I have delusions of grandeur. I imagine MTG Forge with undo and when the mouse hovers over a card, all of the legal targets would be highlighted. The user interface would look exactly like a real card table, complete with a red zone for attacking. Each card would be perfectly rendered to look like a printed card, even when abilities were added or removed. And MTG Forge would include every Magic card ever printed, so you could play any format that ever existed. I imagine there would be some sort of RPG where you begin with a starter deck and then you battle to become the World Champion. You would earn money and cards by competing in constructed, sealed, and draft tournaments. The tournaments would have multiple rounds and you would have to win each one. Tournaments would have random requirements like no forests, or you must use only creatures or islands. Obviously the deck editor would have to support sideboards since sideboarding in tournaments is almost an art form. MTG Forge would keep your Magic rating and it will be close to your DCI rating.
The AI would be very tough. It would analyze your deck and determine the best way to beat you. The AI would mercilessly beat you again and again. Your Magic skills would improve with time, but playing a pro tour AI would certainly make you black-and-blue. The AI will draft realistically and try to cut your colors. The computer might switch colors midway through the draft just to mess you up. It would also excel in sealed deck tournaments. The AI would be good enough to win pro tour tournaments.
Obviously dreaming is easy and programming is hard, but I keep doing both. --Forge
You had a beautiful dream, then.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope it comes true... someday.
It will come true one day! Just never give up :) You've come a really long way already...
ReplyDeleteI like the dream! :) Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteI'm just surfing by and saw this site. I, too, am a Magic player but has stopped playing since the Champions of Kamigawa Block.
ReplyDeleteI admire your passion, your dedication, and the efforts you poured over this work and I do hope you will achieve the goals you have set yourself, your dreams. If only I could help you but I'm a dummy T_T.
More power to you and if I finish my studies I will definitely help you. We will live your dreams soon.
Programming Magic is a fun problem. Eventide is looking like a great card set and everytime I see a new card I try to figure out if and how I can program it.
ReplyDeleteI still worry about the AI being too easy. A few people have commented that they think the AI is good enough. Later if I want to update the AI I can, but I usually like to put my efforts toward programming more cards.
Thanks for everyones input.
I mention this in a previous comment.
ReplyDeleteIn version 2, which I'm trying to work on, a person should be able to build their own AI. The problem is that building your own AI from scratch is probably too much work, so then there needs to be "helper" functions that simplify programming a different AI.
Version 2 will hopefully have a few custom AI's for specific decks like aggro or Wrath of God. I think that a custom AI playing a prebuilt deck will be a pretty good opponent.
Even though people should be able to build their own AI, there will be no AI versus AI battles. MTG Forge will only get setup for one AI to play against a human player, it just makes the programming a lot easier.
Fantastic dream, Forge.
ReplyDeleteToo bad you have to be awake to do any programming. ;-)
My dream would involve Shandalar-esque wanderings through blocks and meetings creatures with randomized, but realistic decks (always featuring that creature 4x).
ReplyDeleteI stumbled upon your blog while doing research for my own MTG simulator. I had the object model done and was starting implementation. But then I saw that your project is just about what I wanted to do (Shandalar type play) and is much more advanced!
ReplyDeleteIf you ever need help with some external functionalities (I work in C#), I'd be happy to offer mine!
In any ways, I'll keep reading your blog!
Hi Fueled,
ReplyDeleteRight now I'm trying to work on version 2.0 and it is hard to get a project stable enough in order to let other people help. Once everything is working other people should be able to add cards.
Version 1.0 isn't perfect but it lets you play Magic against the computer using all the rules. Programs like MTG Forge are often discussed and started but rarely finished. MTG Forge is "proof of concept" and just plain fun all wrapped up together.