BUGS/CHANGES
These are things I will definitely look into and resolve:
1) Why does Cane of Corpus report 0 for poison effect - it should report
10 (one of the highest values in the game)
2) Quantity vs. Uses - I want to do some more work here and make it
the "Exact" quantity - not approximate. And make it toggle between "Quantity"
and "Uses" for the as appropriate for each item.
3) Problem with Sort, then filter - reverts back to alpha sort - but
text remains from previous sort
4) All Firearms report an attack mode of "thrust"
All in all - not bad for the "first" beta and the amount of time I spent coding this (and alpha testing :)
ADDITIONS
1) The "MASK" option.
2) Printer options: I've decided to try for 4 print options:
a. Similar to a print screen - basically all info on the currently
displayed item
b. Items/General Report - to also include: Item Usage (Drink,
Read, Scribe, Invoke, …)
c. Weapons Report - to also include: Special Attacks, Damage
Calculation, .. mos of the "Weapon Specifics" window
d. Armor Report - to include: AC
All reports would also include:
- Item Name, type, group - Race, profession, gender - like it
is in the clue book - i.e. RACE - HEDGH_LDFRM would denote all races but
Faerie
- Cursed, Regen, Invoke, Spell, Resists, Value, Weight
3) One more Filter Option: by Item Name - that would allow you to filter
down to only those items that contain the word/letters you enter. So you
could enter "COMB" to find "BONES COMBS & BRUSHES", if that was all
you could remember.
4) Allow sorting on any field (via a pick list).
OTHER STUFF IN GENERAL
I won't try to add a "required" or "useless" tag to let you know the item is "required" or "useless" - it was a great idea, but I'm too lazy and can't see an easy way to figure that info out :)
The general consensus seemed to be the screen is a bit "busy" - but
not enough people were in favor of any kind of change (different views,
turning off some things or graying them out) to make it worthwhile. There
was mention of not allowing changes to any of the values displayed - a
good idea, but one I don't want to make at this time - for two reasons.
1) If it ever becomes an editor, I'd have to change it back.
2) It allows you to easily see what other options are available (i.e.
Click on "Bonus Damage Against" and you can see all the values that could
possibly go there - of course sorting on that value gives you even more
info, since only 5 items in the whole game make use of that)
And last but by no means least - the Editor issue: No - for now.
Mike made some good points against it, and I do feel a sense of responsibility in what I produce. Those points (and my conscience) don't matter though, to those who just want to "blast away" :) After enough (of those) people see this, and it get's into some search engines, maybe there will be more interest and I might have to re-evaluate my position.
Also, a lot more work would be involved in making this and editor - at least as much as I put into WizEdit. And then, there is the issue of additioinal support required - ugggh! - not something I want to tackle right now.
--- And again, let me say Thank You! For taking the time to take this thing on a test drive. As I learned (many times over) I don't always have the best solution/answer :) And it sure applied here as well. It's amazing how much you think you can know about a subject, then have some one come along with a fresh perspective. A different set of eyes (and the brain behind them) is often a great tool - if for nothing else, than to reinforce what you think is right or wrong, good or bad.
When you say "I think this is crap" and someone else says "You're right!" - it just feels good :)
Of course, to say "Hey, I think I have something here!" and to have a group such as yourself say "Hey, this is cool, awesome, great, ..." - well that's even better!
Thanks, one and all,
Rick Rice
Owner, Software Specialties