Public release delay is probably wise! + some desired features, QOL, and TCGO readditions

I love TCGL so far, as someone who first played TCGO in the Black and White era's open beta, and took a long break from TCGO to focus on studies and the like. The old game was very much in need of a refresh and I welcome TCGL, but I think this game has quite a bit of work to be done to bring it up to par with the old game and make it actually suitable for a public release.

This serves as a list of things that I'd like to see improved before public release. Some of it is readditions from TCGO. Some of it is issues, technical or otherwise, that I or others have run into that we'd like to see fixed or otherwise addressed. The rest is ideas that I or others had for general Quality of Life (QOL).

If anyone has more things that they would like to add to this list, feel free to respond to this discussion post!

TCGO

TCGO had Standard, Expanded, Unlimited, and Theme as formats. TCGL currently omits Unlimited and Theme. The former is understandable for now as cards are still being readded, but where is Theme? Currently the SVI theme decks are being pit against custom-built decks in Standard, which is not ideal. Older decks can be added to Theme as they're readded to the game as well, which is nice for TCGO migrants - though perhaps it's worth adding another format for that since most players likely won't be migrants, assuming old theme decks won't be available in the shop?

Tournaments. A rework of tournaments to allow anyone to freely host/join Standard or Expanded tournaments would be quite fun. Perhaps look at the video games' Friendly Competitions for inspiration? This would be very handy for local clubs and could even see use in official TCG events.

BATTLE LOG. PLEASE ADD THIS. I frequently lose track of what's happening in the game as I tend to multitask or otherwise lose focus, and there's absolutely no way to look back at what happened. TCGO had this. This is especially necessary on mobile devices where I might be playing in a public space.

People are losing cards in migration. Fix and/or compensate.

QOL / Bugs

Much of this pertains to the PC port as it is clearly at least somewhat low-effort (prompts even still say "tap" instead of "click"...). Also keep in mind that I'm primarily playing on Linux using GE-Proton 7.35, so some of the issues I list here may just be with my setup.

People with epilepsy are struggling to play the game. THIS MUST BE FIXED BEFORE LAUNCH

Having to click and drag to play cards from hand is tedious and unnecessary. It's fine on mobile, but not on PC. TCGO didn't have this problem. Please fix this. A toggle might be nice for handheld PC players and likely wouldn't be hard to add.

On first launch, the game didn't correctly set my resolution. It set my resolution to 1600x900 when it should have been 1920x1080. It was easily fixed in the settings, but this might be worth taking a look at.

At the end of a match, when I am able to take the rest of my prize cards, the game should simply auto-claim the prize cards rather than making me choose each one. TCGO had this.

Sound settings are very low (about 20%) by default. Why?

Radiant Greninja can't be selected using Battle VIP Pass.

Glasses cosmetics are completely broken. It was the very first thing I noticed with the cosmetics, and it's bad because glasses are part of how I look IRL which I wanted to express. Broken since November 2022. Fix.

Apparently, turns are synchronized with the system clock. I shouldn't have to explain why this is stupid. Fix.

Sometimes, on PC, certain cards (usually holofoils) were missing some or all of the visual effects that made it clear when they could be interacted with.

Eight hour maintenance times are painfully long and should probably be shortened after full release. I don't remember if TCGO had maintenance times this long?

At least on Android, battery drain is a MAJOR problem. I'm not sure what it is that's draining the battery, but while the app runs well, it clearly isn't optimized for mobile devices like it should be. This NEEDS to be fixed for full release.

I had one opponent concede as I was claiming my final prize cards. Don't let them do that.

The move timer is too short. It's certainly workable, but it's difficult to strategize when I'm under a strict time limit. I also can't tell how long it is. Perhaps a one minute turn timer might be enough, or a minute and a half?

On mobile, everything is condensed nicely, but lots of elements are very small and hard to read even when wearing glasses/contacts. It's playable and I can work with it, but this is something that might be worth looking into as surely there are people out there with worse eyesight than me that might want to play TCGL.

New Features and Other Issues

All of the avatar animations and poses come off as unsportsmanlike. This is bad, especially if this game will see use in official TCG events. There's nothing wrong with these existing, but currently they are the only option and that's bad. Emotes especially shouldn't come off this way - I will personally never use them until they are tweaked to be more sportsmanlike. Please fix.

Text chat would be very nice to chat with other players, or with the opponent. The current system is fine for child accounts, but completely unnecessary for older players. Obviously this would also require competent moderation. TCGO had a text chat in the main menu and that seemed to work fine enough.

Some cards are miscategorized. This is an understandable error with how many cards are in the game, but it causes quite a bit of confusion.

Not necessary, but nice to have

A native Linux build would be nice for Steam Deck or Linux desktop players.

Players like myself that were present since the very beginning of TCGO had an exclusive set of beta deck box, sleeves, and coin in that game. This was, sadly, not carried over to TCGL (and support didn't give me a clear answer as to whether it would before I migrated). I'd like something similar to reward loyal customers. Even just a profile mark would do.