mikkelpaulson

Joined 5 years ago

Karma

196

Submissions

Member since

Nov 4

Solo developer of initiative.sh: [email protected]

(I'm active here under an alias, I only use this account for activity that I specifically want to attach my name to.)

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Recent submissions

Comment · 3 years ago

Thanks, I appreciate the support.

Comment · 3 years ago

initiative.sh[0], a web-based text interface for creative D&D play. After a promising response on HN[1], I had hoped that I might be able to monetize the project, but traffic has since crashed to almost nothing. I would say that after six months of full-time development it is about halfway to being complete as a freemium product, so instead I've opted to open-source it.[2]

It turns out that the challenge with launching a freemium product is that you need something that's both useful as a free tool while also having a compelling value-add for paid users. That's a lot for one person to build. I don't think I'll be aiming for that monetization strategy with future projects.

I have to confess that I'm (barely) missing the qualifying income bracket - some kind soul is supporting me for $5/mo on buymeacoffee.[3]

[0] https://initiative.sh/

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29106581

[2] https://github.com/initiative-sh/initiative.sh/

[3] https://www.buymeacoffee.com/initiative

Comment · 3 years ago

initiative.sh is a context-driven web-based command line for D&D game masters. I approached development as my day job, devoting about 6 months of full-time work to this project. That's no longer a development cadence I can sustain, although I still plan to be an active maintainer and contributor.

By popular demand, or at least popular inquiry, I've decided to open-source the project at its current state. It's useful in its current state (I used it every week as GM), but some of the really cool features lie on the horizon. I'm now inviting contributors to help me make that a reality.

Previous submission: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29106581

Comment · 4 years ago

My LinkedIn recruiter spam dropped substantially when I added "literally a wizard" to the skills section (and removed everything remotely tech-telated).

https://www.linkedin.com/mwlite/in/mikkelpaulson

Comment · 5 years ago

Update: done!

Comment · 5 years ago

Update: this is now done.

Comment · 5 years ago

Update: done.

Comment · 5 years ago

Update: this is now done.

Comment · 5 years ago

I suggest walking through the `tutorial` for a hands-on example of the various features and how they might be used in a game scenario. It does jump around a little bit, as there are some important features that haven't been implemented yet.

Comment · 5 years ago

I've included all of the spells that are available under the Open Game License. In the future, I'll introduce the ability to upload your own reference material, but I'm being careful to avoid copyright infringement in this project.

Comment · 5 years ago

> I poked it a bit, and really appreciate that command output is automatically spoken under NVDA. I don't imagine that is accidental. :) Thank you.

I'm gratified to hear that. It occurred to me early on in development that this could either be fantastic or an absolute disaster from an accessibility standpoint, so I made a particular point of getting the aria tags correct. However, I'll confess that I haven't actually tested it with a screen reader yet, so perhaps it's better to say that it's not entirely accidental.

You're right that there's plenty of scope creep in what you're suggesting, and it's probably beyond what I'll be able to handle. However, you've given me a strong motivation for open-sourcing the frontend. It's an absolute disaster from a code standpoint, but it's very simple and could be used as a jumping-off point for just about anything that simulates a screen reader experience.

Comment · 5 years ago

I've been hearing that one a lot. It's next on my to-do list.

Comment · 5 years ago

That's coming up (or going away) in the next few days.

I currently have no plans for D&D Beyond integration, or maybe more to the point they have no interest in integrating with me.

Comment · 5 years ago

Nope, ironically that's one feature that I don't have and is filed in the "maybe someday" bucket on my roadmap. Improved Initiative[0] is one of the few tools out there that I use at every session. It does just about everything I need it to do, and its interface doesn't make life harder for me.

[0] https://improved-initiative.com/