LackeyCCG Alpha

LackeyCCG Alpha

Lackey CCG Player is a tool for creating and playing any type of CCG (collectible card game) online (or offline in solitaire mode). It's also a great tool for building and designing decks. You can create your own game or download a plugin of an existing game and play with your friends.

Q: What games does Lackey play?

A: Lackey lets a person play ANY game as long as someone makes a plugin for it. A plugin is what defines how a game is played and what it looks like as it is being played. Plugins are easy to create. While you can play plugins for existing CCGs, please make sure you have the permission of the owner of that game's copyrights. I will be adding a webring for people to share their plugins. There are no official plugins per se. Check out the Plugins section of the Forum for more information on plugins.

Q: Does Lackey support images, or is it text base?

A: Lackey FULLY supports all types of images, from card images, to table top backgrounds, to player avatars. One problem with existing methods of playing CCGs online is how ugly they look. Playing a CCG is a lot more fun with card pictures. One great device invented by Richard Garfield is large pictures on cards which serve as icons for that card. After you see a card a few times, you don't need to read it. You can just glance at the picture and recall what the card does.

Q: Does Lackey enforce rules? Will it allow me to do something that isn't legal?

A: Lackey does not implement rules forcing. I have tried other methods of playing CCGs online and I have found that forcing rules adherence just serves to bog down the game and makes it much less fun to play. Lackey allows you to simplify your turn when not much interesting is happen (so you can get to the more fun parts of a game faster). Lackey will allow you to do anything you could do if you were playing with real cards. It also allows for a more formal adherence to the rules if you want to play that way, but it doesn't force any particular play style.

Q: How much does Lackey cost?

A: That has yet to be decided. There will always be a free version. There will also be a premium version with lots of bells and whistles. The spirit of Lackey is that it is donation based. I know lots of people can't afford a hefty fee. But also please note that Lackey has taken years to develop and I will continue to toil to make it the best program of its kind bar none. I am trying to support myself and a loving wife, so if you can, please donate. (There is a paypal link at the bottom of every page on this site.) In any case, it is A LOT cheaper than buying packs of cards.

Q: Does Lackey allow you to use all cards at once or do I have to open virtual packs and slowly accumulate cards?

A: Lackey gives you immediate access to any card in your plugin. You are not restricted in any way by the size of your card pool (or your card budget). All players are on equal footing and victory will go to the better deck builder and player.

Q: Does Lackey support multiplayer?

A: Yes. Up to 10 players can play in one game.

Q: Does Lackey support solitaire play?

A: Yes. It fully supports solitaire play. You can play one deck against another with a lot of features which make that easy to do.

Q: Does Lackey allow you to save/resume games?

A: Yes. It even has an autosave feature, in case anything happens during the game.

Q: If a new expansion set for a game comes out, will I have to redownload the whole plugin to be updated?

A: No. Sets are very modular with Lackey and it is very easy to add the latest set. The new AutoUpdate feature in Lackey makes installing and updating plugins incredibly simple.

Q: Is it availible for both MAC and PC? How about Linux or other operating systems?

A: Lackey is availible for both Mac OSX and Windows. It is not currently availible for other operating systems, but should enough interest arise, it will be ported to other operating systems. Mac versions and Windows versions are completely compatible with eachother and Lackey looks identical on each platform. Linux would be easy to port too.

Q: Where can I download Lackey and where can I download plugins for it?

A: You can download Lackey from this site in the downloads section. There are no official plugins, but you can probably find some cool plugins in the LackeyCCG posted in the Plugins section of the Forum. You can also try doing a net search for "LackeyCCG". Included with the Lackey download is a small sample plugin entitled "war3000". It's not meant really to be a game, but to allow folks to test out features before they download (or create) real plugins.

Q: How do I make plugins for my game (or an existing game)?

A: Check out the Plugin Creation Tutorial page.

Q: How do I use Lackey?

A: Check out the Lackey Tutorial page.