Slitherine

I feel so lonely on these boards as every seem to be testing the game...except me

Are there others like me?

Cheers

There are only 4 people in at the moment - sorry! I tried to do a mail merge to let the rest of you know we'd be opening it up for some more testers after Christmas, but it's not worked so far. I'll keep trying!

So, any news from beta testers?

I like the game, but need human opponents, so I hope it opens up to more people soon

vypuero wrote:I like the game, but need human opponents, so I hope it opens up to more people soon

And that's why I suggested developers long time ago that they should have main focus on PBEM and multiplayer. There is no good AI on this world and they never will be.

vveedd wrote:

vypuero wrote:I like the game, but need human opponents, so I hope it opens up to more people soon

And that's why I suggested developers long time ago that they should have main focus on PBEM and multiplayer. There is no good AI on this world and they never will be.

I think there never will be is a sweeping statement, one day I've seen some quite clever AI in games but eventually you learn them, never is a loooong time.

anguille wrote:I feel so lonely on these boards as every seem to be testing the game...except me

Are there others like me?

Cheers

No my friend anguille,

You are not the only one.

As a senior tester and scenario designer of LEGION ARENA, I was also left outside the BETA of this game without any prior note.

It seems that Iain has a short memory...

Never mind, I am note anymore interested to be tester of this game,
since we are not paid, we should at least be respected and evaluated according to our contribution, and as everyone among the Slitherine guys know, I was the most active beta tester of LEGION ARENA...

cheers,
Pyros

Of course we very much value everyones input and especially yours Pyros as you put more into Legion Arena than anyone else. Currently we have a very small number of people testing the game(4), all with WW2 experience and we wanted to bring the rest of you in when the game was a little more polished. Because teh game had lots of issues we did not want too many people testing it right from the start as we knew we woudl not be able to handle the volume of feedback.

I'd be very upset if you felt you were not valued as this is definitely not the case. I have been trying to mail everyone but so far unable to get the mails to go out. I will try again today.

Also, it might be good that ppl start with fresh eyes and ppl could also get tired of testing so it is wise that we do not throw in all ppl at the same time.

firepowerjohan wrote:Also, it might be good that ppl start with fresh eyes and ppl could also get tired of testing so it is wise that we do not throw in all ppl at the same time.

Now there's a good point!

No, not only one. Though I haven't seen any emails yet, either in or out. But I assume if I was in, I'd know by now.
So I figure I'm not in either. That's ok, testing is hard work - I just thought I'd "give some back" as they say.


Rick

Even those not in the test should receive a mail - check your spam filter.

vypuero wrote:I like the game, but need human opponents, so I hope it opens up to more people soon

Honestly for me I cant wait to test it vs the computer and help to make the game better vs a computer opponenet

More games will be played vs the AI compared to humans. I would think 2-3x as many. And many people will get a bias playing the computer first as to weather this game is good/bad etc ... same with reviewers.

SC2 wasnt fun for me at all hardly (because of various issues with the single player game). I hope I can contribute to make this game fun and challenging ...

look forward to beta testing ...

Dulak

dulak wrote:

vypuero wrote:I like the game, but need human opponents, so I hope it opens up to more people soon

Honestly for me I cant wait to test it vs the computer and help to make the game better vs a computer opponenet

More games will be played vs the AI compared to humans. I would think 2-3x as many. And many people will get a bias playing the computer first as to weather this game is good/bad etc ... same with reviewers.

SC2 wasnt fun for me at all hardly (because of various issues with the single player game). I hope I can contribute to make this game fun and challenging ...

look forward to beta testing ...

Dulak

Actually, it's more like 90-95% of the people who buy such a game will never play against another human.

Don't take me wrong, Dulak, I am not arguing with you. I'm saying that a strong, challenging AI is even more important than you have stated it to be.

You're probably right Possum ... and the thing is many people whom buy the game and play the single player version will never post on the forum.

Initial reaction to the public is the most important thing about a game; from reviews and people whom play it when it first comes out. Many games are made or broke in the first week or so ...

Granted some people can expect patches to fix game issues but sometimes if issues are that glareing it wont matter

We have discussed this before but must say it again ??“ there is no good AI so far and there never will be good AI in near future. Reason is simple ??“ to have good AI, it should work similar like human brain and this is not possible because we don??™t know how it works so far. Today??™s AI, human can easily learn after a few games and then game become boring. After that, logical next step is to find human opponent. You never ask yourself why RTS games have missions? Answer is simple ??“ skirmish is after a few play absolutely boring because of AI. AI is only interested when you are absolute beginner in game and then it is only for learn game mechanism. You don??™t have to agree with me but if you ask any good programmer he will say the same. There is one better example ??“ state of the art AI (they have said) has been playing chess against Kasparov and has won!!! Why? Because when they saw that Kasparov will win, they have involved human chess players to make moves.
To my opinion CEaW developers should pay more attention on multiplayer, PBEM especially. It is the most popular way of playing turn based games today.

The PBEM is there and I will be happy to play you if you are/become a beta member. Also there will be TCP/IP if you have time to play a game live, so I think the company is doing its best for everyone.

PS - I personally agree about AI - another note is that for chess, there are only 8x8 squares and each unit has very limited function, so computer benefits from being able to do deep analysis, which is not possible for most wargames because variable are infinitely higher, even though for a human chess can be more complicated. I guess the thing is that chess is a better game for a computer to play.

vypuero wrote:The PBEM is there and I will be happy to play you if you are/become a beta member. Also there will be TCP/IP if you have time to play a game live, so I think the company is doing its best for everyone.

Unfortunately I don't have time to be a beta tester but I will hold you on that promise when full game will be released ok?

Did phase 2 already start? i am not sure but maybe i missed a mail?