Collectible Card Game Headquarters

I've just read some topics devoted to problems you face modding a game by stainless. Some include need to use cracked versions and tolerate lack of
planeswalker support.

There are free and open source alternatives which can be tuned any way you wish due to nature of such projects.
So what features keep you attached to modding dotp instead of forge or mage?

I'll share my thoughts about this.

I tried Forge, but I saw it crash a bit too many times (of course I always reported the crashes on the forum). If I mod DotP, it's very likely that a correctly coded card won't cause crashes due to an engine problem, which is quite a relief. I also found Forge somehow slow, but this is not a problem of Forge, it depends on me: being used to DotP which stops as few times as possible, 100% rule-compliant implementations where the priority passes back and forth and waits for my "OK" to be passed start to annoy me very soon. In DotP we don't get to stop at the upkeep unless there's a triggered ability to answer to, which is a big downside, however I still consider a fast game more important than that.

Another good idea on DotP is badges: the most common abilities (flying, trample, haste, etc.) cause a small icon to appear on the card, so I don't need to re-read the cards everytime I attack in order to know if that particular card will be able to block me. Moreover, if I get one of those common abilities "until end of turn" because of another ability that granted it, I'm always kept informed about that.

Finally, just 2 words: "eye candy"! DotP is pretty to see, with all the 3D and the fancy animations and the cards that seem real paper cards. This shouldn't matter much in a card game, but it's pleasant, you can't deny it. In Italian we say "anche l'occhio vuole la sua parte" which has no literal equivalent in English but it basically means "appearance might be unimportant, but if it's good, it's always well accepted".

I'm no big modder, but i subscribe thefiremind words, i've used forge for many time, test decks and stuff, because buying cards without knowing if they will work together is masoquism hehehe, but for me the biggest downsize of programs like forge is sometimes the lack of game fluence, and probably a old looking interface, and i dont use forge for sometime, but probably a quest type even with a crappy story and some enemies, would help keep interest in game especialy offline =). Cheers

*edit* I've take a quick look in forge foruns quest is there with boostres and stuff =) looks like sealed campain, but story mode would rock too

I cant talk about Forge, i am more familiar with Magarena which i use from time to time when i am far a way from my gamming rig. There are a few places where Magarena is better than DotP, the AI, card support, deck construction and of course there is a few things better done in DotP too, the user interface (and i am not talking about fancy 3D effects, but about usability, the way you play your turn, badges, targetting, etc), networking, even with very limited deck customization options, playing against other people is fun. The thing i miss most in Magarena is tutoring, cards like Birthing Pod, Demonic Tutor, Survival of the Fittest, cant be implemented in Magarena yet. I gave it a try long time a go, but my time for side projects is very limited and i did not finish it. It's worth mention, the Magarena community was very kind with me, and very helpful.

To be perfectly honest, I haven't tried Forge or Magarena or any of the other open source MtG projects, I just haven't gotten around to trying them yet. Though I can say that I'm typically drawn more to modding than playing so a game like DotP where I spend most of my time modding and then I get to see the results of what I made is quite satisfying. A game where all the cards are already made I may not find as fun (I seem to prefer modding to playing).

I admit I'm weird, but I like being weird and quirky.

Thank you for your opinions.
It was quite insightful to learn about the underestimated role of pretty UI.