View Issue Details
| ID | Project | Category | Date Submitted | Last Update | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0004623 | Valley 1 | Balance Issue | Oct 6, 2011 5:41 am | Jan 27, 2012 10:09 am | |
| Reporter | lisa107b | Assigned To | Chris_McElligottPark | ||
| Severity | tweak | ||||
| Status | closed | Resolution | open | ||
| Product Version | 0.518 | ||||
| Summary | 0004623: More player guidance needed in game | ||||
| Description | I recently started playing and I've been surprised by the potential greatness of the game! However, I think there should definitely be more guidance on levelling up your skills/spells because from beta 0.512 I was running about randomly and ended up at civ level 6 with level 1 spells/equipment and although I knew I needed profession books (learned from Youtube vids)I hadn't found any at all in the level 1 chunks/buildings I had explored. I completed all the buildings in three chunks and I had explored each building to 100% (even the burnt out rooms!) Actually, with the new balance changes that scared me, I've deleted the world and started again. Thanks, Lisa | ||||
| Tags | No tags attached. | ||||
| Internal Weight | Major Problem | ||||
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Did you read the adviser guardian stone stuff? But in general: yes, this is early beta, so it's a lot more self-serve than it ultimately will be. |
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yes :) every post, and still couldn't find any profession books! |
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Check out the small abandoned town region type in particular -- look for houses with studies or in particular libraries on the map. You'll find them reliably in there. :) |
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Before I realised exactly what a higher level chunk would consist of difficulty wise, I didn't venture out of the level 1 zones, the only abandoned town types on my map that I could access were in level 2 or higher chunks. I know its an early beta - :) but, as a professional tester myself (my 'day' job ;) ) I feel it is good to mention any thoughts/issues at the early stages instead of assuming it'll all be fixed by release - usually release time is too late for that stuff! lol |
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Yup, I gotcha -- and it's much appreciated. |
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I had to explain to a friend over dinner about the dungeon map and destroyed rooms, because he wasn't having huge amounts of fun. I don't think this is urgent, but it is important. |
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Well, there's already a suggestion to put the dungeon map on by default, so hopefully that will help with that. |
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Ooh, a professional tester. You people are worth your weight in high-grade fissionables, and massively underappreciated. |
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hehe :) you'd think so, but typically the devs just hate us! Trouble with doing this for work is that you end up doing it by default. Case-in-point, this is my own time! lol But lets not spam the thread ;) PM is always there |
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In my case, just for the record, I love the testers -- it's why we do open beta like this, is to get all the comments from players. There are always some standouts that seem almost like professional testers, but the idea of having a larger group of said folks for 8 hours a day is... mind boggling. On the one hand it would be awesome, on the other hand sometimes the feedback can come overwhelmingly fast and thick. My reaction on the "it's early beta" bit above is mainly because I keep getting told that we need more early player guidance, but our release notes on the first version were specifically saying that was one of the things that were TBD. Then again, those release notes have been pretty well buried by now, heh. Anyway, it's all good. We've been thinking of doing kind of an intro-segment that's a lot more interesting and useful than the adviser guardian stone bit alone, but just haven't had time. Though, I got to thinking about it a bit more since your post here, and now I think I've got a way that uses existing tools to basically provide a better way to handle this. We'll see how it goes. :) |
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While it might /look/ I'm doing this eight hours a day, I'm mostly doing it during "compiling!" time and after hours. (The last update of the day usually lands at about 2am my time, which is playing hell with my sleeping schedule, but so very worth it.) I've said it before, but it's worth repeating: Arcen Games has managed to build a community that is not only enthusiastic about beta-testing their products, but is willing to pay for the privilege. That's something special right there, and I'm really glad to be a part of it. :-) |
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And you better believe we're grateful in return -- we'll use all the spare time you want to give us, but definitely don't burn yourself out! |
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Well I'm pleased to meet both of you! :) If I'm testing 'at work' everything has to be by the rule-book, you know - "Steps To Reproduce", "Observed Result", "Expected Result", "Category", "Reproduction rate".... on and on it makes me feel like a robot half the time, its quite refreshing to do this in a more informal way like we are at the moment, and, like I said earlier - it gets to the stage you start testing every game you play almost by default! lol @x4000 - You're telling me, imagine having to play a game you don't even like, full time for months on end.... it truly is mind-boggling! I feel for the developers as well though, churning through thousands of lines of code day after day, hour after hour, I bet it would get like you code in your sleep ;) |
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Nice to meet you as well. :) And yeah, the code -- or more specifically, the various "how would I best implement this specific thing" problems have a way of churning through the mind constantly, even when not at the computer. Oftentimes some solution will come out of nowhere and really surprise me when I'm not at the computer. Which is nice on the one hand, but sometimes I just want my brain back so it can do something else. ;) Not that I should complain, because I love this job. But yeah, I hear you on working on games that you don't even like -- yikes. I've heard lots of horror stories over the years, and the new Trenches comic is pretty great at shining light on all that, too. I imagine you have some stories you could send to them. :) |
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Yup :) actually been there too, I did J2ME porting for a time also. Regarding stories - I have one or two, yup, but then there's that pesky 'non-disclosure' contract to think about. Ah, but then - one might obfuscate some elements to get around that.... hrm.... *scheme* ;) Oh ya, there's that one time.... a nasty bug was dubbed a 'feature - will not fix' lol that was fun because it came back to bite them....and one re-certifaction demand later... |
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Yeah, it's all anonymous there, and the whole obfuscation thing. :) |
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I'm enjoying watching the tracker and release notes as much as I'm enjoying playing the game. It arrived at the perfect time, because I've just finished judging pyweek games (quick plug: http://pyweek.org -- runs every six months or so, and I have games in four of the five most recent ones) and was in the right frame of mind. Then again, I'm the kind of guy who can spend the whole day writing code for a living and then write different code in the evening to relax and have fun. I kind of like being able to give bugs to someone else to fix for a change instead of having to do it myself. Although... Chris, if you're ever looking for a (very) part time dev on the far side of the world to work on AI War and/or AVWW, I might be available. :-) |
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Same thing here, I could always do the code during the day and then again in the night -- hence Arcen, heh. Good to know on the potential availability -- right now things are fairly tight, but in the future it would be nice to be able to grow a little bit more. |
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haha :) Grats Jerith - and far side of the world being?... |
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x4000: That was a "ha ha only serious" offer. I love my current job, where I get to write code that makes a difference in the world and improves people's lives, but I always have various side projects on the go as well. lisa107b: Cape Town, South Africa. Best city in world, but it would be nicer if we had better internet connectivity. :-) |
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Sure, I understand -- no worries. And yeah, glad you like Cape Town. I had relatives who lived in Botswana for about 8 years, and they would come down to South Africa for various things every month or two. Now they're back in the US, and I can tell they really miss it. |
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@Jerith :) hehe from one side to the other - I'm in the Scotland (UK) :) |
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@x4000 are you another 'Notch' in the making? :) a one-man nuclear arsenal of games? lol |
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Heh, when I first started out -- about the same time Notch was first starting out -- it was just me. But my staff has grown for sure, and I sure don't take sole credit for what we're doing now. |
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Heh, sorry to go off topic.... :-) Chris, I marked this as Major because I have see a few other complaints about this from other sources. |
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No worries -- I think it is something we need to address before this game will really take off with a wider audience, for sure. Which we always kind of knew was going to be the case, but prior to beta and the various feedback we've been getting it wasn't clear where we'd need to go with it. |
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To go so far off topic that we get back from the other side, I think a more interactive introduction to the game is much better than an up front infodump, even if it takes the form of bite-sized hints from giant floating glowy things. More specifically, information should be presented where it's likely to be helpful, such as the first few times you encounter destroyed doors or grow out of your equipment or whatever. I really have no idea how to go about doing such things in a way that isn't annoying (which is why I write scalable messaging systems and such instead of games), but I can certainly tell you when you've got it right. ;-) |
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Yeah, an interactive sequence that you have to go through to start a new world is what I have in mind. Something that will be quick and easy to go through for experienced players, and which nets them benefits they'd want anyhow, as well as being something that gets new players trained in some of the basics like using wood platforms, etc. I have a good idea on how to do that, I just need to make the time in the coming days. Perhaps this afternoon, we'll see. |
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hehe Chris has an idea ;) best let him flesh it out and leave him be for a while :) looking forward to seeing the results. Its always a thrill to see something implemented that you brought attention to :) so in a way, that's my reward for time spent! lol |
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And it's quite appreciated on this end, too! |
| Date Modified | Username | Field | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 6, 2011 5:41 am | lisa107b | New Issue | |
| Oct 6, 2011 5:42 am | lisa107b | Description Updated | |
| Oct 6, 2011 5:42 am | lisa107b | Description Updated | |
| Oct 6, 2011 5:43 am | lisa107b | Description Updated | |
| Oct 6, 2011 8:57 am | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0015858 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 9:05 am | lisa107b | Note Added: 0015860 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 9:07 am | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0015862 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 9:14 am | lisa107b | Note Added: 0015864 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 9:16 am | lisa107b | Note Edited: 0015864 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 9:16 am | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0015866 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 9:26 am | jerith | Note Added: 0015870 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 9:28 am | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0015871 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 9:28 am | jerith | Note Added: 0015872 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 9:35 am | lisa107b | Note Added: 0015873 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 9:44 am | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0015874 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 9:57 am | jerith | Note Added: 0015878 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 10:01 am | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0015880 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 10:16 am | lisa107b | Note Added: 0015883 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 10:17 am | lisa107b | Note Edited: 0015883 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 10:19 am | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0015884 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 10:27 am | lisa107b | Note Added: 0015886 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 10:29 am | lisa107b | Note Edited: 0015886 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 10:30 am | lisa107b | Note Edited: 0015886 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 10:31 am | lisa107b | Note Edited: 0015886 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 10:32 am | lisa107b | Note Edited: 0015886 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 10:33 am | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0015888 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 10:44 am | jerith | Note Added: 0015889 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 10:48 am | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0015890 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 10:48 am | lisa107b | Note Added: 0015891 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 10:54 am | jerith | Note Added: 0015892 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 10:59 am | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0015893 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 11:13 am | lisa107b | Note Added: 0015896 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 11:23 am | lisa107b | Note Added: 0015898 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 11:25 am | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0015899 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 11:54 am | tigersfan | Internal Weight | => Major Problem |
| Oct 6, 2011 11:54 am | tigersfan | Assigned To | => Chris_McElligottPark |
| Oct 6, 2011 11:54 am | tigersfan | Status | new => assigned |
| Oct 6, 2011 11:55 am | tigersfan | Note Added: 0015902 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 11:59 am | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0015904 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 12:19 pm | jerith | Note Added: 0015905 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 12:22 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0015906 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 12:24 pm | lisa107b | Note Added: 0015908 | |
| Oct 6, 2011 12:25 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0015909 | |
| Jan 27, 2012 10:09 am | tigersfan | Status | assigned => closed |
| Apr 14, 2014 9:29 am | Chris_McElligottPark | Category | Gameplay - Balance Issue => Balance Issue |
