I would like to contribute UI/UX development.

[kamikazekent]

Hi all,

I recently discovered XMage after using Cockatrice for quite some time. I must say the program itself is amazing. My only gripe which I'm sure is shared by many is the real lack of UX design in the program. I'm a web developer by trade and completed 2 out of 4 years of a game design program at the University of Utah. I would like to contribute some of my design and development expertise to make XMage really shine. I also have some sound design experience which I feel could also help the user experience.

I've already started preliminary work on some mock-ups which I can share on completion and I've also taken some time to look over the code. Is a UI/UX overhaul already in the works? If so, I would like to help the current effort and if not, I would like to spear-head such an overhaul.

[LevelX]

Hello kamikazekent,

there is currently no overhaul in the work. So a lot of work can be done in this area.

There is currently another new developer interested to work for this.
See here: https://github.com/magefree/mage/issues/729

So you're not into Java/Swing?
But you would try to work with Java/Swing directly?
Or you only see you to create UI design?

Some examples of useful UI changes that come to my mind:
A color selector that looks nice (showing the 5 colors of magic).
Improve handling of top card of library if it's face up.
Embellish and improve tournament panel.
Redesign of the ability selector (position, handling, showing html)
Adding a country selector in connection dialog and add a country flag column to the user list.
Improve the set selector on deck editor to show extension symbol and show expansion block.

Probably harder to do:
A new way to handle cards in the graveyard (more permanent access).
New phase bars (http://www.slightlymagic.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=14960)
Redesign of message and button area to be able to show longer texts.

[kamikazekent]

I have both design and development chops and although Java isn't my preferred language (PHP is my bread and butter) I'm fairly proficient with it so my contribution would also include modification/painting of the Swing elements to match whatever look and feel is decided on. Here are a few other things I would like to personally see that I can help implementing on the development side of things besides the examples you've listed:

Refinement of the activated ability window to show mana symbols instead of `{1}{R}` syntax.
Over-all tweaking of in-game elements sizes and positions.
More prominent notification of priority being passed back and forth.

Ultimately I would like to elevate XMage to be something that could compete with or potentially even best MTGO. The rules handling and AI are well on their way to doing just that. I would like to see the UI/UX be up to that level as well.

I already have gotten a local IDE set up and can get the XMage client to compile and run from source. As far as code contribution is concerned, should I fork the project or will creating my own branch locally suffice?

[LevelX]

Hi kamikazekent,

that sounds very promising. The UI developer slots are ready to be filled by people.

I suggest you start a first (best smaller task) with a forked repository and do if the changes are finished a pull request to add it to the main repository. If all looks good I add you after that to the Collaborators group and you can work with a branch in the main repository and without the need to do pull requests.

You already thought about a first smaller task you like to do?

Feel free to ask questions about the project here in the forum, I will answer as good as I can.

And thanks for your contributions.

[kamikazekent]

Hey,

So I've been busy with some stuff that got dumped on me at work, but would like to get started on a smaller task. Do you have any recommendations on where I can start? I've been going through your documentation and code base and I feel ready to dive in.

[LevelX]

Hey,

So I've been busy with some stuff that got dumped on me at work, but would like to get started on a smaller task. Do you have any recommendations on where I can start? I've been going through your documentation and code base and I feel ready to dive in.

What about to Improve the set selector of the deck editor?
It could show also the symbol of the expansion to the left of each item.
Could show also new special icons (you create) for the formats like standard, modern, ....
Also the block entry (to select all sets of a block) could be look better than now with the star char (*) at the start if the item line.

Included in:
Mage.Client\mage.client.deckeditor\CardSelector.form

[kamikazekent]

That sounds like a great starting point. I actually took a stab at implementing a card or two, but I'm running into some troubles getting the card collection to show at all when I compile and run through Netbeans. I'm not going to be able to tweak the deck builder until that is fixed as well.

I'm using OSX Yosemite with an x64 version of Java 8 Update 31. I have followed all of the recommendations in the 'developer getting started' documentation and am still running into build issues which is what I'm assuming might be causing the issues I'm seeing at run-time. Any suggestions?

[LevelX]

That sounds like a great starting point. I actually took a stab at implementing a card or two, but I'm running into some troubles getting the card collection to show at all when I compile and run through Netbeans. I'm not going to be able to tweak the deck builder until that is fixed as well.

I'm using OSX Yosemite with an x64 version of Java 8 Update 31. I have followed all of the recommendations in the 'developer getting started' documentation and am still running into build issues which is what I'm assuming might be causing the issues I'm seeing at run-time. Any suggestions?

You run the client and no cards are in the library?
Did you conenct to a server? Because if you build from scratch, the client database is created as you connect to the server the first time.

Otherwise post the error if you get one.

[kamikazekent]

You run the client and no cards are in the library?
Did you conenct to a server? Because if you build from scratch, the client database is created as you connect to the server the first time.

Otherwise post the error if you get one.

Oh okay sweet. I wasn't able to run the server locally before built locally from source last night but it appears to be working now that I've tried again this morning. The cards are now showing up in the deck editor . I guess I'll get back in touch when I feel like I have something worth submitting a pull request for or if I run into any other issues.