Card Contributions

[muppet]

yes the graveyard parts all work not actually needed groovy yet but I guess that's how I have to get the mana to work. I'll actually read some documentation now I know a bit more what I'm doing.

Also I found getting a sane (non notepad/wordpad) text editor was a good plan as suggested earlier in thread.

[PalladiaMors]

Couple cards that didn't get pushed through Firemind:

Code: Select all

name=Wall of Roots
image=http://mtgimage.com/card/wall%20of%20roots.jpg
value=2.500
rarity=C
type=Creature
subtype=Plant,Wall
cost={1}{G}
pt=0/5
ability=Defender;\
        Put a -0/-1 counter on SN: Add {G} to your mana pool. Activate this ability only once each turn.
timing=main
oracle=Defender. Put a -0/-1 counter on Wall of Roots: Add {G} to your mana pool. Activate this ability only once each turn.


Code: Select all

name=Abzan Kin-Guard
image=http://mtgimage.com/card/abzan%20kin-guard.jpg
value=2.500
rarity=U
type=Creature
subtype=Human,Warrior
cost={3}{G}
pt=3/3
ability=SN has lifelink as long as you control a white permanent.;\
        SN has lifelink as long as you control a black permanent.
timing=main
oracle=Abzan Kin-Guard has lifelink as long as you control a white or black permanent.


[muppet]

Time to try another wildly optimistic making a card Ashcloud Phoenix.

Ok as usual that seems to be too optimistic I got 2/3 working ok and I got return it to owners hand not battlefield working separately but if I try to add that as 3RD option it fails so its probably beyond me as usual. One day I'll get a card to work completely .

[ShawnieBoy]

Time to try another wildly optimistic making a card Ashcloud Phoenix.

Ok as usual that seems to be too optimistic I got 2/3 working ok and I got return it to owners hand not battlefield working separately but if I try to add that as 3RD option it fails so its probably beyond me as usual. One day I'll get a card to work completely .

I'm guessing you meant 'return to the battlefield face down instead of the graveyard'

Though I'm a bit rusty these days, this could be done with groovy although the timings involved would be tricky. It's not a replacement effect as it does hit the graveyard, and making sure it's face-down before the game notices too.
The turning face up trigger may (?) be purely scripted, but I'd have to check.

Showing what you've got so far would be helpful.

[muppet]

Sorry I'm just playing with cards really. Here is one I just don't understand so some light on this might help me make at least 1 card.

Zhur-Taa Druid. Ok so if I make it tap for green and deal one damage to me it works fine but as soon as I change to SN deals one damage to each opponent it fails even though this works on other cards.

So I am just confused.

[ShawnieBoy]

Sorry I'm just playing with cards really. Here is one I just don't understand so some light on this might help me make at least 1 card.

Zhur-Taa Druid. Ok so if I make it tap for green and deal one damage to me it works fine but as soon as I change to SN deals one damage to each opponent it fails even though this works on other cards.

So I am just confused.

That's ok, the best way to learn is to experiment

There's no simple way of adding new mana producing effects (for your second option). The reason that the '{T}: Add to your mana pool, SN deals 1 damage to you.' works is that it is hard-coded into the game engine as a separate ability. (Have a look at the List of Abilities on the wiki to see, the mana abilities are near the top, there's a 'Sacrifice SN: Add <mana> to your mana pool' further down)

That would explain why your other option didn't work.

As mana production is closely linked with the AI system, making abilities that can produce mana with a different activation than already included won't work, although they will parse ok. (The reason that the Wall of Roots above, hasn't been included, I would guess)

As for Zhur-Taa Druid, he's a bit more tricky again. His trigger isn't linked to his 'as text' mana ability. If he taps for mana from another ability (given to him by an Aura or other effect) the trigger will still activate. As yet, there's no clear way to check if a permanent has been tapped to produce mana to produce a trigger (Melvin may know different).

Sorry it's all bad news

[Huggybaby]

Ha, you don't sound too rusty to me ShawnieBoy. Welcome back.

[ShawnieBoy]

An area worth looking for new submissions would be instant and sorcery cards with multiple effects. Our current parser isn't good at noticing there's more than one, and so a simple tilde ~ will make the card work by linking them together.

Bear in mind that this will only work if the second effect doesn't have a target. I remember submitting a quick 'Bolster' instant when I first came back (Abzan Advantage), and expect there's others lurking in the latest block.

[muppet]

Ok that explains Deathrite Shaman too, I am guessing that to add pretty much anything worthwhile I have to learn to use the groovy code. Ahh ok will look at those too.

[ShawnieBoy]

Ok that explains Deathrite Shaman too, I am guessing that to add pretty much anything worthwhile I have to learn to use the groovy code. Ahh ok will look at those too.

It's a bit of a known issue with the barrier to entry, while our natural language scripter was a great milestone for scripting cards automatically, it can make things more tricky to allow simple submissions.

The groovy code isn't quite as frightening as it looks (believe me, I was only submitting scripts before I even considered looking at groovy). There is some information on the wiki, but I really need to add some more (!!) to help make that first step.

Having a look at 'simple' cards with groovy and fiddling with them, or simply cutting and pasting relevant parts, can be a good first step. And if you're feeling more creative, don't limit yourself to trying existing cards, you can very easily create your own for testing.

[Lodici]

...It's a bit of a known issue with the barrier to entry, while our natural language scripter was a great milestone for scripting cards automatically, it can make things more tricky to allow simple submissions..

I have always thought that although very powerful, Groovy as-is is pretty difficult to learn if you just want to script cards. But the thing is that Groovy looks to be perfect for implementing a card scripting DSL so that instead of raw groovy a card scripter could use much simpler and intuitive syntax. Maybe something like the following examples...

Code: Select all

1. When Fanatic of Mogis enters the battlefield, it deals damage to each opponent equal to your devotion to red.
-> onEntersBattlefield.dealDamageEqualTo(your.devotionTo(MagicColor.RED)).toAllOf(your.opponents);

2. Buyback {3}. Fanning the Flames deals X damage to target creature or player.
-> .onBuyBack(3).dealDamageEqualToX().toOneOf(creature, player);

3. [Feral_Lightning] Put three 3/1 red Elemental creature tokens with haste onto the battlefield. Exile them at the beginning of the next end step.
-> .onPlayCard.put(3).tokens("3/1_red_Elemental_creature").withAbilities(MagicAbility.HASTE).to(MagicZone.BATTLEFIELD).then.on(NEXT_END_STEP).sendTo(MagicZone.EXILE)


At least, that's the idea anyway! I look at it from time-to-time but it is slow going.

[ShawnieBoy]

That looks like a cool idea, as long as it doesn't then get incorporated into the scriptbuilder and then pushes the barrier even higher!

[PalladiaMors]

This is my clumsy attempt at Thoughtcast:

Code: Select all

def FOUR_OR_MORE_ARTIFACTS_CONDITION = new MagicCondition() {
    public boolean accept(final MagicSource source) {
        return source.getController().getNrOfPermanents(MagicType.Artifact) >= 4;
    }
};

def THREE_ARTIFACTS_CONDITION = new MagicCondition() {
    public boolean accept(final MagicSource source) {
        return source.getController().getNrOfPermanents(MagicType.Artifact) == 3;
    }
};

def TWO_ARTIFACTS_CONDITION = new MagicCondition() {
    public boolean accept(final MagicSource source) {
        return source.getController().getNrOfPermanents(MagicType.Artifact) == 2;
    }
};

def ONE_ARTIFACT_CONDITION = new MagicCondition() {
    public boolean accept(final MagicSource source) {
        return source.getController().getNrOfPermanents(MagicType.Artifact) == 1;
    }
};

[
     new MagicCardActivation(
        [FOUR_OR_MORE_ARTIFACTS_CONDITION, MagicCondition.CARD_CONDITION],
        new MagicActivationHints(MagicTiming.Main, true),
        "U"
    ) {

        @Override
        public Iterable<MagicEvent> getCostEvent(final MagicCard source) {
            return [new MagicPayManaCostEvent(source,"{U}")];
        }
    },
     new MagicCardActivation(
        [THREE_ARTIFACTS_CONDITION, MagicCondition.CARD_CONDITION],
        new MagicActivationHints(MagicTiming.Main, true),
        "1U"
    ) {

        @Override
        public Iterable<MagicEvent> getCostEvent(final MagicCard source) {
            return [new MagicPayManaCostEvent(source,"{1}{U}")];
        }
    },
     new MagicCardActivation(
        [TWO_ARTIFACTS_CONDITION, MagicCondition.CARD_CONDITION],
        new MagicActivationHints(MagicTiming.Main, true),
        "2U"
    ) {

        @Override
        public Iterable<MagicEvent> getCostEvent(final MagicCard source) {
            return [new MagicPayManaCostEvent(source,"{2}{U}")];
        }
    },
     new MagicCardActivation(
        [ONE_ARTIFACT_CONDITION, MagicCondition.CARD_CONDITION],
        new MagicActivationHints(MagicTiming.Main, true),
        "3U"
    ) {

        @Override
        public Iterable<MagicEvent> getCostEvent(final MagicCard source) {
            return [new MagicPayManaCostEvent(source,"{3}{U}")];
        }
    }
]


The problem here is that the player is getting to choose between the standard cost and the cost reduced by affinity, which shouldn't happen - he's forced to pay the later. In the Avatar cards (Avatar of Woe), Melvin managed to solve this problem for cards with two possible costs. I tried to do borrow that solution here, but didn't succeed. Is there a way to deal with this issue in this case? If not, would you guys be ok with doing affinity in this manner? From testing a little the AI doesn't pick the higher cost and I can't think of a reason for a human to take the higher cost either. I know it's definitely a bit clunky, so I'd like some directions here.

[ShawnieBoy]

This is my clumsy attempt at Thoughtcast:

Code: Select all

def FOUR_OR_MORE_ARTIFACTS_CONDITION = new MagicCondition() {
    public boolean accept(final MagicSource source) {
        return source.getController().getNrOfPermanents(MagicType.Artifact) >= 4;
    }
};

def THREE_ARTIFACTS_CONDITION = new MagicCondition() {
    public boolean accept(final MagicSource source) {
        return source.getController().getNrOfPermanents(MagicType.Artifact) == 3;
    }
};

def TWO_ARTIFACTS_CONDITION = new MagicCondition() {
    public boolean accept(final MagicSource source) {
        return source.getController().getNrOfPermanents(MagicType.Artifact) == 2;
    }
};

def ONE_ARTIFACT_CONDITION = new MagicCondition() {
    public boolean accept(final MagicSource source) {
        return source.getController().getNrOfPermanents(MagicType.Artifact) == 1;
    }
};

[
     new MagicCardActivation(
        [FOUR_OR_MORE_ARTIFACTS_CONDITION, MagicCondition.CARD_CONDITION],
        new MagicActivationHints(MagicTiming.Main, true),
        "U"
    ) {

        @Override
        public Iterable<MagicEvent> getCostEvent(final MagicCard source) {
            return [new MagicPayManaCostEvent(source,"{U}")];
        }
    },
     new MagicCardActivation(
        [THREE_ARTIFACTS_CONDITION, MagicCondition.CARD_CONDITION],
        new MagicActivationHints(MagicTiming.Main, true),
        "1U"
    ) {

        @Override
        public Iterable<MagicEvent> getCostEvent(final MagicCard source) {
            return [new MagicPayManaCostEvent(source,"{1}{U}")];
        }
    },
     new MagicCardActivation(
        [TWO_ARTIFACTS_CONDITION, MagicCondition.CARD_CONDITION],
        new MagicActivationHints(MagicTiming.Main, true),
        "2U"
    ) {

        @Override
        public Iterable<MagicEvent> getCostEvent(final MagicCard source) {
            return [new MagicPayManaCostEvent(source,"{2}{U}")];
        }
    },
     new MagicCardActivation(
        [ONE_ARTIFACT_CONDITION, MagicCondition.CARD_CONDITION],
        new MagicActivationHints(MagicTiming.Main, true),
        "3U"
    ) {

        @Override
        public Iterable<MagicEvent> getCostEvent(final MagicCard source) {
            return [new MagicPayManaCostEvent(source,"{3}{U}")];
        }
    }
]


The problem here is that the player is getting to choose between the standard cost and the cost reduced by affinity, which shouldn't happen - he's forced to pay the later. In the Avatar cards (Avatar of Woe), Melvin managed to solve this problem for cards with two possible costs. I tried to do borrow that solution here, but didn't succeed. Is there a way to deal with this issue in this case? If not, would you guys be ok with doing affinity in this manner? From testing a little the AI doesn't pick the higher cost and I can't think of a reason for a human to take the higher cost either. I know it's definitely a bit clunky, so I'd like some directions here.

Hmm, looking at Avatar of Woe, it could be possible to string-build the cost. Off the top of my head:

Code: Select all

[
     new MagicCardActivation(
        [MagicCondition.CARD_CONDITION],
        new MagicActivationHints(MagicTiming.Main, true),
        "Cast"
    ) {
        @Override
        public void change(final MagicCardDefinition cdef) {
            cdef.setCardAct(this);
        }

        @Override
        public Iterable<MagicEvent> getCostEvent(final MagicCard source) {
            final MagicGame game = source.getGame();
            final int n = game.filterPermanents(source.getController(),MagicTargetFilterFactory.ARTIFACT_YOU_CONTROL).size();
            final int cost= Math.max(0,4-n)
            return cost==0 ?
                [new MagicPayManaCostEvent(source,"{U}")]:
                [new MagicPayManaCostEvent(source,"{"+cost.toString()+"}{U}")];
        }
    }
]

Affinity isn't optional.

Edit for real bad syntax.

[ShawnieBoy]

Good news is that it works Worth testing it with AI, should be ok if it can manage Avatar of Woe.