Hello everyone, it's been a long time since I updated here. I got lost in working on the opponent AI for six months. This will be a short update.
The AI logic is finished (though will be added to down the road) and is being tested now. It should be more complex than most TCG AI, and should be able to do things like use arbitrary instants. Additionally, there should be a lot of strategic variation between characters with their attributes.
Many other things were finished. There is a collection now, and a collection screen. There is a card details screen. There are a few more Easter eggs. There is an opponent select screen for free battle. You can talk to/challenge NPCs on the beginning area screen. Another color is playable: blue. But most important is that you can actually play the game against an opponent now.
The custom engine has been rock solid and needed minimal tweaking, though the AI has taken a lot of work. Once it's stable enough, I'm going to pass it on to other people to help me balance the actual card game, while I get to work on the RPG parts and write the story. Though I'll need to get all the other cards in there and functioning, since right now it's only about half of existing ones, with more planned to be added in addition to needing to make other ones function.
But it is time to finally get outside feedback, so here is the plan:
First, my mom who has played MTG in the past will try it while she's visiting. Then I'll pass it to my card game playing friends. Then it will go to people in the Discord. I'd imagine many many things will break, and I'll have to work on fixing them.
It's exciting and terrifying to have other people try it, but I've been spending a lot of time cleaning things up to get it somewhat playable. And somewhat playable it is, so we shall see how it goes.
Mostly I just wanted to update and say I'm still alive, and progress is being made. A ton of progress really. I've been on sabbatical and have been working on this all day every day for a month.
Until next time,
Connor