This site used to be about my writing and game design career.
Now it is just about my (now retired) writing software.
If you are curious about what I’m up to currently please check out my blog at brentknowles.com
In version 8.4 the ability to add tables to stickit pages will be introduced.
This gives the user the ability to group related tables (such as random character maker tables or plot tables) in one stickit page, greatly easing the organization and maintenance of random systems.
In addition tables can now reference other tables directly through a LOOKUP function.
LOOKUP
Here’s some examples:
lookup(archetype1|archetype2, Protector, archetyperelations, clash|mesh)
This would look for the value ‘Protector’ in either the columns named archetype1 or archetype2. If found it would return the values in the clash and mesh columns.
lookup(roll, *, two, result)
Because of the asterix as a lookup value this will return ALL rows in the table two (specifically the result column).
If more than one column is asked to be returned column labels will be supplied in the output. If only one column is asked for there is no column label.
If instead you want to CONSIDER all values but only return one then add an additional parameter ! at the end as in lookup(archetype1,*, archetyperelations,clash, !)
LINEAR TABLES
If you have a series of steps that you want to randomize then you can turn a table into a lookup table. YourOtherMind will go linearly down the table, spitting out the Result column (or doing a lookup) at each step until it hits a valid nexttable entry, which it uses to jump to another table, or the end).
- To define a linear table enter a -1 in the Roll columns of the First Row.
- The nexttable column for each row needs to be a minus sign followed by the row number (so on the 0th row, the nexttable field would be a -1)
I was asked recently how to export a bunch of notes from a StickIt (say brainstorming notes) into a single file. Here’s how.
1. Add a storyboard to the StickIt Page
2. Add the notes to the storyboard
3. Select the notes you want to export on the storyboard and right-click.
4. Choose the EXPORT SELECTED option
5. This will open a full-screen text window with all the text (the order of the entries is dictated alphabetically so you may have to rename notes to get the desired order)
6. From here you can copy the text or SAVE AS RICH TEXT
Please make sure you are backing up your YourOtherMind data daily.
I ran into an issue with my own build where some files disappeared on me… I’ve cleaned up the code that handles the errors but haven’t tracked down the source of the error. It might have just been a weird ‘windows crash’ issue but I won’t be releasing another update until I know the cause of data loss and have fixed it.
I’ll keep you posted.
For those not in the know Scrivener for the Macintosh is an incredibly versatile writing organizer, hugely popular, with many testimonials behind it. And its quite inexpensive.
With my writing platform YourOtherMind (and its predecessors Worgan and Keeper) I’ve attempted to create something similar to Scrivener but available for the PC (though I should note that Worgan predates Scrivener by a significant amount!). With the last few iterations of YourOtherMind I’ve tried to clean up the user experience, making it easier to use and with a more visual approach to planning writing projects (i.e., the storyboards). I think I’ve succeeded a little but there’s a long way to go before YourOtherMind could seriously compete with Scrivener.
Now Scrivener has announced a windows version.
This news combined with the recent (albeit modest) progress in my writing career has compelled me to stop selling YourOtherMind. Right now I have the perfect number of customers — I can continue to maintain the software and implemented minor feature requests without affecting my writing deadlines too much. I don’t think YourOtherMind can seriously compete with Scrivener, not without a lot of work. So it doesn’t make a lot of sense for me to continue spending hours chasing a small (and now much smaller) possible user audience.
YourOtherMind will continue to be maintained and new versions will roll out intermittently but there won’t likely be any major features added to it.
Thanks for everyone’s support over the years and please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
This blog is primarily for Brent Knowles’ writing software. His writing and game design blog is at www.brentknowles.com.
Thanks and sorry for any confusion!
If anyone has downloaded the latest version of YourOtherMind and has feedback please let me know. Especially looking for any bugs that may have popped up in the latest version and escaped my testing cycle but feature requests are always welcome too.
Hope everyone is having fun with it.
Yesterday the 8.3 update for the YourOtherMind writing platform went live.
The improvements are listed on the version 8.3 page. To get them you need to turn on Help|Automatic Updates and restart YourOtherMind.
I’m really liking the new features, they have helped me through the process of writing my first novel (and have evolved based on what I noticed I needed to finish the novel). I wrote the entire novel in a single StickIt page, both drafts, with a total word count of about 300 000 words (counting all the research, character biographies, and other things that I included in the page). I was worried that I might get into speed or memory issues but I did not.
If anyone is interested I have developed a bit of a template that I am using and will post.
Note: One bug was discovered after I released version 8.3. It is pretty minor but I’ll get an update out shortly. Basically if you use the new Page|Advanced|Archive page feature AND you have never used the version system before it will give a warning. To make this work you need to invoke the Edit-bar, choose Features|Versions and archive one version manually. You only ever have to do this once (it creates the necessary directories). After this the Archive All feature will work.
When will the next big release be? Not until next year and only if necessary — this full-time writing gig is starting to take up my time (and that’s good!). There may be one or two smaller updates to fix any bugs that this release may have introduced.
This page will describe the planned features and improvements for version 8.4. The estimate release date for this update will be mid 2011 depending on whether there is continued interest in YourOtherMind.
Please add your requests to the comments field!
Features new for 8.4
The biggest change from 8.2 to 8.3 is the addition of the new Dashboard, informally known as the Dashboard-flex. This Dashboard combines all the features available in the old Dashboard and the Index/Table of Contents, in a new, more convenient manner.
The Dashboard-flex sits on the side of the screen (easy to move to the side of your preference) and can expand through various levels of ‘usefulness’ — from a basic index listing, much like the old index view, all the way to the full Dashboard screen. A quick toggle (F6) can hide/reveal the Dashboard-flex and its last expansion state is remembered between uses.
The Dashboard-flex can be adjusted through [s] stages
1. Invisible (Pressing F6 can hide the control completely, pressing F6 again brings it back)
2. Quick List (A list of all pages with the ability to navigate through notebooks, use queries/bookmarks). Typing text in the edit box at the top does a quick filter on the current list.
3. Full List (In addition to the List there are quick buttons to add stories, markets and story/novel submissions, this is the default view)
4. Expanded list (More buttons are added for advanced functions, as well there is a preview when pages are single-clicked in the list giving the page’s current status. There is also the ability to do full text searches).
5. Mini Dashboard (The Journal pane from the Dashboard appears allowing time and word count tracking)
6. Dashboard (The full dashboard appears with the index hiding)
TIP: Right-click on any item in the index list and you can open it in a new window (as opposed to opening it in the same window).
- An easier query-writing system will be deployed in a later version
