Adding markers
As I announced last time, I have been working on the markers system. Now games can allow the creation of markers. Here is what pops up when you try to add one:
Ok, now I guess I have to explain.
OCTGN 2.0 supports graphical markers instead of text overlays (like 1.x did).
At the bottom, there is a set of 8 pre-defined markers. You can name them as you want.
In the middle, the game-defined markers. Each game can define any number of custom markers. To allow for extensibility, any game extension (e.g., new sets of cards) can add new markers to a game. For testing purposes, I have created a few MtG markers. (Trivia: can you name at least one card creating each of those ? Most are easy because they are either common or from a recent extension. I suppose the ‘verse’ and ‘blood’ counters are the hard ones.)
Now, the number of markers defined for a game may become quite large. Well, not for most games, probably. But I guess Magic is one example of a game having a indecent amount of different counters. Two features may help you create markers more efficiently:
- The list at the top of the dialog box displays the ten last markers you’ve created. Very useful, since you usually create very few different markers during a game.
- The filter box lets you filter the list of displayed markers, helping you find what you need faster. But honestly, I’m considering removing this feature. The markers are sorted by name anyway, and the current layout displays approx. 45 markers on the screen, which is more than most games will ever use. So please don’t get too much attached to it. 😉
Next time, I’ll talk about how markers are manipulated and displayed on the table area.
WE WANT YOU!
.NET 3.0 enables easy skinning of applications, with a lot of awesome design possibilites.
I definitively want to give OCTGN 2.0 a cool look and feel. The downside is that if I do this, it will slow down development (I can’t develop and design at the same time), and I’m surely not the most skilled designer in the world.
So, I open up the contest: become the OCTGN 2.0 user interface designer! Anyone interested can contact me to learn more about this.
Have a nice day everyone,
jods
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OCTGN.net development 
November 26, 2006 at 10:29 pm
This is looking awesome so far. I can’t wait fot this new OCTGN to come out. Now, for the trivia part:
– +1/+1: Well, this one is extremely easy… I’ll just name Dragon Blood, a limited staple.
– -1/-1: Serrated Arrows, another staple card.
– Blood: Rakdos Riteknife is the only one I know about.
– Charge: Aether Vial, really famous.
– Divinity: The Myojins.
– Ki: The Bakus, and the Baku Altar… I had to look up for this one, I didn’t know about Ki counters (I disliked the Kami block)
– Spore: Thallids and Thelon of Havenwood.
– Time: Suspended cards. Deep-sea Kraken is just lovely.
– Verse: Serra’s Hymn.
I have a question, though : Do you know what will be the naming format of the card images? It would be great if I could use the scans provided by the people of MWS. The current naming of the image files in OCTGN is very exclusive, and less practical.
November 26, 2006 at 11:27 pm
Congrats for the trivia. The blood counter only appears on two cards, as far as I know. You correctly named one, the race for the second one is still open!
The naming format for images is pretty much settled on, yes. It will be 3 digits IDs: 001.jpg, 002.jpg etc. Each set starts with 001.jpg, no more big numbers like 110603227.jpg
OCTGN 2.0 may (or maybe not) have a surprise about card images… BTW, why would you prefer MWS scans rather than the patches, which the OCTGN community creates?
November 27, 2006 at 12:17 am
Some of their scans have higher quality (not all of them, but most, especially from the older sets). Plus, they are released faster and are easier to find.
November 27, 2006 at 7:00 pm
Another card using blood counters is Blood hound from Mercadian Masques 🙂
What it comes to the patch compatibility issue, I guess it wouldn’t be too hard for OCTGN.NET to support MWSs naming convention or their Masterbase but coders have the ultimate word on this.
Jods: Could you check your email regarding to that design contest. I could post this as a news at cf.com but need more info.
November 27, 2006 at 9:50 pm
Sorry Fork, but your answer is wrong. Blood hound is creating +1/+1 counters. Anyone finds the correct card without looking it up? The card really is not that old!
Out of curiosity: what is MWS naming convention?
November 27, 2006 at 10:08 pm
MWS’ naming convention is “cardname.full.jpg”.
And now I know the other blood counter card, but I had to look up for it…
November 27, 2006 at 10:39 pm
I must say I don’t like that convention much.
1. You have to take special care with special characters (e.g., you can’t have a : in a file name, at least in windows).
2. What happens when there’s several cards named the same (like the 2 legendary brothers in Kamigawa, or the more common basic lands) ? I suppose there’s some kind of v2 suffix, but it just makes the model more complicated.
3. It’s prone to typing errors, either in the file name, or in the set description.
So I guess I’m going to stick to ids. I filename converter shouldn’t be too hard to write anyway… just match the file name with a name in the spoiler, and replace with the id.
Thanks for the suggestion, though.
November 28, 2006 at 4:34 pm
*prays you won’t remove the filterbox*
November 28, 2006 at 9:56 pm
you shouldn’t bring this to my attention: The more I think about it, the more the filterbox goes away 😉
December 11, 2006 at 12:07 pm
Hey,
I wanna be an OCTGN 2.0 user interface designer more than anything else. 🙂
What do i need to do?
Cheers,
Fred
January 9, 2007 at 9:33 pm
Those look sweet, Jods! The only other counters I know of would be the mining counters for the timeshifted gemstone mine, storage counters from the storage lands, and age counters from cumulative upkeep cards (that’s in standard). There are also omen, shred, ice, fuse, depletion and doom counters (extended), but i don’t think those are necessary.
Also, what are you doing with tokens? will that be a general thing (create a card that’s a certain color and controller fills in the info), or are you leaving it open for specifics to be added in afterwards?
January 10, 2007 at 7:12 pm
@LTG:
the counters shown in the screenshot are just some tests. They won’t be bundled with the install of OCTGN. Counters will be distributed with the games and/or the card sets. Which means that each set can introduce its new counters.
So your game should always have all its counters available in OCTGN. Unless it allows the players to freely choose the counter type, that is. But then that’s exactly why the custom markers are there.
The token aren’t implemented yet, but I have pretty much settled my mind about them. This will surely be the topic of another post but in the meantime, let me quickly answer your question: each set will be able to introduce new tokens just like the markers do.
May 24, 2007 at 12:38 am
Hey, is the comp still open? I wanna help design :), do u still need any help? drop me an email… thanks!
June 7, 2007 at 5:41 pm
@MageX:
Honestly, I finally did the part I was asking help for. But there’s still much to do, and you may want to create a custom theme for OCTGN 2.0. So nothing is lost!
Unfortunately, I have very little spare time right now, and I won’t be able to guide you at the moment. But if you stay tuned, the time will surely come! (Or just go and try to figure it out for yourself.)
Thanks for your interest!