Well, I've got a decent start on a click-to-play interface for almost everything in Manifesto! If you click on an action that requires arguments, it leads you through them in a logical order until it has everything it needs... some or all of the arguments may already be included in the link, depending upon whether you clicked the raw action by itself or you did so in the context of examining an individual card/minion/territory.

Currently, it gives you a list of all available actions and cards at the start of your turn, all relevant cards when you attack or are attacked, and all relevant actions and cards when you examine (through the examine, spy, or status commands) any territory (similar proc will be written for examining minions and cards.)

I plan on making it send everybody a list of their actions at the start of any turn or combat, but I need to figure out a simple and clear visual cue to let players know that it's not their turn/combat and that the game does not require them to act. :P Considering the tendency of players to multitask during lengthy games, I could see somebody getting the combat-card prompt, and playing cards they don't need to in a panic.

I'm going to need to work on improving the game's ability to detect if an action is meaningful at the moment or not. Right now, if you select an action for which there are no available targets, it displays the prompt (like, "Assassinate Which Minion?") with no choices... which could get the message across, but a "[so and so] has no minions to assassinate!" would be better... and filtering any players out of the previous list that don't have minions to assassinate might be even better still, but that could lead to endless questions of "How come I can't assassinate this guy?"

The new, improved interface may be ready for testing tomorrow night, or Sunday. :P Depends on how much I feel like working on Manifesto! this weekend.

Next weekend or the following one, I'm going to be overhauling the code of Manifesto! to try to improve the gameplay. Right now, it's loads of fun, but if a game doesn't end in the first forty rounds it tends to go on forever (the fact that nobody complains about this is a good sign, though.)



VICTORY:

The victory condition will be changed from "holding 5 resources until the end of the current round" to be "holding 3 resources or 7 lands for three full rounds." Yes, multiple paths to victory. There may also be cards that add different win conditions. Off the top of my head, if you install a rare Doomsday Machine in one of your territories, you win if you can keep that territory for three rounds.

COMBAT:

Another big change. There will be a delay of several seconds between when you announce your attack and when it plays out... this is to allow both sides (and interfering other players) a chance to play cards and use special abilities. The surprise specialty eliminates the delay.

Fortifications will no longer add to the defending minion's strength. Instead, the strength of the fortifications will be added together and then used as a strength the invader must overcome in order to even reach the minion. Traps (which so far would include Bear Traps and Land Mines) will be counted up separately from the other fortifications to determine whether or not the attacker survives being repelled. No traps = no chance of death. Kamikazes will still destroy themselves if repelled.

The delay will be repeated after the fortifications are breached (so people have another chance to play cards), unless the attacker has infiltration. Surprise is ineffective for this portion of the combat... the second delay represents the time it takes getting around the defenses.

CARDS:

The limit of cards will raise from 3 to 4, and there will be more types of cards. Some will be playable only while an attack is in progress, and will modify the combat one way or the other. There will also be villain enhancement and headquarter enhancements. Villain enhancements will give you special abilities (more card or minion capacity, the ability to perform certain actions without ending your turn, etc.) and headquarter enhancements will give bonuses to all your reserve minions.

MINION ABILITIES:

In addition to the above-mentioned "surprise" specialty, there will be the added specialty of "loyalty" which will make the minion immune to Treachery, Mass Desertion, and Hypno-Rays (whose effects I'll allow you to guess.:P) and one ("entrenchment"?) that allows the minion to receive a strength bonus from fortifications, like the current style (but probably lower than a 1-for-1 basis. Or maybe it will substitute the forts for strength, if that number is higher).

Certain minions will also be "tappable" to activate another special ability, like giving a bonus to another minion or drawing an extra card for you. Tapping will not end your turn and, like playing a card, will be doable at any time.

MINION STACKING:

You will be able to send along a minion of strength 1 or 2 to assist in defending a territory. They add their strength to that of the main defender. Minions with the "assist" specialty add an extra +1, and may continue to assist even if their own strength is raised above 2! Their survival will be tied to that of the "leader minion", for simplicity.

In the past 24 hours, I added the minion enhancement cards Commando Training, Ninja Training, and Assassin Training, as well as new weapons and fortifications. I also added some new minions and locations to the mix.

Once I manage to crack the primitive yet beautiful language the game is written in (it's not DM, though it looks a lot like it), I'm going to be making some changes to the game structure itself. Aside from tweaking the win condition I'll be adding properties to the game that give locations strategic values in and of themselves. The "destabilize" maneuver will not merely return the target location and its resource to the deck (considering how interchangeable these types of cards currently are, and the sheer number of them, there's not an appreciable difference between it and "scorch") but will leave it in play and an open target for occupation.

For those of you who have asked why I'm updating Manifesto! and not doing the much talked about Guildmastery and Red Cap, I am waiting on icons for the one and a suitable artist for the other (Seriously. $200. Shouldn't be this hard for me to get rid of.)... whichever one I get icons for first will get attention first.

Manifesto!, in the mean time, requires no icons. :P So it gets the attention.

Red Cap jumped from like 136 to 62 in the rankings. :P It's amazing what actually making a game playable does for the ranking.