Officer's Harness and (lack of) transparency in function

Discussion in 'Feedback and Suggestions' started by Sir Knight, Mar 18, 2013.

  1. Sir Knight

    Sir Knight Sir-ulean Dragon

    So the new card Officer's Harness has a secondary ability (beyond just being Armor) that says "This card does not count towards your hand limit at the end of the round." Usually, the game is pretty good about ensuring transparency in all things: if your opponent has some effect active, you're told about it, like a card being revealed in hand when it triggers. Officer's Harness? If it wasn't revealed already, it remains hidden from your opponent at the end of the round: he/she has no idea whether the game just bugged and let you keep an extra card.

    I suggest giving cards with this "does not count towards your hand limit" ability an extra requirement: "This card is automatically revealed at that time." It makes it weaker, yes, but it is needed for transparency.

    Also, if the description is that long (and you think you'll use it on more cards), it might be best as a keyword instead of a big text box.
     
    Keyser and Zalminen like this.
  2. Pengw1n

    Pengw1n Moderately Informed Staff Member

    Makes sense, as this is something that warps the rules - it should maybe be apparent to the opposing player how that is possible. As for keyword - maybe Trinket?
     
  3. Wozarg

    Wozarg Thaumaturge

    The problem is that opens it up to specific discard cards it needs to be possibly shown not revealed? as in they get to see it but its not tagged in the same way as a card that has triggered. But you are correct i have wondered many times why people haven't questioned it in pvp or maybe they just didn't notice.

    Edit
    Also there are 3 kinds of harness with that ability
     
  4. Sir Knight

    Sir Knight Sir-ulean Dragon

    Exactly:
    And "Trinket" sounds like an interesting keyword. We already have "Cantrip," which originally meant "a spell/ability that is so minor we need to give you some extra boost for using it" (in Card Hunter, this means a whopping extra card play); "Trinket" implies "a minor object," so it works thematically.
     
  5. Pengw1n

    Pengw1n Moderately Informed Staff Member

    Yup, exactly what I though re: Cantrip/Trinket. Sounds like something that's instantly logical in terms of function.
     
  6. Dark Wolfe

    Dark Wolfe Orc Soldier

    Could always try a non-discarding flag, like they have revealed flags. At the moment it would give the game away but if they add more cards utilising the ability your opponent would know why but not what.
     
    SurgeonFish and Pengw1n like this.
  7. Pengw1n

    Pengw1n Moderately Informed Staff Member

    Yeah, mark all "trinket" cards with a small flag with a hand on for instance? Good idea DW.
     
  8. Sir Knight

    Sir Knight Sir-ulean Dragon

    Oh, that's a possibility. They have "flag" code in place already, after all.
     
  9. SurgeonFish

    SurgeonFish Automaton Moderator Staff Member

    i was gona mention this, but saw it was posted
     
  10. Sir Knight

    Sir Knight Sir-ulean Dragon

    I just realized . . . the code to create the "eye" flag (the "revealed" flag) is irrelevant here. That only shows up on your own screen looking at your own hands. When your opponent looks at your cards, they're at the top of the screen, where there are no flags: revealed cards are simply revealed. Thus, a new "non-discarding flag" would require new code to allow flags at the top of the screen. Still, it sounds like a good idea.

    On a similar topic inasmuch as it has to do with harness items, there's Leather Harness. It says "Whenever you roll a die for Armor, add 1 to it." You get this bonus whether the card is revealed or not. Thus, again, you can get the benefit from it without your opponent knowing what's up with your hand.
     
  11. Jon

    Jon Blue Manchu Staff Member

    Ha ha, this is funny to me since it was a big pain in the ass to code these to work without being revealed.

    It would have been much easier to have them auto-reveal.
     
    Keyser and A88mph like this.
  12. A88mph

    A88mph Mushroom Warrior

    And thats what this beta is for.
     
  13. Pengw1n

    Pengw1n Moderately Informed Staff Member

    Well, I think the consensus of the thread was that it was fine it wasn't revealed - but it's hard for the other player to tell WHY the basic rules of the game is broken - hence the discussion of Trinket keyword, and possibly trinket flag. So I'd not call that coding in vain, it's work for the future - bet we'll see more cards that don't count toward hand size.
     
  14. Sir Knight

    Sir Knight Sir-ulean Dragon

    To make Blue Manchu pass out when they think of how much work the project's been? Yes, sounds about right.
     
  15. RoflCat

    RoflCat Goblin Champion

  16. Dark Wolfe

    Dark Wolfe Orc Soldier

    There is another option. If the card changing the rules is still hidden when it triggers you could have a banner (such as the one that pops up when a new card is played) reading something like
    "looks like (actor) has a trick up his sleeve!" Or similar
    This means card is still hidden and you know that the rules are being twisted because of the system and not a glitch.
     

Share This Page