Online Character Creation Tool

[apocalypse910]

A few months back my husband (Delkarnu) built a html character template and asked me about building a database driven tool to work with it.

It has taken a lot longer than expected but the program is up and running. I hope you guys find it useful. I will warn you that this is very much a beta.

http://www.404htm.com/sw
Once you make an account you can create characters- they will be saved on the server and accessible from any computer with a reasonably modern browser.

Here are some sample character sheets-
http://www.404htm.com/sw/Show_Character.aspx?id=67
http://www.404htm.com/sw/show_Character.aspx?id=44

I'm sorry for the lack of an edit option- I'll implement that as soon as possible.

I will be fixing bugs and adding features as I can. You should also see a lot more species options show up over the next few days. I will warn you that i am changing the way I handle custom images. Currently custom images are hotlinked. I'll be adding an image upload option shortly- so you will probably have to re-add your custom portraits after the fix.

I also wanted to thank everyone for their input in the house rules thread. I based the auto completer off the 'standard' rules, but you can enter skills manually so all the variations mentioned should work well.

Enjoy!

[Delkarnu]

and one more http://404htm.com/sw/Show_Character.aspx?id=66

[apocalypse910]

Here is my informal To do list -

-Fix Confirm messages for character deletion
-Make IE die a horrible fiery death (Fix display bugs- become more bitter)
-Replace custom portrait hotlink field with upload dialog
-Build thumbnail cache
-Add instructions
-Add please don't sue me page
-add a much wider range of species to the database (and normalize default portrait size)
-Provide multiple possible default images
-Add NPCs and Character Templates
-Replace species drop down with auto complete / Make list searchable/ filterable by stat
-Streamline Javascript

-Add GM summary page for characters containing GM notes, story factors, and character summary
-Misc. Ajax efficiency tweaks
-Tweak character sheet layout for more flexibility (picture aspect ratios, more skills, longer text)
-Allow character sheet customization (layout, color, etc...)
-Build admin panel

-Add Jedi capability
-Allow Character editing
-Build Group / Party / GM tools
-Allow character points to be assigned and spent
-Add items and inventory tracking capability

and in the far future--
integrated capability for online play-by-chat

[apocalypse910]

Well I was just about to upload the site last night- and I thought of a slight tweak that would improve the login procedure because I'm completely incapable of leaving well enough alone.

Needless to say I rolled a one on the wild then botched my perception check.

Anyways I reversed the change on my lunch break- My apologies to anyone who tried to create an account this morning. It should be working now.

If anyone encounters any further server errors let me know.

[apocalypse910]

Hmm, small issue with display if no skills are selected- I'm working on fixing that now.

...not that i'm checking the database every 30 seconds to see if anyone has created a character or not.

Edit:

For some reason my fixes are working fine on my test server and crashing when uploaded- If you get a server error while checking a character with no skills that's why.

PS: Is anyone having trouble adding skills? I'm a little paranoid after the incident with the login.

[Delkarnu]

Ok, skills not saving properly in IE, working on a fix. Should work fine in Google Chrome or Firefox

[apocalypse910]

I've fixed the skill issue, some assorted graphical glitches, and the character screen caching issue in IE. I need to stop coding/testing when i'm half asleep. Sorry about botching the release so badly.

I've only been able to test in IE 7/8, FF, and Chrome so far so input on other browsers is appreciated. Now that i *think* the IE glitches have been fixed i'll start adding a bunch more species tonight. That should make this a bit more useful.

Anyways please let me know what you think, and if you encounter any major bugs give me a heads up so I can come up with a fix. Thanks.

[FightingCorsair]

This is great. Thanks for setting this up.

Looking forward the the "edit character" feature.

BTW it seems to work/look fine in Safari.

[cheshire]

Pretty neat so far. I'll take more of a look later when I'm not at work.
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Before we take any of this too seriously, just remember that in the middle episode a little rubber puppet moves a spaceship with his mind.

[ziltmilt]

This is really cool, especially for online campaigns. What's the limit on lengths for things like character backgrounds, personality, connections, etc?

I'm assuming that when this application is finished, if I create a few PCs for a game, I can simply hand the players hyperlinks to their character sheets?

[apocalypse910]

Thanks- I'm glad you guys like it. I'll try to post some more updates very shortly.

Currently the field lengths on the descriptions are 500 characters each. I will warn you that if the combined descriptions are too long it may break the template a bit.

If you think it would be useful I can add an extended description field that allows a longer description to be shown on a second page.

[DarthMortis]

I just made a character on there and I have to say it's pretty cool. The only thing I would really recommend changing is this : That the scroll bar for the skills lets you see all the skills, I don't have any of the D6 books here so I can't look them up. And that racial traits be automatically applied to character creation (if possible) such as with my character a Farghul bounty hunter, I had to manually add in the +2d to con and +2d to acrobatics (Good thing I noticed before I save him)

And to add something for equipment (Unless there was and I missed it)
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"I believe the Jedi are weak so they give up their emotions. I believe the Sith are weak so they give up to their emotions. I lay somewhere in the middle, not afraid to keep my emotions, but afraid to lose myself in them." - Daroth Mortanis

[apocalypse910]

Thanks for the feedback!

You should be able to view all available skills for a given slot by double clicking the skill field while it is still blank. It will still be filtered based on its location but you won't have to search one letter at a time. I'll try to add a separate reference page down the line.

Currently I just have the special abilities in text form.. It shows up under the portrait but i know that isn't ideal. I'll definitely put that on the list of things to add, I've made sure that the program can accommodate it- It will just take a little while to code.

Just a note:
I'm trying to fix the custom images tonight. Currently you can add a link to an image hosted online but you can't use an image on your local drive. I'm switching this to an image upload that automatically normalizes the size of the image. It should be a bit more reliable and easier to use. I noticed that a lot of people were linking local images- so i just wanted to let you know that this will be fixed shortly. Once it is switched over I can manually add images for anyone who already created their character.

More species and the ability to edit should be up this week. Sorry for the delays on getting this done- It has been a bit of a chaotic week.

[apocalypse910]

Bah- sorry DarthMortis, I see what you mean now.

Even with the double click it was cutting off at about ten items. I've fixed it now- Thank you for noticing that, I completely missed it.

[DarthMortis]