FoG:AM v2 - improvement suggestions for electronic format

[batesmotel]

We are changing some major parts of the app and should have something out by June. If it works it might be possible to roll out the other army books. We're trying to change the base format to make it easier to port from PDF and update.

Any word on Android support for the app? That would really help the digital format ,take off, at least in the US.

Chris

[Zephyr40k]

Any word on making your books available in Kindle format?

[IainMcNeil]

We don't have any plans for Kindle I'm afraid. Android is a possibility but depends on the reader being ported and I haven't heard any news on that. We have a big update coming soon for iOS.

[madaxeman]

We don't have any plans for Kindle I'm afraid. Android is a possibility but depends on the reader being ported and I haven't heard any news on that. We have a big update coming soon for iOS.

I've just got the Kindle app on my ipad, it's actually really good and has a lot of features I could imagine being useful in a set of rules.

[pyruse]

Like ability to adjust text size (or just support for zooming).

[madaxeman]

I was thinking more of the ability to bookmark and highlight passages of text, and especially to see which sections a lot of other readers have also highlighted. It would be really useful for people learning the rules to have the "complex" sections in any rulest automatically flagged up in a sort of crowd sourced way.

[pyruse]

An index would be good, too. You'd think it would be easy with a book in electronic format. I realise the Abannan app renders the pages as images, but you could store index entries as page number and pixel offsets so they could be highlighted.

[kevinj]

I'm still hopeful for section numbering on the Contents page, e.g. so that someone could give me a reference to Page 9-4 and I don't have to count the sections to find which one I need to look in.

[Jhykronos]

Quick Question:

Are there plans for an electronic version of the rest of the army lists, or has it been decided that the e-FOG concept is a dead end?

[IainMcNeil]

We have a major update to the digital version coming soon. It's not dead just complicated and time consuming!

[zoltan]

We have a major update to the digital version coming soon. It's not dead just complicated and time consuming!

So currently is the e-version identical to the printed book or were some last minute changes snuck into the hard copy before it went to print last year that haven't yet been added to the e-version?

[madaxeman]

Is Abannan in liquidation...?

Looks like it on Duedil

I can see how that might make it more challenging....

[IainMcNeil]

They were but have resurrected. This is one of the reasons why its taken so long...

[madaxeman]

I do the really hope the delay you describe has been due to taking time to extracate yourselves from what I can imagine might be complex contractual issues do do with a formerly-bust company, so you can ditch the Abannan reader and start afresh...

[IainMcNeil]

No, but we have vastly improved the reader and added lots of new features such as bookmarks, notes, search etc.

[zoltan]

No, but we have vastly improved the reader and added lots of new features such as bookmarks, notes, search etc.

We have a major update to the digital version coming soon. It's not dead just complicated and time consuming!

So currently is the e-version identical to the printed book or were some last minute changes snuck into the hard copy before it went to print last year that haven't yet been added to the e-version?

[batesmotel]

No, but we have vastly improved the reader and added lots of new features such as bookmarks, notes, search etc.

Any chance Android support will be one of those improvements?

Chris

[Philotomy]

No, but we have vastly improved the reader and added lots of new features such as bookmarks, notes, search etc.

Any chance Android support will be one of those improvements?

If so, I'd buy it.

[madaxeman]

"Android is a possibility but depends on the reader being ported and I haven't heard any news on that" was the comment in this thread from Slitherine less than 3 months ago, since when the app developer has gone into liquidation and phoenixed back out, and - by the sounds of it - added so much functionality that it may now be on a par with what you get with PDF/Kindle format documents.

Based on all of that I'd not be holding my breath for Android as well !

[jorneto]

It’s nice to hear that improvements are coming.

When converting manual/paper processes to “computers”, there’s a common trap which is to duplicate that process into the machine. The result is a usually poorer (and expensive) solution.
The trick is how to translate the computer/tablet caracteristics into an advantage over a previous manual system.
Search and bookmark are such examples. I would suggest a few more:
Animated diagrams, tutorials, step-by-step game (or for specific situations), FAQ and Q&A.

And for the army lists:
Integrated army generator,
List checker (earning eternal gratitude from competition organizers),
Suggested list (from x parameters)
List analysis and comparison (under x parameters)
(parameters might be: mobility, shock, firepower, terrain, army size)

Also tools for competitions: pairing systems, points, rankings.

Functions like these would add value to a computer/tablet solution that no book could match.

Another point to consider is that it might get a little attention from younger people who unless there is some tech involved won’t even spare a glance to our game.

And while (like many of you) I am a pre-computer gamer (almost wrote pre-gunpowder…) I do think this is the future.