[OPT Discussion] Work to be done for the 1.0 beta release.

[Jorbes]

alright, about to start a day at the office, so I'll keep this empty for now, but I plan to compile a list of your ideas (yes, the spam you created through the entire forum since the 99t release) that could go into the next release. I prefer to only put in things that are non-breaking, it would be nice to keep some versions compatible, but it's not a law or anything.
Will continue tonight, cheers.

Global List:

[ ] Auto Tap should be auto untap
[ ] Look into pink text issue for zone lists
[ ] Exile FaceUp/Down captions are switched or there is an issue with the processing code
[ ] PwrTgh change menu items should not close the menu
[ ] Organise tokens menu item to split it up per letter in the alfabet+rest
[ ] rename .ogd (onlineplaytable game definition) to something that reflects it is the "user game config file" .oguc (onlineplaytable game user config) because a user can change this to change some words in OPT witout it affecting other players.
A new game definition file should be created to config the actual game and this needs to match for each player in a game. The contents of such file are yet to be determined.


GWar's List:

1) Correct the "placing new cards over tapped cards" bug. This is, imo, a dealbreaker, as it makes the program feel clunky and unrefined.

2) Cause/Give option for Alt-clicking the Untap/Draw Phase move you to the upkeep/main phase the same way as double clicking it does when "Doubleclick Untap/Draw Step to Untap Permanents/Draw a Card" and "Proceed to next step" are selected in the Interface settings, as to match the behavior in MWS.

3) Doubleclick Untap/Draw Step to Untap Permanents/Draw a Card" and "Proceed to next step" options checked by default, again to help the MWS players who are scared and confused by good programing!

4) Rename the "Auto-Tap" setting in game settings to "Auto-Untap", Unless this setting is doing something else I have not realized?

5) PNG Card image support. Not actually needed, but if it's not too difficult, it would be nice. Feel free to ignore this one if it is actually difficult.

6) In the default skin, keep the Card names unhidden by default (the way that it is without a card image) even if a card image is found to make it easier to read card names.

7) Cause/Give option for cards that come into play tapped automagically do so even if you don't Control+Alt Click them, as well as have cards that come into play with a set (or minimum) number of counters come into play with them, similar to how Planeswalkers do.

8) Submenus for the token menu as it is rather big.

9) The ability to dock zones (Especially the Hand, Library and Preview Card) to different panels.

10) The ability to do all possible actions from the main menu at the top. At the moment a player cannot seem to (say) reveal the top card of my library without having the library zone visible, which might be hidden as per user preference. Let me know if I missed this one.

11) Correct the "Zone List settings not being saved" bug, which is causing text to appear Pink in Zone Lists.

12) Cause/Give option for Alt-Click or D-Clicking a Creature while in the Declare Attacks phase auto-marks it as attacking, the same way as MWS.

13) D-Clicking from the Hand List moves a card to the "Revealed Zone" instead of to the battlefield like from the full hand. Perhaps a toggle for this behavior?

14) Cause/Give option for Left Clicking the library/Grave/Hand etc. icon in the player panel doesn't browse the library/grave/hand etc? Mainly to prevent accidental library viewing.

15) Right clicking the Library in the Player Panel gives a context menu, but not for any other zone.

16) Anti aliasing on Icons and other doodads that have been reduced in size. See how it looks in MWSPlay for example, the small icons are smoothed out and easy on the eyes.

17) The ability to assign a sideways offset to attached cards the way you can currently define a vertical offset.

18) Add an "Unattach" option in the Right Click Context menu for cards attached to other cards.

[BaconCatBug]

So, time to make my list of things I want in 1.0 pretty!

-merged into firstpost by jorbes-

[Jorbes]

Nice list, I will merge it into my post and see what I can do with it.
To keep this thread clean, I will cut/paste it from your post, not copy
When there is something implemented, I will directly make the OPT.exe available so users can check things out without waiting for a full release.
Most of the ideas are non-breaking and affect look and feel only, so we're good there.

[BaconCatBug]

Look and Feel is all that needs to be done really IMO.

Ooh, One moe (sorry), have the ability to change the colour of the number in the player panel when it reaches a certain (configurable) number. For example, being able to turn the Graveyard Number green once it hits 7+ (like on MWS) or turn the hand number read when it hits 8+.

[pinecones]

yeah, i feel the same way... it's mostly the interface, itself that needs work.

re-structuring the menus across the board would go a long ways for giving OPT a smoother and more user-friendly feel.

most of my suggestions previously have been aimed mostly at adding theming options and enabling theme makers to do wild and inventive things... because i feel that is the best way for you to get the best return for time invested. it seems like it would be easier to add those options and let multiple others come up with the layout rather than doing both and hoping the community is accepting of the skin.

most of my suggestions would be central around the idea of making things as user-friendly as possible. clearer language in menus and through server responses, a clear and easy to understand button for signing in/connecting/creating user accounts could also help.

with my playgroup i've been getting a little resistance because of the learning curve associated with that sort of thing. i'm used to IRC and i love figuring new systems out, so it doesn't bother me, but it could be a turn-off for other players.

and i've said it before, but the ability to "do MWS but better" is probably the first point i recommend aiming for with direction. gwar's MWS clone theme is looking really fancy already... but at the point a user can download a skin and/or click a button to copy MWS's interface... that is the point at which people will completely forget about MWS.

not to say you wan't to emulate MWS in overall functionality. not say MWS is better (it isn't). not to say that's the end-point... but when you can say "pff, MWS... sure my program can dumb itself down", you'll have the best MTG program on the net.

(the option to mimic MTGO interface would also be ideal)

[Jorbes]

Currently I am rethinking the theming, I want to create reusable xml files so you don't have to redefine the theme from scratch each time.
For example; I want to have a locations.xml file, where you define where each object goes, how it is "docked" and other location specific options.
Then for each object, specific settings in an objects.xml file.
Each file should then be referenced in a theme.xml file, so you can technically create cross-theme references. This would allow you to build a "theme pack" where you have multiple themes based on a single core theme, so you can define alterations for say 4/6 player games.

Also, this means I am getting rid of the OPT theming UI, like the buttons for color, font, etc. There might be a theme editor and I do plan on creating an old-theme to new-theme converter, but not untill the new theme "code" is finished.

[pinecones]

well, i don't mind editing files by hand as long as it's intuitive enough to do so.

the theme file as it sits right now is kind of an unreadable mess... like a run on sentence with no spaces made into a book.

i like that idea though... compartmentalizing it all into separate xml files.

[Jorbes]

yep, I stole that idea from my asp.net / sharepoint training

i'll slowly get into coding, also need to plan a move early feb, so we'll see what happens, I always have my laptop ready!

[BaconCatBug]

Quick Ideas:
Possibility of making the "pass Priority" doodad optional?
Any chance you can make it so that if the opponent double clicks the end turn icon it swaps over as well as if you do it? That way you can say "end my turn" and give the opponent a chance to play things at end of turn, same way as MWS does.

[Jorbes]

Quick Ideas:
Possibility of making the "pass Priority" doodad optional?
Any chance you can make it so that if the opponent double clicks the end turn icon it swaps over as well as if you do it? That way you can say "end my turn" and give the opponent a chance to play things at end of turn, same way as MWS does.

OPT has multiplayer, so we cannot speak in terms of "opponent" anymore, much like wizards speaks only of "any opponent" or "opponents"
But you are saying in MWS you can end the turn for someone else?
Isn't this open for abuse? Like constantly ending the opp's turn?

I could put a blocking mechanism in the phasebar, so it will stop when you get there.
The pass priority is optional anyway, you do not need to use it, just click to the next step. It's only used for complex situations with lots on the stack.

[BaconCatBug]

Fair enough on the priority thing. Hadn't thought of it that way.

What I mean is, in MWS, any player can change the phase or swap the turn over, regardless of who is the active player. This means instead of the active player causing the turn to end, the active player simply goes to the end step and says "End my Turn", which allows the opponent to play End of Turn spells or abilities. If they don't, they double click the end icon (which swaps over the turn) and continues with the rest of their turn.

Yes, this could end up with someone simply going bananas over the phases, but it doesn't happen simply because the opponent will quit and find someone decent to play!

While I agree that you should limit the changing of phases to the active player, it would be nice to see this implemented, not only because MWS do it, but because it's actually a rather elegant and efficient way of passing the turn over and is also a nice way of seeing if your opponent is still there or has forgotten about you/lagged out. While MWS may crash a lot, I do have to say a lot of what it does, it does right.

[Jorbes]

So how would this be handled in a 4 player free for all?
Who would press the button? If 2 players both press the button, the turn flips twice, thus skipping a player's turn. With only the active team being able to flip turns, you prevent such madness

[BaconCatBug]

It's easy enough to fix if someone "skips" a turn, simply keep going until it gets back to the right player!

ATM, it's really clunky, since it doesn't allow a player to get a chance to play EOT spells or effects. To do so, you need to ask, then have the player respond (whether or not they want to do anything), then you need to end the turn.

Under the MWS system, all you need to do is tell your opponent the turn has ended, and then he can end it and start his turn, or play spells, resolve them, and then end the turn and take his turn. -Shrug- I just really like the way MWS does it and find it the most intuitive and speedy way to do things, but if it can't be done, so be it!

[Jorbes]

I can be done, I just need to think of the implications it will have on multiplayer. I agree that MWS does alot of things very nicely, but it doesn't need to account for 3+ player games, that makes MWS development insanely easier (makes you wonder even more why there never came an updated version)

[BaconCatBug]

My theory is the guy working on it lost the source code tbh, and because of his evil proprietary code obfuscation couldn't recover it from the compiled binary! (Why, yes, I am a linux using Freetard, how did you guess??? )

Why not just make it so all players can hit it and it moves it one player along? Yes, people might be asshats with it, but I find that no-one will, since they are just trying to play the game.