Army creator comparisons
The following tables compares various army creation applications against WarFoundry across a number of features. The features are grouped in categories for easy viewing. The main comparisons are currently between WarFoundry, Army Builder (from Lone Wolf Development) and Rollcall (from a few different individuals, including IBBoard).
General
| WarFoundry | RollCall | Army Builder | Notes
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Free to use (Free as in Beer) | | | | WarFoundry and Rollcall are free to download and use, but Army Builder locks out functionality unless you buy a license
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Free to redistribute/modify (Free as in Speech) | | | | WarFoundry is licensed under the GNU Affero GPL. RollCall has a custom license and no available source code. Army Builder is a proprietary app with custom licensing
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Free updates for all users | | | | Army Builder updates are only available to people with an active paid subscription
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Runs on Windows | | |
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Has a native Windows look | | | |
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Runs on Linux | | | | Army Builder and RollCall may work through the Wine Windows compatibility layer, but WarFoundry just needs Mono to run the WinForms build
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Has native Linux build | | | | WarFoundryGTK and WarFoundryQt are both under development
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Runs on Mac OS X | | | | Same as for the Linux version
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Has native Mac OS X build | | | | WarFoundry on OS X is possible and design suggestions have been made, but no current developers have access to a suitable Mac
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Compatible with other platforms | | | | WarFoundry can run on any of Mono's supported platforms without modification
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Has a smart-phone UI | | | | WarFoundry on iPhone and Android should be possible using MonoTouch and MonoDroid respectively
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Supports multiple game systems | | | | Rollcall supported 'Warhammer-esque' games but never properly supported game systems
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Files are backward compatible | | | | ticket:152 is implementing backwards compatibility, so newer WarFoundry files will work in older versions of the app but without the new functionality. RollCall and Army Builder both require specific versions of the application for some files.
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Files are forward compatible | | | | Changes between WarFoundry versions should be designed and handled such that old files work with new versions. Old RollCall files worked with newer versions of the app. Army Builder has some forward compatibility but files for v2 don't work with v3.
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Translator/Non-English speakers
| WarFoundry | RollCall | Army Builder | Notes
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Translatable UI | | | | WarFoundry will be fully translatable on final release, with ticket:179 fixing the missing translations. Army Builder apparently has the hooks but hasn't made use of them.
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Translatable files | | | | Planned for an unlimited number of languages in WarFoundry through ticket:202. Army Builder has values for a limited set of translations but they aren't currently used, according to the documentation.
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File Writer
| WarFoundry | RollCall | Army Builder | Notes
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Easily modifiable data files | | | | WarFoundry's initial format is XML in a Zip, accessible to almost anyone. RollCall used text-based INI files, accessible to anyone. Army Builder uses its own custom format and its own compression and editing is only with its own tools.
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Supports multiple file formats | | | | WarFoundry already has partial RollCall support with Army Builder support planned
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Files are backward compatible | | | | ticket:152 has implemented backwards compatibility, so newer WarFoundry files will work in older versions of the app but without the new functionality. RollCall and Army Builder both require specific versions of the application for some files.
|
Files are forward compatible | | | | Changes between versions should be designed and handled such that old files work with new versions. Old RollCall files worked with newer versions of the app. Army Builder has some forward compatibility but files for v2 don't work with v3.
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Openly document file format | | | | Some bits of documentation exist for Army Builder files, but WarFoundry files are fully defined and documented in public Development/FileFormatsExplained 1], [browser:IBBoard.WarFoundry.API/trunk/dtds 2?
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Supports multiple game systems | | | | Rollcall supported 'Warhammer-esque' games but never properly supported game systems
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Supports rulesets | | | | Planned for WarFoundry under ticket:104
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Developer
| WarFoundry | RollCall | Army Builder | Notes
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Free to redistribute/modify (Free as in Speech) | | | | WarFoundry is licensed under the GNU Affero GPL. RollCall has a custom license and no available source code. Army Builder is a proprietary app with custom licensing
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Full access to source code | | | | WarFoundry source code is under the GNU Affero GPL (instructions)
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Can write plugins | | | | Planned in WarFoundry as part of ticket:93
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Can be integrated into a website | | | | The WarFoundry API can be incorporated in to any server running mod_mono or Microsoft's .Net framework for ASP.Net
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Compatible with other platforms | | | | WarFoundry can run on any of Mono's supported platforms without modification
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Extensible file format | | | | WarFoundry's XML files are extensible with custom values that are used by plugins. Army Builder files are also XML and should be extensible, but the extent to which Army Builder supports the subsequent files is unknown and not likely to be a focus for Wolf Lair
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