Review and thoughts for making the game more appealing
Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2015 11:59 am
I recently picked up Drums of War and have to say it is an amazing game. I might be wrong, but my perception from this forum is that the game is not selling particularly well, and certainly not getting the recognition it deserves.
I nearly didn't buy the game myself; I downloaded the demo, played the first (trivial) scenario, and then promptly uninstalled it! Only a niggling feeling that I might be missing out made me go back the next day and give the demo another try.
It is a game that is difficult to appreciate. I read the description; I can chop down trees or set them on fire - 'so what' I thought! Only as I began to get deeper into the game did I appreciate what this can actually mean. I am about one third of the way into the first campaign and have just completed the scenario where my band is attacked at night by undead. What is not immediately obvious is that undead gain bonuses from attacking from darkened hexes, whereas my orc band gain bonuses from attacking in well lit areas. So we huddled around the campfire as the undead approached, just like the hobbits and Strider at Weathertop in Lord of the Rings. Then I got Zavoy to set fire to one of the trees, which burned for several turns holding back the darkness.
In another scenario, one of my units was kicking their heels at the back, not able to do much. I moved them up to a catapult which was just lying around, and found that they could actually fire it and make themselves useful! These are just two simple examples of the types of things you can do. In short, this game is innovative.
One of the things that initially held me back from purchasing was the size of the hexes, and the difficulty of interpenetrating the visual data. For example I find it very difficult to see the chance-to-hit percentages, and especially for a new player it is really important to learn which factors influence success. So I found myself squinting at the screen, which is a shame because these to-hit percentages only show while you hover a mouse over an enemy, so they could in fact be drawn much bigger without clogging up the screen as it doesn't matter if they are temporarily drawn over another hex. Facing was another issue which I found difficult, even after switching on the little arrows on the option screen. My eyesight is pretty good; I don't wear glasses, but I do find myself playing using the Microsoft Magnifier accessibility tool so I can see what's going on more comfortably.
To be fair the graphics are very good, and a lot of thought has gone into making the UI easy to use, and trying to display everything in a visually useful way. I personally believe the game would be 10 times more appealing if the screen was slightly zoomed in so that the individual hexes were slightly bigger. This would mean you would need to scroll around the map, but players are used to this as it happens in almost every other turn-based strategy game out there. Also having a scrollable map would mean that the map size could vary from scenario to scenario, which can only be a good thing, especially given the built in campaign editor.
I am only one third of the way through first campaign, but already I can see that there is great variety in the unit types, and how each race will play. I have almost unlocked all of the green skin army, and can't wait to try playing as one of the other armies in the second campaign.
I personally hope this game achieves the recognition it truly deserves. I would like to see an active player base as I can see myself eventually creating my own campaigns to share with the community, and would hope others feel the same way.
EDIT: hmm I was wrong with my assertion that to-hit percentages are only displayed when you hover over them... probably because I generally hover over them with the magnifier to read them accurately!
I nearly didn't buy the game myself; I downloaded the demo, played the first (trivial) scenario, and then promptly uninstalled it! Only a niggling feeling that I might be missing out made me go back the next day and give the demo another try.
It is a game that is difficult to appreciate. I read the description; I can chop down trees or set them on fire - 'so what' I thought! Only as I began to get deeper into the game did I appreciate what this can actually mean. I am about one third of the way into the first campaign and have just completed the scenario where my band is attacked at night by undead. What is not immediately obvious is that undead gain bonuses from attacking from darkened hexes, whereas my orc band gain bonuses from attacking in well lit areas. So we huddled around the campfire as the undead approached, just like the hobbits and Strider at Weathertop in Lord of the Rings. Then I got Zavoy to set fire to one of the trees, which burned for several turns holding back the darkness.
In another scenario, one of my units was kicking their heels at the back, not able to do much. I moved them up to a catapult which was just lying around, and found that they could actually fire it and make themselves useful! These are just two simple examples of the types of things you can do. In short, this game is innovative.
One of the things that initially held me back from purchasing was the size of the hexes, and the difficulty of interpenetrating the visual data. For example I find it very difficult to see the chance-to-hit percentages, and especially for a new player it is really important to learn which factors influence success. So I found myself squinting at the screen, which is a shame because these to-hit percentages only show while you hover a mouse over an enemy, so they could in fact be drawn much bigger without clogging up the screen as it doesn't matter if they are temporarily drawn over another hex. Facing was another issue which I found difficult, even after switching on the little arrows on the option screen. My eyesight is pretty good; I don't wear glasses, but I do find myself playing using the Microsoft Magnifier accessibility tool so I can see what's going on more comfortably.
To be fair the graphics are very good, and a lot of thought has gone into making the UI easy to use, and trying to display everything in a visually useful way. I personally believe the game would be 10 times more appealing if the screen was slightly zoomed in so that the individual hexes were slightly bigger. This would mean you would need to scroll around the map, but players are used to this as it happens in almost every other turn-based strategy game out there. Also having a scrollable map would mean that the map size could vary from scenario to scenario, which can only be a good thing, especially given the built in campaign editor.
I am only one third of the way through first campaign, but already I can see that there is great variety in the unit types, and how each race will play. I have almost unlocked all of the green skin army, and can't wait to try playing as one of the other armies in the second campaign.
I personally hope this game achieves the recognition it truly deserves. I would like to see an active player base as I can see myself eventually creating my own campaigns to share with the community, and would hope others feel the same way.
EDIT: hmm I was wrong with my assertion that to-hit percentages are only displayed when you hover over them... probably because I generally hover over them with the magnifier to read them accurately!
