Card Development Questions

[moomarc]

I know what you mean about real life keeping one too busy. Just landed a job for 3d animation integrated into live video that's going to keep me away from forge for a month at least other than the occasional script maybe. Going to be fun though.

[friarsol]

Ok. Definitely an issue with copySpellOnStack and StackInstances. It's probably not overwriting the "known" StackInstance of the Copy with it's own StackInstance when it's placed on the stack. Will look into it further when i have some more time.

[Doublestrike]

Just landed a job for 3d animation integrated into live video...

Congrats!

[jeffwadsworth]

I know what you mean about real life keeping one too busy. Just landed a job for 3d animation integrated into live video that's going to keep me away from forge for a month at least other than the occasional script maybe. Going to be fun though.

Sweet. See if you can easter egg Forge in there somewhere. Haha.

[ArsenalNut]

I am trying to script Civilized Scholar//Homicidal Brute but the script is causing a crash that I can't figure out.

Civilized Scholar//Homicidal Brute | Open

Name:Civilized Scholar
ManaCost:2 U
Types:Creature Human Advisor
Text:no text
PT:0/1
A:AB$ Draw | Cost$ T | NumCards$ 1 | SubAbility$ DBDiscard | SpellDescription$ Draw a card, then discard a card. If a creature card is discarded this way, untap CARDNAME, then transform it.
SVar:DBDiscard:DB$Discard | Defined$ You | Mode$ TgtChoose | NumCards$ 1 | RememberDiscarded$ True | SubAbility$ DBUntap
SVar:DBUntap:DB$ Untap | Cost$ 0 | Defined$ Self | ConditionDefined$ Remembered | ConditionPresent$ Card.Creature | ConditionCompare$ EQ1 | SubAbility$ DBTransform
SVar:DBTransform:DB$ SetState | Cost$ 0 | Defined$ Self | ConditionDefined$ Remembered | ConditionPresent$ Card.Creature | ConditionCompare$ EQ1 | SubAbility$ DBCleanup | Mode$ Transform
SVar:DBCleanup:DB$ Cleanup | ClearRemembered$ True
AlternateMode:DoubleFaced
SVar:Picture:http://www.wizards.com/global/images/magic/general/civilized_scholar.jpg
SetInfo:ISD|Uncommon|http://magiccards.info/scans/en/isd/47a.jpg
Oracle:{T}: Draw a card, then discard a card. If a creature card is discarded this way, untap Civilized Scholar, then transform it.

ALTERNATE

Name:Homicidal Brute
ManaCost:no cost
Colors:red
Types:Creature Human Mutant
Text:no text
PT:5/1
T:Mode$ Phase | Phase$ End of Turn | ValidPlayer$ You | TriggerZones$ Battlefield | Execute$ TrigTap | isPresent$ Card.Self+notAttackedThisTurn | TriggerDescription$ At the beginning of your end step, if CARDNAME didn't attack this turn, tap CARDNAME, then transform it.
SVar:TrigTap:AB$ Tap | Cost$ 0 | Defined$ Self | SubAbility$ DBTransform
SVar:DBTransform:DB$ SetState | Cost$ 0 | Defined$ Self
SVar:Picture1:http://www.wizards.com/global/images/magic/general/homicidal_brute.jpg
SetInfo:ISD|Uncommon|http://magiccards.info/scans/en/isd/47b.jpg
Oracle:At the beginning of your end step, if Homicidal Brute didn't attack this turn, tap Homicidal Brute, then transform it.
End

I traced the crash to a problem in the setStateResolve method. For some reason the mode string retrieved from the parameters map is null instead of "Transform". I am having the same issue with Mayor of Avabruck crashing but Daybreak Ranger and Gatstaf Shepherd work fine. This is really confusing since the first SetState script lines are identical between Mayor of Avabruck and Gatstaf Shepherd.

Can someone test if Mayor is crashing in r12354 or later? I'd like to know if it's my Eclipse environment or a real problem.

[Hellfish]

Arsenal, this is probably due to the recent remodeling in how SVars are stored. They are no longer split between CardCharacteristics but there is a single set in the Card object, which means that if you have multiple SVars of the same name, the last one will overwrite all the others even if they are on separate card states. So your Civilized Scholar DBTransform SVar is overwritten by your Homicidal Brute DBTransform SVar, which is missing the Mode parameter, causing the crash. I will fix the Mayor and comb through the other transformers.

[Iran]

Urge to Feed, Bloodbond March and Blood Tribute. Anyone see any problem to script them?
Can I script Urge to Feed like a cost? the part of tap any number of vampires to put +1/+1 on them.

[ArsenalNut]

Arsenal, this is probably due to the recent remodeling in how SVars are stored. They are no longer split between CardCharacteristics but there is a single set in the Card object, which means that if you have multiple SVars of the same name, the last one will overwrite all the others even if they are on separate card states. So your Civilized Scholar DBTransform SVar is overwritten by your Homicidal Brute DBTransform SVar, which is missing the Mode parameter, causing the crash. I will fix the Mayor and comb through the other transformers.

Thanks. Making different SVar names solved the crashing issue. Now, the transformation trigger for Homicidal Brute always fires even if it attacked. I suspect there may be an issue with "Self" in the transformed state. I noticed earlier that if I changed Civilized Scholar to untap after the transform that the untap didn't occur.

[Hellfish]

Try placing the Self property last, i.e. "Card.notAttackedThisTurn+Self". That has caused problems before.

[moomarc]

@Sloth: Do your recent PTK card commits enforce the "only if you've been attacked this step" part?

[friarsol]

@Sloth: Do your recent PTK card commits enforce the "only if you've been attacked this step" part?

Sloth is using a trick in the rules that skip over the rest of combat if no Attackers are Declared. So it's not explicitly doing it, but it should work as expected.

[moomarc]

@Sloth: Do your recent PTK card commits enforce the "only if you've been attacked this step" part?

Sloth is using a trick in the rules that skip over the rest of combat if no Attackers are Declared. So it's not explicitly doing it, but it should work as expected.

Nifty trick

[jeffwadsworth]

Testing Primordial Ooze.

| Open

Name:Primordial Ooze
ManaCost:R
Types:Creature Ooze
Text:no text
PT:1/1
K:CARDNAME attacks each turn if able.
T:Mode$ Phase | Phase$ Upkeep | ValidPlayer$ You | Execute$ TrigPutCounter | TriggerZones$ Battlefield | TriggerDescription$ At the beginning of your upkeep, put a +1/+1 counter on CARDNAME. Then you may pay X, where X is the number of +1/+1 counters on it. If you don't, tap CARDNAME and it deals X damage to you.
SVar:TrigPutCounter:AB$ PutCounter | Cost$ 0 | CounterType$ P1P1 | CounterNum$ 1 | SubAbility$ DBPayUp
SVar:DBPayUp:DB$ Tap | UnlessCost$ X | UnlessPayer$ You | SubAbility$ DBDamage
SVar:DBDamage:DB$ DealDamage | Defined$ You | NumDmg$ X
SVar:X:Count$CardCounters.P1P1
SVar:RemAIDeck:True
SVar:Rarity:Uncommon
SVar:Picture:http://www.wizards.com/global/images/magic/general/primordial_ooze.jpg
End

Apparently, UnlessCost$ does not work within SubAbilities. Does anyone see a solution here? Note that the P1P1 must be put on the card before anything else is done.

[ArsenalNut]

Try placing the Self property last, i.e. "Card.notAttackedThisTurn+Self". That has caused problems before.

Turns out I didn't capitalize "IsPresent"

[Sloth]

Testing Primordial Ooze.

| Open

Name:Primordial Ooze
ManaCost:R
Types:Creature Ooze
Text:no text
PT:1/1
K:CARDNAME attacks each turn if able.
T:Mode$ Phase | Phase$ Upkeep | ValidPlayer$ You | Execute$ TrigPutCounter | TriggerZones$ Battlefield | TriggerDescription$ At the beginning of your upkeep, put a +1/+1 counter on CARDNAME. Then you may pay X, where X is the number of +1/+1 counters on it. If you don't, tap CARDNAME and it deals X damage to you.
SVar:TrigPutCounter:AB$ PutCounter | Cost$ 0 | CounterType$ P1P1 | CounterNum$ 1 | SubAbility$ DBPayUp
SVar:DBPayUp:DB$ Tap | UnlessCost$ X | UnlessPayer$ You | SubAbility$ DBDamage
SVar:DBDamage:DB$ DealDamage | Defined$ You | NumDmg$ X
SVar:X:Count$CardCounters.P1P1
SVar:RemAIDeck:True
SVar:Rarity:Uncommon
SVar:Picture:http://www.wizards.com/global/images/magic/general/primordial_ooze.jpg
End

Apparently, UnlessCost$ does not work within SubAbilities. Does anyone see a solution here? Note that the P1P1 must be put on the card before anything else is done.

If I remember correctly subabilities and unless costs don't work together well (even if it would work in DBPayUp, DBDamage would always fire regardless of the unless cost being paid).