Okay, so here's some first quick shots uploaded (I have video's, and lots more pictures as well, but I wanted to get something up right away for you all!)
Above is the 'default' view of the duel scene.
Hand is at the bottom.
Chat and logs and notes go to the bottom. Which is you know, standard.
You can move the whole left side to about 35 to 45 pixels. When you do that, items in that screen pop out as needed. You can also zoom out cards in the graveyard from that side.
Another item of interest, as mana is added to the mana pool, the mana pops out of the side. There is no persistent pool to choose from/waste space. This allows for some really cool stuff, like expanding out mana of special types. So a Snow Mana, a regular Mana, and a doubling cube mana... are ALL IN DIFFERENT SPOTS!!! While that's a corner case right now, it's only just a matter of time until we get some new mana, or snow-covered basics make their way back into Extended.
Another neat thing is that there will now be a "Red Zone" that creatures move into when they're attacking blocking. This seemingly simple change REALLY helps to show when you've entered the combat phase, which has been a particularily touchy subject over the past few years. It also allows you to set the blocking order in a very, very obvious manner.
As I mentioned, I have a lot more screens and a lot of video's of it being demonostrated that I'll post, as well as an interview with Adriana (yes, she still works at WotC). I'll post that information as I get it transcribed for the web, and if the audio itself came out well enough I'll post that in MP3 format as well.
37 Comments
I assume the right hand piles are the exiled zones? funky stuff. When is this going into beta?
This looks very good. I like the idea of areas or zones that aren't always showed on screen. This saves a TON of room for important things like the playfield, and is just good UI design as long as there aren't too many 'hidden' things that compete with each other. Consider me impressed.
Where does it say which phase we are in? I assume that the bottom right is that? Also, what about visuals stops, like we currently have on each of the phase icons in v3?
Besides those questions, I LOVE IT!
Unimpressed, and I too have no idea what that right side is for. I assume they threw cards and numbers up to occupy space because none of that makes sense, even assuming "Heroic Angel" has a 69 card deck.
Mana types are a corner case but at least that's functional, so thumbs up for that. I guess a Red Zone could be helpful too, but honestly my only problem EVER with attacking is that the game lags and I double-click right through it. I don't have a problem with a red zone conceptually, but wouldn't clearing space for it just reduce card sizes and result in wasted real estate? I guess I need to see it.
Changes seem merely cosmetic though at my first glance, and shallowly so. Chat's smaller but apparently still docked. "Notes" seems harmless but trivial. So it says what phase we're in bottom left, I guess that's OK, but how do I check where my stops are?
Looking forward to video of it in action, and more importantly some beta testing. Thanks for the preview though, keep up the good work Hammy.
Love the note pad! bit cofused bout the boxes on the right. They take up an awful lot of space and I dont think there exiled zones (cant see how the cards inside became exiled anyway!). Same with graveyard, I hope these boxes are just being shown having popped out from somewhere, I never thought there was anythin wrong with that for the old yard (esp when being milled!). I really like where its going though!
Boxes on the right are Exiled and Revealed card windows. Damage prevention effects will be there as well. You can minimize it when it's not needed, and it doesn't impact anything else's views. Very nice
Ah cool, thnx. looking forward to the videos :)
I approve (comparatively)
These are actual playable in-game screenshots, right? Not a photoshopped "this is what we hope to design" kind of thing?
Overall it looks nice, but I'm worried about the small chat box. Looks way too small.