a couple months ago i shared my passion project PTCGL Replay with you all, and the response has been downright humbling. 🙇🏻‍♀️

thousands of you have visited and dozens of you have filed feedback through the in-app reporter. i have read (and hopefully fixed) every single one. this post is half changelog, half love letter. 💖

screenshot showing the updated PTCGL Replay in action (usernames blurred for privacy)

^((sidenote: if you recognize this gamestate and are reading this,) ^(thank you so much)^(! this screenshot came from a feedback submission that surfaced) ^(an inordinate amount) ^(of bugs. you're awesome, thanks for the feedback, hope you continue to enjoy!))

what's new 🎉

- early mobile support. yes, i know i said i wouldn't support it in the original post, but unsurprisingly mobile made up a lot of the traffic and feedback requests. so:

1. you can now paste a battle log straight from your clipboard
2. playback no longer scroll-hijacks the page
3. the panes tab neatly on small screens

>i wouldn't call it optimized yet, but it's functional. as always, more feedback is welcomed here, and i will do what i can to improve the experience on mobile without degrading it on desktop.

- duplicate pokémon behave. with multiple same-named pokémon in play, effects no longer all pile onto the first copy -- energy, damage, heals, and tools each find the copy that actually makes sense.

>this is another limitation of the battle log export being incredibly vague with targeting. there is a new logical pass on replays to differentiate between same-named pokémon using abilities, being assigned damage, etc using a background bench slot tracker as a workaround. i expect this to still be imperfect but greatly improved.

- trainer energy attachments. these were being parsed but not rendered properly, leading to an eventual corrupted gamestate in certain scenarios.

>the bug that surfaced this issue led me to reclassify how "abilities" from non-pokémon sources are read. this should be relatively solid and future-proof* (knock on wood).

- bench targeting improvements. things happen on the bench. bench knockouts, snipe damage (cruel arrow etc), and active-vs-bench targeting should all now resolve where intended.

>another issue due to vague replay output and largely rectified by the aforementioned background bench slot tracker. two for one special!

- edge case resolutions. cards that "break the rules" (grand tree, area zero's 8-slot bench, etc) reconstruct correctly now.

>this was working in much earlier builds, but constantly optimizing for edge cases is difficult when the tool is configured to adhere to standard gameplay regulations. i've retooled my approach to trust card text that conflicts with game rules more broadly.

- quality of life: full keyboard playback controls, glow effects when energy and tools attach, opponent's revealed cards render face-up in their hand, and a refreshed landing page.

what hasn't changed 🚫

- still free and privacy-first. no ads, no accounts, no subscriptions, no data collection.

- still strictly a replay viewer; it will only ever work with a battle log exported from PTCGL.

- still one person doing this in her spare time on her own dime (it still rhymes).

the feedback thing 🤓

every engine bug reported through the in-app reporter has a fix live right now, and the optional "attach my replay" consent is the reason. i can't fix what i can't see, so if the reconstruction ever looks wrong, please consider that little button in the bottom-left.

thank you for using it, for sharing it, and for caring enough to file bug reports. i hope your replays look better than ever, and i look forward to the next person who finds fourteen bugs in one game. 😅

💖 , seru

i got tired of not having a reliable way to review games or share cool gameplay moments with friends, so i made one. ✨ this has actually been kicking around since late last year and is entirely a passion project; a few enterprising members of this sub have stumbled upon it already since it's been live, and i figured why not share it more broadly. so, here ya go! 💖

PTCGL Replay

screenshot showing PTCGL Replay in action (opponent's name blurred)

what it does ✅

• runs entirely in a desktop browser, no downloads or accounts required
• reconstructs the gamestate from a battle log .txt file you upload
• provides card info and images in a simple, elegant ui
• generates a color-coded (and clickable!) action log for each action, with clear delineation between turn players
• puts you in control of playback with controls; speed, scrub, skip by turn, step

what it does not do ❌

• record or store ANY data on you by default; sharing a replay via the in-app link generates an encrypted link to a zero-knowledge data storage that empties every 30 days
• monetize in any way; no ads served, no purchases, and no subscriptions
• allow for simulated gameplay; this is strictly a replay utility and will only work with a battle log exported from PTCGL
• work on mobile; it might work for sharing replays, but it's not at all optimized for mobile display/browsers and probably won't look or function as expected

this is what might be considered an "alpha" release -- i've tested the logic against a limited dataset (my own replays and those of friends) and in no way can guarantee perfect recreation of every possible gamestate. due to limitations with the source material (replays are generated entirely by parsing the text file output from a battle log which does not contain complete information), PTCGL Replay uses heuristic inference (🤓 for educated guesses based on context) to determine what the outcomes of each action across the battle log should resolve to.

long story short, it's not always a 1:1 recreation of every game detail, but in my firsthand experience it's useful and reliable.

if you're curious to try it out: i'd recommend turning off "hide card IDs from export" in settings > battle log settings (all this does is add set IDs to card names in the battle log text).

if you encounter a bug or want to provide feedback: please use the button in the bottom-left. you can optionally consent to attach a replay to the report which will allow me to see better details about the scenario. more feedback means i can make it better for more people!

this is a passion project 😅

i'm just one person doing this in my spare time and running it on my own dime (hey that's a rhyme). just doing this for the love of the game, so please be kind. i hope you enjoy it and look forward to hearing what you think!

💖 , seru

hey divas,

does anybody else have this issue? every tube of this i buy, it always inevitably starts leaking liner out of the weird holes on the side of the felt tip? i love the product for when i’m doing a bold look, there’s no better, but the amount of tubes that have leaked ON MY FACE while i’m trying to do my liner is insane.

at this point i guess i’m asking, any good alternatives i should look into?