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Download Magarena 1.22 for Windows/Linux
Download Magarena 1.22 for Mac

End of the month and a new release as usual. With both Melvin and I having less free time to spend on coding there aren't much changes this time around. But we'll continue to try to improve Magarena even if it's at a slower pace. Have a nice weekend!

The following lists the changes found in 1.22:
improved resolution of Mac icon
added option to use double-click to cast or activate ability (for touchscreens)
added 17 new decks
fixed: Eldrazi Spawn token can not be sacrificed for mana
fixed: Death Baron also gives +1/+1 to opponent's creatures
fixed: AI uses Rise of the Hobgoblins' activated ability more than once per turn
fixed: Wall of Diffusion can not block creatures with shadow
fixed: application exit through CMD-Q is not captured on OS X

known bug: AEther Vial's and Legacy's Allure's abilities don't work

It would be great to get some feedback on two things we are unable to test ourselves:
- the touchscreen option
- CMD-Q should show the confirmation window on Mac OS X (if the option is on)

I'm especially interested in how Magarena works with the touchscreen as we've had a user tell us that in his setup it wasn't ideal.

I downloaded 1.22 to check out the touchscreen functionality.

I tried it on iPad with Splashtop remote desktop.
I played a few games and it is certainly playable.
Most of the UI, with the exception of the deck editor, fits nicely on the XGA screen.
Double click to play and single click to view works very well.
Also the timed auto resolve feature is handy on a touchscreen.
Some icon elements are a bit small, but they do work.
Also the popup menu might need a large font.

My experience on iphone4 (also using splashtop) mirrors that of ubeefx. This works exactly the same for me as the patch I wrote earlier, just much more convenient to turn on and off

I never really mess with the deck editor unless on the desktop so I can't comment on that one. The one area that is still really clunky on the touch screen is the deck selection drop down box (it works just not that easy to use, especially on the small iphone4 screen). I'm not sure there is really an easy fix for that one so thus far I am just living with it.

Thanks again for the great program!

Thanks for the feedback. That's really helpful.

ubeefx wrote:Most of the UI, with the exception of the deck editor, fits nicely on the XGA screen.

Yes, I can see why the deck editor would be too big but I don't see an easy solution. I guess it's something people just have to live with.

goonjamin wrote:The one area that is still really clunky on the touch screen is the deck selection drop down box (it works just not that easy to use, especially on the small iphone4 screen).

Do you mean on the New Duel screen where you select colors etc? Or the screen you get when you load a deck?

I think it's not feasible to make Magarena work perfectly on a touchscreen, so don't expect things that require huge changes to the code. Some of the things noted above are caused by screen size and I can't see how we would support every different sized touchscreen out there.

beholder wrote:Thanks for the feedback. That's really helpful.

goonjamin wrote:The one area that is still really clunky on the touch screen is the deck selection drop down box (it works just not that easy to use, especially on the small iphone4 screen).

Do you mean on the New Duel screen where you select colors etc? Or the screen you get when you load a deck?

I think it's not feasible to make Magarena work perfectly on a touchscreen, so don't expect things that require huge changes to the code. Some of the things noted above are caused by screen size and I can't see how we would support every different sized touchscreen out there.

I mean the New Duel screen where you select the colors. What I was thinking at one point would be to add a left and right arrow button that goes though the list one at a time each way. Not ideal if you want to pick something at the bottom I know but I think that would work better (for me at least) than the drop down menu? If I ever get some time I might look at this.

I agree with your last point that big changes are definitely not worth it.

goonjamin wrote:I mean the New Duel screen where you select the colors. What I was thinking at one point would be to add a left and right arrow button that goes though the list one at a time each way. Not ideal if you want to pick something at the bottom I know but I think that would work better (for me at least) than the drop down menu? If I ever get some time I might look at this.

Is this a matter of screen size, where the dropdown list goes off screen? I'm trying to get a picture here of what the problem is exactly.
I'll accept a patch that neatly solves the problem too

It is a screen size issue for me or could be a large finger issue depending on how we look it at

Trying to click the up down arrow of the menu on the small screen is difficult. That said in splashtop I can zoom so it isn't impossible just annoying since I then have to zoom back out and adjust the screen height to hid the menu bar. That is the main reason I didn't try to change it before. Likely more effort than it is worth.

End of the month and a new release as usual. With both Melvin and I having less free time to spend on coding there aren't much changes this time around. But we'll continue to try to improve Magarena even if it's at a slower pace. Have a nice weekend!

no problem dear magarena designers take your time but be sure to impliment muligan system soon

and thanks for this release!

Milod wrote:.... but be sure to impliment muligan system soon

There's another option to deal with the 'bad opening hand' problem in a different way. We could use a smart shuffle system that tries to prevent it from happening. In fact, that's being done now but only for the 40 card generated decks. I'm currently looking into adjusting that smart shuffle routine to work with (almost) every deck. You can read about it here:
http://code.google.com/p/magarena/issues/detail?id=142

Melvin already talked about the above idea on this forum before and it's a neat alternative to mulligan in my opinion.

How about an option to start with a 60 card generated deck?

Batman55 wrote:How about an option to start with a 60 card generated deck?

This looks doable but what makes it desirable to you?