World: r3wp

So, let me help you help me (I have designed about 120 video games). 
  You need to break down your art as follows

 name, size, comments

For example

In looking at your image names, I can't map them to "purpose"

What are card and card1?


May I suggest  you rename things first, and a smart move is to put 
in place holder art that is the size you want to finally use.  Even 
if it just has the name of what will be there, ie "Gold" etc.

Then I will step in and do a number on it.

What do the three icons at the top mean (sky, forrest , cave)?

For the Icons at the top: Blue = Crystal Mines, Green = Forests, 
Red = Gold Mines.  These are your base resources that reproduce each 
turn.  They create stockpiles of Energy, Wood and Gold respectively. 
 These stockpiles are used to activate cards in your hand.


card.png is the 'hidden' or deck card face.  This is used to hide 
the computer's cards and the deck and discard piles.  card1.png is 
a sample of the format that the card images are in.  This can be 
used as a basis for creating new cards to the correct size.  (86x64 
pixel size with a 7x7 pixel offset into the card1.png template). 
  I have a card editor that can add in the card details to match 
their stats etc.


Regarding image names - ill compile a full list and place it on the 
website later today once i finalise the deck size :)

RebTower updated.  http://rebol.mustard.co.nz/rebtower-0.0.2.zip
Changes:
- Card types are now loaded from the starter-deck.txt file.

- template.txt holds the name of a card and how many times it occurs 
in a deck.

- Added win / lose screens and an intro screen (very basic at the 
moment).
- Fixed a rebview.exe not closing when window closes issue.
- Cleaned up a few show-stopping bugs internally ;)

May I suggest building Help in now.  In other words, start with a 
start screen that offers [Play] and [Help], and [About]

You are going to want to have the ability to "highlight" things. 
 Which means one of two things.


The art needs to be bigger to begin with, for example to have a highlight 
or glow, or you need to add the glow or effect afterwards.


So for example, when the cards are on the board, they are normal, 
when a card lifts off the board, it should be highlighted in some 
way.


It is a simple and subtle trick that will bring the board to life, 
and give it depth.

Yup - sounds good - adding proper playcard selection and movement 
to playarea and discards atm.

RebTower 0.0.4 released.  This version is playable :)
Quick notes:

left click a card to select it (it will enlarge in size) then either 
left click it again to replace it or right (Alt) click it to play 
it.

only cards that are alpha/0 (ie solid)  can be played unless you 
are discarding.
if all your cards are transparent you will have to discard.

the object of the game is to destroy your oponnents tower while keeping 
yours alive.


Yes, I know the debug info is still displaying - the final image 
cards are not ready yet :)

http://rebol.mustard.co.nz/rebtower-0.0.4.zipis the link

- Need help (I have no idea how to play this game.
- Make zoom effect of cards twice as fast.
- Full screen mode?
- Right justify all numbers.

- What is with the status output .......................["blah blah 
blah "]

- re help: now that ive spelt ill add it in ;) - ill write some docs 
:(

- re zoom: can do - i need to add a preferences section anyway where 
you can set zoom smoothness etc depending on system speed.
- re numbers justification - will do

- re status output - its there until all the deck cards are ready 
and the deck is also balanced properly - so could be a little while 
;)

spelt... slept... obviously im still asleep ;)

version 5 released: http://rebol.mustard.co.nz/rebtower-0.0.5.zip
notes:
0.0.5 	fixed card font display, rebalanced deck (somewhat)
- removed debug-info
- resources: right justified text

re zoom - that will speed up greatly once i turn card info into a 
static image - later today hopefully

there is an error with the vampiric amoebas - the line should read 
as follows in the starter-deck.txt: (else player takes damage while 
enemy heals ;-)  )
Vampiric Amoebas

 cost [6 0 0] damage-o [6 0 0] duration [8 damage [0 -1 0] damage-o 
 [1 0 0]] {enemy:^/6 damage^/1 damage every turn^/+1 wall to player 
 every turn^/last 8 turns}

card artwork for the new version of rebtower is located at http://rebol.mustard.co.nz/rebtower-card-art.zip
 this includes all card stats etc. in their final form.  I'm halfway 
through the art.. 21/40 done.

that should give you a better idea of art direction etc Reichart 
;)

all cards are there but mini-image art is missing from the last 19 
:(   took 8 hours to get the first 19 sorted..

Looking good, tel me when complete.

RebTower 0.0.7 has been released.
- All art is now completed.

- Card Builder is included with this release so you can make/modify 
your own cards.

- Added turn pause mode so you can get a better look at the cards 
the computer plays.
Get it at: http://rebol.mustard.co.nz/rebtower-0.0.7.zip(657kb)

RebTower 0.0.8 - bugfix for turn-pause on winning.  http://rebol.mustard.co.nz/rebtower-0.0.8.zip
(for full) or http://rebol.mustard.co.nz/rebtower.rfor update only

When do we get rules?

a brief explanation is inside the rebtower.r file at the moment - 
im working on a pretty help file and preferences at the moment ;)

The rules seem to go like this.. 
you get the lousy cards, and the machine pwns ;)

I think it's bugged out.. use a few cards and no changes.. like +1 
to forest, and exactly the same next turn?

I used a +10 to tower, it used a 4 damage, and my tower only went 
up +1 ?

Then a +5 damage, and nothing happens??

Then a trebuchet and still nothing ??

New game, first card is ' steal up to 10 energy'.. we both now have 
10 ?

2nd turn, we both have 40 tower, 20 wall... Im going to play 'dogs 
of war'  which is 5 dmg to enemy..

It played 'Trollkin' damage'.. . 8 dmg, -5 wood

I now have 40 tower, 12 wall... . it has 40 tower, 20 wall?.. and 
Im down 5 wood as well..

Reichart should turn this into a one armed bandit.

(That's a joke R.)

Terry - are you using version 0.0.8?  Feedback like this is very 
important as there may still be bugs but not as major as incorrect 
damage..

lol... i think i know what happened - you discarded rather than played 
a card :)

need to left click to select a card then right click it whill full 
size to play.  right clicking a card in normal mode discards it :)

RebTower 0.0.9 - bugfix for infinite loop when ending game on an 
extra turn card.
http://rebol.mustard.co.nz/rebtower-0.0.9.zip(for full - 657kb)

or http://rebol.mustard.co.nz/rebtower.r(for update from versions 
0.0.7 and higher - 24kb)

RebTower 0.1.0 - added spacebar toggle to turn mode after accidentally 
turning it off on 0.0.9 ;-)

From now on the latest versions will always be found below (its relatively 
stable now).
http://rebol.mustard.co.nz/rebtower.zip(for full - 657kb)

or http://rebol.mustard.co.nz/rebtower.r(for update from versions 
0.0.7 and higher - 24kb)

James, may I suggest swapping the mouse interface:

- Left click playes the card.
- Right click zooms on it 


Most peope will learn what the card does very quickly, so it would 
imply that using the common left click would be best for "playing" 
while right click is for examaning...

thoughts?

re mouse interface - the problem here is there are 3 distinct operations 
needed: Zoom, Play and Discard.  Seeing as double-click under rebol 
also activates click i wasnt able to use that without messy workarounds 
and I'm not too fond of using keyboard unless totally necessary. 
 The current Left click to select then right click to play (or left 
click again to shrink) was chosen because it is a natural thing for 
us to want to inspect something before using it - using right click 
to do the actual playing was probably a little confusing for people 
at first but it quickly catches on.  The only gotchya is perhaps 
I really should add a warning on discard option so people dont willy-nilly 
throw away cards while thinking they are playing them :)

Good to understand your logic.

OK, then may I suggest then:


-	Left click - plays card (you should put this to a vote)

-	Right click examines card (since this is how every OS is designed).

But also:

Leave about 20 pixels below the cards.

When you move your mouse over a card, that space shows the word "Details" 
or "more"

You can discard from the details view of the card.


Unless the game is a trigger game, or speed is required, sticking 
to just simple left button to do most things is the best way to go.


Of course, until I learn the actual point of this game (the rules) 
and "feel" the cadence of the game, it is hard to tell.

Another possibility is to reveal icons when the card is in zoom (right-click) 
mode?

An example, the card reveals a semi-transparent black halo as it 
zooms with window-like controls on the top-right  --> a down arrow 
(unzoom, though right-click on the card can do this too) and an X 
(discard).

hmm  109 rounder  ... nice game James

nice game...

though..in one of the game ...it hanged. (not sure why)
- last card to win and it just hanged.

yeksoon - is your version 0.1.2?  This was a problem with extra turn 
cards in previous games.

yes, it is version 0.1.2


I suspect that I was clicking too many times as I deal my last card...and 
the system (or game) may be trying to pop up the 'Victorious' screen

ahh - if it happens again let me know and ill try to track it down 
- theres a check on zooming cards that only lets it happen at certain 
time