Forge version 1.5.5

[Chris H.]

Tentative target release date: Friday November 15.

[drdev]

Context menu ability selection is ready to go. You'll now get a context menu to select card abilities instead of a dialog. I've also added number key shortcuts (1-9) for each ability, with unplayable activated abilities still displaying disabled so the shortcuts are consistent regardless of game state. I also made it so even if there's only one activated ability, unless it's a mana ability, you'll still get the menu. This way you don't accidentally activate an ability you can't cancel or undo.

Here's what the new ability menus looks like:

[friarsol]

Any reason mana still uses dialog boxes? You can get in some awkward scenarios where mana displays as a dialog sometimes, but displays a context menu other times.

Graven Cairns vs Rishadan Port vs Springjack Pasture

[drdev]

To take the ability context menus to the next level, I made another enhancement so mana symbols now display as symbols rather than text characters in them. I similarly updated the Card Detail pane.

Please note that the regex I'm using needs some work as currently certain non-mana numbers, X/Y/Z, and Tap/Untap are being improperly converted to icons. There's also a couple places where hybrid mana symbols aren't being converted for some reason, though that may be the script that needs updating. I'll work on fixing those up as soon as I can.

Here's an example of what mana symbols will now look like:

NOTE: The extra space at the bottom of the menu is a bug I will be fixing.

[RumbleBBU]

The context menu looks good and it's a great improvement over the dialog! I've now played one duel with the context menus and I love them already. Thank you!

However there's one exception...

I also made it so even if there's only one activated ability, unless it's a mana ability, you'll still get the menu. This way you don't accidentally activate an ability you can't cancel or undo.

This is the one detail that slightly bothers me. I'm so used to one-click tapping cards that have only one activated ability (like the Quest Plant pet), that the extra step of having to select an option from a menu of 1 seems redundant and cumbersome to me. Maybe I will get used to it but I still preferred the faster, simpler and intuitive "click to tap" approach.
Maybe you could add a preference for enabling the old "one-click tapping", for people like me who are used to it?

[drdev]

The context menu looks good and it's a great improvement over the dialog! I've now played one duel with the context menus and I love them already. Thank you!

However there's one exception...

I also made it so even if there's only one activated ability, unless it's a mana ability, you'll still get the menu. This way you don't accidentally activate an ability you can't cancel or undo.

This is the one detail that slightly bothers me. I'm so used to one-click tapping cards that have only one activated ability (like the Quest Plant pet), that the extra step of having to select an option from a menu of 1 seems redundant and cumbersome to me. Maybe I will get used to it but I still preferred the faster, simpler and intuitive "click to tap" approach.
Maybe you could add a preference for enabling the old "one-click tapping", for people like me who are used to it?

The reason for this change was to prevent accidentally activating an ability that would go on the stack immediately without the ability to cancel or undo.

That said, a preference to avoid the menu in that case would be pretty easy. I'll look into it.

[Xitax]

How many cards have non-mana abilities that go on the stack instantly without needing a cost or a target? I would tend to think that this would be rare.

[friarsol]

How many cards have non-mana abilities that go on the stack instantly without needing a cost or a target? I would tend to think that this would be rare.

Not that rare, certain costs are auto-paid if they are payable (like tapping). So things like "T: You gain 3 life." Or "T: Draw a card" fit here.

[RumbleBBU]

And, as I just discovered, this also affects non-tapping effects like Circles of Protection. To use a CoP, I now need to 1) click on the Circle, 2) select the only option from the menu (!), 3) click on the mana source, 4) select a damage source from the dialog.

In this case, the extra step (#2) is too much and really serves no purpose. In my most recent duel, I accidentally bypassed using a CoP:Red several times due to mechanically first clicking on the CoP, then clicking on a land (sending the mana to the pool rather than powering the CoP), and then hitting the spacebar to proceed...and got hurt.
No, I didn't lose the duel because of that but could have. I came much closer than I should have.

[drdev]

Maybe what I can do instead is add a confirmation in the prompt for abilities which otherwise would have their cost paid automatically and require no targets or other user input, like a tab ability. That way, abilities like COP will work as before, while still protecting against misclicks. Again, this wouldn't affect many abilities.

How does that sound? If that's not enough, I could still add a misclick protection setting to control this behavior.

[Xitax]

Yes, exactly. If a cost (other than just tapping the card) is required you don't need a menu pick because you have a chance at cancelling at the payment dialog. Same with targeted.

[RumbleBBU]

Yes, that would be better.

And I think that the preference for turning off the confirmation would be useful too. I personally am irked by the extra step instead of simple one-click tapping, as I pointed out earlier, and I haven't seen many people complain about not being to 'undo' when they've accidentally tapped their Quest plants or similar click-to-tap abilities.

[drdev]

I ran out of time to add a setting or get smart about checking if a manual cost needs paying, so for now, to alleviate the concerns brought up in recent posts, I just reverted it back to not showing the menu for cards with only one activated ability.

Note that cards with two activated abilities will still display the menu even if only one is currently enabled.

[drdev]

Alright, I worked all night to get as many cards displaying well as I could. There are still several types of costs that are still rendering as text characters, but hopefully we'll be able to get those updated in short order. Otherwise, I've hopefully finished most of the script changes. Certainly let me know if you find cards that aren't displaying mana symbols as you expect.

For reference, here's a list I've been keeping of cards and ability types that aren't yet displaying right:

Abilities:
Echo
Entwine
Unearth
Forecast
Cumulative Upkeep
Madness
Morph (3 in reminder text)
Bestow

Cards:
Angel's Herald ability cost not formatted (same with other heralds)
Animal Boneyard
Arcades Sabboth
Aura or Dominion
Jhoira of the Ghitu
Kuro, Pitlord - also missing period after upkeep cost
Grove of the Guardian, also missing comma before
Fungal Reaches - first ability, same with other storage lands
Nature's Kiss
Tornado
Murderous Betrayal
Coral Reef
Alms
Zombie Assassin - this and others seem to be tied to the Exile cards additional cost

[Xitax]

I just want to thank you for your hard work, even though it's a hobby and the all-nighter ostensibly self inflicted.