"pile" style Deck location

[sparr]

getCardOnTop( $location )
Get the card on top of the given ("pile" style) location

This "pile" concept is mentioned in a few places in the Deck documentation, and it's mentioned that the standard "deck" location is a pile, but I can't find any info on what, if anything, makes another location a "pile". One of the locations in my game is pile-like, and I'd like to keep cards in it in order, if possible.

[panyakali]

I know that this post is *super* old, but I was actually just wondering the same thing... Can anyone help?

[Tisaac]

I think any location is actually a pile but you must not use the location_arg that store the position of the card in the pile.

[Brainchild]

That's my understanding too. As long as you don't change the location_arg, that location will behave as a pile. Each card in the pile will have an auto-incremented location_arg value that identifies where it is in the pile relative to the other cards.

[joezg]

My understanding is similar.

When you shuffle the location, all items in that location get random int in location_arg which is order of cards in a pile.

I think that "pile" is just that: a location that has unique int in location_arg representing the order of items in that location. It is not important if the location was shuffled or not, but every item has to have unique int in location_arg.

[panyakali]

OK, so, just to chime in here- from what I've discovered from fiddling around with BGA "Deck" methods, when you create a set of cards to go into a specific deck, they are *NOT* in a "pile" format by default. To get each element in the deck to have a unique location_arg, you must first call the shuffle('my_location_name') on the deck, and this will both shuffle the cards and turn the location into a "pile" deck.

[Brainchild]

OK, so, just to chime in here- from what I've discovered from fiddling around with BGA "Deck" methods, when you create a set of cards to go into a specific deck, they are *NOT* in a "pile" format by default. To get each element in the deck to have a unique location_arg, you must first call the shuffle('my_location_name') on the deck, and this will both shuffle the cards and turn the location into a "pile" deck.

I have not observed this behaviour in the game I'm implementing. I'm using a pile (unique location_arg for each card) and I never call shuffle(). I do however call insertCardOnExtremePosition() with a 'true' value for the third argument, which may be another way to trigger pile semantics.

[panyakali]

I'm using a pile (unique location_arg for each card) and I never call shuffle(). I do however call insertCardOnExtremePosition() with a 'true' value for the third argument, which may be another way to trigger pile semantics.

Perhaps. When I'm making these new piles I use the typical array structure:

Code: Select all

array ('type' => $type,'type_arg' => $value,'nbr' => $nbr );

...and then I just call createCards without any bells and whistles:

Code: Select all

createCards( $card_creation_array, 'new_pile');

...so that may be it.

I'm still learning the framework- is insertCardOnExtremePosition typically a better way to go?

[Brainchild]

I'm still learning the framework- is insertCardOnExtremePosition typically a better way to go?

No, what you're doing is correct. I also call createCards() but for my game the deck order isn't important and each player starts with every card already in their hand anyway. It's a unique situation.