Hello,

I've been working on an OCTGN plugin for the new L5R and wanted to share a few preliminary screenshots today, as well as create a thread for future updates. The plugin is still a ways from release, but I'll be prioritizing getting something minimally playable complete before working on polish.

The two screenshots attached are of the deck builder and beginnings of a new game (with only one player). Thanks to help from editors at l5r.gamepedia.com I've been able to import card data from the site, and can include newly spoiled cards easily. The proxy generation is currently faked, I've just imported cropped images for the two cards shown. There are various other inaccuracies as it's still a work in progress, but this seemed like a good occasion for a preview since a valid crane deck can almost be created.

Cheers,

Hello,

Been a while since my original post so just wanted to add a quick update. Lion cards have been added as well as the remaining game elements, though the sizing needs some adjustments. I think that nearly all of the mechanics are present for simple games and am looking forward to dragon's preview this week.

Cheers,

Thanks very much for doing this.

Omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omgomg omg omg omg I can't wait! !

2 minutes ago, Brekekekiwi said:

Omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omgomg omg omg omg I can't wait! !

Deep breaths, you don't want to pass out.

I use OCTGN a lot to playtest other games. Anything available to try already?

This is awesome!!

1 hour ago, Tam Palso said:

This is awesome!!

Couldn't say it better.

My understanding is that in the past FFG don't actively encourage octgn but haven't moved against it either.

Past precedent on other games has been not to have cards added to octgn before they're out and released in the real world, and I think that's a good rule to follow, especially as you're brazenly promoting your add-on on the FFG website.

Personally I think octgn is great for the community, and that it increases sales of physical product by keeping people engaged and interested in a game, as well as raising the standard and quality of the tourney environment by creating a community of "expert players". It's rare to see FFG LCG champions who aren't octgn regulars. These top players then cause a trickle down of enthusiasm to new players, and create more customers for a game.

I therefore hope that FFG continues its "turn a blind eye" approach to octgn, on the understanding that it is good business sense for them to do so.

However, best way to maximise the chances of them doing so is to maintain an approach that is respectful of their IP. A large part of that, I think, is not releasing octgn updates or feeds until they are live in the real world.

That said, looking forward to seeing you on octgn once the game comes out!

On 6/26/2017 at 1:28 AM, franzvong said:

I use OCTGN a lot to playtest other games. Anything available to try already?

Nothing yet.

On 6/26/2017 at 4:58 AM, Prepare for War said:

My understanding is that in the past FFG don't actively encourage octgn but haven't moved against it either.

Past precedent on other games has been not to have cards added to octgn before they're out and released in the real world, and I think that's a good rule to follow, especially as you're brazenly promoting your add-on on the FFG website.

Personally I think octgn is great for the community, and that it increases sales of physical product by keeping people engaged and interested in a game, as well as raising the standard and quality of the tourney environment by creating a community of "expert players". It's rare to see FFG LCG champions who aren't octgn regulars. These top players then cause a trickle down of enthusiasm to new players, and create more customers for a game.

I therefore hope that FFG continues its "turn a blind eye" approach to octgn, on the understanding that it is good business sense for them to do so.

However, best way to maximise the chances of them doing so is to maintain an approach that is respectful of their IP. A large part of that, I think, is not releasing octgn updates or feeds until they are live in the real world.

That said, looking forward to seeing you on octgn once the game comes out!

My original driver for the timing of this topic was to try prevent myself or someone else from developing one in parallel and having someone's work get discarded. For the reasons you've pointed out, I was hesitant to post it here but know of no where else that would reach the same community. At the same time, I'm not trying to keep it hidden or secret and would respect any of their requests.

I too think it's an overall benefit for the community but am aware that it's not my decision. I hope to be playing for a long time and to take part in both a strong local and global community. Following the formal release is perfectly reasonable and roughly what I'd expected, for lack of specific terms.

I'll probably post a couple more updates before ending the thread but if folks think that's unwise, feel free to PM me.

Cheers,

Nicely done sir. Hopefully this is something many people will thank you for. You're the hero we need!

This is great work. Kudos.

For what it's worth, the OCTGN module for the LotR card game (which I love, as you can probably guess by my Samwise Gamgee avatar, and buy every expansion for) has been updating with card data, but no images, when the cards are officially released. Image packs get released six months later. That way, anyone whose local game store is a bit slow to get product (I live overseas, so I usually have to wait 1-2 months to get packs compared to people who live in the U.S.) can still test out the new cards in their existing decks. But anyone who's using OCTGN to play FFG's game without paying for it (shame on them) has to wait at least six months before they get the actual art for the cards. BUT... if you actually own the cards and have a scanner, it's pretty easy to make your own OCTGN images, and then you get the actual images immediately.

That strikes me as a pretty good balance, and I'd suggest something similar. Imageless cards with text & numbers only when they're released, and images six months later -- but anyone who buys the cards and owns a scanner can just look up the right card ID number from the data, drop scanned images into the folder with the right filenames ("CardIDnumber.jpg" or something), and then the scanned card shows up in OCTGN.

That was pretty much the same for ANR (data but no images) but, to be fair, it was really easy to just download the images as soon as it was available online (hint : pretty quickly).

What is OCTGN? I can't be a champion without using it?

I have never heard of it either till this post. Not a FFG gamer. The idea of playing some L5R tho after the game releases while I am at home to test some decks and just have some fun sounds great. I'll be buying of course a lot and travelling to wherever I have to locally to play in the evenings weekly but to play more frequently, say while I work sounds like fun.

I don't want to sound like I'm shting all over someone's hard work, but isn't octgn ancient? I mean... there are much better online clients nowadays to take advantage of, imo.

1 minute ago, Sparks Duh said:

I don't want to sound like I'm shting all over someone's hard work, but isn't octgn ancient? I mean... there are much better online clients nowadays to take advantage of, imo.

What do you have in mind?

I am sure there will be the inevitable browser-based solution, but honestly I prefer something like OCTGN without all of the automation

3 hours ago, hanotsri said:

I am sure there will be the inevitable browser-based solution, but honestly I prefer something like OCTGN without all of the automation

Ummm. Just because it may be browser based doesn't mean it has to be automated. Seriously??? You think those things are mutually exclusive?? C'mon...

Some examples? I use Vassal for boardgames and OCTG for card games, but if you have better alternatives please share

45 minutes ago, franzvong said:

Some examples? I use Vassal for boardgames and OCTG for card games, but if you have better alternatives please share

To be perfectly honest, I prefer that a client is built specifically for the game that's being played. I was a huge fan of Sun and Moon for the CCG. Sun and Moon was made with Unity (the same unity that Hearthstone uses). And if someone were to really get in to it, they could actually build a client that would do automatic pairings based on rankings like Hearthstone does. I'd be all over that if that happened.

Things like octgn and TTS are just so clunky because they were built to host many different games.

I have tried the iron throne for AGOT and I much prefer using OCTGN.

If anyone new to OCTGN wants to check out another LCG they should look up Conquest

5 hours ago, Brekekekiwi said:

If anyone new to OCTGN wants to check out another LCG they should look up Conquest

Hate to break it to ya, but Conquest is dead...

7 hours ago, Sparks Duh said:

To be perfectly honest, I prefer that a client is built specifically for the game that's being played. I was a huge fan of Sun and Moon for the CCG. Sun and Moon was made with Unity (the same unity that Hearthstone uses). And if someone were to really get in to it, they could actually build a client that would do automatic pairings based on rankings like Hearthstone does. I'd be all over that if that happened.

Things like octgn and TTS are just so clunky because they were built to host many different games.

Really? I tried Sun and Moon last year, and could never really get it working properly. With OCTGN, you're just dragging the cards where they need to be, just like you're sitting at the table playing with real cards. I guess I've never really tried multiplayer with it (unless you count two-handed Lord of the Rings LCG), but it didn't seem too terribly clunky to me.