The feedback I get is erratic and usually consists of wanting more cards. I usually get about one e-mail from users. Most of the time the feedback isn’t useful at all. I have not had any other programmers contribute anything, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because I’m not sure exactly how someone else could help. Even with a team of 2, the work would have to be divided up, and currently I just sort of write code off the top of my head, and change anything that is broken or needs to be changed. Hopefully version 2 will a structure that would allow user’s to more easily submit their own card creations.The most annoying e-mails are the one’s that say, “Have you been shutdown by Wizards of the Coast yet?” Wizards owns Magic: The Gathering. I guess my program is in a gray area, since it implements the rules and cards of a copyrighted game, but I am not profiting from it nor taking money away from Wizards of the Coast. Wizards has their own version of Magic on the computer appropriated named Magic Online.
The other type of annoying feedback that I receive goes like this. “Hi, I’m a programmer and your code looks really ugly. You could have done a lot of things better although it is cool that you can play against the computer.” Hm…interesting. First, an insult. Second, another insult. And then finally a minor praise. Is a praise wrapped in an insult still a praise? I am amazed the number of people who would look at the code and then put me down because I hard code values. They don’t contribute to the project, no they are too good for that, but they can spot bad code from a mile away, thanks. Pardon my French but some things like card names have to be hard coded somewhere.
I am a mac user and i love MTG and your program. So it is good to see something that is more universal. Are their images of the cards as i have not seen any yet
ReplyDeleteOk - i think i fixed that issue - it is downloading the pics now and seems to be working ok!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad "other platforms" likes Mac and Unix user's can use my program. Maybe there are alot of Magic Mac users, who knows. I am glad I was able to make the downloading of card pictures automatic, at first it was just manual.
ReplyDeleteDon't sweat it. There's always going to be haters out there. I just hope that you're enjoying your work. I'm a junior programmer and I know that aside from playing my own work I also enjoy it when others enjoy the fruits of my labor. I like what you've done so far and look forward to seeing what you will do in the future.
ReplyDeleteHi
ReplyDeleteI'm a guy who is going through your archived blog entries: my name is Ziggy and if you've noticed this post you might also begin to notice others creep up. Soon it will be as though I have always been here!
I am a beginning programmer too, and I find your project very cool. I wanted to say, though, about people saying "you're code it ugly". That's only an insult if you want it to be. If someone thinks my code is ugly or needlessly complex, I think that means I need to focus more on top-down design. One day I will write something that isn't ugly or slow, and then someone will say "dude, this rocks!" And all those times when people have dissed my code will fade away into jelly. So you know: look on the bright side.
Ha ha, you made this entry like 2 years ago, so probably the emotions and relevant details have gone out of scope! See you next time!
z.