Arcane Wonders Forum
Mage Wars => General Discussion => Topic started by: Wiz-Pig on May 20, 2013, 10:42:26 PM
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I put together an indexed and organized 32 page document containing scans of all the cards released in the boxset and first expansion. I'm posting here to make sure it's ok with Arcane Wonders for me to share it. And assuming it is, to solicit some suggestions on how I can go about sharing a 102mb pdf? Break it into multiple documents maybe?
Just so you get a sense of what I am talking about.. it's organized generally as follows:
Section 1- Equipment (organized by equipment slot)
Section 2- Main (Each organized into Creatures, Conjurations, Enchantments, and Incantations, then by level)
I. Arcane
II. Dark
III. Holy
IV. Mind
V. Nature
VI. War
VII. Minor Schools
Section 3- Attack Spells (by school, then by level)
Appendix- Walls
I wouldn't mind comments on how I might better organize this as well, if anyone thinks there is a better system that isn't too complex. I may wait for the next set to come out before I print this out myself so I can include those card in an organized way.
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Why don't you just use CardDB? You can sort the cards by various means and there are pictures of each card. I realise the forcemaster / warlord isn't on there yet - but that's a different topic all together.
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I decided I wanted a complete and indexed reference that could be easily viewed and prefer to be able to have a printed form. Also, like you said CardDB isn't exactly keeping up with the releases. In case you misunderstood I've already put the entire document together.
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Ah my apologies I thought it was a future project. Do you have all the promos within the document as well?
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Well, I think if Arcane Wonders agrees in sharing, the best choice to share a large pdf is definitely via Dropbox :)
If it is ok for them to make that file circulate, that would be great for working on spellbooks without having the game with you. Yes, I know you can do that with the Excel sheets that have been posted somewhere, but having the scans makes things, at least for me, faster, easier and nicer :)
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@Paleblue I don't have access to the promos. I could include them if someone were to send some to me ;)
@Feedback my thoughts exactly, and being able to look at nine cards on a page is nice. I could have fit more per page, but I wanted to leave some breathing room so it was easier to look at the document. I'll check out dropbox.
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have you gotten any word on this, personally i would like to know if there is an available PDF before i spend a whole weekend scanning my own cards just so i can build decks in combination with an excel spell builder (because i cant remember the wordings of every singe card) while i am traveling on the train/plane and while i am on break at work.
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I'm still waiting on a response. My inquiry has been forwarded from the head of customer service to someone who can hopefully give me an answer.
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This pdf would help me out a ton. Hopefully it gets released.
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To answer your Question:
How would I do it? Close to what you have done already. The changes I would make, would be:
Do the card images by collection: Core, Forcemaster vs. Warlord, Conquest of Kumanjaro, etc and Promos (by release (and I would not drop the Promos out as the went in to standard release))
I would then Group: Attack, Creatures, Equipment, Conjurations, Enchantments, and Incantations (Alphabetical Order)
Then further Subgroup: Arcane, Dark, Holy, Mind, Nature, War, Air, Earth, Fire, Water (Alphabetical Order)
The reason I would do the card images by collection is so I do not have to insert images of new stuff amongst the old stuff I have previously done. The index up front would be the piece that integrates the collections into one by Group and Subgroup and then by Level. Would almost love to shove into an Access DB :)
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sIke, I actually reorganized closer to what you are suggesting before handing the document off to the Arcane Wonders team. Still waiting on a response as to what they want to do. I used the same sort of document building software that they use to lay out magazines and books.
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would it be a good guess to say MW has not responded back to you because they don't want you to release the indexed cards without actually saying no. I wish they would just give you a yes or no answer already. and I think I need to just scan my own cards for personal use.
I might even make a database program (for myself) but that's just because I am an obsessive engineer that loves tinkering with excel and such
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I wouldn't come to that conclusion yet. They did respond to me to tell me they are still mulling it over. I think that Memorial Day weekend has something to do with it. Plus, I wouldn't assume that it's their highest priority, lol.
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just my luck, that i planed to scan all my pages of mage wars cards this weekend (they are already in 9 slot ultra-pro, spell time and alphabetized)... and my scanner is broken
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Any update from arcane wonders?
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Nope, I'll let you know as soon as there is. Last thing they said was that they were still mulling it over.
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Be pretty keen on this also. I like being able to browse through all the cards while I'm reading session summaries and mulling over strategies. I could also give it to friends to plan their spellbook before they come over.
It'd be a shame for AW to say no, as it's something could make themselves anyway, is just a hassle and less time to be playing :)
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Idk, at this point I'm starting to assume they have forgotten about it entirely. Still no official decision.
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Sounds like a great idea Wiz-Pig! :D
Since this has been 2 months they may have. It wouldn't take two months to say yes or no, even if they were debating it. Probably busy with the errata and testing and upcoming expansion and other stuff and it just fell through the cracks.
I'd maybe ask cust svc again just to follow up one last time though, that might bring it back up. It should only take a week or so to say yes or no to being able to share a PDF you created. I would like to see it and use it.
And yes Dropbox is a great way to go for large files.
As far as organizing/splitting it up, in pdf you can put index, table of contents on it so it is easy to navigate find things. I'd love it for hard copy offline purposes. I put my cards in 3 x 3 clear vinyl binder pages, so the 9 cards per page definitely seems to make sense as you mentioned.
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In another thread AW reps outline that they are developing an in house deck builder. It's probable that they're considering your request alongside this project. I get the impression they're preferring to manage the release an distribution of the card work as much as possible.
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If you check out what Pixelgeek is doing (http://forum.arcanewonders.com/index.php?topic=12794) it's no great stretch to see what the in-house solution might be.
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That is pretty fantastic! I'm glad they've decided to implement this sort of solution for an online reference. I even know how to do it myself; it's actually quite simple; the work, which is still considerable is all in the organization of and the shear number of cards.
The point of my doc was to be able to print it out, for a non-computer reference. And yes I realize the potential issues with that, but it is also possible to watermark the images and they are scaled to about 2/3rds size.
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To all,
Greetings and salutations. My apologies for not updating you fine folks sooner. You are correct in that we are working with Pixelgeek to create a web capable card database. In fact as I type this, the database is being populated right behind me. (Kumanjaro is done. Core and FvW are in process.) I don't have an expected date of completion yet, but we are putting a lot of pressure on getting this done as soon as possible. As soon as I have an ETA, I will be sure to post it! Thank you all for your patience. And Wiz-Pig, thank you very much for your enthusiasm and hard work. We appreciate it so much. You helped us see the importance of this project and getting it off the ground.
Sincerely,
John
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There's lovely now, boyo.
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All hail Thessial and pixelgeek.
HAIL!
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Hail Yes!
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Awesome. Thanks much to Thessial and Pixel-Geek!
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The last thing you probably want as requests, and I note you say web capable database, but one of the benefits of what wiz-pig was proposing was offline (even, horror, paper based) access. Please keep this in mind, as the rest of the world isnt yet as internet ready as the US :)
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Moon,
Requests are fine, just so long as you don't throw stones at us if we can't fulfill them. :D
However in your case, I am trying to get more details on yours. Web-capable can also be thought of as Website embedded. So in theory if you can access these forums, you should have access to the database (when its ready).
Does that resolve your concern? If not please give me more details.
Thank you,
John
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Thanks for replying Thessial, perhaps it's a little plebeian in this world of clever tricks and toys, but being able to have a simple paper based reference would be really handy. I understand not printing images of the cards in the rule books as it would bulk them out hugely. But as a resource, a pdf to print or have on a tablet would be a godsend.
You could even make access based on provision of a serial number or something if you're worried about rip off's. Although I'd really doubt someone print and playing MW :)
Basically we don't always, as don't many in the world, have permanent portable web access. So I want a solution that can be downloaded and run without permanent connectivity. So perhaps the Web based solution you're working on could meet this need, depending on how it's run.
I want to be able to lookup cards when I'm on the bus or elsewhere away from a connection. I want to be able to check the conditions on a card while I'm playing without giving away which hidden card I'm checking. I think there are reasonable reasons for an on hand resource that shouldn't need an internet connection to use.