Offline Deck Testing / Playtest / Solitaire (141 Votes)

[gaddlord]

While perhaps difficult to implement, having offline deck testing capability - perhaps by allowing the user to play a deck idea against a computer opponent using a pre-built (with possible options for tournament-winning decks, particular color/theme decks, etc.) - before actually trying to play the deck live would be a phenomenal feature in my opinion. And it will be an phenomenal effort to achieve that as well. The only onces that have manged to make a fully blown AI support for a limited number of sets are Microprose with their Shandalar: Duels of the Planeswalkers. Even they can not make an AI for all sets.

What is feasible is to make a solitaire play when you take first the turn of player A and the the turn of player B.

Votes: 141 by 64 supporters id: 275276 Created: 01.08.2009 14:27 by GHosaPhat (ghosaphat [at] gmail.com) Updated: 30.11.2020 23:22

[gaddlord]

Gad: And it will be an phenomenal effort to achieve that as well. The only ones that have managed to make a fully blown AI support for a limited number of sets are Microprose with their Shandalar: Duels of the Planeswalkers. Even they can not make an AI for all sets.

What is feasible is to make a solitaire play when you take first the turn of player A and the the turn of player B.

[gaddlord]

llittle muttley: offline deck testing WITHOUT ai simulation, just player driven. I hate to have to switch to MWS just for this.

[gaddlord]

Anonymous: I'd just stick with coding Studio and not risk the legal battle from WOTC. There are already enough programs out there that already do this fairly well. Try OnlinePlayTable, Cockatrice, or Magic Workstation.

[gaddlord]

danielcristian: It would be nice to have an interface where you can take a hand, tap and untap a card, and imagine what is happening, maybe with manual mana, life, destroy effects and no more.

[gaddlord]

Anonymous: Not even necessarily against a computer, just being able to play test your deck by yourself to check the speed and over all fun of the deck are essential to deck building. Sure the Ai opponent would be great, but I think a solitaire situation, or the ability to play your own decks is a much simpler solution, and much more like what magic players actually do to test their new decks. Though honestly with the statistics engine on this sick program, and some good math skill, play testing may be practically unnecessary; but inevitably more fun.

[gaddlord]

Speakender: Solitaire play, where I can just play my deck with no opponent or even IP play against a human opponent would work as well.

[gaddlord]

Gop: In magic workstation you can play one deck vs another using mwsplay -> play a solitaire game. I'm not talking about online multiplayer (so there should be no copyright issues from MTGO etc), rather an electronic version of dealing out 2 decks and swapping sides for each play vs yourself like you might do at the kitchen table :angel:

Would this be a feature worthy of consideration for inclusion? This feature is the only thing holding me back from abandoning MWS for Studio.

[gaddlord]

jmp: I have been tinkering with a deck solitaire program, and I just started using MTG Studio and was able to adapt the xml format of the deck data to the one I was using.

It has lots of work left to do but if anyone is interested in playing with it I will upload it and post it here.

Features: Basically it loads an xml formatted deck file, shuffles it using a basic engine (x++ card swapped with random card), has a simple playing field and a large preview of images (it uses the directory structure from Magic Workstation) . It also can tap and flip cards, and has pretty decent management of cards. I plan on adding a more realistic shuffler with stats, and thats basically it. No AI, no multiplayer, just something quick to test decks digitally.

Let me know what you guys think!

[gaddlord]

lynnxiouyu: love this idea especially for playing magic with friends when I have to travel. I don't want to bring my collection with me (15k + cards) just bring my laptop and play a game....some suggestions ... which you may have thought of!?........btw I'm thinking of laptop vs real cards here...not virtual vs virtual...just fyi.

1: make sure you can zoom in and out of the play area/battle field you know some games last forever and others don't....some get tons of permanents out and some get none. and I'm no programmer but I would think zooming in and out might be ez compared to some other "view" options at your disposal.

2:defenatly need a "hide hand" option...if I play with laptop with friends they may need to look at what i have out more closely, often I would imagine.

3: and maybe even a way to place my opponents cards out into the virtual battle field on my laptop....like i have an enchantment that i cast onto one of there creatures ....i would need some kind of place to put the virtual card so i could keep track of it...like wise if they enchant my cards with something i would need to be able to place on my own cards....maybe all this would be best done with a "sticky" note applied or perhaps the ability to make a temporary blank card in-which i type a little note?

4: tools- dice rollers, coin flippers, life trackers, poison counter trackers, or maybe best just to have a field to type in or maybe a couple fields, just for taking notes....

5: sorry, thought of one more after i posted..........maybe a view inverter, or rather a view flip upside downer so i just have to lay my lap top screen down and my opponents don't need to get my laptop in there hands....IE: push button and now everything is upside down.

5.......well my last suggestion is a saying i hear all too often: "keep it simple stupid"......after all all it needs is to be linked with mtgs....calls the cards in the deck...shuffles and gives a play area ....the player can do the rest....lol please note im not calling you stupid by any strech of the phrase.....rather just stating a good practice. well i hope i helped a little. good luck and i cant wait to see this running.

[gaddlord]

Gad: What kind of Deck Play Testing you need?

1. Is it a simple Solitaire play with ability to load one deck and deal/discard/bury/etc. cards?

2. Is it a Solitaire play with ability to load two decks (yours and opponents) and deal/discard/bury/etc. cards + switch player

3. Is it a Multiplayer over network to play against a real opponent like Magic Workstation Play and Apprentice? Actions like mana burn, effects are exected from command menus.

4. Is it a Multiplayer over network to play against a real opponent like Magic Online? Actions like mana burn and effects are executed automatically.

5. Play against the computer with inbuild AI like Magma?

Please share what exactly is needed? The more details the better.

2D or Isometric perspective of the table you prefer?

[gaddlord]

bertold: Well, I'm not voting, because I'd like a couple of the options, but the poll allows only one choice.

The most basic need I personally have is to be able to test 2 different decks against each other. This, to me, is a must have option for future versions of MTG Studio. But I would also really like to see the ability to play against someone over the network. If rules are also checked automatically, that would be just perfect (BTW, mana burn is no longer in the current rules, so that should be optional). I'm not interested at all in AI play.

As far as graphics are concerned - definitely 2D. I think MTGO does this perfectly.

[gaddlord]

Skylark: Frankly graphics matter very little to me.

But definitely the most important is being able to playtest one deck against another by myself. Playing a solitaire 'against the goldfish' is useful only in a very, very limited fashion.

In terms of the other options, I'd love to be able to play opponents, but this would merely be a bonus. Also I'm not interested in playing against AI at all; developing a program capable of approaching human capability would take a huge amount of effort. Furthermore it would be very difficult for the program to use any of the more esoteric decks out there.