Card Stacking/ Aura Hijack ends NOW

[zerker2000]

OK, So here's the thread, as closely as I could replicate it:

Hmm... Is it just me, or would playing be easier for everyone if there was an option to stack all absolutely identical cards? Or at least ones you'd get a ton of, i.e. stacking Relentless Rats and identical tokens(e.g. sapropling ) in addition to basic lands.

You know, I was thinking about that... but then I realized, we'd probably want to correctly implement auras (at some point anyway). Stacking would work great for that (placing the aura behind the card that is enchanted).
But perhaps we could stack identical cards that are NOT enchanted. Or definitely tokens of the same name.

Oh, please, yes! Stack token critters!
Nothing more annoying than having to scroll half a mile to the right to tap a mox because you just happen to have a Mycoloth with 8 token, a Mycoloth with 32 tokens and a Rhys the Redeemed in play. And a Nemata, Grove Guardian too, but he felt redundant or at least unneeded overkill )
Although... the game might still slow down to a crawl with that many stacked Saprolings.
At least it might skip the double row of tokens with the huge empty areas at the sides. (Dennis knows what I mean by that.)

You know, I was thinking about that... but then I realized, we'd probably want to correctly implement auras (at some point anyway). Stacking would work great for that (placing the aura behind the card that is enchanted).
But perhaps we could stack identical cards that are NOT enchanted. Or definitely tokens of the same name.

I repeat, just have a check stacking cards that are completely identical: text, name, P/T and/or enchantments/EOT effects. A Saproling could get enchanted or buffed (e.g. Giant Growth), however it probably won't be hard gui-wise to just stack all cards that have equivalent (besides card number) top-right info texts. Of course, then they'd need to automatically unstack if anything changes.

For auras, it would be more convenient if they were "half-stacked", leaving enough area to easily mouse over if you want to see its description. The same could also be done for imprinted/haunting cards (which I'm not sure are even implemented).

I would probably just stack tokens if they have identical token names and are not enchanted (equipped?).
It would be too tricky to stack by exact keywords / text / exact stats, I think. If the player would target one with Giant Growth, I'm sure it should be pretty clear which one is buffed.
Then again, there's counters too.

The main reason not stack tokens is the performance hit it would bring about. Constantly, a lot of checks will have to be made, tokens will have to be sorted by name, then go through the stacking algorithm... anyway it might not be too bad, but I think after like 30 tokens the game will start lagging pretty badly. Ideal would be to have an option to enable/disable token stacking.

Of course, I'd still have to correctly implement auras in the first place, which looks like they might be pretty complicated.

Of course, I'd still have to correctly implement auras in the first place, which looks like they might be pretty complicated.

I think that everyone would enjoy having auras and equipments. Have you given any thought to how you would handle a land that was stacked in a pile that was also enchanted, with say a Wild Growth or some other land aura?

I don't mean to rain on the parade, I am just wondering aloud how we would handle this.

Of course, I'd still have to correctly implement auras in the first place, which looks like they might be pretty complicated.

I think that everyone would enjoy having auras and equipments. Have you given any thought to how you would handle a land that was stacked in a pile that was also enchanted, with say a Wild Growth or some other land aura?

I don't mean to rain on the parade, I am just wondering aloud how we would handle this.

Maybe by not stacking the land that is enchanted?
The same could be done with creatures/tokens that are stacked.

Although, I understand that stacking creature tokens leads to serious performance slowdown.
Then again, try playing with 2 Mycoloth and an Essence Warden for a turn or 3 and you will see plenty of slowdown. Add Rhys the Redeemed if you are masochistic.

If the player would target one with Giant Growth, I'm sure it should be pretty clear which one is buffed.
Then again, there's counters too.

Of course, however if the computer played a negative effect, e.g. " Cabal Torturer, targeting 3 3 G Beast", it'd take a little searching to find which of the tokens you shouldn't attack with( supposing the computer has a 2/3 out)

Maybe by not stacking the land that is enchanted?
The same could be done with creatures/tokens that are stacked.

Yes, exactly. Although Wild Growth is not currently possible, I suppose there are plenty of other non-mana land enchantments (Squirrel Nest is a cool one).

If the player would target one with Giant Growth, I'm sure it should be pretty clear which one is buffed.
Then again, there's counters too.

Of course, however if the computer played a negative effect, e.g. " Cabal Torturer, targeting 3 3 G Beast", it'd take a little searching to find which of the tokens you shouldn't attack with( supposing the computer has a 2/3 out)

2 things 1. this hijack deserves its own thread. 2. it should be possible to paint the effected cards with say a purple tinge (non-magic color) to indicate something has been done to it. Visual cues are a big part of computer UI I think. Particularly when dealing with tiny images. Id go even further and suggest that since we have pics for all the cards and most tokens we don't need the colored border to cue us as to the color of the card and the border might instead serve better to inform us of special states for any given card image.

Hijack still in progress so I just add this:
Once it is possible to attach enchantments to permanents, several cards already in the cardpool need revisiting and rewriting.
Such as Control Magic, which currently is played as a sorcery. A hack that I for one am not happy with since it makes the card far too powerfull. You can't disenchant it!

Side note: there are other cards already implemented that need revisiting since new beta releases allowed for not yet added parts of cards to be added now.
I will look at that and report them when I find the time.

Hijack still in progress so I just add this:
Once it is possible to attach enchantments to permanents, several cards already in the cardpool need revisiting and rewriting.
Such as Control Magic, which currently is played as a sorcery. A hack that I for one am not happy with since it makes the card far too powerfull. You can't disenchant it!

Side note: there are other cards already implemented that need revisiting since new beta releases allowed for not yet added parts of cards to be added now.
I will look at that and report them when I find the time.

Yeah, I realize all of the existing Auras need to be rewritten. Epic Proportions, Control Magic, Lignify, ... , etc.
Luckily, there's not too many of them. I'm not sure how to implement the state-based effects of them exactly, but I got some ideas.

I've started messing around with Equipment cards. I've implemented very rudimentary versions of Bonesplitter and Skullclamp. Anyway, equipment ties in fairly closely to auras, so I'll see how they turn out. Once they're working without bugs I'll see if I can do auras. It would be great to have cards like Rancor

EDIT: Sorry for the hijack, we should create a new thread for this.

Done: viewtopic.php?f=26&t=1226

All further posts for the thread should be moved here, it would also probably be good idea to edit the ones already there to "Subject: moved to <link to this post>; <no body text>"

P.S there are two main reasons why I'm doing this:
a.)A ton of people asked for it.
b.)I am "partially" responsible: I started the thread, and resurrected it some time later when it died out.

[Chris H.]

Thank you, zerker2000 . It must have taken some time to piece the message thread together.

I look forward to the next release, Persist and a few equipments.

[DennisBergkamp]

Hee hee, nice one

[zerker2000]

Thank you, zerker2000 . It must have taken some time to piece the message thread together.

Not realy, I just took 5 minutes to go through the 3 pages in 'Current known Bugs List", quoting everyone that said anyone on topic (make new 2-tab window, one of them your post and another browsing thread;
Click "Quote", <Tab><Tab><Ctrl-A><Ctrl-C><Ctrl-Tab><Ctrl-V><Ctrl-Shift-Tab><Menu-B>, repeat... )

I look forward to the next release, Persist and a few equipments.

"Release"??? This is meant to be a thread for all further replies on the topic, instead of having them clutter the Bug Report thread.

EDIT: Oh the next forge download post?

[Chris H.]

EDIT: Oh the next forge download post?

That's OK.

Having a thread where we can continue to discuss the improvements that come from the applet version is a good thing.

Dennis mentioned many months ago that he wanted to implement auras and equipments, he just wasn't sure at the time how the cards should be displayed on the screen. Now that we have the code to draw cards stacked into piles, wow.

I assume that the auras and equipments may not cause quite as much of a slow down as the land piling, we may not need as much sorting.