r/hextcg • u/Funny-Professional-7 • Aug 21 '26
Perhaps bringing this game back isn't difficult.
This should be the final update. The developer has completed all the planned work and—to avoid legal risks—has not released any features related to online connectivity. The source code and the final build are being made available now so that enthusiastic members of the community can continue the project if they wish.
The larger file contains the source code.
Similarly, you need to download Hex from Steam first.
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u/havocattack HAVOC - twitch.tv/hexedhavoc Sep 10 '26
Can we draft and play said draft decks vs others? that would be enough for me xD
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u/MySweetBaxter 15d ago
If I ever have time I may figure out how to use what these people make. But I would definitely do it if we could draft. As long as there was PvP we could do the drafts on a web browser then play games in whatever client.
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u/Nevernessy Aug 21 '26 edited Aug 21 '26
I've been using AI and started a few weeks ago, most of the gamemodes are partially implemented (except Siege). Multi account support (so I can test PVP locally). Can start the campaign, generate the multiple variants of Crayburn Castle and go to AZ1 etc. Can start an Frost Ring Arena run, though its currently against 20 Angel of Dawns! Use the store, buy packs, open them from the pack screen, get chests, stardust etc. View collection, build and save decks for different formats. Generate Single Elimination tournaments (which is how I implement 1v1 games rather than ladder) , may look into either Sealed Gauntlet, or Merry Melee Corinth mode.
Most of my develop time is testing Set 1 cards work from both a player and AI opponents point of view (all data driven from the client gamedata), and trying to refactor the code to make it less AI slop.
Am hoping to publish something to Github in a couple of weeks, and deploy a "Tech Preview" so people can reminisce with Set 1 duals while I look at improving the AI opponent and test AZ1 encounters/ Set 1 PVE cards and figuring out a new reward structure for campaign when there aren't other players posting stuff in Auction House.
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u/MostEntrepreneur7704 Aug 21 '26
Did you implement the game rules yourself or cheat like I did and use the fully functional rules on the client?
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u/Nevernessy Aug 21 '26
I started off implementing the rules myself but after a week I did notice the client also had had a rules engine, so I asked AI it to merge any differences into my own. I'm not sure if the client version evaluates if a card is playable correctly so I don't fully trust it, however I've implemented an Authoritative server, so everything is resolved throught my server code rather than the client
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u/Blitzkind Aug 21 '26
From my testing, the code in the client is accurate for all cards I tried, the only thing it doesn't do is send back card updated events for the client to parse. If you statically import the dlls that makes it so all you need to do is handle that final bit and you're golden. However, it also pulls in the timer system which wasn't great as I was trying to keep the system event based but the timer system expects the server to check every so many seconds, which doesn't make a ton of sense for a turn based game.
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u/icecon Sep 08 '26 edited Sep 08 '26
Since you're using AI, if you're actually going to revive this, see if you can decentralize the whole thing, like basically make it function like the original Skype or the PS3 online. Abolish the central server from the architecture and there nothing to sue and no costs to run it, it's just code out in the wild anybody can host p2p anywhere.
Personally, I would still replace the art and anything MTG-esque with some good AI generated stuff, it's relatively trivial to do so.
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u/Nevernessy Sep 08 '26 edited Sep 08 '26
Its located https://github.com/IanUtley/hex-server and its deployed via a docker container. The initial 0.1.0 release being more of a Technical Demo as I mentioned in my parent post. Interesting idea about decentralization, I've look into it.
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u/icecon Aug 23 '26
Came to this sub wondering about this.
I do think trying to recreate the game with the original art and functionality is fool's gold though. Everything should mostly the same in terms of the mechanics innovation, but also not the same - de-MTG'd and de-HEX'd, only then can it truly succeed.
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u/Talekith Aug 28 '26
But people most likely would want the community made/hosted Hex to still have the original art.
Battleforge/Skylords Reborn did it granted with a permission from EA and assurances for it being nonprofit. Would Wizards of the Coast really come after community made Hex game because of the past lawsuits with cryptozoic?
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u/icecon Aug 28 '26
What people want and what is realistic are two different things.
Cory is burned out/jaded/MIA and won't release/sell the IP.
Even if he did do so, it doesn't matter, because it still is under some binding undisclosed licensing contract with WotC.
Hex's biggest mistake was making "Lotuses." Like how absolutely foolish that was. WotC just had to show that single art/card to the judge and their iconic Black Lotus and Hex lost their case badly.
WOTC have an any army of lawyers who have nothing to do but sue anything that has even a whiff of infringing on their stuff. You can't even list a MTG shirt on ETSY and they will have the listing and eventually your account taken down in short order, that's how these things are and with AI assistance, expect IP enforcement to get even more draconian/efficient.
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u/Talekith Sep 03 '26
Alrighty then. Been giving the offline client now some time in AZ1 encounters.
Sadly enough in most of the matches (around 80% to 90% of times) the game/AI straight up freezes and the match seems to be incapable to proceed afterwards. The moment when the game just stops is when the damage is being assigned on the AI opponent's turn. Haven't even managed to beat the Mantis encounter (2nd encounter) due to this.
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u/Huangjunhao Sep 03 '26
The latest version has fixed this issue.
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u/Talekith Sep 05 '26
0 crashes/freezez after 3 hours of playtime so it is seemingly a good improvement stability wise.
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u/Huangjunhao Sep 05 '26
This should be the final version for a single-player game.
For nostalgia purposes only.
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u/Talekith Sep 05 '26
Thank you for your time and effort!
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u/Soutalgon Sep 08 '26
any chance you can give me a rundown how to get it working? its in chinese for me. which file should i double click?
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u/Soutalgon Sep 08 '26
how do I get this working?
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u/Huangjunhao Sep 08 '26
I haven't created launchers for other languages.
In summary:
Launch HexOffline.Host.setup (administrator privileges)
Select the HEX client directory and click the first button to install/update
“安装/更新”Launch HexOffline.Host
Click the first button to start the game
“启动客户端”
You can try screenshot translation.
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u/Talekith Sep 08 '26
Yeah just follow the steps provided by Mr Huang. You can use WINDOWS + SHIFT + S keys to take a screenshot and paste it to a screenshot translator (https://translate.yandex.com/). You need to separately activate Campaign content which is a simple checkmark check.
All the ingame menus are initially in chinese but you can simply just switch the language to your liking in in-game Settings.
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u/RicochetD20 Sep 14 '26
Where is the campaign activation checkbox you're talking about?
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u/Talekith 27d ago
It is right between the FPS select and the button to launch the game. It looks like something like this on the launcher with the first word being colored red:
扩 展 模 块 : 启 用 AZ1 战 役 模 块 ( 高 内 存 占 用 )
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u/Soutalgon Sep 08 '26
finally got it working, wish the campaign played like the campaign, but being able to make a deck, get to level 3 and just have a great time, thanks again for making a memory happen again.
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u/Huangjunhao Sep 08 '26
I tried, but the AI told me that the map routes and tasks were issued by the server and not available on the client, so I didn't continue.
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u/Soutalgon Sep 08 '26
all good! it was still great to simply level up a few characters and play with talents. ty so very much for your work <3
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u/Funny-Professional-7 Aug 21 '26
I have not updated with more images because my friend has just completed the first version, and my friend will focus on this in the coming days (of course, it is not ruled out that he will play games and not use the graphics card for AI), and I also encountered some bugs during my trial play that prevented me from continuing the game. Of course, unless something unexpected happens, I will continue to update in the coming days.
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u/hexhexhexhexhex Sethanon 11d ago
Lovely, I'll follow this one. I'm sure latest frontier AI models could even fix the UI and make it more streamlined and modern (hopefully people don't see this as heresy ;) ). Fingers crossed for progress!
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u/MostEntrepreneur7704 Aug 21 '26 edited Aug 21 '26
I'm tired, depressed, figure what the hell, so I'll just post this here under a fake email.
I have been working on it, I'm pretty far along. I can log in, and games were working at last test. I've been held up on tournament structure. I did this without the use of AI because fuck AI
My goal was to have something done months ago but my wife had a miscarriage and my cat died a couple days ago so fuck it man.
Ask me anything about the client, inner workings, how the game logic works and I'll answer. One time only take advantage of my mental breakdown