is a direct result of converse during the Kickstarter.
MY starting goal here is for the community at large to accomplish the following, based on Rob's assertion that we are only seeing apart of what the public expectations were/are;

Goals
1> Culminate reviews from other sources so all may peruse and decide for themselves if the deliverables (goals) have been met.

• Rob has suggested that other sources expectations and short comings on RW criticized RW lack of usability as its biggest drawback. (Jury still out on this one) While I did find some evidence to support his contentions, there is just as much evidence that the forum itself is an accurate weather vane of the success / failure / desire venn diagram.

2> Play the role of "devil's advocate" both ways. I have always been of the opinion that a good debate produces better ideas.

3> Hopefully, Rob, Liz, Colin and the rest of his team will find the feedback helpful.

Originally Posted by Mirtos

I think comparing it to a DB, while valid, isnt a valid argument for discussing the kickstarter. Also, not everyone is going to have a technical background and realize that its more akin to a database.

True, most truly don't understand the differences.

Originally Posted by Mirtos

By comparing it to a word processor during the kickstarter, expectations were set. I think that it was stated during the time, that most of the non cloud features were set and the kickstarter was for the cloud work.

Also True, I think many misinterpreted "many features" = all, when the features for word processing was discussed.
I also agree that the cloud was the "implied" benchmark goal of the kickstarter.

Originally Posted by Mirtos

I just went through the comments in the kickstarter. Printing is specifically mentioned there in response to a question from a user, back during the kickstarter time. So expectations were definitely set.

I recall that as well, BUT was there a rebuttal? As in, the feature exists, or would be implemented later?
This was the case for the calendar system as well.

Originally Posted by LWD Response during Kickstarter

Creator Lone Wolf Development on August 12, 2013

@BTO: Realm Works has support for highly complex calendars. So you can define custom calendars for your game world. You can implement the Tolkein calendar, the Traveler calendar, and just about any other calendar you can think of.

You can also define multiple calendars and map them to each other. For example, consider a game with lycanthropy where the phase of the moon is important. You can define a lunar calendar and the game world calendar, mapping the two together. Then you can quickly tell the phase of the moon for a particular game world date. This capability is valuable in game with multiple cultures, such as religious calendars, as well as SciFi games like Traveler, where there is the Imperial calendar and different calendars for various worlds.

Once calendars are defined, you can then assign dates to content. You can assign individual dates, such as birthdates or the Great Earthquake. You can also assign date ranges, such as festival periods, wars, etc. You can then view a timeline of events that shows when these various things occurred.

The custom calendar feature is NOT available in the EA release, and it might not even make it into the V1.0 release. The reason for the latter is that the UI for calendar editing is really crude right now, and I'm reluctant to release something that's clunky and difficult to use. So this decision still looms prior to V1.0.
.

Originally Posted by Mirtos

So while you're right that the kickstarter goals were for the cloud work, a lot of information was mentioned during the kickstarter, and definitely implied.

True, but in any contractual agreements, written trumps verbal.

Originally Posted by Mirtos

Dont get me wrong, I like the software, but i also understand where other people are coming from. .

OH I AGREE, have worked with ALOT worse... and hopefully Rob and company understand this is constructive critique, not a malice witch hunt.

Originally Posted by Mirtos

The kickstarter, in my opinion, did a bad job at managing expectations. If the print wasn't ready, Rob should have more carefully parsed his words in the comment. "Printing, while not yet ready, will be this....". .

Agreed, or a revisit on the defined goals at the end of the kickstarter (And periodically even now) would be helpful for clarity.
It Does ABC
It Will Do DEF
We Hope to incorporate in the future GHI
We wish it could do XYZ, but can't for 123 reasons.

[Dervish]

The lack of printing/export options is trhe only complauint i really have. I do not feel like we should have to beg for something that has been an industry standard since before most of us were born.


That being said there a numerous things i do like i like the integration with herolab. I like that i can use it to design a game, the game world , and modules. I found it ridiculously easy to learn how to use my problem was decisding what information to enter first and thenm to modify the catagories so they present the information the way i want them to.

[Dark Lord Galen]

Originally Posted by Dervish

The lack of printing/export options is trhe only complauint i really have. I do not feel like we should have to beg for something that has been an industry standard since before most of us were born.

True, it has been in existence awhile, BUT LWD aren't saying no to its inclusion either.
My own "fail mark" is less to do with printing (have workarounds for that) it the inclusion of a calendar customization that didn't make fruition.... but again... LW isn't saying no, they are just saying not yet.

Originally Posted by Dervish

That being said there a numerous things i do like i like the integration with herolab. I like that i can use it to design a game, the game world , and modules. I found it ridiculously easy to learn how to use my problem was decisding what information to enter first and thenm to modify the catagories so they present the information the way i want them to.

I agree, while personally I found it very intuitive to use, some that are not use to a database structure, may be overwhelmed at first glance as to "where to start".

Like you, my problem (and still exists) is I get to working on something and there are so many options, I get off task and before I know it I've worked on a completely different part than I set out to do.... but if that is my only problem .... hehe its a happy one.

BTW thanks for the user feedback critique... often critique (like the word attitude) is often construed as negative, when in reality it doesn't have to be. This is what I hoped to grow here as well, for those that have yet to make the "leap" to see a true pros/ cons approach.

[liz]

Regarding printing, we actually addressed that early on in the Kickstarter. Here's a comment we made:

Originally Posted by Realm Works Kickstarter 01/25/13

Printing support will be provided, but that's not the primary focus of Realm Works, so it won't be highly sophisticated in the initial release. For example, there won't be lots of formatting options to make the output especially pretty. The emphasis will be on functionality instead.

Basic printing was the goal for initial release at that point. We were faced with the reality that things took longer than we anticipated. We had two options.
1) Wait to release Realm Works until every promised feature was in place (which would mean no one would have it right now).
2) Release the solid, core functionality that we had, and release other features later when we had time to devote the necessary resources to ensure that they met our standards. Calendars are a good example of a feature that was built, but did not meet our release criteria. Did they work? Yes. But they were not user friendly and needed other improvements, so we decided to hold them back and work on them more.

Right now our focus is solely on Player Edition. After that's released, we'll be evaluating possible features to tackle next, and both printing and calendars are strong contenders.

I hope that clarifies a few things on the printing front.

Regarding the feedback on communication during the Kickstarter, your comments have definitely been heard.

On the note of communication, if anyone ever has constructive feedback on communication in general from Lone Wolf (newsletter, social media, etc.), feel free to PM me. Even if I don't respond to every point/suggestion specifically, I definitely welcome the input.

[Dark Lord Galen]

Originally Posted by liz

Regarding printing, we actually addressed that early on in the Kickstarter. Here's a comment we made:

Basic printing was the goal for initial release at that point. We were faced with the reality that things took longer than we anticipated. We had two options.
1) Wait to release Realm Works until every promised feature was in place (which would mean no one would have it right now).
2) Release the solid, core functionality that we had, and release other features later when we had time to devote the necessary resources to ensure that they met our standards. Calendars are a good example of a feature that was built, but did not meet our release criteria. Did they work? Yes. But they were not user friendly and needed other improvements, so we decided to hold them back and work on them more.

While I have been a vocal "irritant" :-) on here concerning the lack of a calendar system, I think I can speak for all in saying we are glad LWD chose #2. :-)

Originally Posted by liz

Regarding the feedback on communication during the Kickstarter, your comments have definitely been heard.

On the note of communication, if anyone ever has constructive feedback on communication in general from Lone Wolf (newsletter, social media, etc.), feel free to PM me. Even if I don't respond to every point/suggestion specifically, I definitely welcome the input.

Your response and attention is greatly appreciated.
Comments, rebuttals.and updates from people like yourself , Colin, Rob means a lot. When the community can get responses from where "the road meets the rubber" , rather than the silenced auto-response that is the "norm" of most other companies, we the community should be thankful for the difference.

[Dark Lord Galen]

Here are some other reviews I discovered searching for something else....

Originally Posted by Points of Light Posted by : David Guyll April 06, 2014

Cons>The only drawbacks are that the loading times are occasionally slow, it definitely has a higher learning curve (which I strongly feel pays off in the long run), and will likely seem intimidating until you get comfortable with it.
Pros>I played with it for a few hours, and though I feel like there are features that I have not seen or fully explored, I already think it does enough better to make it worthwhile.

http://daegames.blogspot.com/2014/04...ks-review.html
and

Joey Turco is doing a series of short videos that looks at various aspects of Realm Works on GameratiTV
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...IflRFgH6vaiova

Enjoy
DLG

[Kilgs]

I stopped using Realm Works a few months ago. Just stopped by to see if Print/Export is a reality. It's not. That's a shame because there's no point in inputting all that data and all that time if I can't use it efficiently. Without a Print/Export, I can't do that in the manner for which I envision it.

I'll check back in a few months... see if Realm Works has mastered the functionality of Bank Street Writer.

[Dark Lord Galen]

Another detailed review courtesy of The Pathfinder Chronicles & Liz
Cute picture of Liz for any that like to put faces to names Ohhhh to be young again....

https://plus.google.com/+LizTheis/po...10875301563202
http://www.thepathfinderchronicles.c...lone-wolf.html

The Positives are generally consistent with other reviews.

• consolidates data into one place for great game management
• beautiful linking system

Neutrals

• I like to pride myself in being able to work most stuff out without having to read the manual. I could not really with this software and so I went through the video tutorials that are supplied via YouTube to learn the ropes so to speak. These videos are logically ordered and well run and helped me understand the interface quickly.
• Re-occurring fees for cloud.

The Negatives

• sharing of material largely restricted to the table lets it down a little
• custom calendars (time keeping is a major topic at the moment),
• Not available right now but definitely coming in 2014 is the Content Market (DLG>debatable if this timing is met, <DLG)

The Pathfinder Chronicles Conclusion

"The product is addictive, streamlined and advanced. Well done ... Lone Wolf Development on introducing the next generation of Campaign management software to us in such a spectacular package."

[EightBitz]

Originally Posted by Dark Lord Galen

While I have been a vocal "irritant" :-) on here concerning the lack of a calendar system, I think I can speak for all in saying we are glad LWD chose #2. :-)

Having been a vocal ... irritant as well (some might use a stronger word), I am also glad LWD chose #2. As much as I want printing, I'm content to wait.