Arcane Wonders Forum

Mage Wars => General Discussion => Topic started by: Fentum on June 16, 2013, 04:51:19 PM

Title: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: Fentum on June 16, 2013, 04:51:19 PM

I just played an on line match of Mage Wars. I had a basic Priestess vs a nice bloke with a basic Beastmaster.

It all worked beautifully.

Let me just say that again...

I JUST PLAYED AN ON LINE MATCH OF MAGE WARS!    ;D

Whay hey!

Check out OCTGN, the virtual tabletop system for card games.
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: szendroib on June 16, 2013, 05:14:30 PM
It would be great to have an active online community like android netrunner has on OCTGN. They even have tournaments from time to time and it helps to promote the game. I guess its good if the fans can play your game even when their real time friends are busy. However it is a topic Arcane Wonders will have to think about, if they want to let it or not. I guess its a good promotion for the game, but I can see the problems aswell. With FFG games it works the was that you can only publish uncensored cards after 6 months. In the meantime owners of the game can scan their cards and update their version's card database. This way they have the uncensored cards.
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: nitrodavid on June 16, 2013, 06:15:17 PM
I would put $100 in a kick starter for this, imagine every box of mage wars you buy comes with a unique code to unlock those cards for you. there could also be 2 free weekly mage decks (pre built) that are free to play that cycle through.
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: cbalian on June 16, 2013, 06:42:25 PM
Definitely that would rock.  I actually just got done playing Magic the Gathering Online.  I would pay money for Mage Wars Online.  The MWO community would rock! 

The cards are all the same (no one has those rare/expensive cards like in MTGO) so it would almost be simpler to implement a server for that.

Definitely hope to see MWO in the future, would be a great revenue source for the Arcane Wonders team and really bring players together from all over the world.  Would love to get in those chat rooms and chat play strategy and such while playing a live game.
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: nitrodavid on June 16, 2013, 06:54:14 PM
it is profitable to build a player base by giving free trial weekly mages online. and then directing players to the online store. AW should look at there own numbers when they see how many people buy the game after they have played it
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: Cosworth on June 17, 2013, 01:14:42 AM

I just played an on line match of Mage Wars. I had a basic Priestess vs a nice bloke with a basic Beastmaster.

It all worked beautifully.

Glad you liked it Fentum. Hope we can get a game in as well during next week. Any suggestions for improvements are also welcome.
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: Fentum on June 17, 2013, 01:26:38 AM

One immediate thought was to stop the cards rotating when placed in the top half of the board. Have all cards 'face' their owner in the split table set up. But orientate right way up always when hovered over and expanded.
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: Cosworth on June 17, 2013, 01:53:50 AM

One immediate thought was to stop the cards rotating when placed in the top half of the board. Have all cards 'face' their owner in the split table set up. But orientate right way up always when hovered over and expanded.
I would suggest to play without the 2-sided table option. That way all cards look right for both players.
I'll put that in the instructions.
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: Björn Stornämd on June 17, 2013, 04:26:27 AM
2 questions.

Does the players have to keep track of all the mana, hit points etc themselves or does the client help with those things?

Does it take long to play a game on the client compared to RL?
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: Cosworth on June 17, 2013, 07:21:26 AM
2 questions.

Does the players have to keep track of all the mana, hit points etc themselves or does the client help with those things?

Does it take long to play a game on the client compared to RL?
Phases initiative to Channeling are automated. The rest is not. It does help you to keep track of stuff though.
Apart from the effort involved in automating every possible discount and effect to spell casting I'm not sure that is even wanted as it transforms the game into something else than a board game.

As for the time involved it should be comparable after the first one or two games or so, but more experience is needed.
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: Fentum on June 17, 2013, 09:03:07 AM

My feel is that it is mostly a manual exercise, as if the boardgame 'bits' are on screen, and you move them around as you would in the flesh. I prefer it that way, as each step is easy to follow, just like the actual boardgame.

Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: Trotsky on June 17, 2013, 12:02:11 PM
I have a game against another new player planned for tonight. I have played a couple of solo games and one last night with my wife (her Priestess deck trounced my Warlord!) Played a little with the program today at work and seems pretty intuitive.

Pretty excited about this development - there is a dearth of local players - would be great to see some online tournaments develop - will be great way to hone my skills for real face to face gaming events which are likely to be few and far between...
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: szendroib on June 17, 2013, 01:44:00 PM
I have a game against another new player planned for tonight. I have played a couple of solo games and one last night with my wife (her Priestess deck trounced my Warlord!) Played a little with the program today at work and seems pretty intuitive.

Pretty excited about this development - there is a dearth of local players - would be great to see some online tournaments develop - will be great way to hone my skills for real face to face gaming events which are likely to be few and far between...

Pretty excited aswell, if Arcane Wonders doesn't mind we could make a topic for finding online opponents, so we could form a little active community, so we can play even when our real life friends are busy.
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: Fentum on June 17, 2013, 02:09:54 PM

Sounds like a plan!
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: Trotsky on June 18, 2013, 11:04:22 AM
Played last night against a another new player - program worked really well. I took the standard Warlock and my opponent the Beastmaster - we treated it as a training game - it sure was fun.
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: sIKE on June 19, 2013, 12:27:52 AM
Just had fun playing a couple of games online. Once I got it down it was quite fun to play, I do miss the poker face aspect of it though...but I think it will allow me to get more repetitions in...
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: nitrodavid on June 19, 2013, 12:40:55 AM
is there a link to this anywhere
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: Cosworth on June 19, 2013, 01:28:46 AM
start from here: http://octgn.gamersjudgement.com (http://octgn.gamersjudgement.com)
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: Trotsky on June 19, 2013, 08:44:37 AM
Looking for a game - 6pm UK time - tomorrow - Thursday (20th June) - anyone interested?
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: Mike1977 on June 19, 2013, 09:33:02 AM
Feel free to add me on skype guys:     live:mike.r.lacroix

Would love to get some games in.
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: Cosworth on June 19, 2013, 12:47:02 PM
Trotsky I'm game tomorrow 7pm CET.

My skype: "Cosworth32"
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: Trotsky on June 19, 2013, 02:28:22 PM
Cool - see you there Cosworth

My Skype is: trotsky888
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: Fentum on June 19, 2013, 04:23:31 PM

I am a very happy chappie.

Logged on to OCTGN tonight an there were FIVE guys looking for a game. Great stuff.

Does that make me on line ambassador as the OP?    ::)
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: CaptainGeek on June 19, 2013, 07:01:23 PM
This sounds really awesome, but I would like to hear something official from Arcane Wonders before trying it.
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: Mike1977 on June 19, 2013, 09:20:23 PM
I'm not speaking for Arcane Wonders, but I would think that they can only benefit from this.

My opinion of course...
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: Fentum on June 20, 2013, 02:01:07 AM
Hi Captain Geek and Mike,

I was a little worried about that, so I asked openly in these forums.

Pixelgeek, the Arcane Wonders Web Guy, was 'personally fine with it', though we haven't heard directly from AW. Anything that gets people playing is a good thing in my book. Well actually, no. Not pirated games, but anyone with the determination to get through OCTGN clearly has the love for Mage Wars, and has no doubt bought ALL the gear.
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: Boocheck on June 20, 2013, 02:24:29 AM
Well, i wouldnt be so scared about everyone going online :) Actually, what i like is, that i can play against people which i cannot met in real life due to great distances. This also giving me moooore information, how MW is played in different countires.

Its same as in sports. Some national teams excel in defense, some in offense and i am really curios about difference between german beastmaster and england beastmaster :)
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: nitrodavid on June 21, 2013, 08:40:08 AM
i played a game online as well it is very manual, and i think the mana cost is a bit hard to upkeep. but it was still a good and a great way to play online until i official app is made. Kudos
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: Fentum on June 22, 2013, 04:10:51 PM
i played a game online as well it is very manual, and i think the mana cost is a bit hard to upkeep. but it was still a good and a great way to play online until i official app is made. Kudos

Agreed
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: Cosworth on June 23, 2013, 02:54:38 AM
I've noticed some users haven't really used the phase management part of the module and that makes it very manual.
I've thought about ways of making it easy to control casting cost during play, but haven't found a really good way of handling it. So far only a popup with the cards suggested cost could be done. The player would then have to edit the number based on discount from rings and such. Can't decide if that would be more annoying than useful.

Other than that the automation level will slowly increase with each release. Adding channeling for spawnpoints adn familiars for instance could be a nice little touch.

Suggestions are welcome.
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: Fentum on June 23, 2013, 09:36:40 AM
Hey Cosworth.

My agreement with the previous post was ref the idea that your on line effort is great, NOT the issue with mana counting.

I actually prefer the mana to be done manually.

I use the automatic phase option, but you might want to highlight how it works and how to use it in your notes. It seemed a bit weird at first. Once I understood how it worked, it was very helpful.
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: Fentum on June 23, 2013, 10:19:33 AM

Hey Cosworth, will the OCTGN system work with a MAC?
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: Cosworth on June 23, 2013, 02:06:05 PM
Mac is not an option as far as I know, but I'm no apple expert
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: nitrodavid on June 23, 2013, 07:37:55 PM
is the platform smart enough to know if you have a ring that reduces mana for subtype mana/metamagic etc it can reducede mana used by 1.

or when you play a card a pop up comes (with +- next to it) displaying recommended mana and a [pay] button which will reduce your mana. you adjust the cost before you pay.

I found it isn't that people find it hard or cheat, they just forget to pay mana because it is small and off the board. and the font colour of the other mages mana mages it hard to see it as well.
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: Cosworth on June 24, 2013, 01:01:43 AM
is the platform smart enough to know if you have a ring that reduces mana for subtype mana/metamagic etc it can reducede mana used by 1.

It's getting there before long. Thanks to sIKE more data are entered into the system allowing me to automate more. Next release will include channeling for spawnpoints and familiars. It will also detect if Harmonize is in play on a card.
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: isel on June 24, 2013, 06:43:06 AM
I played this weekend, and in my opinion its a great program maybe 2 changes:

-In Planning phase: when you pick a card, your cards and oponent are in the same line, maybe one line for player one and another for player 2.

-When you finish your turn if you have some spell whithout use the program must put this cards back to your spell book.

I have another ideas but i think these are the most important. Thanks for all !!
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: Björn Stornämd on June 28, 2013, 04:13:33 PM
Just had my first game on octgn and it worked nicely. Took 90 min with a patient opponent who thought me how to do all the little things.
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: Fentum on June 29, 2013, 03:49:42 AM
Just had my first game on octgn and it worked nicely. Took 90 min with a patient opponent who thought me how to do all the little things.

Yup. I have found all the OCTGN players to be very courteous.
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: Boocheck on July 01, 2013, 02:27:55 AM
I must agree, my first oponent/mentor have a great patience with me :) only think i fully regret is that i was not able to finish our game :(

Big thx to OCTGN guys for their work! And for Sike too :)
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: karlomarco on July 05, 2013, 12:57:45 AM
Let's get a group together on OCTGN! Seems like a great way to strengthen the community and play with a greater variety of people.

My OCTGN username is karlomarco. I'm loggef in right now and am waiting for an opponent!
Title: Re: I just played a proper Mage Wars match on-line versus a real opponent
Post by: Sailor Vulcan on July 10, 2013, 05:28:47 PM
I think you spelled your own username wrong or something. There is no karlomarco on the list of OCTGN users on the community chat. Also, I'm on OCTGN right now if anyone wants to help me test my new spellbook build that I hope to be the first one I build in real life. My username is Henry_Ketchup.