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Pokémon TCG mod

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Maruno

Lead Dev of Pokémon Essentials
5,285
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I have a card file with all the Base Set cards in it. (Practically) all of their various effects (attack effects, Pokémon Powers, trainer cards, etc.) aren't in yet, though. I've also listed the 5 starter decks from the Base Set. Adding cards/premade decks isn't at all difficult.

AI, on the other hand, is considerably more of a pain. At the moment the only AI is deciding whether it should draw a mulligan card (yes if it currently has 8 or fewer cards) and which Pokémon to play as active/benched Pokémon at the start (random).
 

DaSpirit

Mad Programmer
240
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To create a good AI, you can create various AI types and let the programmer decide which one to use. I can imagine 3 (a random playing one, one that always plays their strongest, and another that likes to play risks depending on what else they have in their deck or waits until they get the card they need).
 

Maruno

Lead Dev of Pokémon Essentials
5,285
Posts
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To create a good AI, you can create various AI types and let the programmer decide which one to use. I can imagine 3 (a random playing one, one that always plays their strongest, and another that likes to play risks depending on what else they have in their deck or waits until they get the card they need).
To create a good AI...
You've not said anything about how to create a good AI. You've just said: "make several of them", which is "several" times harder.

On the same line, no one's said anything about this alpha and what they want to see in it. Card Dex? Library/Deck Builder? Should the duel be properly structured like one (with turns/play max. 1 energy per turn/etc.), or is "get in then muck around" enough? And come up with your own questions to answer too - I want to know what you guys are expecting when you think of an alpha for this project.

I suppose it's difficult to answer this when you don't know anything about it. Perhaps the answers to "what do you expect from alpha 2?" will be easier when you know what's already there. Still...
 

Cilerba

the hearts of lonely people
1,162
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Just because you work on some Pokémon Starter Kit doesn't give you the right to be rude to these members.
 

Maruno

Lead Dev of Pokémon Essentials
5,285
Posts
16
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I honestly wasn't trying to come off that way. I'm sorry that you read it like that. I was just pointing out that I actually have a record of doing what I say, and of releasing it, so a bit more optimism regarding the future of this project would be nice. I know what I've been doing, and it's a bit disappointing to see people saying "if".

Maybe once the first alpha comes out, there will be more confidence. Some time this month. Actually, I don't know whether it could more accurately be called a beta; I don't do all this version naming stuff.
 

Lord Varion

Guess who's back?
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I'm verryy intrested in this, and will experiment around with it when it comes out.
That's a 'when' not an 'if'. But most people will doubt things like this, it's not everyday you find something amazing and promising on the internet, which isn't dead, dying, or deleted from the web. But, hey! Great to see your motivated.

As for suggesting features, it's hard to suggest anything without seeing what you've got so far, whether it's a list, screenshots, or even a mini alpha/beta demo thingie.
 

Maruno

Lead Dev of Pokémon Essentials
5,285
Posts
16
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Screenshot!

Options include renaming the deck, changing its icon, designating it the main deck, and deleting it. It works fully, as does the Library/Deck Builder. A deck is only complete (green icon) if it has exactly 60 cards in it, including at least 1 Basic Pokémon.
 

venom12

Pokemon Crystal Rain Relased
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Nice options man :D I like idea, you doing great progress on that, keep it up.
 

Maruno

Lead Dev of Pokémon Essentials
5,285
Posts
16
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Alpha released!
Download!

The alpha features a Card Library/Deck Builder, Deck List, a basic duel and a couple of debug options. Screenshots attached.

The Library/Deck Builder is about as complete as it ever will be. Some extra filter options may be added in the future, but it's not something I'm going to worry about now.

The duel includes most of the important features (except prize card interactions and fainting). Various animations (e.g. showing a card being drawn or a coin being flipped) don't exist yet. The AI is practically non-existent. There are, however, 28 attack effects programmed in (exactly 1/3 of the total number of attack effects I aim to include), and Bill also works. Controls are fairly straight-forward. You can view card summaries of the cards shown in the panels in the bottom two screenshots by moving the cursor to them and pressing C or Z respectively. If the scripts run into a problem, the current turn will immediately end, so if that happens, that's a bug and you should report it.

The TCG scripts are entirely stand-alone, and have been put into a copy of Essentials v11. Some unnecessary files (Pokémon sprites/icons/cries, etc.) have been deleted to save space.

Card images provided by the__end. All other graphics were ripped or created by me.

As I said, this is an alpha. That means it's very much a work in progress, which means many things aren't as smooth as they should be, are missing, are placeholders, or you can do what you might not expect to be able to do. As it stands, these scripts can certainly NOT be used as an actual game, so don't even try. I've released them to show you what I've been doing, and what I envisage this project will do.

All comments are very welcome, especially thoughts on game mechanics (which I'm currently getting from here). What do you think of it so far? What would you like to see? Please be constructive rather than simply saying "I like it".
 
423
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looks good bypassed this thread really because i forgot TCG was trading card game was thinking it was a different game engine thing

if you need it ive got a psd template that i use when making my own cards i could upload it for you?

EDIT
ok just tried the demo and looks pretty cool shame you cant have a proper match atm but its promising

when you progress further with this will you be allowing essentials to be played along side the card game (the alpha replaces the essentials debug menu but not sure if it makes other things unusable or not)
 
Last edited:

tymime

Action Gamemaster
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18
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  • Seen Mar 11, 2024
I totally support this add-on. :D
How many cards do you intend to include? The sequel to the GBC game included the Team Rocket set... (Promos? Cards exclusive to the Gameboy, e.g. Legendary cards?)
 

Ayutac

Developer who wants your help
157
Posts
12
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So yes, I'm a little bit late on this one and may say something about already made decisions, but please bear with me. After all, I sat 2 hours here to work through this thread. I will bold what is most important to me.

So far I've come up with a compiler script which can read multiple PBS txt files
What exactly are PBS files? And I guess you guys don't HAVE a list of all cards by now? Because that is my main offer: A program to extract that data from a website.

Should this kit support Pokémon Powers at all, or should the older cards be reworked to make them match the most current system? Another example is whether Stadium/Supporter cards should be their own types or a subtype of Trainer cards.
I guess we should handle it as it is handled officially. And through I don't know how, I bet they will match the current system. For example (in Yu-Gi-Oh!), cards which referred to the "Fusion Deck" will now be interpreted as they target the "Extra Deck", because that is what the Fusion Deck became. As I recall, the games actually rewrote the cards for things like this.

Maruno, I think the old GBC game worked well enough, BUT there is a japan-only TCG game for the DS. Take a look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1_nqYeBU40
Japan get all the cool stuff <__<

I imagine it would work like Asobikata, in that you select a card and a pop-up menu appears listing the appropriate actions that card can do (rather than the GBC method of choosing the action first then finding a card that can do it). The card graphics in the duel screen would have a number of icons on them, indicating a few things (whether retreat is possible, whether it has a PokéPower, whatever).
This is very much like the Yu-Gi-Oh! games.

You're suggesting that decks act like "recipes", where the cards themselves remain in the Library (rather than the decks physically containing the cards). I did consider this approach, but it would be harder to make sure that decks aren't broken if you get rid of a card (via selling/tossing/trading). I don't think it's worth the effort, it makes less sense than decks physically containing their cards, and it either doesn't affect the player or encourages them to get more cards so they can have both desired decks at once.
Only so difficult that a player can't exit the deck building screen until his deck is playable again. I vote for recipes.

Support for a currency isn't important at the moment. As I've said, I don't know if I'll ever add a currency anyway. It's a matter of what feels right for the game, and I don't think duels for cash feels right.
In addition, a currency would be easy to add, after all.

Where in the GBC game can you decide how many prize cards you will use? I don't recall any choice at all.
Where in the Pokemon games can't you decide with how many Pokemon to battle. 1 or 2 prices could be good for training purposes. Also, extendability. I don't want to see something like "threePrices = True" but rather "prices = 3".

@the__end: Your screens looks great!

well i dont know what else i can tell you about the "seen" option to convince you expect the points i told you in my other post... ^^
how about hearing the opinions of other users?
In YGO you don't get to know where the cards used against you are from, but you have the names and can save up duel points (cash) to get them through their ID, implying you look the ID up through the net. As you, Maruno, don't want cash I would recommend something like the "seen" option – wherever you add it – so the player can get a certain card somehow.

[some discussion about filters]
I'm glad you implemented them after all.

There will be an equivalent of PokeBattle_Effects, which contains some of the more common effects that can happen (e.g. paralysing a Pokémon). However, putting every single possible effect in here is pointless, as most will only be used for one card and may as well go in PokeBattle_MoveEffects under the appropriate function code.

No, I think having a PokeBattle_MoveEffects for card effects (probably one for an attack's effect and one for any other kind of effect), plus creating a PokeBattle_Move entity for each attack and effect when the card is played (and remaining while the card is still in play) is the best option I can think of. It may use elements of your code.
I don't understand this. Guess because I didn't looked into Essentials code so much by now.
But for the effects, I would implement certain effects, e.g. "draw/search X cards from Y", where X and Y are to specify in the specific card. Yes, pretty much like that what Anglican wrote, even if I'm not sure where the 012 comes from.

Surely you couldn't object to keeping Trainers/Energies/Pokémon cards separate? For one, it'd make filters easier.
What is with Fossils?

Pokémon are grouped together according to evolution family (in ascending order), and are then put into element super-groups according to the type of the first Pokémon in that group (e.g. Eevee-related cards will be in the Colourless group).
I can't give you an example, but I'm pretty sure there were Pokemon which had one time this type, the other time another type, but both cards still a basic pokemon. How would that be sorted?

Maybe once the first alpha comes out, there will be more confidence. Some time this month. Actually, I don't know whether it could more accurately be called a beta; I don't do all this version naming stuff.
Alpha means basically untested, beta is when you have your own testers, as far as my understanding goes.

end of commenting old stuff

Naturally, effects and the AI is the most difficult when it comes to card games. I would like to see them and I will as soon as I test out what you did so far. I would like to help with the effects, too. Not so sure about AI, but we will figure something out.

I just wonder where all the other commentators from last year's september have been gone? Do you receive their input by PM now or what?
 

Maruno

Lead Dev of Pokémon Essentials
5,285
Posts
16
Years
looks good bypassed this thread really because i forgot TCG was trading card game was thinking it was a different game engine thing

if you need it ive got a psd template that i use when making my own cards i could upload it for you?

EDIT
ok just tried the demo and looks pretty cool shame you cant have a proper match atm but its promising

when you progress further with this will you be allowing essentials to be played along side the card game (the alpha replaces the essentials debug menu but not sure if it makes other things unusable or not)
Your template may be useful for other people, but not for me. I'm only worrying about the cards that already exist.

I don't intend to let the TCG be playable alongside regular Essentials, because I think the TCG is too big a thing to be relegated to mini-game status. Doubtless, the first thing people will do is try to turn it into a mini-game, and I don't think it'd be that difficult to do, but I do think any game which features both regular Pokémon gameplay and the TCG will be too cluttered for its own good.


I totally support this add-on. :D
How many cards do you intend to include? The sequel to the GBC game included the Team Rocket set... (Promos? Cards exclusive to the Gameboy, e.g. Legendary cards?)
All the cards I want to include are already included. Anything extra is a bonus, not a goal.


What exactly are PBS files? And I guess you guys don't HAVE a list of all cards by now? Because that is my main offer: A program to extract that data from a website.
PBS files are txt files in the PBS folder. A quick glance at them should tell you what they do.

"You guys" means me. I'm the only one working on this project.

You can make your program if you want, but I personally don't need it. As I've said, I've already got all the cards I need, and I don't intend to add any more.


I guess we should handle it as it is handled officially. And through I don't know how, I bet they will match the current system. For example (in Yu-Gi-Oh!), cards which referred to the "Fusion Deck" will now be interpreted as they target the "Extra Deck", because that is what the Fusion Deck became. As I recall, the games actually rewrote the cards for things like this.


Only so difficult that a player can't exit the deck building screen until his deck is playable again. I vote for recipes.


Where in the Pokemon games can't you decide with how many Pokemon to battle. 1 or 2 prices could be good for training purposes. Also, extendability. I don't want to see something like "threePrices = True" but rather "prices = 3".
I've already decided on these things. Cards remain as they originally are, and the engine accommodates/modernises their effects internally. Decks behave as recipes. You can define the number of prize cards for each duel individually, as any value.


In addition, a currency would be easy to add, after all.
The ease of adding currency isn't important. What matters is whether it suits the game, and I don't think it does, as I've already said.


In YGO you don't get to know where the cards used against you are from, but you have the names and can save up duel points (cash) to get them through their ID, implying you look the ID up through the net. As you, Maruno, don't want cash I would recommend something like the "seen" option – wherever you add it – so the player can get a certain card somehow.
That red part is the important bit. It states you've done something outside of the game to figure out where to get certain cards from, whether it be look at a real copy of the card you really own, or look it up online. Nothing in the game indicates where cards come from.

In any case, the Card Dex will show gaps if you don't have the card in question, so you'll know there's something missing. You'll also know when you've received a brand new card from a booster pack, because it'll be marked as such. I think that's good enough.


I don't understand this. Guess because I didn't looked into Essentials code so much by now.
But for the effects, I would implement certain effects, e.g. "draw/search X cards from Y", where X and Y are to specify in the specific card. Yes, pretty much like that what Anglican wrote, even if I'm not sure where the 012 comes from.
I know what I'm doing, and I've done most of what you quoted and suggested already anyway.


What is with Fossils?
Fossils are Trainer Cards with interesting effects.


I can't give you an example, but I'm pretty sure there were Pokemon which had one time this type, the other time another type, but both cards still a basic pokemon. How would that be sorted?
I'm ignoring that particular sorting method because it's way fiddly, so it's not a problem. I hadn't actually considered what you said, though, and if I ever do decide to add that sorting method after all, it's something else to consider.


I just wonder where all the other commentators from last year's september have been gone? Do you receive their input by PM now or what?
I released the alpha less than 12 hours before you posted. Give them a chance!
 
423
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would you like bug reports from this alpha or you already aware of the times it ctd?

and thats a good point about the tcg mixed with essentials didnt think of that bit tbh :P
 

Maruno

Lead Dev of Pokémon Essentials
5,285
Posts
16
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As far as I'm aware, what exists should work. If there's anything that causes a crash or an immediate end of the turn (which is what a script problem does during a duel), please let me know.
 

Lord Varion

Guess who's back?
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  • Age 29
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Q2Xs2.jpg

This ponyta has been dead a while now.
Little help?
 

Maruno

Lead Dev of Pokémon Essentials
5,285
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I said fainting wasn't programmed in yet. It's a bit tangled up with prizes and win conditions and choosing replacement Active Pokémon, none of which are in either.
 
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