Messages

26

Living Room / Re: Working on a DCTCG and found this resource

« on: November 08, 2018, 06:25 AM »

I was wearing Nike running shoes but my feet were hurting abominably by mile 4. I've ordered a pair of UnderArmour HOVR sneakers.

27

Living Room / Re: Working on a DCTCG and found this resource

« on: November 07, 2018, 02:05 PM »

BTW, I recently completed my first half-marathon:

28

Living Room / Re: Working on a DCTCG and found this resource

« on: November 05, 2018, 06:31 AM »

Thanks for catching that, guys. Does this look better?

29

Living Room / Re: Working on a DCTCG and found this resource

« on: November 04, 2018, 04:07 PM »

That card has "abduction" spelled incorrectly, twice.

Do you mean because it's capitalized?

30

Living Room / Re: Working on a DCTCG and found this resource

« on: November 03, 2018, 06:53 PM »

Temp (sample) card back:

31

Living Room / Re: Working on a DCTCG and found this resource

« on: November 03, 2018, 02:29 PM »

Added some new card images to OP.

32

Living Room / Re: Working on a DCTCG and found this resource

« on: November 02, 2018, 05:44 PM »

That has largely been my experience too, wraith.

33

Living Room / Re: Working on a DCTCG and found this resource

« on: November 02, 2018, 10:58 AM »

Read the KeyForge article. Interesting.

From my reading yesterday about LCGs, I like the idea of players not having to "chase" rares just to building winning decks.
And I like the idea of discrete sets/expansions being released periodically, and everyone having equal access - no pay-to-win.
I need to do some deep thinking about game mechanics. I want them to support deep strategy, with many ways to win duels.
At the same time, they need to reflect the backstory.

Hmm, things to ponder...

34

Living Room / Re: Working on a DCTCG and found this resource

« on: November 01, 2018, 12:53 PM »

A Living Card Game® (LCG®) offers an innovative fixed distribution method that breaks away from the traditional Collectible Card Game model. While LCGs still offer the same dynamic, expanding, and constantly evolving game play that makes CCGs so much fun, they do away with the deterrent of the blind-buy purchase model that has burned out so many players.

Found that quote here. I take it the "fixed distribution" method ensures that each player has the same chance of getting each unique card that makes up the game?

And the following is definitely inline with my opinion about card collecting:

LCGs® have no rare or promo cards that need to be chased. This ensures that games are determined by a player’s deck building skills and play strategies, rather than who spent the most money in pursuit of hard-to-find ultra rare cards. The fixed format means that every player has equal access to every card needed to build his or her deck.

35

Living Room / Re: Working on a DCTCG and found this resource

« on: November 01, 2018, 08:10 AM »

I already have a utility coded up that can embed text in PNG images of cards, storing it in the least significant bits. If I use it, the text would be encrypted within the cards, and decrypted in-memory by the game.
I have software to obfuscate the assemblies that will comprise the game. I was thinking last night of producing some cards and just seeing what ideas they evoke from you guys re: story/mechanics/card combinations/etc.

36

Living Room / Re: Working on a DCTCG and found this resource

« on: November 01, 2018, 08:07 AM »

I hate the Pay2Win aspect of MTG. Tell me about living card games, mouser.

I want the game to be playable in two different ways: (1) single-player (or multi-player team) versus game AI, and (2) duels between players using cards they've collected.
One thing I'd like is for the game's deep backstory to come out incrementally as bits and pieces of knowledge players gain via card flavor text, card mechanics, and scenes/missions played in-game.
The game is set centuries in Earth's future, after alien incursion has left its mark upon human civilization, reducing population globally and in many areas setting tech back centuries. This will allow
a wide range of tropes. The point of the game for story lovers who enjoy playing against the AI will be eventually grogging the entire backstory, while the dueling and collectible card component will appeal to those who like that kind of thing.

I'm envisioning the game UI sharing elements of text adventures and card games.

37

Living Room / Re: Working on a DCTCG and found this resource

« on: October 31, 2018, 10:01 PM »

Thanks mouser and KodeZ. Do either of you have any history of playing Magic: The Gathering? I do and it would provide a nice reference of game mechanics I like vs dislike...

38

Living Room / Re: Working on a DCTCG and found this resource

« on: October 31, 2018, 05:19 PM »

@KodeZwerg: you (or anyone else) interested in helping out? I'm going to start releasing some promo cards...

39

Living Room / Re: Working on a DCTCG and found this resource

« on: October 26, 2018, 12:55 PM »

I think in Magic: The Gathering a booster pack of 15 cards ($4 and change) contains 1 rare, 4 uncommon, and 10 common cards.

One thing about MTG I want to avoid is the ability to throw cash at the game to get Uber cards. Either I want to entirely avoid that, or else when you create a particular player ID, you lock in one of two options: that account is paid or unpaid. If paid, the game would only allow you to group with other payers. Likewise for non-payors.

Unlike in MTG, in my game, which I’m titleing Earth:Apotheosis, many of the common cards are necessary elements to progressing through the game. The uncommon and rares make the commons enhanced or more versatile. But they don’t replace them.

Based upon in-game choices, a given player or team may switch allegiances at various points. And this could pit player vs player in a card duel.

Losing a duel isn’t game over, but results in loss of a card.

Lots of details to iron out. But I want a sort of The X File-ish sense of foreboding and incremental discovery.

What I hope to capture in the game is an experience that players who care more about story than cards won’t feel disenfranchised while simultaneously giving card accumulators reinforcement as well.

And maybe present tense in-game player accomplishment might even impact content of future expansions, somewhat like is implemented in some MMORGs and MUDs.

40

Living Room / Re: Working on a DCTCG and found this resource

« on: October 25, 2018, 08:34 PM »

Well, just to whet your appetite (and I WILL be rambling here), there is strategy involved, and the digital "cards" are both collectible and tradeable. The game has a detailed backstory that players learn about in minute tidbits through each card's flavor text, and in broader strokes by using those cards in game play and getting caught up in the storyline. There will be two play modes: (a) single player versus the game; this will be a longterm campaign that will be experienced as each succeeding expansion of the game is released; (b) turn-based multi-player versus game which will be transacted by each player submitting their turn's actions to their group's coordinator (the player on a team who collects each team mate's moves, adds her own, and then has the game engine process them).

The theme: I really must be intentionally vague here, in order not to give away too much too soon. The setting lies in a future time in which mankind has been and continues to be at risk of extinction caused by outside influences. Technology has advanced to a point, and the incursion of alien infuence has impinged to such as degree, that tropes from science-fiction, fantasy and other subgenres will be noted, but in such as mixture as makes sense against the unfolding backstory.

Each new "chapter" of the game will come in the form of an expansion that will either be a large binary download or may optionally take the form of separately titled executables.

The cards: the digital, collectible cards — beyond the starting cards each player gets — are unlocked through either victories (in the multiplayer turn-based mode) or achieving story goals (in the single-player mode). They aren't purchasable. But they are tradeable among players who have ever been grouped together into a team (in any phase of the multi-player mode).

Grinders who want to go it alone WILL be able to unlock new cards as storyline achievements. Multi-group players will each export their turn-based actions and send an encrypted data blob to their group's coordinator (whether that be via email attachment, file sharing service, download, etc; I don't envision this as a server-based game, but who knows). For the last few months I've been writing and rewriting segments of the backstory. It is designed so that the overall "big picture" takes lengthy game play to resolve. Even then, different players may have different interpretations. The game will, however, reward those whose interpretations align with the game designer's intent.

If the game were to become hugely popular, I've not ruled out some small fee ($0.99-2.99) per expansion, but players will NEVER be able to purchase/sell cards. Rarer cards will, naturally, require lengthier game play to obtain. Not only are the cards categorizable by their relative rarity. They also will have a GUID attached. Your "Big Bad Card" will not have the same digital fingerprint as mine of the same name. Not only that, but at milestones in the story mode, or after particularly boss-level victories in multi-player, there will be the chance of obtaining one or more unique cards (only one such card in existence, regardless of how many copies of the game are being played).

I would love to have beautiful artwork for the cards, but can't afford it. Maybe some zealous individual with talent will become interested in co-development. A trend in digital CCG's is lack of artwork; in several recent digital CCGs a simple array of icons is used. But I think artwork evoking the backstory would be super cool. Another thing about the cards. Unlike in, say, Magic: The Gathering, where Fireball is the same, no matter whose deck it's in, in this game some cards will be upgradeable via either prolonged use and familiarity or by discovering some factoid via the game that unlocks the next level of the card's potential.

This won't be a video game. No Unity 3D. I will develop it with the tool I'm most comfortable using: Visual Studio, using C#.

41

Living Room / Working on a DCTCG and found this resource

« on: October 25, 2018, 07:44 PM »

I'm working on a digital collectible/trading-card game and found the following resource while researching. It's a site that facilitates developing your own card game:





https://dulst.com/

42

Developer's Corner / Need help tweaking C# server code

« on: September 21, 2018, 05:56 PM »

I have quoted a C# source code file that compiles fine. It runs a server on my local machine and listens for a connection. As the screenshot shows, I can connect to it successfully via telnet. However, the server is responding to each individual character I type in telnet, rather than waiting until I type a word or sentence and press Enter while in telnet. I know this has to be an easy fix, but I'm foggy right now.

The behaviors I'm looking for is for the server to receive multi-word phrases and echo them to the console. See source code and also the screenshot. I want to be able to type "quit" from telnet and have the server respond to that word, rather than each character.

[Select]

using System;
using System.Reflection;
using System.IO;
using com.wms.strings;
using com.wms.io;
using System.Text;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.Sockets;

//https://codeabout.wordpress.com/2011/03/06/building-a-simple-server-client-application-using-c/

namespace MyProgramNamespace{
class Program{
static void Main(){

//insert code here...
string sAppPath = Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().CodeBase);
string sExeName = Path.GetFileName(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().CodeBase);
sAppPath = sAppPath.Substring(6, sAppPath.Length - 6);
string sFullPathToExe = sAppPath + "\\" + sExeName;

MyConsole.Entitle("Bryan Miller", "kyrathasoft@gmail.com", "ls44.exe");
Console.WriteLine(" Trying to initialize server...");

try{
IPAddress ipAdress = IPAddress.Parse("127.0.0.1");
TcpListener myList = new TcpListener(ipAdress,8000);
myList.Start();

Console.WriteLine("Server running - Port: 8000");   
Console.WriteLine("Local end point:" + myList.LocalEndpoint );
Console.WriteLine("Waiting for connections...");

Socket s = myList.AcceptSocket();
 
// When accepted
Console.WriteLine("Connection accepted from " + s.RemoteEndPoint);
bool condition = true;

while(condition){
byte[] b = new byte[100];
int k = s.Receive(b);
Console.WriteLine("Received...");
string sMsgFromClient = string.Empty;
for (int i=0;i<k;i++)
{
sMsgFromClient += Convert.ToChar(b[i]).ToString();
}
Console.WriteLine(" Client sent: {0}", sMsgFromClient);
if(sMsgFromClient.Trim().ToUpper() == "QUIT"){ condition = false; }
ASCIIEncoding asen = new ASCIIEncoding();
s.Send(asen.GetBytes("Automatic message: " + "String received by server!"));
Console.WriteLine("\n Automatic message sent!");
}

s.Close();
myList.Stop();

}catch(Exception e){
MyConsole.WriteLine("Exception: " + e.Message );
}

MyConsole.Write("To exit ls44.exe, press any key...");
Console.ReadLine();
Console.WriteLine();
}
}
}

43

N.A.N.Y. 2019 / Re: My entry

« on: September 18, 2018, 06:30 AM »

Thanks, Ath. I wasn't as alert as I should've been when I made the OP. I've added the app's purpose to the OP.

44

N.A.N.Y. 2019 / My entry: A .NET Console Program Generator

« on: September 17, 2018, 08:19 PM »

I had so much going on that I wasn't able to participate in NANY 2018, so I'm getting this app in extra early, for NANY 2019.

Purpose: The cpg.exe program is a Windows command-line program that I developed because for several weeks now I've been writing a series of C# Console Programming tutorials on my local DokuWiki. Over the weeks, I've developed a pair of libraries, ioLibrary.cs and stringLibrary.cs, that I use frequently, almost with every new console program I create to illustrate a concept or test a new method. It became laborious  copying the two libraries' response files to the new program's directory each time, creating a custom response file for the new program itself, and creating a batch file to call all three three response files against the csc.exe command line compiler. Thus cpg.exe was created to automate all of that.

It's very handy for me, personally. If anyone would like, I can further develop it so that it is library-agnostic and creates the simplest possible console program.

Target Audience: C# console programmers.

Unzip the download, and place folder csdev at the root of C:\. Open an elevated command prompt in the same directory (or open the elevated prompt and navigate to cpg.exe).
cpg.exe is located in the /tools/ subdirectory. Run cpg.exe (stands for console program generator) and it will show you the use of its command-line syntax. Requires .NET Runtime.

Basically, the app is a Console Program Generator (hence, cpg.exe). When you run it and supply a path/to/desired/directory/mypreferredfilename
as a argument, it will create a C# console source code file at the specified location and will compile it.

Here's a screen shot of an executing test console app generated by cpg.exe:



The download should be extracted to your root drive on a Windows PC, i.e., C:\

That's where you should locate the /csdev/ folder after unzipping. Hey, I didn't know when I started this that I'd be sharing it,
so it's not very flexible as I coded it for my own use.

Currently, the program copies a couple of DLL libraries I wrote to the new source code file's directory. The library source code is included in the download. Also, when cpg.exe writes the source
to c:\what\ever\path\filename, it inserts the relevant using statements (equivalent of C++ includes), creates needed response files,and generates a batch file to make repetitive command line builds fast. The cpg program itself has had ioLib.dll and strLib.dll merged with its own assembly via ILMerge tool.

45

General Software Discussion / Question about console programming in C#

« on: September 11, 2018, 05:03 PM »

I've been writing many small console programs via the command-line C# compiler. My question is: is there any particular reason why I shouldn't use the -nowin32manifest switch when compiling? It makes the .exe smaller, but is there a downside for me? Remember these are just handy little programs I use myself or have written to illustrate some concept. Nothing commercial or anything.

46

General Software Discussion / Re: Need examples of Win console apps that yield useful data

« on: September 11, 2018, 05:00 PM »

Thanks x16wda and Mark0

47

General Software Discussion / Re: Need examples of Win console apps that yield useful data

« on: September 05, 2018, 06:26 AM »

Thanks, KodeZwerg.

I've got a pretty decent grasp of the code. What I'm looking for are examples of Windows CLI programs whose output it could be useful to capture from within another program.

48

General Software Discussion / Re: Need examples of Win console apps that yield useful data

« on: September 04, 2018, 04:33 PM »

Thanks, Ath! Appreciate it.

49

General Software Discussion / Need examples of Win console apps that yield useful data

« on: September 03, 2018, 05:25 PM »

So, for the last few weeks I've been writing a book (via my private DokuWiki and simultaneously in .epub and .prc formats) about some of the things I've learned to do with C# over the last decade. I'm at a place in the book where I show how to capture output from some other process that is initiated by my C# app. I'm looking for a couple of Windows command-line programs that are complex enough to yield data not just-as-easily-derived by the calling application. It's okay if the C# app needs to do some string parsing, etc., with the returned data. I'm just wanting to give a good example of not re-inventing the wheel.

50

General Software Discussion / Re: Gridinsoft Antimalware's reputation?

« on: August 26, 2018, 06:57 AM »

I wound up uninstalling Gridinsoft Anti-malware. I sent a few of its identified threats to Jotti and got the green light, so... Same thing with VirusTotal.