Reorganizing AoS Strategic Narrative

[Andre Bolkonsky]

A lot of time and effort went into crafting detailed, hand drawn, well narrated intros flowing with beautiful music to introduce both the American and British campaigns. But after that, the player is left on his own to figure out the game using the clues on the screen. A few simple changes to the user interface will dramatically improve this situation. 

Sterner suggested I post this publicly to debate the effectiveness of this solution and seek feedback on the current mechanics to make them more easily understandable to the player. So I am asking for the opinion of those who have played the game, particularly those who have expressed they had trouble understanding the game mechanics at first glance. 

 

Age of Sails

“Camp” Overhaul

• Age of Sail ‘Camp’ format is difficult for new players to understand. The individual battles are excellent, the ‘interbattle’ period is confusing to new players.
  • 1.1.    Camp is a holdover term from UG:CW. It needs to be immediately renamed ‘Strategic Map’ / Harbor for managing ships / Amory / Depot - all the primary pages work well but they need to be better explained and the graphic overlay merely relabeled. 
  • 1.2.    On the Strategic Map, a legend needs to be positioned on the map graphically in one corner to explain the map. What does a ‘ship’ mean. What does a ‘cannon’ mean. What does a ‘?’ mean. Etc. This legend should be optional over the interface and dismissed with a click when the player is comfortable with his knowledge. The first two hours I played, I thought the ship on the strategic map was my own force. I can't be the  only one. 
  • 1.3.    The nondescript notification flags on the left side of the screen needs to be reorganized into ‘Urgent Dispatches’ and/or ‘Correspondence’ and 'Hearsay' to distinguish for the player what they are other than a color code they do not understand. The current format does not excite player involvement into their own progress. The messages all blend together. Reorganizing them will not only encourage a player to more carefully chose the missions he accepts or rejects, and allow the player to become more immersed in the game.
  • 1.4.    Tool tips should be added so players know what they are looking at easily
• Player needs a way to go back and read messages which were dismissed by accident and/or add a 'do you want to delete' button to ensure they actually read that detailed list of things the game just gave them. 
• The Game Narrative needs to continue and when all chapters are done renamed  logically to explain the story to those who might not be familiar, and help the player understand the game at all times. 
• Research needs to be tweaked, it kind of makes no sense in its current form. You are simply given the opportunity to buy tech, there is no possibility to driving techs to match the player's style. It is kind of random and unfulfilling. 
• Continue efforts to clean up the language problems and extract them from their hiding places -  easy to say, very hard to do. 

This is the rough idea. Simple, effective, graphic changes that show rather than tell the player what to do.

Based on your own personal experience playing the game, do you think this will help new players more easily understand the game? Based on your own experience, what do you see being most effective? 

All helpful suggestions and replies are encouraged and we thank you in advance. 

 

 

 

 

 

[pandakraut]

13 minutes ago, Andre Bolkonsky said:

1.2.    On the Strategic Map, a legend needs to be positioned on the map graphically in one corner to explain the map. What does a ‘ship’ mean. What does a ‘cannon’ mean. What does a ‘?’ mean. Etc. This legend should be optional over the interface and dismissed with a click when the player is comfortable with his knowledge. The first two hours I played, I thought the ship on the strategic map was my own force. I can't be the  only one. 

A strategic Map tutorial similar to some of the other tutorials currently in the game would probably be a good addition to this change. I'm not sure how many players are actually finding and looking at the tutorials though.

16 minutes ago, Andre Bolkonsky said:

1.3.    The nondescript notification flags on the left side of the screen needs to be reorganized into ‘Urgent Dispatches’ and/or ‘Correspondence’ and 'Hearsay' to distinguish for the player what they are other than a color code they do not understand. The current format does not excite player involvement into their own progress. The messages all blend together. Reorganizing them will not only encourage a player to more carefully chose the missions he accepts or rejects, and allow the player to become more immersed in the game.

I think providing a greater variety of icons would be sufficient for distinguishing between the different notifications, but additional organizational options would certainly be helpful. Adding a log of battle results, event results, random events, etc would be nice as well.

17 minutes ago, Andre Bolkonsky said:

1.4.    Tool tips should be added so players know what they are looking at easily

More tooltips and more detailed tooltips are nearly always helpful. The tooltips involving land units are particularly lacking currently, but there are all kinds of areas where this could be improved. Many of the mechanics involved are changing so frequently that it would be hard to keep some of it up to date though.

21 minutes ago, Andre Bolkonsky said:

The Game Narrative needs to continue and when all chapters are done renamed  logically to explain the story to those who might not be familiar, and help the player understand the game at all times. 

Agreed, the player should never be left looking at the Strategic map wondering if they are supposed to click next stage, end chapter, etc.

23 minutes ago, Andre Bolkonsky said:

Research needs to be tweaked, it kind of makes no sense in its current form. You are simply given the opportunity to buy tech, there is no possibility to driving techs to match the player's style. It is kind of random and unfulfilling. 

While I do enjoy the random techs from a replayability perspective, the current setup is a bit more suited to a rogue like type game than a strategy game. Within the current system weighting of certain techs would improve the system considerably. Not sure if replacing it with a more structured system is a possibility in terms of development effort required though.

I would suggest that the Research discussion be kept to other existing threads on that topic so that it doesn't overshadow the other UI suggestions.

[WilliamTheIII]

45 minutes ago, pandakraut said:

A strategic Map tutorial similar to some of the other tutorials currently in the game would probably be a good addition to this change. I'm not sure how many players are actually finding and looking at the tutorials though.

You could "force" the player into a tutorial by asking them if they would like to play with it enabled at the beginning. Then video's or other popups could be shown that helps describes things. Iirc Sterner mentioned he would be interested in adding additional video tutorials in the game if anyone has the time to create them. Although a temporary or permanent legend along with tooltips would go a long way to help players understand the interface.

1 hour ago, Andre Bolkonsky said:

1.3.    The nondescript notification flags on the left side of the screen needs to be reorganized into ‘Urgent Dispatches’ and/or ‘Correspondence’ and 'Hearsay' to distinguish for the player what they are other than a color code they do not understand. The current format does not excite player involvement into their own progress. The messages all blend together. Reorganizing them will not only encourage a player to more carefully chose the missions he accepts or rejects, and allow the player to become more immersed in the game.

Reorganizing them and making them stand out would be quite nice and perhaps even having a filter for what type of notifications you would like to display. The only issue with the filter idea is that most stages are quite manageable when it comes to notification overflow.

1 hour ago, Andre Bolkonsky said:

1.4.    Tool tips should be added so players know what they are looking at easily

You can never have enough tooltips

[Andre Bolkonsky]

3 hours ago, WilliamTheIII said:

You could "force" the player into a tutorial by asking them if they would like to play with it enabled at the beginning. Then video's or other popups could be shown that helps describes things. Iirc Sterner mentioned he would be interested in adding additional video tutorials in the game if anyone has the time to create them. Although a temporary or permanent legend along with tooltips would go a long way to help players understand the interface.

Reorganizing them and making them stand out would be quite nice and perhaps even having a filter for what type of notifications you would like to display. The only issue with the filter idea is that most stages are quite manageable when it comes to notification overflow.

You can never have enough tooltips

 

My thought is even one or two pop up screens with introductory information for the first few boot ups of a game, then click the box and make it go away forever. But at least the player has some clue about what to do next. 

This game is simply too good to let these little details drag it down. I am sure you agree. 

 

The main problem, to me, is the results of major battles get lost in the shuffle  of paper. All this effort goes into describing the battle and then 'that happened' at the end in some cases. It isn't hard to fix.

[MikeK]

Keep talking -- you are on target

I will seek a  thread on novelties  n 

 

 

 

For Inventions -

Edited February 22, 2020 by MikeK

[MikeK]

On 1/28/2020 at 1:26 PM, Andre Bolkonsky said:

A lot of time and effort went into crafting detailed, hand drawn, well narrated intros flowing with beautiful music to introduce both the American and British campaigns. But after that, the player is left on his own to figure out the game using the clues on the screen. A few simple changes to the user interface will dramatically improve this situation. 

Sterner suggested I post this publicly to debate the effectiveness of this solution and seek feedback on the current mechanics to make them more easily understandable to the player. So I am asking for the opinion of those who have played the game, particularly those who have expressed they had trouble understanding the game mechanics at first glance. 

 

Age of Sails

“Camp” Overhaul

• Age of Sail ‘Camp’ format is difficult for new players to understand. The individual battles are excellent, the ‘interbattle’ period is confusing to new players.
  • 1.1.    Camp is a holdover term from UG:CW. It needs to be immediately renamed ‘Strategic Map’ / Harbor for managing ships / Amory / Depot - all the primary pages work well but they need to be better explained and the graphic overlay merely relabeled. 
  • 1.2.    On the Strategic Map, a legend needs to be positioned on the map graphically in one corner to explain the map. What does a ‘ship’ mean. What does a ‘cannon’ mean. What does a ‘?’ mean. Etc. This legend should be optional over the interface and dismissed with a click when the player is comfortable with his knowledge. The first two hours I played, I thought the ship on the strategic map was my own force. I can't be the  only one. 
  • 1.3.    The nondescript notification flags on the left side of the screen needs to be reorganized into ‘Urgent Dispatches’ and/or ‘Correspondence’ and 'Hearsay' to distinguish for the player what they are other than a color code they do not understand. The current format does not excite player involvement into their own progress. The messages all blend together. Reorganizing them will not only encourage a player to more carefully chose the missions he accepts or rejects, and allow the player to become more immersed in the game.
  • 1.4.    Tool tips should be added so players know what they are looking at easily
• Player needs a way to go back and read messages which were dismissed by accident and/or add a 'do you want to delete' button to ensure they actually read that detailed list of things the game just gave them. 
• The Game Narrative needs to continue and when all chapters are done renamed  logically to explain the story to those who might not be familiar, and help the player understand the game at all times. 
• Research needs to be tweaked, it kind of makes no sense in its current form. You are simply given the opportunity to buy tech, there is no possibility to driving techs to match the player's style. It is kind of random and unfulfilling. 
• Continue efforts to clean up the language problems and extract them from their hiding places -  easy to say, very hard to do. 

This is the rough idea. Simple, effective, graphic changes that show rather than tell the player what to do.

Based on your own personal experience playing the game, do you think this will help new players more easily understand the game? Based on your own experience, what do you see being most effective? 

All helpful suggestions and replies are encouraged and we thank you in advance. 

The ability in such a game to capture images of ships  at sea,in battle, and repose presented as paintings for a player's cabin and residence or official buildings is a great way for players to personalize their surroundings and preserve a record of memories as they will.  The game might automatically snap images of typical epic moments .