Blog Makeover

[mtgrares]

How do you like the minor updates I made to the blog. I'm trying to improve the user interface, lol.

[Chris H.]

How do you like the minor updates I made to the blog. I'm trying to improve the user interface, lol.

We are glad to hear that you had a great Thanksgiving.

We would like to see a future blog where you would explain your plans for cards and decks. In particular, we would like to hear that it will become easier for us to help you with this project. Not everyone can write quality code and we have to find some other way to make a contribution.

[mtgrares]

Well I don't always write quality code, , just thanks for the compliment.

I love the idea of regular users being able to contribute something, the problem is always what can the average person do? What problem can be "crowd sourced"? Since version 2 will (hopefully) enable cards to be constructed in plaintext, the average user can add a few cards just for fun. I've talked about this on my blog, these articles are about plaintext cards here, and here, here.

Shock.txt
Shock
R
Instant

Spell
Text: Shock deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Target: creature or player
Resolve: damage target creature or player, 2

Prodigal_Pyromancer.txt
Prodigal Pyromancer
2 R
Creature Human Wizard
1/1

Activated Ability
Text: tap: Prodigal Pyromancer deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
Cost: tap
Resolve: damage target creature or player, 1

[mtgrares]

It would be great if I could write some program that would show which cards MTG Forge needed and people could see the listing of all the cards that were needed and the cards could automatically be uploaded to a server somewhere. I'm not sure how to do this, I don't have a server and I'm not sure what free service I could use. MTG Forge is a very low cost project

[Chris H.]

It would be great if I could write some program that would show which cards MTG Forge needed and people could see the listing of all the cards that were needed and the cards could automatically be uploaded to a server somewhere. I'm not sure how to do this, I don't have a server and I'm not sure what free service I could use. MTG Forge is a very low cost project

There are various sources that people can use to find the required info. In the early days people would turn to the printed magazines that could be found at the local gaming store.

A good online source for people to check is:

http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/

[Chris H.]

I love the idea of regular users being able to contribute something, the problem is always what can the average person do? What problem can be "crowd sourced"? Since version 2 will (hopefully) enable cards to be constructed in plaintext, the average user can add a few cards just for fun.

Two great minds thinking alike.

[Rob Cashwalker]

I like the visual makeover you've done. With the links on the right it's easier to find the relevant information.

What I'm starting to dislike is how you start talking about some really fascinating idea, but never actually discuss it. I get revved up in the first paragraph, but the end falls flat, and I'm left looking for more.

Like today's blog about the SpellAbility objects. You mention that it once was different from the object to play the card... but now it's the same.... Talk about it. Talk about how SpellAbility could be made better, because it doesn't deal with non-mana costs, talk about how it can better deal with mana costs of zero, talk about ways to give cards multiple spell abilities that are only active at certain times....

The programmers among us can only know enough about the code to be dangerous, because we can only look at it from the outside - from prior examples of your code. Don't be afraid of non-programmers, because if you discuss these things in just the right way, they might develop an interest in programming, just so that they could understand what makes their favorite cards tick, and they might want to figure out how they could design other cards. And then they're not in the non-programmer audience anymore, are they?

[mtgrares]

I think I understand most of what you are saying. You pose some good questions about SpellAbility and I'll try to answer them on Monday.

Let me briefly answer a few of your questions. First, SpellAbility does have a mana cost and card does not. The card object just holds one or more SpellAbility objects. Theoretically split cards and other cards that have two spells are simple, the card just holds two SpellAbility objects.

Second, I didn't talk much about SpellAbility's canPlay() method, which checks to see if that card can be legally played, i.e. can this SpellAbility be played when it is in your hand or in play. canPlay() is usually only one line.

The funny thing about handing Mox Jet and other artifacts that cost 0, is that I don't really handle them at all. I just remove the card from your hand zone and put it in play, voila.

The programmers among us can only know enough about the code to be dangerous, because we can only look at it from the outside - from prior examples of your code.

Well I the only computer language that I know well enough to tinker with is Java. Incantus is in python and I have no clue how it works at all, the same goes for Magic stuff written in C or C++.

Don't be afraid of non-programmers, because if you discuss these things in just the right way, they might develop an interest in programming, just so that they could understand what makes their favorite cards tick, and they might want to figure out how they could design other cards. And then they're not in the non-programmer audience anymore, are they?

It is hard not to over or underestimate your audience. I try to include enough details to be interesting and informative, but not enough details so it make it completely boring. Basically I try to tell people WHY the AI is to bad and WHY MTG Forge only supports certain cards. I love mana flare, but it is just way too impossible to code, the same goes for Time Walk. I have big hopes for version 2 Today I'm going to try to code Shock using my plaintext idea.

Shock.txt
Shock
R
Instant

Spell
Text: Deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Target: creature or player
Resolve: damage target creature or player: 2

[mtgrares]

Like today's blog about the SpellAbility objects. You mention that it once was different from the object to play the card.

The card object used to have resolve() but conceptually that didn't work well. Would the card object for Royal Assassin just be a creature spell? I removed resolve() from the card object and created SpellAbility. I hope that helps some. Basically most of computer programming design is like building a house. There are a ton of ways to do it but a few of the ways seem better that the others. With MTG Forge I basically design things on the fly which mostly works, but not all the time. In reality, designing is usually different from programming and may even be done by a different person, one who is a great designer but never programming.

[Rob Cashwalker]

It's not so much that I'm asking you questions, though it does satisfy the curiosity.... I'm just trying to point out how you could improve your blog discussions, to keep a guy like me glued to the screen.

I don't know if you do all your writing while at the computer lab, but maybe you should do the bulk of your writing offline, and copy it to a flash drive or something to copy into the blog post, so you don't feel rushed to finish. Do you know what got me hooked on the game? When StarCity posted your article. It was chock full of content. Not that all your posts NEED to be article-length, but if you're going to open the can of worms of discussing something like the SpellAbility object, then don't hint at the topics in the beginning, while glossing over them by the end.

When they taught us to write essays in High School, they use a structure for the opening paragraph that uses a broad statement for the first sentence, and then a summarizing sentence for each of the topics/paragraphs to follow. Then each of the following paragraphs actually have to fit that opening paragraph. Back then, we were writing essays on paper for the New York State Regents, so oftentimes in the middle we'd realize the opening paragraph became invalid, and we'd scribble a note for the final revision. But now we have the luxary of taking time to think the writing process through, and present it to the public as if we wrote it that way to begin with.

A blog doesn't need to be essay-quality, but writing has almost become a lost art in today's IM/MySpace/Facebook world. If you want to just post how you're feeling about v2, great. If you want to actually demonstrate your design process of the SpellAbility object, give it the full attention something so critical to the function of the project deserves... maybe plan it to be a multi-post, but don't leave me hanging looking for more details. Maybe write the bigger stuff on the weekend and post real content on mondays and more typical blog material on wednesdays....

[mtgrares]

I don't know if you do all your writing while at the computer lab, but maybe you should do the bulk of your writing offline, and copy it to a flash drive.

That is what I do. I try to reread the article once or twice outloud to try to catch small errors, but I'm sure that they still get through.

About SpellAbility, Wednesday is another post about it. Maybe it won't answer all of your questions about it, but it will answer most of them.

I'm not sure what a typical blog looks like, I don't actually read any. I've looked at a few but they are always too random for me, I'm a single topic type of guy. I try to limit my posts to usually 200-300, but not more than 500 because then it just seem too long. Sometimes 200 words seems short and sometimes it seems long depending on how much I have to say about a topic.