? I'm not sure I understand your analogy. Chess is hard to master but super simple to explain the rules. As a developer I can understand how you can expend almost all of your energy just to get an actual game done. Building a tutorial can actually be harder and more time-consuming than making the game sometimes. However I do agree that a tutorial for this game would be VERY welcome if the dev has the means.
You'd at least explain how the pieces move in chess, wouldn't you? You could call it a tutorial if you liked. I'm not seeing anyone on here saying that we don't need a tutorial, other than the developer. Who can't be bothered, and is using 'explore it yourself' as an excuse.
Yes but in chess there is not nearly as much to explain. Hopefully it's something they can proceed to add now that the game is getting a lot of fans. I like it enough, though I was initially totally in the dark, that for now I am motivated to get in there an figure out what the hell is going on.
I imagine as a dev who's invested months/years in making a game, it must be hard to produce a tutorial. The mechanics must become second nature. They're "too close" if you will. I would think that in an ideal world you need a seasoned gamer who knows nothing about the game to sit down with the dev saying "You need to explain x,y and z".
I'm just not seeing many folk, apart from the dev, saying 'no tutorial needed'. How many board games do you get, when you open the box, contain no instructions whatsoever?
I really appreciate that we can download and try this game prior to paying for the full experience. I've played twice, first time learned that I can't over cut the trees. 2nd time, started a war and had devastating effects. Having a good time, and I'll try a couple more times, but if I don't get off my planet, then I won't be spending any money. Don't mind the try and figure it out, but if I can't figure out the tech tree, then I'll move on.
I can understand both points of view, I want some rules explained, can also see why a tutorial could be a major headache and mightve added six months to development...just throwing out a time span there. No idea as to how long it would take to design and program one. What would be far easier would be an in game link, as well as a link in various places, on the appstore, on the developers site...doesnt need to be a wiki, just a couple of pages of laws, temporarily, for those who want to read the rules plainly set out - the ones that are like chess rules. I get that learning by playing can be fun but some dont have the time or inclination. So my take would be a web page set up with a nice plain set of rules for those who want them. Leave some stuff still to be intuited by play, because we need that too. EDIT: I can also see how the developer could think adding more user-friendly guidance in-game might be good, however...and it's a big however, I think they are losing a chunk of game players who want/ need some other way to learn. Reading the rules of chess then learning how they work in the game may indeed be a great anaology to what some of us want in this sort of complex game. To me it's plain common sense to not push away players who want a different type of game guidance now, and not in a month or two. I rather like just reading rules and seeing how they might interact while I play.
If you actually play a lot of board games, you will see quite a few that say throw out the instructions. I can see where the difficulty lies in learning something but you do not need to be spoon fed instructions. Play games that are hard, learn the mechanics through death/ play, and the try again. This does not need a tutorial. Part of the fun is discovery / exploration. That's is one of the best mechanics of games like this. Don't Starve is another example. They are developed to have fun and intriguing game play. And if you are any good at chess, this game is kind of a joke. Build universe with fixed amount of certain resources and min / max the best results.
Um guys ... there is in fact a tutorial. It's just not a very good one but it's there. While there are a few pitfalls here and there, I wouldn't say they're hard to figure out. One playthrough is all you need to know most everything. Please give it a chance.
When I played Civilization 1 back in the early 90's. Nothing was explained though I figured it out. Think about all the NES games?!?! Simon's quest wich you had to crouch for a minute in a random corner before the tornado took you to the castle. Mega man and it's bosses weakness to a certain weapon type. I could go on and on. People got lazy. You don't have time to learn a game. Fine. Play something else. But I think this game deserves a shining spot in the history of touch screen, phone, tablets universe. I've been playing for probably 4-5 hours and in the end it's a very simple game, based on luck and good decisions. Yes nothing is explained at first. But if you have the time. And this kind of games appeal to you. This is a good pick. It' free Or a huuuuuge 5$ (indeed if you like the game you can laugh about the 5$ pricing like I do) For hours of gameplay. Awesome game.
We used to play imported super Nintendo games with no instructions and every menu in Japanese! We worked that out by trial and error. People are used to being spoonfed these days. That being said, I agree a wiki or similar would be useful. Theres some concepts that arent covered in game, for example it took me a while to figure out what the dots at the bottom of each land tile meant.
I've been playing for nearly forty years. Whenever the hell the commodore 64 was around. Sometimes spoonfeeding instructions is what some people want. Note I said some, and that's directed to those others who disparage what they don't like. We aren't all the same and a small page with some of the rules that are confusing people laid out will mean a chunk of gamers will pick up and play who otherwise would pass it by. That's called trying to appeal to a broad market and it is smart. You dont have to read what you dont want to. Dont press the link or whatever. Sure you can make it only playable through learn and go but it isnt what everyone wants right now when the game isnt quite how the devs want it to be.
Where did the developer say this? What I read was that they feel the need for tutorials is a sign that they failed in making the game as intuitive as possible, which is something he admitted to in this game. Nowhere did he use "explore it yourself" as an excuse. You are misquoting and taking his words out of context. That is a unjust and not helpful.
The tutorial plus 2 hours of experimentation was enough to figure out most of the game. And besides, as many have said already, learning how everything works and fits together is most of the fun. I agree the tutorial could include a few more items, but this is definitely a game you can learn by playing. And Simon's Quest... that was just plain mean. I don't know how I didn't give up on gaming as a kid with a NES. Some of that stuff was straight up sadistic.
I am trying hard to like this game but every time I start a new game I find myself limited in space on my planet. Often wood and food is a strong limiting factor and i don't have a livable planet close by. I don't understand what you are supposed to do and the games does not display very well how you get ressources globally at any point in time.
You can't compare Nintendo games with a very well thought learning curve with this. I have been playing games for 40 years and I can of course play a platformer or a final fantasy tactics game without manual. But this more akin having a Civilization game where the UI would be confusing and the starting point not being balanced for randomness. Unlike civilization this game does not try to give a balanced start IMHO and the UI isn't as clear to summarise production. Civilisation has only a few resources because most of the other resources are luxury resources but it does not block you from progressing in the game. Here you start with very limitied size and have to build production chains. The game does not display well what resources will be used for. So it is all about trial and error and each trial is a bit frustrating since each building can cost hundreds of resources. If you start on one planet with one single wood resource, it is very tedious to try different buildings to realise that books (for example) will be useful only if you build the associated science building for example. In my last attempt I realised that mines do not need to be on a stone ground to get stones for example. If the game would display icons when I build a mine to say what could be found in this slot that would be so much help for newcomers for example. Then I didn't have a habitable planet close by so I tried to start a way with 1 canon. I got quickly destroyed by the neighbour. A tutorial on war would have spared me this learning experience or maybe an icon to display relative strength of civilisations ?
liking this game but hesitant to buy it with in game purchases since restore purchases doesnt work on this companies other games....getting a new phone next month and really dont wanna pay twice
