Slitherine

...can be found here: Field of Glory.

A few notes that didn't make it into the first review (I'll be doing a followup specifically for multiplayer). These are mostly complaints, but don't let that distract you from the fact that I loved the game.

(1) Bug: The UI surrounding facing is tragic. In a busy battle, I find it practically impossible to figure out what direction some troops are actually facing in until I click on them.
(2) Bug: Likewise, there needs to be a more vivid indicator of which troops have moved vs. which are still yet to be moved. The alpha/brightness difference is too subtle.
(3) Feature request: I couldn't find a way to view a replay of a battle (especially a PBEM battle!) once it's finished. That would be awesome (or, if I missed it, see my complaints about the manual).
(4) Feature request: The core idea and implementation of the PBEM mechanic is great, but I wish there were more notification options - I'd prefer to get an IM over an email for things like this.
(5) Feature request: I wish I could somehow inspect a given troop in more detail (eg, control-click on it, or select it and hit some other control, and be taken to a page that goes into detail about its movement, abilities, and maybe a nice image and some descriptive text). The mini-panel on the bottom of the screen is useful, but not fun.

Hope this helps, and thanks for publishing a great game.

-peterb

Thanks but your site just crashes when i try and open it from Vista using IE.

Bug 2 - on the mini map any units that have not moved are a different colour - very easy to see who has not moved.
Bug 4 - we have no way to tap in to instant messenger. We'd have to create our own IM program and get everyone to install it. I really dont like the idea of forcing people to do that!

iainmcneil wrote:Thanks but your site just crashes when i try and open it from Vista using IE.
Bug 2 - on the mini map any units that have not moved are a different colour - very easy to see who has not moved.

Ah, I hardly ever look at the mini-map. I'm always looking at the main display, where the distinction is quite subtle:



If the circle under the unit on the main menu turned black (or whatever color that is on the minimap - navy blue?) it would be much more obvious. Alternatively a badge would accomplish the same thing.

iainmcneil wrote: Bug 4 - we have no way to tap in to instant messenger. We'd have to create our own IM program and get everyone to install it. I really dont like the idea of forcing people to do that!

If you have a server that sends email, it can send an IM instead. See, e.g., http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7994 ... mmatically. But this is just a "nice to have", not something that's essential. Basically, I think the Uniwar game for the iPhone is the new sine qua non for multiplayer online games, and anything that gets you closer to that model can only improve quality.

Really the biggest complaint for me is the facing issue. I can't tell if the issue is that facing isn't adequately displayed, or just that the models aren't hi-res enough for me to be able to tell. For example, in the image above, consider the chartiot with the "D" badge, the unselected one. In game terms, that chariot must be facing either up-left or up-right, but visually it appears to be facing straight up, and there's no way to tell which way it's pointing without clicking on it. Likewise with the legionarries in the middle of the Roman formation - they look like they're facing straight down (and since you can't click on enemy troops to find out their facing, I think, this is even more of a problem!).

I was considering having a small app that people could use to tell them when they have a turn available. Something that sat in the system tray and was a few k in size. Would it be something people would be interested in? No promises, but letting us know what you would find useful is the first step to us doing it

Cheers

Pip

pipfromslitherine wrote:I was considering having a small app that people could use to tell them when they have a turn available. Something that sat in the system tray and was a few k in size. Would it be something people would be interested in? No promises, but letting us know what you would find useful is the first step to us doing it

Cheers

Pip

That would be seriously cool

Cheers,

Keyth

peterb wrote:

iainmcneil wrote:Thanks but your site just crashes when i try and open it from Vista using IE.
Bug 2 - on the mini map any units that have not moved are a different colour - very easy to see who has not moved.

Ah, I hardly ever look at the mini-map. I'm always looking at the main display, where the distinction is quite subtle:



If the circle under the unit on the main menu turned black (or whatever color that is on the minimap - navy blue?) it would be much more obvious. Alternatively a badge would accomplish the same thing.

iainmcneil wrote: Bug 4 - we have no way to tap in to instant messenger. We'd have to create our own IM program and get everyone to install it. I really dont like the idea of forcing people to do that!

If you have a server that sends email, it can send an IM instead. See, e.g., http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7994 ... mmatically. But this is just a "nice to have", not something that's essential. Basically, I think the Uniwar game for the iPhone is the new sine qua non for multiplayer online games, and anything that gets you closer to that model can only improve quality.

Really the biggest complaint for me is the facing issue. I can't tell if the issue is that facing isn't adequately displayed, or just that the models aren't hi-res enough for me to be able to tell. For example, in the image above, consider the chartiot with the "D" badge, the unselected one. In game terms, that chariot must be facing either up-left or up-right, but visually it appears to be facing straight up, and there's no way to tell which way it's pointing without clicking on it. Likewise with the legionarries in the middle of the Roman formation - they look like they're facing straight down (and since you can't click on enemy troops to find out their facing, I think, this is even more of a problem!).

I find the easiest way to deal with the facing issue (and in general a better way to visualize possible moves) is to turn on the hex grid display in the game options. It may detract a bit from the visuals of the game but greatly enhances the playability. (I've been playing this way for so long that I only now remembered it was an option I turned on after looking at the visual you posted.)

Chris

I can't open your site in IE8 under XP either, FYI.

Cheers

Pip

iainmcneil wrote:Thanks but your site just crashes when i try and open it from Vista using IE.

Bug 2 - on the mini map any units that have not moved are a different colour - very easy to see who has not moved.
Bug 4 - we have no way to tap in to instant messenger. We'd have to create our own IM program and get everyone to install it. I really dont like the idea of forcing people to do that!

The site works fine for me with Firefox and Win XP. You might try Firefox.

Chris

IE8 and Vista works OK. And to be fair, I think the OP has captured the spirit of FoG... just play some multiplayer

Cheers,

Keyth

iainmcneil wrote:Thanks but your site just crashes when i try and open it from Vista using IE.

I can't get it to load at all

EDIT: The chariot doesn't need to be facing left up, or right up, it can just be facing straight up, which it clearly is. I think your confusion arises from a misunderstanding of the possible directions.

grumblefish wrote:

iainmcneil wrote:Thanks but your site just crashes when i try and open it from Vista using IE.

I can't get it to load at all

I think my hosting provider is having 'issues'. I can reach it from some places on the network, but not others.

Google cache link to the review: http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:9aR ... ent=safari[/url]

peterb wrote:

grumblefish wrote:

iainmcneil wrote:Thanks but your site just crashes when i try and open it from Vista using IE.

I can't get it to load at all

I think my hosting provider is having 'issues'. I can reach it from some places on the network, but not others.

Google cache link to the review: http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:9aR ... ent=safari[/url]

Ah, right-o, got it. Works fine when I click that google cache link.

As for the Chariot-direction thing, you incorrectly listed the possible directions as up-left and up-right. Actualy, there is a third, straight-up, which it clearly is facing in the picture given by you. There are six possible directions in FoG:

Up, Up-Right, Down-Right, Down, Down-Left, Up-Left


EDIT: Now I am really curious how you actually found out whether a unit was facing up-left or up-right... in most cases it isn't facing either one, it's facing directly upfield, so I'm completely mystified as to how you made the determination. Perhaps your mouse was always sitting on either the up-left or up-right button, and therefore it was highlighted and you incorrectly determined that the unit was facing that way? Seems unlikely, but the only possibility I can think of. Think of the start location of any battle - 90-100% of the units are facing directly upfield...

I think good timing for a review would be after the first expansion pack comes out so we can get a sense of how the full game works.

grumblefish wrote: As for the Chariot-direction thing, you incorrectly listed the possible directions as up-left and up-right. Actualy, there is a third, straight-up, which it clearly is facing in the picture given by you. There are six possible directions in FoG:

Up, Up-Right, Down-Right, Down, Down-Left, Up-Left

So in the image above, look at the two infantry/barbarian units to the right and left of the highlighted/selected chariot.

Can you tell which way they are facing? Because I can't.

I can see they are clearly facing directly up but maybe it is me.

Bear in mind units face a hex corner not a hex side. Maybe this is where you are getting confused? Both the hexes above count as frontal hexes for combat. Check the help files for details.

Or put it another way, they face both up-left and up-right, ie their front is both those hexes

peterb wrote:

grumblefish wrote: As for the Chariot-direction thing, you incorrectly listed the possible directions as up-left and up-right. Actualy, there is a third, straight-up, which it clearly is facing in the picture given by you. There are six possible directions in FoG:

Up, Up-Right, Down-Right, Down, Down-Left, Up-Left

So in the image above, look at the two infantry/barbarian units to the right and left of the highlighted/selected chariot.

Can you tell which way they are facing? Because I can't.

Maybe it's just an unfamiliarity with the barbarian units that's causing you difficulties; all of those units appear to be facing straight up. It is, at least to me, very clear when a unit is facing left or right, as opposed to directly upwards. There might be a few units that look similar when facing up-left and down-left, or up-right and down-right, but I can't think of one off the top of my head.

EDIT: Try loading up the scenario builder, and place the unit that's giving you trouble. Then you can spin it around easily, and see all the possible angles. It's not the perfect solution, but it will make you familiar with what the unit looks like, and then confusion should be resolved until someone comes up with a better idea.

Ah, I've just learnt there is a way to turn on hexes!

There on times when it is really useful to see the hexes when it is difficult to judge the number of hexes between units, or to try to gauge whether a unit may be able to attack. I have resorted to fully zooming out and sometimes you can see faint hexes this way.

Could this be made a toggle option within the game? Like the toggle option to see command radius?

Morbio wrote:Ah, I've just learnt there is a way to turn on hexes!

There on times when it is really useful to see the hexes when it is difficult to judge the number of hexes between units, or to try to gauge whether a unit may be able to attack. I have resorted to fully zooming out and sometimes you can see faint hexes this way.

Could this be made a toggle option within the game? Like the toggle option to see command radius?

You can toggle it in prefernces. It just doesn't have a button on the main map like the command radius does.

Chris

Yes, I know about the toggle outside battle, but I wouldn't want it on all the time, it'd be really good just to be able to turn it on when trying to analyse a particular set of moves.

Thanks for the feedback.