Yeah, he might be backpacking across Europe for all we know. Which is why I was wondering if anyone else is helping with DST approval. I'm hoping there's more than 1 person in OP, volunteer or otherwise, who's part of the DST project.
We have another 30+ person campaign starting the first week of October and really need to get a Mutants and Masterminds sheet approved before character creation.
A valid question was raised, though. Who is actually working on this website? It's extremely difficult to get any responses from OP's staff. I'm starting to wonder what exactly is happening over there...
A valid question was raised, though. Who is actually working on this website? It's extremely difficult to get any responses from OP's staff. I'm starting to wonder what exactly is happening over there...
I submitted a slightly tweaked version of my (rather boring) Ubiquity sheet many months ago, so if there's a chance that version could approved, I'd really appreciate it.
The last reply I've seen from Chainsaw on here is from Sept 2016 ... he has no more recent posts.
So really, don't hold your breath on getting DST's approved... looks like noone, not even the devs are bothered about OP ... seems like they're just letting it die off which is a shame for such a useful site
I think they just need to make a better monetisation plan for it.
The Free version is pretty good. No changes needed there.
What they need to do is add more features to the ascendant version.
Player secrets is one good one. That's the main one that will get me paying for ascendant once my DST is approved.
Other ideas could be...
Turn maps into multi-layer maps allowing fog of war, GM notes/icons and ability to reveal individual layers/icons/notes to specific players or all players. Perhaps some kind of integration with Campaign Cartographer?
Ability to upload characters from software like HeroLab (and other sites that do similar stuff to OP)
Integration with Doodle and other scheduling systems
Webhooks integrations so that notifications can be sent to systems like Slack
SMS notifications
I suspect they could also do with assigning some form of marketing budget and getting a digital agency that specialises in online marketing to help with it ... with the right marketing they could really corner the market on this.
I work for an agency called Distinction in the UK as a senior developer and their marketing team is incredible. They've worked for clients like Speedo, Recorded Books, WF Howes, Capita and Pan Macmillan to name a few and they've had some amazing results in terms of return on investment.
As an update to this issue, I've taken on reviewing DSTs as part of my community/content manager role. So, if you have a sheet that's ready to start down the road to approval, please send me a private message and we'll get the ball rolling (private message via the website please, so that I get the Email notification).
As far as how it will work: for the moment, the plan (which I'll adjust as I go if/as needed) will be to use a dummy campaign that I've created to do basic testing and such on. Once I've experimented and seen how it's looking/working, I'll be after the author in question to get on a voice chat of some variety (Skype, Discord, etc.) to go over any concerns or notes that I have. They'll join the campaign temporarily so that we can both be looking at things and discussing it in real time. From there, we can resolve any minor issues, and if there are major issues I'll ask that person to go back to the proverbial drawing board a bit and then get in touch with me again. Once all is good, I'll approve the DST.
While I understand that some folks may not be fired up about the idea of getting on a voice chat with a stranger, I need to try and keep this process moving as swiftly as I can (so that I can [A] get through whatever backlog there is, and [B] so that I can keep rolling strong on my other content material). This means that if you aren't willing/able to do a voice chat, things will go much slower for your sheet, and there's the chance you'll end up on the back burner. I don't like the idea of putting anyone on the back burner (and I'll try not to), but I've got a lot of content stuff that needs to get done, a lot of sheets to get through, and only so many hours to get it done.
It's more of a "no one has heard from him" kind of situation than a "he's not involved anymore" thing. Meanwhile, the process for DST approval has been stuck in limbo, so I'm jumping in to cover his gun. If it turns out that he is indeed gone, then I guess it's my gun at that point.
I've been absent on the forums (email notifications are essential - I actually only saw this because the latest tech update was posted on Facebook and reminded me to look), but I've actually been reviewing and approving sheets all along when people message me - as recently as last month, if memory serves. Basically the same process Kallak described above, but using OP's messaging system instead of voice chat.
So far as I know, I'm still in a position to do so, but it's always good to have two people on the job in case one or another of us is off doing life.
The email alerts when people submit stuff and some other components of the submit flow have been broken for a couple of years now, so people who didn't message me haven't had approvals, but as far as I know there shouldn't be a backlog waiting for review.
I actually did quite a bit of work establishing clearer standards and creating better documentation a while back (though I guess that was almost a year ago at this point - feels more recent), which you may want to reference, @Kallak.
@ChainsawXIV, this is great news! It definitely highlights the need to get the submit flow sorted out though. I had no idea you were still rocking it. Your documentation is awesome, bravo!
Hit me up with your chat contact info when you have a sec @Kallak, and I'll break down the state of things so you can update the backlog for the team. The short story though is that a couple of teams ago they started working on improvements to the system, and then left off with the project half done and a bunch of new bugs.
I have a few DSTs that are ready for approval. However, the submit button is not showing. I was able to submit 1 of 3 but can't for the other two. What do you need to do to get the submit button to show?
Comments
Send a message to Inner Council member ChainsawXIV
- Kallak
Is anyone else helping ChainsawXIV with this? I message him a week ago and haven't heard back.
Remember,Chainsaw is a volunteer so it may take a while
Just trying to help out.
Yeah, he might be backpacking across Europe for all we know. Which is why I was wondering if anyone else is helping with DST approval. I'm hoping there's more than 1 person in OP, volunteer or otherwise, who's part of the DST project.
We have another 30+ person campaign starting the first week of October and really need to get a Mutants and Masterminds sheet approved before character creation.
Sorry about the delay - meant to get to this a week ago, but life has been... life, heh.
I'll have a look at them presently.
A valid question was raised, though. Who is actually working on this website? It's extremely difficult to get any responses from OP's staff. I'm starting to wonder what exactly is happening over there...
A valid question was raised, though. Who is actually working on this website? It's extremely difficult to get any responses from OP's staff. I'm starting to wonder what exactly is happening over there...
And it begins again.
~Weasel0
A Parade of Black | ShadowRunHack |
Where I play with CSS code
Did it stop?
Just trying to help out.
I submitted a slightly tweaked version of my (rather boring) Ubiquity sheet many months ago, so if there's a chance that version could approved, I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks,
Patrick
The last reply I've seen from Chainsaw on here is from Sept 2016 ... he has no more recent posts.
So really, don't hold your breath on getting DST's approved... looks like noone, not even the devs are bothered about OP ... seems like they're just letting it die off which is a shame for such a useful site
It's one of those cyclical issues.
1-Not enough of a money maker so it gets bumped further back line.
2-Issues don't get resolved in a timely manner people leave and /or stop paying for Ascendant.
3-See step 1
~Weasel0
A Parade of Black | ShadowRunHack |
Where I play with CSS code
I think they just need to make a better monetisation plan for it.
The Free version is pretty good. No changes needed there.
What they need to do is add more features to the ascendant version.
Player secrets is one good one. That's the main one that will get me paying for ascendant once my DST is approved.
Other ideas could be...
I suspect they could also do with assigning some form of marketing budget and getting a digital agency that specialises in online marketing to help with it ... with the right marketing they could really corner the market on this.
I work for an agency called Distinction in the UK as a senior developer and their marketing team is incredible. They've worked for clients like Speedo, Recorded Books, WF Howes, Capita and Pan Macmillan to name a few and they've had some amazing results in terms of return on investment.
As Chainsaw has stated elsewhere, send him a PM, not here through the forums, but directly on his profile.
Just trying to help out.
As an update to this issue, I've taken on reviewing DSTs as part of my community/content manager role. So, if you have a sheet that's ready to start down the road to approval, please send me a private message and we'll get the ball rolling (private message via the website please, so that I get the Email notification).
As far as how it will work: for the moment, the plan (which I'll adjust as I go if/as needed) will be to use a dummy campaign that I've created to do basic testing and such on. Once I've experimented and seen how it's looking/working, I'll be after the author in question to get on a voice chat of some variety (Skype, Discord, etc.) to go over any concerns or notes that I have. They'll join the campaign temporarily so that we can both be looking at things and discussing it in real time. From there, we can resolve any minor issues, and if there are major issues I'll ask that person to go back to the proverbial drawing board a bit and then get in touch with me again. Once all is good, I'll approve the DST.
While I understand that some folks may not be fired up about the idea of getting on a voice chat with a stranger, I need to try and keep this process moving as swiftly as I can (so that I can [A] get through whatever backlog there is, and [B] so that I can keep rolling strong on my other content material). This means that if you aren't willing/able to do a voice chat, things will go much slower for your sheet, and there's the chance you'll end up on the back burner. I don't like the idea of putting anyone on the back burner (and I'll try not to), but I've got a lot of content stuff that needs to get done, a lot of sheets to get through, and only so many hours to get it done.
- Kallak
I think it's a great step in the right direction, Kallak.
Johnprime
Where the west is really wild!
The Valley of Life
Does that mean Chainsaw has no more involvement?
Just trying to help out.
It's more of a "no one has heard from him" kind of situation than a "he's not involved anymore" thing. Meanwhile, the process for DST approval has been stuck in limbo, so I'm jumping in to cover his gun. If it turns out that he is indeed gone, then I guess it's my gun at that point.
- Kallak
I've been absent on the forums (email notifications are essential - I actually only saw this because the latest tech update was posted on Facebook and reminded me to look), but I've actually been reviewing and approving sheets all along when people message me - as recently as last month, if memory serves. Basically the same process Kallak described above, but using OP's messaging system instead of voice chat.
So far as I know, I'm still in a position to do so, but it's always good to have two people on the job in case one or another of us is off doing life.
The email alerts when people submit stuff and some other components of the submit flow have been broken for a couple of years now, so people who didn't message me haven't had approvals, but as far as I know there shouldn't be a backlog waiting for review.
I actually did quite a bit of work establishing clearer standards and creating better documentation a while back (though I guess that was almost a year ago at this point - feels more recent), which you may want to reference, @Kallak.
@ChainsawXIV, this is great news! It definitely highlights the need to get the submit flow sorted out though. I had no idea you were still rocking it. Your documentation is awesome, bravo!
- Kallak
Hit me up with your chat contact info when you have a sec @Kallak, and I'll break down the state of things so you can update the backlog for the team. The short story though is that a couple of teams ago they started working on improvements to the system, and then left off with the project half done and a bunch of new bugs.
Great to know you are still involved @ChainsawXIV!
Just trying to help out.
wohooo chainsaw!
-Jaymes
Campaign of the Month Febuary 2013
I have a few DSTs that are ready for approval. However, the submit button is not showing. I was able to submit 1 of 3 but can't for the other two. What do you need to do to get the submit button to show?
Figured it out. You have to click on the DST link, not the edit button.
or remove "/edit" from the url
https://www.obsidianportal.com/dynamic_sheet_templates/369/edit
Okay awesome, you got it. Can't wait to see these DSTs!
- Kallak