Today I don’t have a hard-hitting, aka boring, programming topic to talk about so instead I’m just going to chat about MTG Forge versus Magic Online. Let me start out by saying that Magic Online is a great piece of software despite all of its flaws and in an odd way it was the inspiration for MTG Forge.Magic Online is great. It enforces all of the rules and shows beginners what should really happen when you are playing a game of Magic. It never accidentally skips any steps and will only allow you to make legal moves, versus accidents that sometimes happen when playing with friends.
Much of my rules knowledge comes from watching Magic Online enforce every rule to the Nth degree. Back in the day when I was just learning the rules Magic Online taught me that lands were colorless because I couldn’t use them with Mourner’s Shield. (I’m sure many new players make the same mistake that I did.)
Magic Online is great but it has its flaws and personally most of those flaws are people. Yes playing against another person can be very challenging and fun but it can also be frustrating if they disconnect (on purpose) when you are winning. MTG Forge lets you use your most lethal, dangerous decks without annoying your opponent. Do you like land destruction, sure, go nuts. Are you a fan of discard control, go for it.
MTG Forge is not a replacement for Magic Online but is more of a solitaire version of Magic. Magic Online and MTG Forge cannot really be compared against each other because that they have different goals. Magic Online is trying to provide a fun atmosphere where you can spend money and MTG Forge provides hours of enjoyment by playing against the computer.
MTG Forge also lets player experience very powerful and very expensive cards like Land Tax, Wrath of God, Birds of Paradise, Black Lotus, Time Twister, and five of the planeswalkers.
MTG Online is also buggy as hell where as MTG Forge is less so. I can't for the life of me get MTG online to run on 3 seperate computers of mine at all. MTG Forge has no problem running on any system I ever put it on.
ReplyDeleteI have, for years, wanted to see a good player Vs AI magic program. The only other one I know to exist is MAGMA, and while it has over 4000 cards, it is really little more than creatures and creature buffs.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to see someone trying to create an AI for us to play against. From reading your blog, you seem to have a love for the game and a talent for programming. If anyone can bring us an AI, it seems to be you.
Please don't shelve this project. Keep at it. Get us some cards to toy with so we can build some really diverse decks to challenge your AI. Good luck.
I've tried your program and it seems to be really nice - and long avaited! - piece of software. Thanks a lot!
ReplyDeleteRight now ManaPool doesn't want to work for some reason. That's for bugs.
There are some details in UI which I'd change - but it's only me and perhaps you'll develop it later on. Also the more cards the more fun, for sure. Though I understand problems of coding all the rules - and especially AI - fairly well.
So - thanks for the program, good luck and - just in case - I'm eager to propose any help in making this wonderful project even better.
MTGO is NOT a "great piece of software". It's horrible from a developer's perspective. It just happens to be the best officially SANCTIONED Magic software that money can continuously buy!
ReplyDeleteOh, wait, scratch that.. it's the ONLY officially sanctioned Magic software....
Uh... Rob, do you have access to the mtgo source code ?
ReplyDelete(ok it's buggy and slow as hell, for a gui that just shows some cards and buttons...)
" I can't for the life of me get MTG online to run on 3 seperate computers of mine at all. MTG Forge has no problem running on any system I ever put it on."
ReplyDeleteMTG Forge has very low requirements and should run on any computer.
Well maybe I made a mistake saying that MTG Online was a good piece of software, lol. I just presumed since Wizards probably spent a million or two on it that it would be passable.
ReplyDeletePeople seem to really like the idea of playing Magic against an AI. I wasn't sure if playing against a faceless, emotionless AI would be interesting or not, but I'm glad people like MTG Forge.
ReplyDeleteMagic is just a great game and I believe that people enjoy playing it in whatever form: online, in person, or against the computer.
Magic Online is a great piece of software despite all of its flaws and in an odd way it was the inspiration for MTG Forge.
ReplyDelete