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If you're feeling brave, mosey on over to the HeroMachine 3 Working version and give the new "Load/Save as Text" feature a whirl. After the jump I'll post some screen shots and explanations.
Comments Off on HM3: Text save testing
Posted in HeroMachine 3, News & Updates, Previews
Thanks to everyone who entered Caption Contest 96! I picked out the ones I thought were the funniest to tickle your funnybone on this fine Monday morning, so here goes:
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Posted in Caption Challenges, Challenge Favorites, Challenges
(From "Atomic Bomb" number 1, 1942.)
Comments Off on Bitten by a radioactive envelope, perhaps?
Posted in Daily Random Panel
(From "The Thing" number 1, 1952.)
Comments Off on Also, Kleenex.
Posted in Daily Random Panel
It's time once again for another Open Critique Day!
If you have a HeroMachine illustration or another piece of artwork you've done that you'd like some help with, post a link to it in comments along with your thoughts on it -- what you think is working, what you're struggling with, etc. I will post my critique of the piece, hopefully giving some tips on how to improve it.
Of course everyone is welcome to post their critiques as well, keeping in mind the following rules:
That's it! Hopefully we can get some good interaction going here and help everyone (me included!) learn a little bit today.
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Posted in Open Critique Day
(From "The Thing" number 1, 1952.)
Comments Off on As if math weren’t painful enough already
Posted in Daily Random Panel
For the last week and a half or so I've been trying to figure out one key feature that presents as two different ones. To wit, I've been trying to load saved characters from the server instead of just from the ones you choose to save locally to your hard drive.
The key factor here is that these server-based character templates are in XML. Which is basically text.
Which in essence means this feature also would allow you to import and export characters as text, just like you could in HeroMachine 2.
I've made a lot of progress so far. I can successfully import saved XML files from the server and translate them into actual live characters in the program. I can also export any currently loaded character as an XML text list which you can copy to your clipboard, paste in a text file or email, and send to friends or whatnot.
The last piece of the puzzle programming-wise is to figure out how to let you paste the XML text into the program directly.
The other piece is figuring out where to put all these new choices. Right now I have introduced tabs to the File Load/Save screen, named "Your Characters", "Templates", and "Text". The Text one is what I haven't really coded yet. But basically it'll turn the traditional file list into a big empty text box which if you're in Save mode will be filled with the text representing whatever character you've got loaded up at the moment. And if you're in Load mode, it would be empty, waiting for you to paste some text into it.
Anyway, it's been slow going, with lots of false starts slowing things down, and even more niggling little details that have to be worked out along the way ("Where does this menu go", "What kinds of warnings do they get", "Why can't I convert a string to a &$%@#% date", etc.), but I am getting closer to having it ready for test.
I know it's been a while since the last update, so I just wanted to keep you all informed about what's been going on behind the scenes here.
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Posted in HeroMachine 3, News & Updates
After being chased by a giant prehistoric cave bear and being rescued by a ridiculously strong proto-human during our impromptu wall climbing expedition, we voted overwhelmingly to keep following our new friend Iaark into his cave to further our questy adventure:
You follow Iaark into the tunnel, hoping it will come out in the open. "Where does this lead?" you ask, though you know he can't understand your language.
Great, we're the kind of guy who, when the cab driver doesn't understand us, just says the same thing only louder. Because English is comprehensible to a non-speaker in direct proportion to its volume. I bet we're a lousy tipper, too.
"Orgorjon," he calls back.
You have no idea what that means, but the tone of it was friendly. Maybe he's just exploring the tunnel to see where it goes.
Iaark continues on. You follow close behind, thinking that you may come out on the other side of the mountain. Instead, the tunnel floor gives way. You're falling, and Iaark is falling with you, tumbling through the Cave of Time! Then you are waking, as if from a dream. Once again you're just inside the entrance of a cave. You walk out into the open air. Something -- maybe it's the smell of grass and flowers, or the temperature, or the sound of traffic from a nearby highway -- tells you that you're back in your own time!
"Ak lugga!" says a voice. It's Iaark, walking toward you from the interior of the cave.
"Iaark, you're here -- I can't believe it! You better come with me," you call. "You're going to need a place to stay."
The two of you reach a road and walk along into a nearby town. Iaark gasps at the sight of cars and trucks going by on the highway. Your time is stranger to him than his time was to you! When you reach the town and talk to a police officer standing on a street corner, you find out that you are indeed back in your own time.
The End.
One word:
Sorry, no, two words: Effing lame. Are you serious about this, Edward Packard?! When you choose to go into the past and start exploring, your goal is not to end up right back where you started after the thrill of climbing a wall. And nothing says "fun!" in a novel like introducing an intriguing character, only to completely end the story two pages later without learning a single GD thing about him. Well played, sir.
I am so done with this stupid adventure. My apologies for subjecting you all to this frustrating dive into irrelevancy. We'll try something different next week.
If you had a favorite Choose Your Own Adventure type of book you'd like to see us try next, by all means let me know. Just so long as it's not as idiotic as this one.
Comments Off on A Cavernous Conclusion
Posted in Return to the Cave of Time, RPG Corner
(From "Black Cat" number 1, 1946.)
Comments Off on WAY better than a secret handshake
Posted in Daily Random Panel
Three middle-aged nerds (including yours truly!) review all of the MCU movies in chronological order. Short, funny, and full of good vibes, check it out and let us know what you think!
Nerdmudgeon.com