Update Overview:

Addition of a Round Timer

Insight to the dev process during Open Beta

Words from Our Devs:

Our latest update for Magic: The Gathering Companion features a request that has been highly requested by you: a round timer! The ability to monitor how long rounds take was something we heard from many users via the in-app email contact link and I’m excited to walk you through what our first timer candidate looks like today. (And if you want to provide feedback you can do so directly in the app!)

But before we dive into the round timer, first we’d like to answer the question of how we’re managing Companion now that it’s in open beta. Each sprint our developers work on two types of work: changes to the open beta build you can access using the links on the product page, and long-term features that will roll out in the coming weeks. That means that some of the changes you get live in the app are lighter weight while the devs are busy building out the heavy features that are coming soon.

We chose to develop a timer option for our next feature in the open beta based on feedback we heard loudly and clearly from players. I tasked the UX team with designing a lightweight timer we can roll out now and build on for the future. To access the timer simply open the advanced options from the “hamburger” menu in the upper right-hand corner of the app. Remember: to access advanced options you’ll need to log in using your Wizards Account, the same type of account you use to log in to things like Magic Arena. Here’s what it looks like:

For now, the timer is pretty simple and offers an on/off solution. If you want to time your rounds to last 50 minutes you simply check that option and you’re all set! In later builds the timer will expand to allow users to choose the length of time for rounds they want to run for their home tournaments instead of limiting you to 50 minutes. Here’s what the timer looks like in action:

Once the timer runs down it will count upwards in negative time flashing red to indicate the round has ended and that you’re ready to move on. Here’s that view in action:

As always thanks for taking the time to help make Magic: The Gathering Companion the best it can be. The devs are continuing to work on one of the key features for Companion: enabling all of your friends at your home tournaments to participate in the same event each from their own version of Companion. That feature is pretty complex and won’t be ready for several more sprints, but I’m hoping to update on how the feature is shaping up soon.

We’ll be back soon with the next round of updates with your help!