Forge

What is MTG Forge?

MTG Forge is an implementation of Magic the Gathering that lets you play against a computer AI opponent using the all rules of a real game. You can construct decks for you and the computer to play with, currently about 4865 cards are available. You can also play in a sealed deck format against the computer. This program only lets you play against the computer, you cannot play against another human player over the Internet.

Forge Related Blog

Latest Beta of Forge

What are MTG Forge requirements?

Since Forge is written in Java, it is compatible on any Operating System that can run the Java Runtime Environment. Forge is currently compatible with JRE 5 and 6, but in the future may not be backwards compatible with older versions of Java. Some previous beta versions may require JRE 6 as they have used methods that did not exist in JRE 5. If you have difficulties with your System not working with Forge, please post on the forums so we can attempt to help. This program works best with a screen resolution of 1024 by 768 or better. If you don't have Java installed, download the JRE

How to run MTG Forge?

1. Download the file attached to the beta release thread.
2. Extract the contents into a directory.
3. Double-click the file "run-forge.jar" or from the command line type: "java -jar run.forge.jar"

What if double-clicking doesn’t work?

Sometimes double-clicking will open the jar file in a different program. In Windows, you may need to right-click and open the properties to change the launching program to Java. This might be different in OSX or Linux systems.

What phases does MTG Forge have?

MTG Forge currently doesn't stop at every phase. On the player's turn, the two main phases and combat have stops for player actions. Additionally, during the upkeep phase if an ability triggers, the player may also have an opportunity to act.

During the AIs turn, the player may act when the computer passes in Main 1, during combat, and at the computer's end of turn (this may need to be enabled in the menu option).

Who wrote this program?

The original programmer can be found at mtgrares at yahoo com. A while back he open sourced the project and let the other developers improve it to their heart's content. At this time, there are many developers who help in different stages of the game. Some of us work on the infrastructure of the program, others work on creating new abilities and cards that use them, but there is a lot of behind the scenes action going on. For each release, it is common for the release developer to give a shout out for those that helped in that version.

Where do I file bug reports?

Posting on Forge's Forum is really the best place. We try to get to the bug reports as quickly as we can, but some things can be more difficult to diagnose than others. The more information you provide for us, the easier it may be to recreate the issue. So things like what you had in play, what your opponent had in play and what you were doing when it occurred can be vital. Once we can recreate the issue easily, it's that much simpler to track it down in the code base and resolve it.

Development

I want to help develop Forge. How do I get started?

Forge is written in Java, so knowledge in that language (or similar Object Oriented languages like C++ or C#) is very helpful. However, we have noticed that adding cards is also possible for people without programming experience.

A development environment such as Eclipse is beneficial, as it helps writing, compiling and testing your changes.

There are essentially two ways of obtaining the source code of Forge: Either ask in the forums or, if you plan to contribute code regularly or want to stay at the to of new developments, get access to our SVN repository.

My system is all setup to help. What now?

Take a look through the /res/cardsfolder folder. This is where all the card data lives. If you know of cards that are missing from Forge, see if there are similar cards that already exist. You may be able to just use the keywords that exist to add new cards. Also take a look at the API for Card Data Objects in Forge which tries to explain how the card structure works and how you can use the API to create new cards.

What is Magic: The Gathering?

The first collectible card game invented in 1994. Their website is www.wizards.com/magic Each player starts with 20 life points and the goal is to reduce your opponents life points to 0. The official rulebook can be downloaded from the Wizards official website.