Moving toward Mage 0.9

[noxx]

Hi,

Hope we will release new version soon, moreover it won't be 0.8.8 but 0.9 as there will be big changes in UI, as well as new filters being developed from scratch by Mage team and lots of new cards implemented. By the way, in trunk version 206 of 234 M13 cards are already done, so just 28 left.

I'm going to describe all those changes in more details when release comes out, but today I'd like to share what will be changed in UI. I believe the description of the changes in UI are important as it is what players see when they download new version. I'm also interested in any questions and feedbacks regarding UI stuff so I can take them into account and include into 0.9.

So what will be new in Mage 0.9 UI:
1) There won't be card preview component displaying big card image anymore
Instead there will be two ways to enlarge a card: Alt+E or mouse wheel zoom in/out

after feedbacks on 0.9 beta, this component was returned back, moved to the right and was made hideable

2) Stack is moving to other place: from middle-left to bottom-right.
Both those changes give us additional space for battlefield.

3) There won't be "Concede" button. It will be replaced by an item in popup menu that appears whenever you click on battlefield.

4) There won't be "End Turn" button. It will be replaced by F4 hot key.

5) Mage gets new background for games

6) Since now we'll have Mage tray icon with popup menu. It will also display baloon message and start blinking whenever new player joins the game you created or joined.
I believe this is very important feature as it happened numerous time when you created a new game on public server but didn't want to wait until someone joins your game. But afterwards you just forget to check out the mage window about any player that could join.

Also I'm going to add F2 hot key for passing priority. And what I really want to do is returning phases back to Mage.

Finally, here is the screenshot of what we already have in dev version:
http://postimage.org/image/pua9f4nyl/

Best Regards,
Noxx

[North]

I was thinking that a beta would be quite a nice thing to have. Would anyone be interested in participating?

[Jmaster988]

1) Sounds great. More space on the battlefield will be really nice.

2) This sounds good as well

3) I like the idea of a battlefield "menu". Less clutter on the screen.

4) I think there should still be a button somewhere. Not everyone will look up the hot key. Maybe on the same menu as the concede button?

5) Very cool. The same wood background can get kind of boring. Bonus points if we can add our own background image.

6) This might be my favorite new feature. I know that I will make more game lobbies once this feature is implemented. Currently it is really easy to forget that you opened a game lobby.

I would participate in a beta if one was made available.

[muppet]

Happy to beta. I tend not to care about cosmetic changes much though. Having said that the arrows are much better than the boxes were and the button is in a better place now.

[noxx]

Mage 0.9.0 beta (dev) can be downloaded here:

http://www.2shared.com/file/ybd8EJF3/mage-bundle-09dev.html

[Jmaster988]

Mage 0.9.0 beta (dev) can be downloaded here:

http://www.2shared.com/file/ybd8EJF3/mage-bundle-09dev.html

I will try it tonight. I can't access file sharing sites from my office

[BryanM]

I can say adding extra steps to read a card sounds exhausting.

And that keeping an "End Turn" icon at the end of a MODO-style phase indicator would be nice.

[noxx]

I can say adding extra steps to read a card sounds exhausting.

A lot of people liked it.
What I try to do is to reduce eyes moves in UI. For card preview part you had to to look at your cursor, then got the top-left, then back to cursor, move it to next card, then again back to top-left. It's especially annoying for big resolutions. For small ones removing preview component added extra space.

Try it this way. Press Alt+E and don't release it. Then just move cursor over the cards, you'll start getting big card images (btw they are bigger than component was so high resolution card images looks even better).

And that keeping an "End Turn" icon at the end of a MODO-style phase indicator would be nice.

Got it, will add it when phases back.

Thank you for your feedback.

[North]

I can say adding extra steps to read a card sounds exhausting.

You can also use the scroll to "zoom" in and out for a card. I find it very user friendly and less troublesome than going to look in the left corner for the card.

[jeffwadsworth]

I can say adding extra steps to read a card sounds exhausting.

You can also use the scroll to "zoom" in and out for a card. I find it very user friendly and less troublesome than going to look in the left corner for the card.

Yes, love the mouse wheel zoom. Elegant idea.

[muppet]

Game exception occurred: java.lang.ClassCastException: mage.game.stack.Spell cannot be cast to mage.game.permanent.Permanent
Server version: 0.9.0dev
mage.filter.predicate.permanent.ControllerPredicate.apply(ControllerPredicate.java:52)
mage.filter.predicate.permanent.ControllerPredicate.apply(ControllerPredicate.java:42)
mage.filter.predicate.Predicates$AndPredicate.apply(Predicates.java:148)
mage.filter.FilterStackObject.match(FilterStackObject.java:67)
mage.abilities.effects.common.CantTargetSourceEffect.applies(CantTargetSourceEffect.java:79)
mage.abilities.effects.ContinuousEffects.getApplicableReplacementEffects(ContinuousEffects.java:225)
mage.abilities.effects.ContinuousEffects.replaceEvent(ContinuousEffects.java:301)
mage.game.GameState.replaceEvent(GameState.java:427)
mage.game.GameImpl.replaceEvent(GameImpl.java:1310)
mage.target.TargetImpl.isLegal(TargetImpl.java:274)
mage.target.Targets.stillLegal(Targets.java:106)
mage.game.stack.Spell.resolve(Spell.java:89)
mage.game.GameImpl.resolve(GameImpl.java:733)
mage.game.GameImpl.playPriority(GameImpl.java:693)
mage.game.turn.Step.priority(Step.java:87)
mage.game.turn.Phase.playStep(Phase.java:188)
mage.game.turn.Phase.play(Phase.java:111)
mage.game.turn.Turn.play(Turn.java:122)
mage.game.GameImpl.play(GameImpl.java:460)
mage.game.GameImpl.start(GameImpl.java:424)
mage.game.GameImpl.start(GameImpl.java:415)
mage.server.game.GameWorker.call(GameWorker.java:58)
java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(Unknown Source)
java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(Unknown Source)
java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.runTask(Unknown Source)
java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)


ai was casting a vaporsnag. Not sure where you want beta bugs reported.

[North]

I knew this was bound to happen. Thanks for reporting.

You can use the current bug reports thread. We are checking against the dev version anyhow.

[BryanM]

Press Alt+E and don't release it.

You can also use the scroll to "zoom" in and out for a card. I find it very user friendly and less troublesome than going to look in the left corner for the card.

I dunno. A preview pane has been standard since Shandalar, to Cockatrice; only discontinued as of DotP and the latest version of MTGO.

A bit of what you're doing here is assuming best case scenarios, such as:

* Players know all the short cuts and are willing to use them. Which is similar to how getting a single player game started goes: players need to start the server, and to know what the loopback IP is (instead of having it as a server choice), instead of it all happening automagically.

* Hardware exists that might not: The scrollwheel on my almost brand new Wally-world mouse has gone completely /r/tarded. It used to annoy me that there wasn't a scroll bar in the deck editor before ("Mousewheel too slow! PgDn too fast! Ar, scrollbar's only 16 pixels..."), but it's at >:| levels now.

Moving an arm or a finger is a bigger deal than twitching an eye. IMO, an always visible pane (whether it moves or not) as default on this is best.

[noxx]

Hi,

I got your point.

What if I return it but hide as it can be done now with chat. And by default it will be hidden. It will eat only few pixels in such case, and a player that has a problem with enlarging cards on battlefield may spent battlefield space for big card component to have a look as it was before.

About hot keys and other "unknown" stuff. I'm aware of it and thinking over what can be done. One of the ideas we have now is User Guide page that will describe the tricks. Also possibly we'll add tips or info button somewhere in visible place.

Best Regards,
Noxx

[noxx]

I've done with it.
Now it wil be displayed on the right and you may toggle it by alt+D or by arrows the same way as chat.
So now it looks like:


And when toggled:


Best Regards,
Noxx