For Fans: Persona Fusion Helper and Database Program

[Cloud737]

Hi,

I'm launching an app I made called Oracle of Maiya. Basically, it's a program designed to help store your Personas in a database and help you (tremendously, I hope) with fusions, and it works with Persona 3, Persona 3 FES and Persona 4 (and the soon-to-be-released Persona 3 Portable and, if the fusion mechanics don't change much, for Persona 5, 6, 7 and maybe even the whole series from now on, even if it will need a little tweaking). For those that do (or want to do) a lot Persona fusion planning (instead of the usual random fusing) to obtain precisely what powerful Personas they want, I really hope this program will be a boon to them.

Please visit and bookmark the project's home page (http://sourceforge.net/projects/oracle-of-maiya/), and remember to visit regularly, as there will be lots of updates for the program in the days to come, and I hope there will also be lots of discussions there about the features you, the users, would desire. I'll be adding progress updates on a weekly (if not daily) basis there (or at least how often I can - I have a busy life from time to time). For now, stay tuned for the blog, forum and twitter-like micro-blogging features which will be added soon.

For those that can't find their way around the site:

The site is the project's home page on SourceForge.net. It hosts both the source code (for the really curious) as well as the executable program and related files (see the big "Download Now") button.

Bellow the project's name (Oracle of Maiya) is a navigation tabs. Click on any tab to navigate on the page (note: clicking the "Develop" tab will bring up more hidden tabs where the source code and other more complicated stuff is. The "Forum" tab also appears after you click the Develop tab (don't ask me why), so you should explore that a bit, I guess. Soon, there will also be a "Blog" and a micro blogging tab, along with others (as soon as I finish spamming all Persona 3 boards on the internet with my thread ).

One last thing I forgot to mention:

I know I asked you all to participate in the discussions (and maybe even submitting bugs and commenting about them) on the project's page, but I forgot to mention that you need to register before you can do that. Sorry about that, I can't do anything about it, and I would really appreciate it if you'd take your time and go out of your way to contribute to this project. After all, it's all for you!

Now, this is version 1.0 of my program. I'm sorry I don't have anything better to present at the moment, but I really wanted to get a bare-bones version out as fast as possible. Currently, it can only do normal spread fusions, but it already works for P3, P3 FES and P4. The next version will have triangle spread fusions and will be able to store your (evolved) Personas in a database (which I will call a user profile from now on, to distinguish it from the database for base Personas, skills, elements, etc.). If you want to see an alpha version of what's to come (currently, I'm thinking of calling this v1.5 when its released), please check here (http://www.filefront.com/14851287/Oracle-of-Maiya.rar/).

I'm curious, what do you all think of this? What are your opinions in regards to the program? You can either sound off here or (preferably, since it ever won't be deleted) on the project's page (http://sourceforge.net/projects/oracle-of-maiya/) (after I set up the forum and everything else).

Remember to bookmark the project's home page and visit regularly! Let's try and make this one hell of a fan program the gaming community has never seen!

Update: The forum (http://sourceforge.net/apps/phpbb/oracle-of-maiya/) (no registration required; Path from homepage: Develop -> HostedApps -> phpBB) and micro-blogging (http://sourceforge.net/apps/laconica/oracle-of-maiya/) (registration required; Path from homepage: Develop -> HostedApps -> Laconica) features are now online!

PS: Sorry for cross-posting this on the Persona 3 (http://www.atlus.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5159) board as well, but it's relevant to both those games and I really want as much coverage as possible. If a mod still wishes to enforce the rules, then please leave THIS thread open and close the rest, while editing my first post to redirect others to this thread (e.g.: "Thread closed (multiple threads). Please visit THIS THREAD (http://www.atlus.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5045) to discuss from now on!"). And please don't punish me! :P

I would also appreciate a sticky, but I'm not putting my hopes up. :P

PS2: There may be some erroneous results with some fusion combinations in P3 (not P3 FES) and P4. The program itself is fine, and if it happens it's because I've written the database files in hurry to get this out quickly (you try writing 200 KB text files in one day!). If you happen to find such a result, please report this to me and I'll post the updated package as well as the database files as separate downloads on the project's page.

Also, please note that the "Stats Sum" and "Total Skills" columns in the grids might display wrong info for P3 most of the time, and be totally inaccurate for P4. That's also because of the same reason mentioned above (basically, I just copied the P3 FES database for P3 and P4 and just edited the names of the Personas and their levels to insure that at least the fusion result is correct, though some inaccuracies in levels and Persona names, as well as Arcana fusion combination results, might have slipped).

PS3: Thank you for reading this long thread! And again, remember to bookmark the project's home page (http://sourceforge.net/projects/oracle-of-maiya/) and visit often, please! It would be really disappointing to see that very few people care, if at all.

Below is my old post here, before editing. I'll be keeping it for consistency and coherency.

Hi,

To put it short for those without much patience: I'm making a Persona fusion helper and database program called "Oracle of Maiya" (hint, hint ;)) that would work with Persona 3, Persona 3 FES and Persona 4 (and possibly Persona 5 if the fusion mechanics don't change much). In short, this program would store all your Personas in a database and will help you determine the fusion result (normal spread, triangle spread and special fusions) of the Personas you have, and even suggest fusions you might want to do (in future versions).

This is basically a hobby project of mine in Delphi, and I'm doing it because I'm in need of one and figured others would too. Besides, it's great fun to program (1) and learn Delphi (2) while working on something I like (3). :D 3 great things in 1, eh? :D

Right now, I'm about halfway through for an initial release. You can download the program and see for yourself here (http://www.filefront.com/14851287/Oracle-of-Maiya.rar/) (sorry, I only made a P3 database for now).

I know it's a little late (P3 and P4 were released a long time ago, and this project also started in October 2008 ), but cut me some slack - I've had issues to deal with in real life, as well as lack of motivation sometimes. Now, however, I'm fully dedicated to it and quite enthusiastic to finish it without delays. :D

The program so far can do normal spread fusions quite well, and I'm underway implementing the Compendium part (registering your evolved Personas and storing them in a database) and then the triangle spread fusions.

I wanted to announce this here since I thought this is the best place to get coverage by fans. So, what do you think about the idea? Would you like something like this? Would you be willing to help the project by making suggestions, giving opinions and maybe even some non-programming contributions (like making icons and splash screen images for it)?

I will do this project regardless of how much support I get, but, of course, more support means more motivation. Also, it will be free and open source, meaning everyone will be able to see and modify the source code, as I believe strongly in it. The program may look not worth it now, but I assure you I intend to make this program the best that ever was for the Persona series (any game in it, as long as the fusion mechanics are at least similar to P3 and P4).

Like I said, the program supports both P3, P3 FES and P4 (and maybe even P5, if the mechanics don't change) by loading all Persona data and some fusion mechanics information (the rest is hard-coded into the program) from a "database" (it's not a database per se, since you'll be able to open it with a word editor and see the text, but I think it's best this way since users will be able to modify and create their own databases, maybe even for games that aren't in the Persona series but that have similar mechanics). When P5 comes out, I'll do a database for that too if the fusion mechanics are the same as P3 and P4. If not, I'll tweak my program where possible to accommodate that flexibility/change in mechanics or, if the changes are substantial, probably make a new program from the ground up for it.

So, what do you think about this? What are your opinions about this program?

PS: Took me long enough to be able to post (note to admins: how about updating that "5 posts to make threads" thread to reflect "7 posts to make new threads" reality and copying it to the Rules thread, where I've been fervently searching for something related). :P

PS2: Can I also make another thread in other sections (like in the P3 section, since it relates to it as well)? I would really appreciate it if I can do this so that it gets more coverage.

PS3: Thanks for reading this very long thread! :D

[triump]

Hey I just wanted to say that I would be very grateful if you did finish this program because it would very helpful and would be very fun to use so good luck!

[Evilkinggumby]

Kickazz! Great work so far and I also hope you manage to finish it. Even if they make some changes, I am sure they won't go too far left of their current fusion system so eventually your program(with some tweaks or additions) should still be helpful. And there are new people discovering these games all the time so new folk will LOVE this.

heck there's a lot playing through 2nd and 3rd times that'll appreciate it for their huuge compendium. :)

:lovefirefox:

[Cloud737]

Haha, I'm so glad I got some feedback! :D I was beginning to be a bit disappointed no one responded, not even on the other threads I posted on other Persona forums. I thought no one cared, but I guess there's not much activity on the Persona boards on the internet as a whole, as the games have been released long ago.
But I'm really happy now, thank you very much for the feedback! :D This just makes me happier and more passionate about doing this program, and thus progress will be faster. :D

Click here (http://www.neoseeker.com/forums/31389/t1443831-for-fans-persona-fusion-helper-database-program/) if you want to see the other thread I posted about my program.
If anyone has any ideas about other major Persona forums/boards on the internet where I might post about my program, I would really appreciate if you'd tell me. The more coverage and knowledge about my program, the better.

I'm curious, does the title remind anyone of something? To be honest, it was not chosen randomly, it really has a purpose and a logic, as well as a subtle something. ;)

I'll most probably have a project opened on SourceForge by tomorrow, so the program will have a permanent home page. The first version of the program (with just normal spread fusions calculation capabilities, pretty much like what you see now in the alpha app I posted, but without all the clutter) will also be posted tomorrow, so stay tuned!

And there are new people discovering these games all the time so new folk will LOVE this.

heck there's a lot playing through 2nd and 3rd times that'll appreciate it for their huuge compendium. :)

:lovefirefox:
Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking! And even if, let's say, very few people will discover these games or play through their 2nd and 3rd times, at least it will be very useful when P5 comes out, given they don't change their fusion mechanics, again. I'm really cautious about claiming it will most likely work with it since Atlus seems to be taking quite the time to announce P5, and the last time they took this much time was when they jumped from P2 to P3, when there was quite a substantial gameplay mechanics revamp.

At the very least, it will be almost 100% compatible with Persona 3 Portable on the very first day of it's release, since very few Personas, if any, should be added to it compared to P3 FES, so I can just copy the P3 FES database before release and then just update it post-release.

I'm just a bit sad I couldn't work on this program more in the past. I started it in October 2008, hoping to release it before P4 came out. Work progressed very smoothly and quickly till December, when unfortunately I saw that I've been neglecting school and had to submit my projects soon or else... After that, I kinda forgot about it (didn't feel like picking it up again, especially since I was disappointed that P4 already came out 3 months before I was able to pick up my hobbies again, and most everyone was probably done with the game by then), and this summer I started to work on it, bit by bit (mostly the interface, then work on implementing the fusion mechanics into it), until now. Now, I really feel like picking up P3 again (I've left it off halfway and been delaying it till I finish the program, as I wanted to have the best Personas around, and in the past I've also been progressing really slowly with how much Personas I had in the compendium because I wasn't very adventurous with fusions because I couldn't really see all the possible combinations without going into bankruptcy or spending lots of time loading the game over and over again and noting all combinations on a piece of paper), and I also got this craving for programming (especially after Delphi 2010, my favorite tool, came out, with lots of improvements). Ahem, anyway, enough with the rambling... :P

[Blizz]

Wow this is amazing I love the idea this will definitely help people who are either stuck with the game and confused and for others who are replaying. I want to make a suggestion, try to some how fit in that certain persona's need max social link and you have to complete certain requests from Elizabeth. Whenever Im fusing that has to be the worst thing when I do not have the max social link or I did not complete a request.
Good Luck

[Cloud737]

Thank you very much for your comment. Really, this just makes me so happy that I want to throw everything else out the window and work on this program full time, although I admittedly won't do that, but I will work more on hit (at least 2-3 hours a day, most of the days).

Good suggestion there. I haven't actually thought about that, surprisingly. I've thought about a lot more complicated stuff (like fusion recommendations based on custom user-set weights for Social Link power, level, user-level, total stats, total incense boost, how many levels deep the fusions should go, etc.) and most of the details on how to implement them, but I admittedly missed the fact that some users might never even check FAQs for it like I do when using my program (or another source) for getting a desired fusion combination for a specific persona (or the other way around, a fusion result for two or more Personas), and thus might have an unpleasant surprise (not to mention possible complaint for me, since my program would seem like it had bugs) when they see that combination somehow, for no explicit reason, isn't possible.

That should be very easy to implement, no problem. The "hardest" part of it would consist on where to actually display this information in the user interface (since it's already a bit loaded, and it should have an intuitive placement), which is really not that hard.

Keep the suggestions coming, guys! :D I really would like to hear them. :D

[Cloud737]

Sorry for the bump/double post, but I really wanted to point out that the program now has a project home page (http://sourceforge.net/projects/oracle-of-maiya/) on SourceForge!

Please visit and bookmark it, and remember to visit regularly, as there will be lots of updates for the program in the days to come, and I hope there will also be lots of discussions there about the features you, the users, would desire. I'll be adding progress updates on a weekly (if not daily) basis there (or at least how often I can - I have a busy life from time to time). For now, stay tuned for the blog, forum and twitter-like micro-blogging features which will be added soon.

For those that can't find their way around the site:

The site is the project's home page on SourceForge.net. It hosts both the source code (for the really curious) as well as the executable program and related files (see the big "Download Now") button.

Bellow the project's name (Oracle of Maiya) is a navigation tabs. Click on any tab to navigate on the page (note: clicking the "Develop" tab will bring up more hidden tabs where the source code and other more complicated stuff is. The "Forum" tab also appears after you click the Develop tab (don't ask me why), so you should explore that a bit, I guess. Soon, there will also be a "Blog" and a micro blogging tab, along with others (as soon as I finish spamming all Persona 3 boards on the internet with my thread ).

One last thing I forgot to mention:

I know I asked you all to participate in the discussions (and maybe even submitting bugs and commenting about them) on the project's page, but I forgot to mention that you need to register before you can do that. Sorry about that, I can't do anything about it, and I would really appreciate it if you'd take your time and go out of your way to contribute to this project. After all, it's all for you!

I've also (extensively) updated my first post to reflect these changes. Please check it out if you want.

Edit: Can a mod also change the thread title to "Oracle of Maiya - A Persona Fusion Helper and Database Program", please?
I've tried editing the first post, but that didn't work. Thank you!