r23446 - Quest mode starting card pool color distribution

[RumbleBBU]

I have just added an experimental UI that allows the user to
1) Choose a preferred color in new Quest games. (Also, "colorless" can be chosen.) The color distribution will be slightly tilted towards the chosen color, if any.
2) Added a checkbox that will enable the user to completely bypass all color balancing filters and completely randomize the color distribution in the Quest starting pool, as per user request in the feature request thread.

Please note:
- Maybe the current checkbox name ("Balance starting pool colors") is not descriptive enough? I thought of calling it "Randomize starting pool color distribution" and placing it after the preference selection box, but decided against that - it would not be obvious what the difference between that checkbox and "preferred color: none" would be. Comments?
- My UI design is not particularly aesthetic. I suck at UI coding, I know. If anyone wants to improve/redo the layout, be my guest.
- In any case, I probably need to document this change somewhere (the readme and the Quest mode FAQ thread). I will once this part of the code is finished.
- I'm also considering adding a "steepness" preference that lets the user determine (within some sensible limits) how much the preference tilts the starting pool color distribution.

This is my first attempt at a new feature since my "comeback". Any comments & suggestions will be appreciated.

[moomarc]

Sounds great Rumble and good to have you back. With regards to the color randomization maybe something like "Force unbias color distribution"? I think the 'Force' word emphasizes that its an override of sorts.

[RumbleBBU]

Hi, Marc! And thanks.

I like your suggestion but I wonder if that is quite accurate either...you can, after all, select "Preferred color: none" in which case the color distribution is completely balanced and not 'biased' in any way. In other words, there are three possible scenarios:

1) "Preferred color: none" works like Quest has worked before, i.e. it balances the color distribution equally with filters.
2) "Preferred color: (something other than none)" biases the color distribution towards the selected color.
3) The checkbox that bypasses both of the above options and produces a completely random distribution, as per user request. I've tried this a couple of times, though, and it seems that the color distribution tends to be pretty even anyway - presumably because most Magic sets (with a few exceptions) have been designed to contain more or less equal amounts of cards of each color.

The way I see it we either need a maximally descriptive title for the checkbox - or maybe go with the title you suggest and change the first Preferred color option ("none") to "balanced"?

[RumbleBBU]

Oh, and one more point - maybe the total number of starting cards should be reduced in relation to color bias steepness (if you are using a preferred color)? With an equally distributed pool, the large amount of cards is justified because it might otherwise be difficult to build a viable deck that contained no more than two main colors. But when you are biasing a color, you can easily build a two-color deck where you only minor in the second color. Possibly (with a steep bias) even a monocolor starting deck. In other words, the color bias tends to make the early stages of a Quest easier - if you start with as many cards as with the traditional evenly distributed pool. Which is why I think the starting pool should be smaller in relation to bias steepness.
If I recall correctly, Shandalar (which made you choose a preferred color and gave you virtually no off-color starting cards at all except on the higher difficulty levels) gave you a far smaller number of starting cards.

[moomarc]

I agree that a more focused color distribution should have a smaller pool. Not sure what the correct ratio would be, maybe poolsize reduced to 60% for steep color bias?

With regards to the labels, I think that Balanced is clearer than none, override aside.

[friarsol]

Yea I'd test with 50-60% for Color-focused pools. Shandalar never gave you many cards to begin with (maybe like 45-60 total) because there was only several hundred cards available in the entire game. At most like 1200 I'd guess.

We may want to have less starting cards for some of the constructed formats too. Especially Standard, where there are way less cards to begin with.

[RumbleBBU]

I'm currently experimenting with a formula that deducts 4% cards from your card pool per every steepness step, i.e., if you set the bias steepness to 10, you will get 40% fewer starting cards. The trouble is, this seems to lead to dimnishing returns somewhere past steepness 6. Both steepness 6 and steepness 10 will give you roughly 40-45 cards of your chosen color, the main difference being that steepness 10 gives you fewer total cards. This is because you also get fewer cards of your chosen color.

Can someone suggest a better formula?

[RumbleBBU]

I've now added a version of the Quest starting pool card amount reduction code. I tried to compensate for the loss of your selected color cards by steepening the bias slightly. The formula is not perfect, and will be replaced when/if I can think of something better. I also redid the UI labels.

Please let me know if you observe any problems or oddities.

[friarsol]

I think "Force randomized color distribution" is unclear in what ways it's different from Preferred color: balanced distribution.

Maybe it can be included in the dropdown?

Starting Distribution:

Balanced (Classic)
Fully Randomized
White Focused
Blue Focused
Black Focused
Red Focused
Green Focused

[RumbleBBU]

Thanks for your thoughtful feedback, Sol!

Including the randomized option in the dropdown menu is a nice idea. Helps keep the main page a little less cluttered. I'll work on it.