Yeah, that's a great point. I know some other players have been having that confusion as well. I kind of want to get rid of the neutrals all together since it only makes things confusing (they are there because I originally copied the board of Axis&Allies). Yet the question would be, what to do with that physical space on the map. In many cases they serve as like a blockage that shapes the playable space around them. Maybe the best solution would be adding something visual to them to show that you cant enter, like maybe a barrier of doodads around the edges?
That's not quite what I said ;p. To be clear to everyone, I am interested in making the game easier to learn, as I have already put a lot of effort into making tons of out of game and in game help available. What I said was that I am not interested in complaints that you have to read a little bit of in game text. And exactly as Glorn said, I will never ever dumb down the game to increase player count.
I hope that this isn't intimidating anyone, making the game sound ultra complex. In my opinion, and compared to some other games in this genera, it really is not too complex. Regarding having to read the manual before hand as Glorn was saying, I would recommend it, but that is not necessarily true. There are some good players (who regularly beat me), who I can tell did not read anything before hand, based on questions that they ask me. Recently I met a very decent player who can't even read English very well. So, read the how to play or other things before playing if you want, but everything you need to know is also available in the game on button tooltips.
There are two sort of experimental systems for giving instructions that I came up with. One is that sometimes you will see a passive "!" button on a command card, and if you mouse over it its tooltip will explain a game concept to you or give you a tip. The other is that if you press Q, you will cycle through some basic instructions that are given to you via text message.
Hey all! I am very honored to have my game up for review this month. Hopefully we can get some good games going!
As the game requires 6 people, I will volunteer myself as a potential player if you are short on reviewers.
I will frequently be hosting the game as I have been doing on the North American server. I've got quite a long list of players who I send game invites when I'm trying to get one going, so we can try to tap into that if necessary to get 6 players. Feel free to add me and send me a pm, maybe I'll be on and hosting a game. My b.net name and number is Alastar#1644.
The game has been going pretty well, but it definitely is not perfect and I'm looking forward to some real feedback. Its not the most professional looking game you will ever see, as its my first game and I did what I could with my very limited and scrappy galaxy editor ability. But, it works. There's a few kinks that I still want to work out.
All that said, I'd like to briefly talk about the type of feedback that I'm really hoping for. I feel like when making a game, there's a few different angles you can come at it from. There's the angle of optimizing a game to be most appealing to the masses of b.net players and to be very instantly learnable and likely to receive a huge number of positive ratings. That is really not my goal here with this game, and so I am less interested in feedback regarding how to optimize the game to be spoon-fed to the b.net masses. One thing I am not at all interested in hearing and will probably ignore is, "there's some stuff that I have to read and I don't like that". What I AM very interested in hearing is feedback, positive or negative, regarding the game balance/mechanics. Do you think a unit or upgrade is over powered or under powered? What do you think of the production and economy system? What do you think of the tactics and strategy? That sort of thing.
I'm very glad that you enjoyed the game and I will think about adding some grass :). Hope to play with you again some time.
Thanks R0binicus!
Alastar#1644
If you start a lobby, you are likely to get a game. Feel free to add me on sc2 and I'll join if I'm on.
Yeah, that's a great point. I know some other players have been having that confusion as well. I kind of want to get rid of the neutrals all together since it only makes things confusing (they are there because I originally copied the board of Axis&Allies). Yet the question would be, what to do with that physical space on the map. In many cases they serve as like a blockage that shapes the playable space around them. Maybe the best solution would be adding something visual to them to show that you cant enter, like maybe a barrier of doodads around the edges?
"Dont tell me to make my game easy to understand"
That's not quite what I said ;p. To be clear to everyone, I am interested in making the game easier to learn, as I have already put a lot of effort into making tons of out of game and in game help available. What I said was that I am not interested in complaints that you have to read a little bit of in game text. And exactly as Glorn said, I will never ever dumb down the game to increase player count.
I hope that this isn't intimidating anyone, making the game sound ultra complex. In my opinion, and compared to some other games in this genera, it really is not too complex. Regarding having to read the manual before hand as Glorn was saying, I would recommend it, but that is not necessarily true. There are some good players (who regularly beat me), who I can tell did not read anything before hand, based on questions that they ask me. Recently I met a very decent player who can't even read English very well. So, read the how to play or other things before playing if you want, but everything you need to know is also available in the game on button tooltips.
There are two sort of experimental systems for giving instructions that I came up with. One is that sometimes you will see a passive "!" button on a command card, and if you mouse over it its tooltip will explain a game concept to you or give you a tip. The other is that if you press Q, you will cycle through some basic instructions that are given to you via text message.
Hey all! I am very honored to have my game up for review this month. Hopefully we can get some good games going!
As the game requires 6 people, I will volunteer myself as a potential player if you are short on reviewers.
I will frequently be hosting the game as I have been doing on the North American server. I've got quite a long list of players who I send game invites when I'm trying to get one going, so we can try to tap into that if necessary to get 6 players. Feel free to add me and send me a pm, maybe I'll be on and hosting a game. My b.net name and number is Alastar#1644.
The game has been going pretty well, but it definitely is not perfect and I'm looking forward to some real feedback. Its not the most professional looking game you will ever see, as its my first game and I did what I could with my very limited and scrappy galaxy editor ability. But, it works. There's a few kinks that I still want to work out.
All that said, I'd like to briefly talk about the type of feedback that I'm really hoping for. I feel like when making a game, there's a few different angles you can come at it from. There's the angle of optimizing a game to be most appealing to the masses of b.net players and to be very instantly learnable and likely to receive a huge number of positive ratings. That is really not my goal here with this game, and so I am less interested in feedback regarding how to optimize the game to be spoon-fed to the b.net masses. One thing I am not at all interested in hearing and will probably ignore is, "there's some stuff that I have to read and I don't like that". What I AM very interested in hearing is feedback, positive or negative, regarding the game balance/mechanics. Do you think a unit or upgrade is over powered or under powered? What do you think of the production and economy system? What do you think of the tactics and strategy? That sort of thing.
Happy gaming!