Viewing Single Post From: Aether Wars (beta2)

Viewing Single Post From: Aether Wars (beta2)
RobKohr	Jun 24 2009, 01:55:08 AM
Annoying hacking superiorty who sucks at life. Posts: 329 Group: Members Member #299 Joined: December 12, 2006	I love the 3d map. Very nice touch. I also like that you added "Players who have shared an IP address with this player:" It is a nice way to identify multies. I also checked out astroempires. Very pretty design, but I think your system isn't far away from the same level of development as that game. Guess this proves that pretty sells games. Both the games I think give the user too many things from the start, and is a little hard to grok. IK handles this by spoon feeding the user. You start with only the possibility of upgrading the main house (I like sven's bouncing arrow over the main house when you start - demeaning, but it works). It may seem less exciting, but I think the user can only handle about 5-6 new interface options at a time. Thinking about RTS games like starcraft, they follow the same model of simplicity. You can't do anything other than build your command center at first, then a barracks.. then you slowly get more options. If a user started out with the option of building everything at once using their first scv, their head would explode. This all has the effect of drawing a user in, and if you wrap it in sugar coated pretty graphics, you are golden. I see the same fright factor when new users come into constantsail. Mostly they are like, ahhh to many things to click on, and the ship is moving. Ok, maybe I will come back later. I need to do some trimming of the interface myself. So my recommendations: * cut out everything including the map at first (you get use that if you build a sensor array). * In your systems, make it so the name of the planet brings you to base, not view. You don't want to view your planet, you want to interact with it. * Create a requirements tree of some sort. You need x for y. No need to make it complicated, just something that reduces the users options at first. * Hide overview until a player has 2+ planets * Hide fleets until a user can build fleets * Make battle sim a popup or something when you are about to launch a fleet to attack, either that or in the footer. Maybe remove it all together. I think the outcome of battles should be a mystery that users need to solve * Move changes, forum, about, help, and any non-essentials to a footer. * Float logout to the upper right (break it out of the main menu). If you have 4-5 options in the menu + only 2-3 things you you can do to your base, the user will play with it (its too easy not to). Some guides and stuff are also good for helping new users along. If you like, I created a wiki for your game: http://aetherwars.editthis.info/ Feel free to use it or disregard it as you like. Edited by RobKohr, Jun 24 2009, 02:05:56 AM.
	World 1: RobKohr1 Bravo DIGG World 2: RobKohr Bravo Ash Currently holds the #1 record for pissing off the most people in IK. Need a "causer of havoc" for your next party, dial 1800-Rob-Kohr. ----- W1 & W2 inselkampf players guide / wiki : http://editthis.info/inselkampf

Aether Wars (beta2) · New Online Games