By: hamtastic, Erik Friborg
Oct 18 2009 2:39pm
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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

These were actually real, in by hamtastic at Sun, 10/18/2009 - 18:17
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These were actually real, in silverlight, running.

One of the demos was to press a button that added random cards to the stack. I put over 200 items on, and put them into play. (For what it's worth, it handled it all, and it didn't implode or crash)

A lot of the stuff behind wasn't wired up, like the rules engine, etc.

But there was real interaction, with real UI elements.

In Silverlight?!? MTGO in the by gnawph2 (not verified) at Sun, 10/18/2009 - 20:22
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In Silverlight?!?

MTGO in the browser? **** me that is awesome.

Huge improvements just at a by Bazaar of Baghdad at Sun, 10/18/2009 - 21:17
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Huge improvements just at a first glance - glad to see something is going in the right direction!

Yep, and at first glance, it by hamtastic at Sun, 10/18/2009 - 22:01
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Yep, and at first glance, it appears to be a LOT less of a resource hog than V3 or even V2.

There are still some things that they're working out about how to keep performance high.

The key thing that I was impressed with is that they are worrying about that NOW, not after launch. They are making design and development decisions with very clear goals in mind instead of, well, what we got with V3.

Hugely different design philosophy from what caused us to get V3. There will be more cool stuff coming up with my interview, videos and other images. Very cool.

One more question, when is by Anonymous (not verified) at Sun, 10/18/2009 - 22:22
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One more question, when is the release target for 3.5?

Ah, now that is what I want by Amar at Sun, 10/18/2009 - 23:01
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Ah, now that is what I want to hear. The visual style doesn't matter that much to me (not that it couldn't be improved), but function is very important. So if they're building with performance in mind from the beginning, I will be very pleased after all.

Silverlight is being used for by bubba0077 at Sun, 10/18/2009 - 23:45
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Silverlight is being used for the prototype, but the client for the actual client has not yet been decided.

New client is projected to be by bubba0077 at Sun, 10/18/2009 - 23:46
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New client is projected to be completed in mid-2010.

Multiplayer shot please. :) by xXWarIsPeaceXx (not verified) at Mon, 10/19/2009 - 06:00
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Multiplayer shot please.
:)

I detest those stupid pop-up by StealthBadger at Mon, 10/19/2009 - 08:29
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I detest those stupid pop-up exiled and revelaed zones, so this is all good for me!