Another bit is drawing stuff like plateaus, or (more generally) free-form lines that split a given hex’s terrain. Like half-grassland, half-hills. I think this is supported in Hexographer, but I haven’t mastered the controls.

The last bit is saving the map key, but I know you’re working on that

Thanks, Joe. I’m eagerly looking forward to Dungeonographer

Erin: what’s the other 10% you’d like to do? I’ve got a backlog (due to working on Dungeonographer–but don’t worry, many new features from that will also be in the next Hexographer version) of feature requests, but some of your suggestions might be easy, or better ideas than some others, or be extra votes for some of the other ideas.

The lifetime license was a bargain because Hexographer’s feature set is so complete. The software does about 90% of what I want it to do, the maps look great, and the tools saves me time. The conversation above has only improved the offering; I daresay many of the big players aren’t as responsive as Joe, nor as interested in my feedback.

Don’t forget to post links to your maps – always eager to see someone else Hex It Up.

Lifetime license purchased, because I am of my word, and I got madder thinking about it.

As a programmer I’m gobsmacked by this thread. Joe’s terms are perfectly reasonable and have always been transparent. I don’t know what people are on about.

Joe, you’ve produced great software. I’ve been using the free version because I can be a tightwad about software, I currently doing a Master’s so there is no spare cash, (Mature Studnet, kids etc.), and I haven’t been role-playing much, so I’ve just been playing with it, not really using it.

BUT you can be sure that as soon I have a spare buck I WILL get a lifetime license, and one for my Kid too, (RP junkie), because Joe, you’re doing good work and *I* know that any software, ANY software, is non-trivial.

I doubt Joe is making a living from this, I haven’t been and read through the Hexographer forums, ok, so I’m not as informed as I should be, but it can be really hard for lone developers.

Software is not and never shall be free; it costs us time, our health, sometimes our sanity, and our money, because running computers and software isn’t free. The economy of software production is, like most economy, highly warped by the big players. It is clear that it is, here at least, little understood.

Well done, Joe, keep on truckin’

Rant over.

Hexographer 1.4 is out, with release info described here.

Free Version, I agree thats limited and after investing a lot of time in maps, I’d not want to risk loosing them either. So to me it comes somewhat down to trust. Do you trust the vendor (Joe) or not. If not, then look elsewhere.

I spent a lot of hours with RPTools’ MapTool some years ago. Built campaign files: maps, tokens, character files etc. It is not open source, but it is free. Anyhow after all that investment of my time they put out a new release with some fixes and feature but none of my existing campaign files worked with it. I was angry, complained on their boards, and others did too. At the end of the day, they owed me nothing. It is a free tool after all. They built the tool for themselves, they shared the tool for free with the world. Its a good tool, but do I trust them with that large of investment of my time. No.

So as with any free product you have to decide if you trust the vendor (Joe) or not. Given that free is teaser for pay, I’m inclined to trust the vendor (Joe) will make good on what he says. Especially since he agreed that the lifetime licence needed to adjusted.

Anyhow, that’s just my 2 cents.

But I did want to point something out regarding the lifetime price, I do think this is a better deal than most other commercial software. I think it is better because you’ll get version 2.0 for free. And 3.0, 4.0, etc. All other commercial software I’ve ever seen requires you to buy it again. In fact their business plan is to put out a new version every 2-3 years so they can make you buy it again. Yes, often you’ll get a discount, but I have yet to see a company do it for free. (Unless you bought the prior version within a couple of months of the new version.)

The problem I have with it is not just the purchase agreement. The price of the lifetime license is about equal in price to the already lifetime use of any other software. The BIG problem, that I see, is that the program is strictly online, running on the Hexographer server. This gives 100% control over to Joe.

When designing maps for roleplaying games, I tend to spend alot of time and creative energy on them. I want them to be in my laptop to bring up whenever I want, wherever I am, and use them years later, if I so desire. Joe has promised that he won’t fall off the face of the earth. As sincere as he may be, I don’t want my all hard work to be totally dependant on him and whatever happens in his life.

Re indefinite 1 year license: I’m very glad to hear this and will keep an eye out for when it happens. This is what was keeping me from just flat out buying it. I don’t have anything at all against a licensing model like you had it for certain software. But for this specific product, unless I can just buy it and own it to do with as I please, I don’t really want to spend the money.