March 28, 2024, 07:12:05 AM

Author Topic: Mage Wars on OCTGN  (Read 81279 times)

jacksmack

  • Legendary Mage
  • *****
  • Posts: 1073
  • Banana Stickers 19
    • View Profile
Re: Mage Wars on OCTGN
« Reply #15 on: September 16, 2014, 06:09:22 AM »
I havent read the rulebook yet :O

sIKE

  • Playtester
  • Legendary Mage
  • *
  • Posts: 4172
  • Banana Stickers 18
  • Ugh
    • View Profile
Re: Mage Wars on OCTGN
« Reply #16 on: September 16, 2014, 09:18:16 AM »
Quote
I imagine that would help a great deal.  Most of the people I've tried to teach Mage Wars to (in real life) are completely overwhelmed by information on their first game, and refuse to play any more afterwards (since it takes so long for each game to play out).  Apprentice mode doesn't really seem to help.  I imagine most of the people trying to play on OCTGN are a little more experienced with the game, but you never know. 
I was thinking an OCTGN type cheat sheet, not how do I play Mage Wars cheat sheet. First, OCTGN is not here to replace IRL games, second I hope that someone played who IRL and has a limited number of local players is looking for a deeper pool to play in finds OCTGN to be a great solution. I do want new players to MW on OCTGN also and maybe a cheat sheet for both types of players might be in order. I think Laddinfance was working on a new players FAQ back 6 months ago and got busy and that went to the side (for now).

I was more thinking like:

How do I roll the dice?
- Press F1 type in the number of dice you wish to roll, the effect dice is rolled every time and can be ignored if not needed (this is done for simplicity's sake).

How do I roll for Initiative?

Items like this, but keep it down to 10 or so items that can be printed out or pulled up on a second screen while playing.

  • Favourite Mage: Malakai Priest

Ganpot

  • Jr. Mage
  • **
  • Posts: 99
  • Banana Stickers 0
    • View Profile
Re: Mage Wars on OCTGN
« Reply #17 on: September 17, 2014, 06:18:30 AM »
Maybe it simply helps to read the Rule Book?! The Rulebook is fun to read if you are a fan of fantasy board games.
I did it when i started playing and i had no problem at all in my first game.
After that i had a lot of fun checking out all the cards available and reading the entire codex supplement with all the additional clarifications.

Don't try to teach Mage Wars to people, that are to lazy to do the first step on their own (reading the Rulebook). They won't become the fans you want them to be and it's a waste of time and energy.

I personally did read the rulebook before my first match (and constantly consulted it during the first few games).  But Mage Wars has so many rules that need to be remembered that almost everyone will forget something here or there on their first couple of matches. 

And in my experience, the absolute worst thing you can do while trying to teach the game to new players is to force them to read the 40+ page rulebook.  Nothing kills excitement like 30 minutes of absolute boredom (and there's still the chance that they won't understand the rulebook anyway).  If I tried it your way, I don't think I would have even gotten one person to enjoy the game.  As it is, I'm still only sitting on a 3 out of 14 success rate. 

I suppose that perhaps the problem could be that a lot of casual players are prejudiced against complexity in games because they associate it too closely to "extreme difficulty I don't understand- headache, headache, not fun" rather than merely being a greater time investment.

I'm not sure if the problem is necessarily complexity, or simply that Mage Wars throws everything at you at once.  A lot of board games (and card games) start out simple, and then become gradually more complicated as time goes on.  For example, in Magic the Gathering each player only starts with (at most) 7 cards to choose from (some of which you probably cannot play until later on).  Summoner Wars does start with things on the board, but only allows you to take a few actions per turn, regardless of how much stuff is present (in addition to a hand limit). 

I think that when faced with so many choices and such complexity right off the bat, a lot of new players just panic.  Which is a shame, because the choices and complexity are the absolute best parts of the game.  I for one cannot go back to any traditional card game, because I'll just end up resenting the card draw mechanic. 

I was thinking an OCTGN type cheat sheet, not how do I play Mage Wars cheat sheet.
I thought you might be, but I wasn't sure due to your mention of an existing Keyboard Mapping document.  Out of curiosity, would it be feasible to add some (optional) buttons to the interface instead of relying entirely on keyboard mappings?  Things such as: attack (roll dice), end phase/turn, add token, etc. 

sIKE

  • Playtester
  • Legendary Mage
  • *
  • Posts: 4172
  • Banana Stickers 18
  • Ugh
    • View Profile
Re: Mage Wars on OCTGN
« Reply #18 on: September 17, 2014, 09:45:07 AM »
Quote
I thought you might be, but I wasn't sure due to your mention of an existing Keyboard Mapping document.  Out of curiosity, would it be feasible to add some (optional) buttons to the interface instead of relying entirely on keyboard mappings?  Things such as: attack (roll dice), end phase/turn, add token, etc.
I have a request into the OCTGN dev team to add the ability to define (and place) buttons and then let the underlying Python scripts of the game module take care of the responding action when pressed. Once (if) that feature is implemented I will add buttons for Dice Rolling and Phase Advancement. Tokens are a bit more complex, I have mapped out most Tokens/Markers to have Keyboard shortcuts I could easily add a button to add "Other Tokens" which is the screen that is brought up with all of the Tokens.

One of the bigger recent advancements has been automation to add "default" markers to cards. Such as Pet/Blood Reaper/Holy Avenger markers are placed on the Mage card when it is revealed. The Anvil Throne Warlords runes are placed on his Mage Stats card when it is revealed. Load, Egg, Mist, Forcefield, and the Dissipate(on Rolling Fog) tokens have been automated, along with Ready markers (and Ready Marker II). If you haven't tried it in a while, there have been steady improvements in the game automation and it might be worth another look.
  • Favourite Mage: Malakai Priest

MrSaucy

  • Sr. Mage
  • ****
  • Posts: 387
  • Banana Stickers 4
    • View Profile
Re: Mage Wars on OCTGN
« Reply #19 on: September 29, 2014, 06:29:23 PM »
Can somebody help me get the image packs for the Forged in Fire cards? I have installed image packs before. I have the proxy versions of the Forged in Fire cards. I'm really not sure what the problem is. It says that I have successfully installed them, but when I go to view the cards I don't see images. I'm certain I have all the latest updates from OCTGN and that I am not in the proxy view.
« Last Edit: September 29, 2014, 06:35:22 PM by MrSaucy »
"See you space cowboy..."

BoomFrog

  • Full Mage
  • ***
  • Posts: 222
  • Banana Stickers 0
    • View Profile
Re: Mage Wars on OCTGN
« Reply #20 on: September 30, 2014, 09:36:59 AM »
I just wish the validator in the deck builder worked. It works in game, but in the deck builder it seems to always use default costs of 2 sp per level, ignoring my mages training.

Also, it would be nice if the add tokens menu was populated by your recently used tokens list. Guard tokens being in the other tokens list seems like an odd choice.


sIKE

  • Playtester
  • Legendary Mage
  • *
  • Posts: 4172
  • Banana Stickers 18
  • Ugh
    • View Profile
Re: Mage Wars on OCTGN
« Reply #21 on: September 30, 2014, 10:37:57 AM »
I just wish the validator in the deck builder worked. It works in game, but in the deck builder it seems to always use default costs of 2 sp per level, ignoring my mages training.

Also, it would be nice if the add tokens menu was populated by your recently used tokens list. Guard tokens being in the other tokens list seems like an odd choice.
@Boomfrog

Add the Mage card first (to the Mage section of the builder) and then the Mage Stats card that will let the SBB know what rules to enforce.

This would be a nice feature but it would have to come from the OCTGN team. Ctrl+G is the shortcut key strokes to add and flip that particular marker you just have to hover your mouse over that marker. In game it is Right Click on the Card | Toggle Markers | Toggle Guard Marker

Are you alluding to the fact that it is in the Toggle Markers menu? If so that is a no win situation for me. If I were to move out all of those Toggle menu items to the root I would have others complaining the other way.

Three or four releases back I went though and cleaned up all of those shortcuts and re-organized those menus, overall the response to that work has been mostly positive.
  • Favourite Mage: Malakai Priest

V10lentray

  • Member of Arcane Duels
  • Playtester
  • Legendary Mage
  • *
  • Posts: 749
  • Banana Stickers 1
    • View Profile
Re: Mage Wars on OCTGN
« Reply #22 on: September 30, 2014, 10:40:22 AM »
I just wish I knew how to get OCTGN to work.
  • Favourite Mage: Wychwood Druid

sIKE

  • Playtester
  • Legendary Mage
  • *
  • Posts: 4172
  • Banana Stickers 18
  • Ugh
    • View Profile
Re: Mage Wars on OCTGN
« Reply #23 on: September 30, 2014, 11:39:50 AM »
I just wish I knew how to get OCTGN to work.
What do you mean?
  • Favourite Mage: Malakai Priest

V10lentray

  • Member of Arcane Duels
  • Playtester
  • Legendary Mage
  • *
  • Posts: 749
  • Banana Stickers 1
    • View Profile
Re: Mage Wars on OCTGN
« Reply #24 on: September 30, 2014, 11:43:19 AM »
I'm not really sure. I've gotten it to load a couple of times, but there are never any players online, or at least I can't figure out how to find anyone.   Then after a short period it says I'm disconnected and doesn't reconnect. 

Maybe I need to set up a MW "playdate" to have someone walk me through a match or something.
  • Favourite Mage: Wychwood Druid

sIKE

  • Playtester
  • Legendary Mage
  • *
  • Posts: 4172
  • Banana Stickers 18
  • Ugh
    • View Profile
Re: Mage Wars on OCTGN
« Reply #25 on: September 30, 2014, 02:12:16 PM »
There is a group on Facebook to help with scheduling a meet up.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/447457058700834/

  • Favourite Mage: Malakai Priest

pete2

  • Full Mage
  • ***
  • Posts: 110
  • Banana Stickers 0
    • View Profile
Re: Mage Wars on OCTGN
« Reply #26 on: October 01, 2014, 03:40:30 PM »
Maybe it simply helps to read the Rule Book?! The Rulebook is fun to read if you are a fan of fantasy board games.
I did it when i started playing and i had no problem at all in my first game.
After that i had a lot of fun checking out all the cards available and reading the entire codex supplement with all the additional clarifications.

Don't try to teach Mage Wars to people, that are to lazy to do the first step on their own (reading the Rulebook). They won't become the fans you want them to be and it's a waste of time and energy.


I'm not so sure about that. Be careful about over-generalizing schwenk. Some people learn faster by trial and error with the rulebook on the side for reference. Granted, this trial-by-fire style of learning might depend on being defeated a lot by opponents with a better grasp of the rules. I know that when I first started playing I didn't do a read through all at once before my first game. I didn't even play it in apprentice mode.

And make no mistake, mage wars is not just for competitive players. It's a great casual game once you have a grasp of the rules. I suppose that perhaps the problem could be that a lot of casual players are prejudiced against complexity in games because they associate it too closely to "extreme difficulty I don't understand- headache, headache, not fun" rather than merely being a greater time investment.

I think that the kind of gamers who would like mage wars if they actually managed to get into it might be far greater than the number who will actually ever be willing to try it. I think new mage wars players generally fit into two groups (not mutually exclusive):  patient, casual gamers who enjoy mage wars enough to press through the relatively huge learning curve, and experienced/competitive gamers who don't need as much patience or enjoyment to get into it.

I really wish more people played Mage Wars though.


djeez..Arcane Wonders..this last sentence from Sailor Vulcan just says it all...
  • Favourite Mage: Wychwood Druid

Cancuino

  • New Mage
  • *
  • Posts: 31
  • Banana Stickers 0
    • View Profile
Re: Mage Wars on OCTGN
« Reply #27 on: October 01, 2014, 05:58:27 PM »
Hi, I'm looking for someone to play once or twice a week. It's hard for me to find someone to play it on the board.
Thanks. 

Boocheck

  • Playtester
  • Legendary Mage
  • *
  • Posts: 2108
  • Banana Stickers 3
    • View Profile
Re: Mage Wars on OCTGN
« Reply #28 on: October 02, 2014, 01:56:18 AM »
It would be wise to add, if you are european, Asustralian or America resident. Time gaps could be deadly :)
  • Favourite Mage: Bloodwave Warlord
I am one with the force, the force is with me! (Warlord is still my fav mage ;) )

Cancuino

  • New Mage
  • *
  • Posts: 31
  • Banana Stickers 0
    • View Profile
Re: Mage Wars on OCTGN
« Reply #29 on: October 02, 2014, 01:57:09 AM »
Sorry about that, I'm European.