Hi guys,
we've been looking in to a demo version. If anyone is interested in testing it let me know by mailing info@slitherine.co.uk.
Thanks!
Demo
Moderators: firepowerjohan, Happycat, rkr1958, Slitherine Core
Commander - Europe at War beta demo
Thanks for releasing a demo of Commander: Europe at War. Creating an accessible demo for a deep game like Commander is a tall order. And having played the demo, I would buy the game. Bravo.
I realize you’ve already released the demo, so these thoughts are largely moot. Perhaps my suggestions will be of some use for Commander: Napoleon at War.
Anyway, here we go:
A demo is a story. It is the story of learning to play the game.
Speaking only for myself, I prefer demos that employ a step-by-step approach to learning the game. Because players familiar with hex-based war games might find this type of demo tedious, I suggest offering players two options:
1) A “Please be so kind as to walk me through this thing” demo option, and
2) “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing, I’ll figure it out” demo option
Yes, I realize this is substantially more work, but you would be amazed how well people respond to being given a choice as to how to learn to do something. By right off the bat showing a high regard for your potential customer’s time, they are now more likely to purchase your great game.
The great thing is that with minor changes (mostly grammar and syntax) the existing demo works fine as a “drop me and I’ll figure it out” option.
So I’ll move on a step-by-step demo.
In a “Please be so kind as to walk me through this thing” tutorial the player would first be shown how to move around the game map in a manner similar to RTW and other games. Then tutorial would then instruct the player to select a certain German unit and then attack a certain Polish unit. I know, it’s spoon-feeding, but in my first attack on Poland I was left thinking, “I have absolutely no clue as to what the best use of my units is.” When everything about a game is new, it can be overwhelming. A little spoon-feeding is okay, it’s how we learn to eat.
The Tutorial would explain to the player the importance of attacking an enemy unit with multiple offensive units. Then the player would be instructed to select an air unit and shown how to soften up a target with an air attack. By instructing the player to select an air unit the Tutorial would naturally create an opportunity to explain how air combat works.
Once the player has been shown the first three or four moves that will get them on the road to conquering Poland, they’ll be happy to figure out the rest on their own.
I’d also recommend walking the player through the Produce Units screen, and show them how to buy a lab. You don’t have to explain all the labs, just explain one of them and players will get the drift. Show the player how to rail a unit, tell them how useful this is. This is a great opportunity to touch on the importance of oil. In the Tutorial you don’t have to go into great depth about it, just tease the player with the game’s deeper complexities.
You might end the Tutorial with a teaser to draw the player into purchasing the full game. For example, once you’ve conquered Poland, instruct the player to invade Bulgaria. A conquest once begun is hard to turn back from (case in point, Barbarossa), so upon going after Bulgaria many players will want to finish the job conquering it. Allow them to do so by buying the full game.
Some thoughts on the Tutorial Messages:
First Tutorial Message
• This message contains a lot of information. My first thought was, “Hoo-boy, how much of this information do I have to remember for the purposes of playing the demo? I’m sure I’ll need to know all of it to play the game well, but how much of it do I need to know right now? And how many screens will appear after this one also containing information I’ll have to remember.” I’m certain to the good people of Slitherine who spent a long time writing the game, the demo seems obvious. However to the person who fires up the game for the first time and has no idea of the relative importance of information, I would suggest stripping down what you tell the player. Start with only essential information and build from there.
Second Tutorial Message
• The first line reads, “Next to each resource or city is a number, which shows the production value of that resource.” As there are more cities than resources, I suggest rewriting the sentence to read, “Next to each city or resource is a number showing the production value of that city or resource.” [Notice the omission of the comma and the word “which”]
• I found the second Tutorial’s second line confusing. “Resources can be damaged by combat and automatically rebuild over time.” This might mean that resources can be built because the word “automatically” might be construed to be modified by the word “can.” Since rebuilding does seem to happen automatically, what if the sentence read, “Resources can be damaged by combat; when this happens they are automatically rebuilt over time.”?
• The second Tutorial Message describes Strategic Bombing. For someone who has just jumped into the demo, this information is secondary to the basic goal of learning how to play the game. Does Germany even have any strategic bombers in the Tutorial? Another way to handle Strategic Bombing would be the first time a player clicks on a Strategic Bomber to have a pop-up window describe how strategic bombing works. Point the player to a city on which to conduct a strategic bombing raid and then show and explain the results.
The Units Tutorial Message
• The first thing I would explain is ready status. This is the first determinant of whether or not a player will choose a unit.
• This information would be more useful if were arrows pointed to the various measures listed on a unit: strength, effectiveness, ready status, etc.
• After an attack you might show the player how the strength, effectiveness, etc. have changed.
• At this point, information about supply seems premature. There is a lot to take in and this information could be left until later, e.g., the first time a players unit goes out of supply a pop-up box informs the player of what happened. Alternatively a player could be prompted the first time he or she has an opportunity to cut off an enemy unit’s supply.
• This screen talks about commanders but doesn’t explain the utility of having one. Maybe leave this information until the player choose the Produce Units option.
Force Pool Tutorial Message
• When the Tutorial Message describes how the Force Pool button works it would be nice to have an arrow indicate the Force Pool button.
• The issue of recruiting when manpower goes below zero seems to me to go beyond the limits of a tutorial.
Statistics Tutorial Message
• I found the data displayed on the Statistics screens to be too spread out. Comparing the data was not as easy as it might be, there’s a lot of screen real estate between the numbers. Perhaps it’s possible to adjust the display size in the video options tab, but in general I found it hard to process the data on the Statistics screens.
The Repair Mode Tutorial Message
• You can cut the “When” in the first full line. In the second line “units” should be changed to the possessive “unit’s”
• In the Naval units line that reads “Naval units need to be in a friendly Port to be able to repair” you can cut the phrase “to be able” – you might also not capitalize “Port.”
The Declare War Tutorial Message
• In the third sentence the word “countries” should be the possessive form. As should the word “enemies” in the following sentence.
Produce Units Tutorial Message
• In the phrase “If you have more than one Major Country in active…” I’m not sure what “in active” means. Should it be “in action”? Also, Major Country need not be capitalized.
Final thoughts:
•The game interface is great. Very simple, click on your unit, click on where you want to go, click on who you want to shoot at, etc. Well done.
•This is an incredibly minor thing, but when the program is loading I was annoyed at being told to “Be patient.” Could you put the word “Please” in front of that?
•I didn’t miss not having paratroopers at all.
•When the Convoy Lend Lease Phase screen pops up between turns, you might offer an explanation of what that means in game terms.
•In the Tutorial the War Map seems to be disabled. I know there’s a Tutorial Message that explains it, maybe you could marry that to instructing the player ot click on the button.
•I would have liked an explanation about percentage of war effort, the player’s ability (if any) to affect that, or otherwise what changes it and how fast it changes.
•The AI is fine. Anybody who whines about it should fine a human to play against.
Congratulations on producing a great game. I look forward to Commander: Napoleon at War.
Mike Dieffenbach
I realize you’ve already released the demo, so these thoughts are largely moot. Perhaps my suggestions will be of some use for Commander: Napoleon at War.
Anyway, here we go:
A demo is a story. It is the story of learning to play the game.
Speaking only for myself, I prefer demos that employ a step-by-step approach to learning the game. Because players familiar with hex-based war games might find this type of demo tedious, I suggest offering players two options:
1) A “Please be so kind as to walk me through this thing” demo option, and
2) “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing, I’ll figure it out” demo option
Yes, I realize this is substantially more work, but you would be amazed how well people respond to being given a choice as to how to learn to do something. By right off the bat showing a high regard for your potential customer’s time, they are now more likely to purchase your great game.
The great thing is that with minor changes (mostly grammar and syntax) the existing demo works fine as a “drop me and I’ll figure it out” option.
So I’ll move on a step-by-step demo.
In a “Please be so kind as to walk me through this thing” tutorial the player would first be shown how to move around the game map in a manner similar to RTW and other games. Then tutorial would then instruct the player to select a certain German unit and then attack a certain Polish unit. I know, it’s spoon-feeding, but in my first attack on Poland I was left thinking, “I have absolutely no clue as to what the best use of my units is.” When everything about a game is new, it can be overwhelming. A little spoon-feeding is okay, it’s how we learn to eat.
The Tutorial would explain to the player the importance of attacking an enemy unit with multiple offensive units. Then the player would be instructed to select an air unit and shown how to soften up a target with an air attack. By instructing the player to select an air unit the Tutorial would naturally create an opportunity to explain how air combat works.
Once the player has been shown the first three or four moves that will get them on the road to conquering Poland, they’ll be happy to figure out the rest on their own.
I’d also recommend walking the player through the Produce Units screen, and show them how to buy a lab. You don’t have to explain all the labs, just explain one of them and players will get the drift. Show the player how to rail a unit, tell them how useful this is. This is a great opportunity to touch on the importance of oil. In the Tutorial you don’t have to go into great depth about it, just tease the player with the game’s deeper complexities.
You might end the Tutorial with a teaser to draw the player into purchasing the full game. For example, once you’ve conquered Poland, instruct the player to invade Bulgaria. A conquest once begun is hard to turn back from (case in point, Barbarossa), so upon going after Bulgaria many players will want to finish the job conquering it. Allow them to do so by buying the full game.
Some thoughts on the Tutorial Messages:
First Tutorial Message
• This message contains a lot of information. My first thought was, “Hoo-boy, how much of this information do I have to remember for the purposes of playing the demo? I’m sure I’ll need to know all of it to play the game well, but how much of it do I need to know right now? And how many screens will appear after this one also containing information I’ll have to remember.” I’m certain to the good people of Slitherine who spent a long time writing the game, the demo seems obvious. However to the person who fires up the game for the first time and has no idea of the relative importance of information, I would suggest stripping down what you tell the player. Start with only essential information and build from there.
Second Tutorial Message
• The first line reads, “Next to each resource or city is a number, which shows the production value of that resource.” As there are more cities than resources, I suggest rewriting the sentence to read, “Next to each city or resource is a number showing the production value of that city or resource.” [Notice the omission of the comma and the word “which”]
• I found the second Tutorial’s second line confusing. “Resources can be damaged by combat and automatically rebuild over time.” This might mean that resources can be built because the word “automatically” might be construed to be modified by the word “can.” Since rebuilding does seem to happen automatically, what if the sentence read, “Resources can be damaged by combat; when this happens they are automatically rebuilt over time.”?
• The second Tutorial Message describes Strategic Bombing. For someone who has just jumped into the demo, this information is secondary to the basic goal of learning how to play the game. Does Germany even have any strategic bombers in the Tutorial? Another way to handle Strategic Bombing would be the first time a player clicks on a Strategic Bomber to have a pop-up window describe how strategic bombing works. Point the player to a city on which to conduct a strategic bombing raid and then show and explain the results.
The Units Tutorial Message
• The first thing I would explain is ready status. This is the first determinant of whether or not a player will choose a unit.
• This information would be more useful if were arrows pointed to the various measures listed on a unit: strength, effectiveness, ready status, etc.
• After an attack you might show the player how the strength, effectiveness, etc. have changed.
• At this point, information about supply seems premature. There is a lot to take in and this information could be left until later, e.g., the first time a players unit goes out of supply a pop-up box informs the player of what happened. Alternatively a player could be prompted the first time he or she has an opportunity to cut off an enemy unit’s supply.
• This screen talks about commanders but doesn’t explain the utility of having one. Maybe leave this information until the player choose the Produce Units option.
Force Pool Tutorial Message
• When the Tutorial Message describes how the Force Pool button works it would be nice to have an arrow indicate the Force Pool button.
• The issue of recruiting when manpower goes below zero seems to me to go beyond the limits of a tutorial.
Statistics Tutorial Message
• I found the data displayed on the Statistics screens to be too spread out. Comparing the data was not as easy as it might be, there’s a lot of screen real estate between the numbers. Perhaps it’s possible to adjust the display size in the video options tab, but in general I found it hard to process the data on the Statistics screens.
The Repair Mode Tutorial Message
• You can cut the “When” in the first full line. In the second line “units” should be changed to the possessive “unit’s”
• In the Naval units line that reads “Naval units need to be in a friendly Port to be able to repair” you can cut the phrase “to be able” – you might also not capitalize “Port.”
The Declare War Tutorial Message
• In the third sentence the word “countries” should be the possessive form. As should the word “enemies” in the following sentence.
Produce Units Tutorial Message
• In the phrase “If you have more than one Major Country in active…” I’m not sure what “in active” means. Should it be “in action”? Also, Major Country need not be capitalized.
Final thoughts:
•The game interface is great. Very simple, click on your unit, click on where you want to go, click on who you want to shoot at, etc. Well done.
•This is an incredibly minor thing, but when the program is loading I was annoyed at being told to “Be patient.” Could you put the word “Please” in front of that?
•I didn’t miss not having paratroopers at all.
•When the Convoy Lend Lease Phase screen pops up between turns, you might offer an explanation of what that means in game terms.
•In the Tutorial the War Map seems to be disabled. I know there’s a Tutorial Message that explains it, maybe you could marry that to instructing the player ot click on the button.
•I would have liked an explanation about percentage of war effort, the player’s ability (if any) to affect that, or otherwise what changes it and how fast it changes.
•The AI is fine. Anybody who whines about it should fine a human to play against.
Congratulations on producing a great game. I look forward to Commander: Napoleon at War.
Mike Dieffenbach
-
IainMcNeil
- Site Admin
- Posts: 13558
- Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2005 10:19 am
Thanks for the feedback. These is the way we would create the a demo in an ideal world but there are just not the resources for this type of game and that kind of demo. Sadly PC games do not sell what they used to at retail and so budgets are much smaller than they used to be, unless you are producing something like RTW.