Comments on: Spending The Marginal Dollar http://tleaves.com/2005/03/23/spending-the-marginal-dollar/ Creativity x Technology Sat, 17 Mar 2012 05:09:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jonathan Perret http://tleaves.com/2005/03/23/spending-the-marginal-dollar/comment-page-1/#comment-1114 Jonathan Perret Fri, 25 Mar 2005 10:09:05 +0000 http://tleaves.com/?p=334#comment-1114 I've wanted to try LAR since your first glowing review of it. I downloaded the trial yesterday, and well... when you mentioned there were a few UI issues, boy was that an understatement ! I did push on through the incredibly verbose and confusing screens though, and by the time I finished tutorial 3 I was starting to have some great fun. The core gameplay is indeed very good, but frankly the UI just gets in the way big time. I honestly can't imagine that many people will take the time to look beyond that awful initial impression to truly appreciate the gameplay. The gameplay reminded me a lot of Intelligent Software's "Wars" series (whose latest incarnation is Advance Wars 2 on the GBA), but then again I don't play many turn-based wargames so for all I know they may all feel the same. The budgeting phase is an interesting innovation though. So if I had to give any advice to the author (not that I'm particularly well placed for that, mind you - just an average gamer and would-be game developer), it would be to borrow a whole ream from AW's book : - drop half the text in the tutorials. I thought AW's tutorials, which are presented in the form of short, cheesy dialogue with your superior, were a bit juvenile, but now I realize how effective they were compared to reading page after page of text. - simplify the UI... I really don't know how to describe this (I wouldn't know where to start !), but let's just say AW's UI with LAR's gameplay would be totally killer. Of course, I realize that completely redoing the UI is unrealistic given your resources... yet I don't think you need to look farther than that to understand why many people won't play your game. I'm sure that most of those who are tolerant enough to get past that barrier will love the game anyway - the problem is that we are a very small group these days. If the author reads this, please forgive the harsh words - I am not a native english speaker so they may well go beyond my feelings. I have absolute respect for the tremendous amount of work you managed to put into this, particularly given that from what I've read here it's only a part-time occupation. I still think it's a shame that gameplay with such wide potential appeal (AW's success proved that turn-based wargames are not just for grizzled veterans) is marred by a difficult-to-approach "packaging". Best of luck in your enterprise anyway. Cheers, --Jonathan I’ve wanted to try LAR since your first glowing review of it. I downloaded the trial yesterday, and well… when you mentioned there were a few UI issues, boy was that an understatement !
I did push on through the incredibly verbose and confusing screens though, and by the time I finished tutorial 3 I was starting to have some great fun. The core gameplay is indeed very good, but frankly the UI just gets in the way big time. I honestly can’t imagine that many people will take the time to look beyond that awful initial impression to truly appreciate the gameplay.

The gameplay reminded me a lot of Intelligent Software’s “Wars” series (whose latest incarnation is Advance Wars 2 on the GBA), but then again I don’t play many turn-based wargames so for all I know they may all feel the same. The budgeting phase is an interesting innovation though.

So if I had to give any advice to the author (not that I’m particularly well placed for that, mind you – just an average gamer and would-be game developer), it would be to borrow a whole ream from AW’s book :
- drop half the text in the tutorials. I thought AW’s tutorials, which are presented in the form of short, cheesy dialogue with your superior, were a bit juvenile, but now I realize how effective they were compared to reading page after page of text.
- simplify the UI… I really don’t know how to describe this (I wouldn’t know where to start !), but let’s just say AW’s UI with LAR’s gameplay would be totally killer. Of course, I realize that completely redoing the UI is unrealistic given your resources… yet I don’t think you need to look farther than that to understand why many people won’t play your game. I’m sure that most of those who are tolerant enough to get past that barrier will love the game anyway – the problem is that we are a very small group these days.

If the author reads this, please forgive the harsh words – I am not a native english speaker so they may well go beyond my feelings. I have absolute respect for the tremendous amount of work you managed to put into this, particularly given that from what I’ve read here it’s only a part-time occupation. I still think it’s a shame that gameplay with such wide potential appeal (AW’s success proved that turn-based wargames are not just for grizzled veterans) is marred by a difficult-to-approach “packaging”. Best of luck in your enterprise anyway.

Cheers,
–Jonathan

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