Advanced Authoring Concepts

Context: HL Kit

This section delves into many of the more advanced concepts involved in creating data files. These concepts cover both structural and visual facets of the data files, as well as suggestions for an effective design philosophy. Simply click on one of the many topics below to learn more about it.

IMPORTANT! This section of the documentation is not yet complete. Topics that have been written will be found at the top of the list and possess live links. Other topics are simply identified, sometimes along with a few notes about what the topic will contain. These topics will be added over time to complete the documentation.

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• Design Philosophy
  • Development strategy
  • Designing Data Files
  • Iterative Evolution

• The "Live" State
  • Using "Live" Tag Expressions
  • Structural Elements
  • Visual Elements

• Actor Rules

• Required Elements

• Just-in-time Information
  • MouseInfo Scripts
  • Description Scripts

• Bootstraps

• Game System Logo

• Pre-Selected Picks for Actors
  • Bootstrap
  • Enmasse
  • Auto-add

• Uniqueness of Things

• Pick Linkages

• Validation
  • Panel Linkages
  • Detecting validity of structural elements
  • Reporting validation errors to user
  • Highlighting validation errors to user (i.e. color-coding)
  • Errors Versus Warnings
  • Prompting to select missing information

• Managing Gear
  • Holders
  • Stackable vs. Non-Stackable
  • Splitting and Merging

• Advancement

• Pre-requisites
  • Specific Thing
  • Expression
  • General

• Advanced Components and Component Sets
  • Re-using Components in Multiple Component Sets
  • Designing Components for Re-Use

• Advanced Fields

• Character Sheet Output
  • Standard Sheets
  • Spillover Sheets

• Managing Dossiers

• Statblock Output

• Editor Integration
  • Edit Things
  • Input Things
  • Designing for Editor Integration

• Debugging Techniques

• Interactive Behavior
  • Where to tables, choosers, menus, etc.

• Distributing Data Files
  • Designing data files for user-extensibility
  • Game System FAQ
  • Stock Portfolios

• Dual-purpose Headers on Tables

• Actor Tags

• Actor Configuration
  • Sources
  • Rule Sets and Contexts

• Advanced Gizmos
  • Editable Gizmos
  • Shadowing
  • Displacement

• Transactions
  • Buy vs. Sell
  • Quantity vs. Cash

• Dashboard

• Tactical Console
  • Initiative