Deck editor improvements

Suggestions and Ideas to improve the in-game deck editor
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Daddy32
Posts: 177
Joined: Thu Aug 20, 2009 8:20 am
Location: Slovakia

Deck editor improvements

Post by Daddy32 »

There's an ongoing discussion about possible shapes the deck editor could take in the future. Let's make this thread a home to the brainstorming.
For now, let's make a list of my suggestions; later, I will update this post with newer ideas. After we agree on some set of features and get nod from Wololo, we will hopefully proceed to implementation.

From my point of view, the deck editor's usability needs to be improved at least in these areas:

1.) Screen layout
2.) Card accessibility

Screen layout
Current deck editor screen layout provides some eye-candy, but actual displayed information is somewhat limited:
- you can see only a few cards from deck xOR collection
- you can not quickly switch between the two without consequences (losing the cursor position).

Card accessibility
Following tasks are hard/slow/impossible in current deck editor:
- Searching for the card when you know the exact name.
- Adding more cards of the same name to the deck, when viewing it.
- Searching for the card/group of cards with with given rarity, cost, parent set etc. or with combination of these properties.

----

Facing these problems, I suggest following:

a. Displaying of both deck and collection at the same time (in some form) OR providing the ability to quickly switch from one to the another and back (without consequences).
b. Fast scroll (PC pageUp/Down equivalents) accessible by single keypress/key combination or quick-jump-to-letter.
c. Ability to add AND ability to remove 1 piece of selected card regardless of whether deck or collection is focused.
d. Filtering/searching the collection by any combination of selected criteria including color, rarity, cost, type,parent set, name substrings etc.

Some of these have been implemented by Orine, who is unfortunately unavailable.
p_figueroa
Posts: 10
Joined: Fri Sep 25, 2009 3:59 pm
Location: South Jersey

Re: Deck editor improvements

Post by p_figueroa »

I think what orine has done is brilliant. As good as the homebrew is, I feel the deck editor is lacking. I don't know how to code but I was just wondering if there was a way to look at the screenshot of what he did and ,sort of, reverse engineer what he did to figure out the code needed. The deck editor needs help and i am more than willing to learn. Who can point a noob in the right derection.
abrasax
Posts: 976
Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2008 7:46 am
Location: Switzerland

Re: Deck editor improvements

Post by abrasax »

After reflexion I naturally think the deck editor could be improved, but it should be made simple.

There is 2 thing needed : a filtering system and a sorting system.

1.Filtering
For me there is 2 filter I would like to be able to set:
- The set (e.g. 10E,RV,etc...) and this should ideally be made with some key combination or user input
- The type/subtype ... and in this case it would require user input (e.g: Enchantment or Goblin).

The filter color already exist and does not need to implemented or improved.

Then for the sorting it would be nice to able to switch from "alphabetical" to "converted mana cost".

I don't see the point on filtering/sorting on rarity and no point on sorting by type/subtype (if you already can filter that enough)

So maybe it could be as simple as an option when you press start to add to the current menu:
"set filter"
"change sorting to cost" or "change sorting to alpha" (depending on the one currently in use)

By pressing set filter a new screen open with:
- set [*] (pressing left and right scroll trough the available set alphabetically)
- search term [*] pressing "O" open a keypad where you can input the desired term.
- search on type [Yes] (pressing left and right change from yes to no)
- search on name [Yes] (pressing left and right change from yes to no)
- search on text [Yes] (pressing left and right change from yes to no)
- save & return to deck editor

Would be more or less like a portable gatherer...

Grü

Abra
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Daddy32
Posts: 177
Joined: Thu Aug 20, 2009 8:20 am
Location: Slovakia

Re: Deck editor improvements

Post by Daddy32 »

p_figueroa:
Yes, it's too bad Orine didn't submit his code. As for determining the code needed: no, it cannot be done by just looking at the pictures. :) However, this is no complicated programming and anyone who knows his ABCs in C ++ can come up with his own code imitating the displayed functionality. But, as it is quite time consuming process, we should make sure we have the features designed well, before anyone will proceed to implement them.
If you want to help with this, there are basically three things you can do:

1. Design
2. Write a code
3. Test the results

1. You can submit your ideas on future functionality and comment on ideas submitted by others.
2. If you have no previous programming experience, learning from the basics will probably take a _long_ time before you'll be able contribute, but if you're dedicated, see this post from Wololo for some hints and links for the beginners.
3. Coders are generally bad at testing their own stuff, so you can be a lot of help when you test their work-in-progress additions and provide feedback regarding usability and stability.
p_figueroa
Posts: 10
Joined: Fri Sep 25, 2009 3:59 pm
Location: South Jersey

Re: Deck editor improvements

Post by p_figueroa »

THANKS DADDY32, I'LL CHECK THE LINK YOU LEFT ME AND SEE WHAT I CAN DO. I'LL KEEP YOU POSTED ON MY PROGRESS AND HOPEFULLY I CAN CONTRIBUTE SOON. ANYTHING ELSE YOU CAN HELP ME OUT WITH JUST LEAVE ME A MESSAGE. ANY AND ALL INFO IS APPRECIATED. 8-)
p_figueroa
Posts: 10
Joined: Fri Sep 25, 2009 3:59 pm
Location: South Jersey

Re: Deck editor improvements

Post by p_figueroa »

NOT TO BE A PEST, BUT I WAS JUST CURIOUS AS TO WHETHER OR NOT THERE HAS BEEN ANY PROGRESS IN THE DECK EDITOR IMPROVEMENTS.WITH 2 LITTLE DAUGHTERS, MY FREE TIME IS LIMITED AND HAVE NOT MADE MANY STRIDES IN THE LEARNING HOW TO CODE. I DON'T WANT TO BE PUSHY, BECAUSE I LOVE THE GAME. IT'S GREAT. I WAS JUST WONDERING. THAT'S ALL.
Psyringe
Posts: 1163
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2009 10:53 am

Re: Deck editor improvements

Post by Psyringe »

Man, for not wanting to be a pest you're certainly SHOUTING and making my eyes bleed a bit much. ;) Seriously, what's so bad about about regular black non-capitalized letters? They are easier to read ...

Anyway, to answer your question: There's nothing to report yet. Daddy32 still has this on his agenda, but just like you, he's got a real life too, and he's also working on the statistics module. He will get there, it just needs time.
wololo
Site Admin
Posts: 3728
Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2008 12:42 am
Location: Japan

Re: Deck editor improvements

Post by wololo »

Well that's not entirely true. Since this thread was started, Decks statistics as well as the possibility to rename deck, and switch decks without leaving the Deck editor have been added. Granted, that's not entirely related to this thread, but those ARE improvements to the deck editor ;)
Daddy32
Posts: 177
Joined: Thu Aug 20, 2009 8:20 am
Location: Slovakia

Re: Deck editor improvements

Post by Daddy32 »

This is high on my to-do list. After I manage to implement final planned addition to the statistics (mana production statistics) - or give up on it - I will proceed towards adding at least basic sorting/grouping functionality to the deck editor.
But yes, I've got some personal life too, so I cannot talk about schedule here.
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