Urgent Interface Problems

[PhilD]

I don't know, I played very little of the original DomI, and I got it right on the first try with this one. Of course I read the DomI manual a few months ago, but let's face it - anyody trying to play this game without reading the manual is going to have other problems than just "what's this Host command anyway?". OK, maybe they'll get stopped by this one, but they really should read the manual.

Which brings me to one of my complaints - not including even a toned-down Version of the manual in the demo is really bad; effectively, this means the demo of DomII is only attractive to people who know DomI. How much of the documentation for DomI is still valid in DomII? If that's a large part of it, then I suggest they add a link to the DomI documentation on Illwinter's site...

[Dekent]

I don't like expanding too much at the start, its just the way I find fun.

Having to click end turn...then host...then back on my nation IS a major pain in the butt...it would be much better that if in single player it just worked like Dom1 did and it does the turn and puts you back then and there....I was a major fan of dom 1 but this little thing alone could ruin dom 2 for me.

(I also never play multiplayer)

[Saber Cherry]

Originally posted by Pocus:
yes, but what if you want to save your turn half done and resume it when you can? with the separation between doing your turn / processing it, you can do that.

Adding a pure singleplayer mode without clicking "host" between turns would not remove the ability to save halfway through a turn.

[licker]

Originally posted by Dekent:
I don't like expanding too much at the start, its just the way I find fun.

Having to click end turn...then host...then back on my nation IS a major pain in the butt...it would be much better that if in single player it just worked like Dom1 did and it does the turn and puts you back then and there....I was a major fan of dom 1 but this little thing alone could ruin dom 2 for me.

(I also never play multiplayer)

Hyperbole strikes again!!!

First off there's a hot key for end turn 'e' so no clicking. Then you get a chance to go back and fix something if you accidnetally hit 'e' or clicked end turn. Think of it as the 'are you sure' promt that alot of other games have.

So there's really only two clicks, which isn't much different from many other games, and if you every play hotseat you've got your little 'blind' screen built in.

Not to say that they couldn't change this mechanic, just that it seems such a trivial item to complain about I doubt they would.

[Psitticine]

I like the idea, as also discussed in the newbie guide thread, of creating at least one "canned" game, where everything is set-up and ready to go. That way, there's at least a partial fix available ASAP and people can simply choose not to use it if they don't want to.

I do think that adding a feature to the demo's menu for quickly generating a single-player game (possibly by choosing it from similar "pre set-up" games) would be a very good idea.

I think the Host button is better left in place, albeit it with a helpful guide available to explain what it means. Since it is in place during the normal game, I think it is best to introduce its concept early, but that it is also important to put proper, clear explanation along with that introduction.

[Saber Cherry]

I wasn't clear in my first post, so let me reiterate the "Choose Nations" portion of the streamlined SP interface:

When you start a singleplayer game, you choose a nation and design a god, then get sent to the "Choose Nations" screen. But it is now called the "Choose AI Opponents" screen, instead. Your nation is already greyed out and set to human. The other nations can be set to computer AIs, but cannot be set to human. See? Idiot proof! You will always have exactly 1 human nation in the game, and it will always be the one for which you designed a god... which is what people want when playing an SP game, and what sometimes screws up newbies.

-Cherry

[Kristoffer O]

That's about the most concrete suggestion so far

Keep up the good work!