Life Gatherer (MTG Life Counter App)
General forum
Posted on June 4, 2014, 7:21 p.m. by TwinUmbra
Hey guys,
I spent some time browsing and testing various MTG life counters on the app store recently, and I must say I found the popular apps extremely disappointing. Most life counters have an interface that suffers from 1 of 2 problems: either using a busy background image (like Chandra or Shivan Dragon) that obscures basic UI functionality OR using barebones "programmer art", which lacks any aesthetic appeal whatsoever. Visuals aside, I had difficulty finding a life counter that met all my needs: coin flips, dice rolls, EDH/Commander support, Two-Headed Giant support, a clean UI, no ads, etc. So rather than settle for a lackluster app, I made my own - Life Gatherer!
Life Gatherer Features
-Add and subtract life in increments of 1 or 5 for fast efficient scorekeeping
-Toggle between Two-Headed Giant, Commander/EDH, and normal games
-Easily manage poison counters or hide them for a cleaner display
-Simulate the roll of 6-sided dice or a 20-sided die
-Simulate coin flips with the touch of a button
-Change each player's background to represent one of the five colors of Magic
-Switch to a single life display if your opponent wants to track their life separately
-Supports 1-2 players or 2 teams with shared life
So leave pen & paper behind and kick those crummy life counters to the curb!
Life Gatherer on the Chrome Web Store
You can also try the in-browser demo of Life Gatherer on my website here. Thanks for reading!
Epochalyptik says... #3
While I like that you're putting something out for the MTG community, I don't like that you created your account purely to advertise it.
June 4, 2014 8:06 p.m.
Only things I could wish for are a.) support for more than 2 players, and b.) toggling colors instead of switching them (by blending multiple colors, i.e., red + blue = purple, etc)
Besides those, this looks great. Definitely going to pick this up.
June 4, 2014 8:10 p.m.
@Caligula I'll have to check that one out.
@Epochalyptik Understandable. Although, I have used this site for awhile - just browsing decks and reading instead of creating an account and posting.
@mrfb Thanks for the support! Multicolor backgrounds has been a popular request and I may include that in a future update to the app.
June 4, 2014 9:11 p.m.
vampirelazarus says... #6
Or MTG Familiar.
It even does multiple players, card searching, and isn't Star City!
June 4, 2014 9:26 p.m.
mowservision says... #7
I agree with vampirelazarus. MtG Familiar is the best FREE app that does everything you need it to and more. If you can work in a way to make custom cards, or something innovative, you'll fall behind the more popular apps.
June 4, 2014 9:35 p.m.
Although MTG Familiar does seem feature-rich, I don't like the way the interface looks and a number of recent reviews for it are also worrisome. People have complained about bugs in Familiar's latest version, like the life counter being stuck at 20 regardless of the game mode and the screen going black mid-game.
Superior deckbuilding and card searching tools exist online (like Wizard's official database), so I'd prefer to have a great-looking efficient life counter app to use while I'm actually playing magic and then go online and do my deckbuilding separately.
June 4, 2014 10:19 p.m.
vampirelazarus says... #9
Hey man, I think its awesome that you went ahead and made your own, just suggesting an app that already exists with all the features you plan on adding to yours.
To be honest, I wouldn't trust the reviews until you try it yourself. I've been using it for about two years now, and have had no problems.
June 4, 2014 10:35 p.m.
Yeah, absolutely. Out of curiosity is familiar android-only? A quick look seems to suggest that it is.
June 4, 2014 11:56 p.m.
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Caligula says... #2
Star City Games has an app that has a decent life counter built into it
June 4, 2014 7:46 p.m.