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rebooting sandscape?

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 22:14
by Knitter

Code: Select all

thread split from another by snowdrop
Meh, one stops looking at the forum for a *few* days and you all start working! :D

I'm still here, though I stopped looking at the forum and this darn thing doesn't send any notifications (any idea why?), I can't be on IRC at the moment, so the forum will have to do but do poke me if you need my attention to anything specific (mostly cardscape and sandscape if you have any interest).

Regards,

Knitter

Re: Who is still on board?

Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2016 07:27
by ngoeminne
Hey Knitter,

Welcome back! Everyone is entitled to have a *few* days of holiday :-)

I've tried out both cardscape as cardscape-legacy from github, but could only get the cardscape-legacy up and running. Also I could only find an old sql table dump of a small card list. Since I had more or less the feeling it was dead, I've created a HTTP Rest Service and Website to act as a card database and card creation tool (creating the effective svg/png cards). It's accessible through our main site, and the code is on github. I do like to thank you for all your effort you've put in to cardscape/sandscape.

I believe xarn, made an up and running version of sandscape. What's the status of that?
The idea of sandscape has been picked up by "untap.in" and is exactly what we had in mind.
A browser based online platform to play against each other.

There are several options to go from here:
- revive sandscape, analyze the current shape, and deploy a running version (if possible)
- get in contact with untap.in and discuss the possibility of
- an integration with our card db
- ask their license model, and see if it's some kind of open source so we can fork it
- build something brand new

Knitter, as you were the lead for sandscape, do you feel like taking this responsibility back up?
If so, the main focus should be an online play-testing setup for a one-on-one game. (whatever software stack it may be).

Kind regards,
Nico

Re: Who is still on board?

Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2016 09:27
by Knitter
Hi,

It really depends on what the team needs. Either way, one thing I need is that someone uses/testes the software and provides feedback, else it will be hard to keep the development as I'm not versed on this kind of game and thus may lack the understanding to properly make the software (it was one of the problems with cardscape).

The main goals I had with Sandscape were:
  • Easy to install by non-tech savy people, easily deployed on standard (x)AMP (think shared hosting limitations) stack;
  • No rules, players would impose/control their own rules;
  • Allow simple game element configuration (e.g., visual tokens to aid game rules, different card backs, usage of "graveyard" and "hand" sections);
  • Card creation by only uploading the card images;
  • No extra software for users, work in-browser.
As an extra, I experimented with game recording and spectators. My first complete version allowed for two players and run fast enough with the average specs you could find for a laptop/desktop in 2012; notebooks and tablet/smartphones would have problems with amount of JS (not optimized).

I started migrating tools and working on rewriting the client part (JS code mostly) but stopped somewhere half-way through, you could get part of the working version from git history if needed.

I don't mind picking up the project again, I'll be glad to work on it has it is one project I want to finish, but would need to revisit the goals and see if what I have envisioned is what you need (or just start playing the games to learn more about it :D).

As for Cardscape, the version you have now seems more or less what I had with improved UI, and it is already connect to the website so I see no reason not to continue with the current version and work, I'll have a look at the code later on to see how it works but I have no intention or reviving the version I was working on.

Tried untap.in yesterday, seems I hit their downtime, will have to look at it again. Maybe they are open to a collaboration, though it seems their going for a commercial side to their project, from what I can tell from facebook.

Are we still using IRC on the same channel? If anyone needs a faster way to talk to me, skype is currently the best option, you can reach me at sergiomnlopes (knitter.is@gmail.com).

Regards,

Knitter

Re: Who is still on board?

Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2016 13:57
by ngoeminne
Hi Knitter,

As we are trying to avoid the pitfalls of the past, we'd like to focus on the rule-set and two preconstructed decks. We'd like to release them December 2016.

The needs of the team are not that high on a full functional sandscape,
but we'll need something to playtest, somewhere around august I think.
I'd prefer to go with the most easygoing path, whether it is scandscape, untap.in, or something else.

It would of course be cool to have our own environment, but it's not a hard necessity.

Kind regards,
Nico

Re: Who is still on board?

Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2016 15:46
by snowdrop
Knitter wrote: Either way, one thing I need is that someone uses/testes the software and provides feedback, else it will be hard to keep the development as I'm not versed on this kind of game
I could dedicate a time slow on a weekly basis of 1-2 h for that purpose if agreed. I'd prefer it if we spoke on skype or whatever and looked at the design documents and lists of functions and setting up your own milestones though before we just throw ourselves into anything at all.


The main goals I had with Sandscape were:
  • Easy to install by non-tech savy people, easily deployed on standard (x)AMP (think shared hosting limitations) stack;
  • No rules, players would impose/control their own rules;
  • Allow simple game element configuration (e.g., visual tokens to aid game rules, different card backs, usage of "graveyard" and "hand" sections);
  • Card creation by only uploading the card images;
  • No extra software for users, work in-browser.
Those are all great and spot on.
As an extra, I experimented with game recording and spectators.
That stuff is a bonus and doesn't need to be into first releases, but, if one codes with that in mind then implementing it later on would probably be easier... Nothing that's required though given all the million tools people use today to stream etc.

and tablet/smartphones would have problems with amount of JS (not optimized).
I wouldn't focus on them primarily, and they will catch up in time anyhow. Target was the desktop. For tablets etc usually native apps would run better and easier to create anyhow, but this is also changing with time given all the game engines that are out there...

I don't mind picking up the project again, I'll be glad to work on it has it is one project I want to finish, but would need to revisit the goals and see if what I have envisioned is what you need
Yups.



To my knowledge there is still no open source dedicated solution for playing card games in a browser out there. Which is kind of strange, or not, given peoples incentives and misconceptions about what's possible in the browser and how you can monetize easiest.