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Looks good. There were some things in there that I wasn't aware of. (I haven't played the Dawn scenario yet.)
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Dawn Tutorial Message Windows!
This is the June 16 issue!
Laurent and Richard, thanks for your comments! Laurent, I think you'll see that I took a number of your good comments into account in revising this.
I still haven't gotten as far as I'd like, comments solicited still on:
Too much, too little per turn?
Right depth in terms of features explained, too shallow, too deep?
Does the "story line" add enough given the screen room dedicated to it, should there be more or less...?
In working on the tutorial so far I've also come up with a few issues that need to be resolved.
1. It occurs to me that having the random seed start identical for all tutorial games is a good feature. Do we have a convenient way to do this?
2. I am having some trouble with where the Turn Events comes up. No matter where I put it, at some point it hides something I want to talk about. The best place I have found for it is over the bottom half of the Units Window, because that real estate is rather rarely used in the tutorial. That may work out okay. But it seems then we'd need to put it in the settings file that way. And that is Clearly not the best place to put it for other scenarios like delenda. Ideas?
3. One other small issue I've run into is in explaining the power circle. Unfortunately, given the extremely small power of the units and task forces in the scenario, the power circle size won't change until the player has something like four of the 1000 person warrior groups. (And that's after I change the minimum power circle size to decrease it to about the smallest possible without it looking silly.) One idea I had is to have era-specific or scenario-specific power circle size settings. What do people think?
Note, I expect to put the advisor's comments in italics, or use some other means to distinguish them from the generic explanation text.
Opening screen:
Welcome
Thanks for trying out the Clash of Civilizations Demo 7! This version of the game is a demo of our design concepts. That’s so that we can get early suggestions from anyone who’s interested on what is working well, and what needs to be done differently. The demo is an alpha version that is maybe 10% of the way along to the final game. The most important feedback you can give the team is telling us if our approach for different parts of Clash seems to be going in the right direction or not!
Trigger: Begin Game.
Objective: None
Buttons: Next
Objective 1: Settle a Village (Screen 1)
“From the Chief Advisor:
As the leader of our people you must guide us to greatness in science, diplomacy, culture, economy, government and expansion. With my help, your humble Chief Advisor Juninga, you will do this.
Our goal is to settle this land and grow our people both in numbers and military strength. It is only through such strength that we can protect our people against the rampaging barbarians are rumored to be coming.
At present we have 5000 people who are currently being protected by our warrior horde unit. First we must settle them in a suitable location.”
Trigger: Begin Game.
Objective: None
Buttons: Next
Objective 1: (Screen 2)
“From the Chief Advisor:
The large window on the right which fills most of the screen is the Map Window, which represents the world as we know it. At the top left is the Units Window with the information about the units in the currently selected square on the map.
As you can see from the wagon icon on our warrior unit, that unit has settlers, our people, traveling with them. Right-click on our warriors in the Unit Window now. You will see that one of the available unit orders, at the bottom, is Colonize. Click on this order and then OK to confirm the construction of a new settlement with our 5000 people. Once that is done, push the End Turn button at the top.
END OF TURN 1
Objective 2 Teach moving units: (Screen 1)
Great Chief, we have heard from other wandering tribes that in the hinterlands there are wondrous things that can aid our people to grow strong. They speak of powerful beasts that can help in our war efforts, and grains that will make our farmers more productive. We have good information that an important grain called wheat can be found to the north east of our settlement. I humbly suggest it is time that our warriors be sent out to explore nearby lands, and investigate what they find.
Objective 2: (Screen 2)
To give the warriors orders as to where they should go, you use the Move button on the toolbar. Then click on the square on the map where you want the unit to go. This will show the movement path, and the number of turns it will take to get to each square. For now go to a square two away to the north east, just into the black unexplored area.
Movement is simultaneous in Clash, so the unit won't actually move until you press the New Turn button. If you want to examine a potential movement path before committing to it, right-clicking on a map square will do that. You can also enter move orders (and cancel ones you don't want) using the same right-click in the Units Window that you used to issue the colonize order. Now end the turn and the unit will move, following your orders.
END OF TURN 2
Objective 3 various interface and auto-settlement: (Screen 1)
On the main map, another square is outlined in blue, showing that your people have expanded your area of settlement! As the population of each square grows, hardy souls will fan out to adjacent lands and settle new villages if they see opportunities. They will do this automatically for you, so there is little need for expansion micro-management.
You can find important information about individual map squares in the Detail Frame at lower left. It tells you about the population and other important information for the selected square. If you click on the newly-settled square, you'll see how much of your population has migrated there.
Objective 3 various interface and auto-settlement: (Screen 2)
You may have noticed that there is now a somewhat-darker square north-north-east of our original settlement. The darkening of the square indicates the "fog of war". It shows that although we know the terrain in the square, we will not be aware of any enemy activities there. Fog of war doesn't affect areas near settlements and military units.
One other thing to note is the Turn Events Window that has popped up. In it you get information on what occurred this turn. You can click on each line to get more details on that “headline”. For now you should just issue new orders to your warriors to explore a further 2 squares to the NE. To see the target square you’ll need to scroll the main map. You can do that either using the scroll bar at the bottom, or by clicking on the mini-map to select a new center for the main map. After issuing the move order, end the turn.
END OF TURN 3
Objective 4 building a unit: (Screen 1)
Sir, I feel our settlement is in some danger with our warriors away exploring. Perhaps we should equip another group of warriors? With things going well, and the population expanding, it seems a good time to be prudent.
Objective 4 building a unit: (Screen 2)
Hit the button on the toolbar that says "Economics", and select "Civ Econ Orders". This economic option tells your whole nation what to build using the taxes you collect. This will pop up two frames that constitute your economic control panel for the demo. One is the Economic Orders frame for the civ, and the other gives economic information on the sectors of the economy, like farming. For now, focus on the Orders Frame. (Yes, we know the interface is ugly, it will be replaced at some point soon ;-) )
Objective 4 building a unit: (Screen 3)
To build a unit, look on the left pane of the economics windows. Ignore everything else on this screen, except for the line to build a warrior. On the warrior line under the % Spend column, type in 80 and press Enter to confirm. This order means that 80% of our government’s taxes are being spent on building warriors. Once you enter the amount of the order, the cost per turn to execute it is shown to the right, and further to the right is the number of units built per turn from the order. So our warrior will be ready in something like 10 turns at current rates of production. You should now close the econ windows, move our warriors two more squares to the NE, and end the turn.
END OF TURN 4
Objective 5 setup for first battle: (Screen 1)
From the Field Commander:
We have discovered the wheat resource that is our objective, Great Chief, but our scouts have detected a barbarian force there. It is the same size as our own, so combat would be a gamble.
Juninga's advice:
Since our homeland is at risk, and we are already increasing our military strength, I suggest we bring our warriors home, and when the new warrior unit is ready, strike at the barbarians with both units together.
Objective 5 setup for first battle: (Screen 2)
The strength of military forces in Clash is illustrated graphically using Power Circles that surround the units in the map window. The Area of the circle indicates the strength. You can see from the main map that your warrior band has approximately the same strength as that of the barbarians. There are also lines under the units in the Units Window that behave the same as the power circles on the map. There is a minimum and maximum size for a power circle, so for low-powered units or armies the power circle may not be a good gauge of military power.
Please issue orders to return the warriors unit to the square of the starting settlement and end the turn.
END OF TURN 4
Objective 6 Further info about economy: (Screen 1)
“From the Economic Advisor:
My Chief. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Hupti, your economic advisor. Let me explain the economy a little better. The nation’s economics are based on a realistic modern Earth model based on supply and demand, as well as fluctuating labor pools and skills. For example, if there is more food than the people want the price will fall. This causes wages in the food sector to drop and some farmers will consider changing jobs to a different sector.
So, in a Clash economy you, the player, won't have to micromanage to get what you want. Our goal is to allow you to change the economy from peacetime to war footing in something like 10 mouse clicks. If you Are inclined to fine-tune things, however, you can get down to a frighteningly precise level of detail.
Objective 6 Further info about economy: (Screen 2)
Open the Civ Econ Orders from the Economics button. Note that you can also issue orders to individual provinces, but since we only have one province for now, we’ll ignore that distinction. At the upper left is the area where you can change the tax rate. I suggest you leave it as-is for now. In the right “Econ Info” pane, the growth in each sector, and other information, is shown so you can gauge where the economy stands. Especially important is the Price for each good. A low price (significantly below 1) shows that an excess is produced, and people would prefer other things instead. Please leave the economics windows up and end the turn, you will see how the economy changes over that period of time in response to your build order and your people’s activities. Then go ahead and close the windows down, dismiss this message, and end the turn again.
END OF TURNS 5 AND 6
Objective 7 Make a TF: (Screen 1)
“From the Chief Advisor:
Excuse me my Chief, but our warriors are returning home and I just wish to point out a couple of things to help you in the future. It is possible to group a number of units into Task Forces. Creation and rearrangement of task forces is done in the Units Window. When units are grouped into a task force you can move them by issuing a single order, and the units in a task force will always fight together. Also, a task force will only move as fast as the slowest unit. When our second warrior unit is built, we will group both our units together in a task force.
Objective 7 Make a TF: (Screen 2)
Our new group of warriors have been built and trained! Although the safety afforded us by having a third warrior unit is attractive, construction of each additional unit reduces the population of workers in the economy, and increases military support costs. Since we want to expand the population rapidly, I feel we should stop producing warriors for now. [Please go into the Civ Econ Orders and remove the warrior build order. Then dismiss the Econ windows.]
Objective 7 Make a TF: (Screen 3)
Now we must put both warrior units in a single task force, and move our army to attack the vile barbarians. To group these two units you need to first click on the tile that contains the two units on the Map Window. You will see that the two units are separate in the Unit Information Window. Right-click on the first unit and click on the option "Merge all units to selected TF". This will make the border encircle both units signifying a Task Force. Each unit still retains its power line (underneath each unit), and the task force also has a power line (the line centered at the bottom of the task force box). Now, the Task Force will respond to move orders just like a single unit. Order your army to move to the square with the barbarian unit, and end the turn. Battle will occur when our task force is in the barbarians’ square.Project Lead for The Clash of Civilizations
A Unique civ-like game that will feature low micromanagement, great AI, and a Detailed Government model including internal power struggles. Demo 8 available Now! (go to D8 thread at top of forum).
Check it out at the Clash Web Site and Forum right here at Apolyton!Comment
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This is implemented in the ScenarioFile.java file I just sent you.1. It occurs to me that having the random seed start identical for all tutorial games is a good feature. Do we have a convenient way to do this?
Don't understand this. What does "Turn Event comes up" mean? I can put x and y coordinates in the BulletinEvent, so you can put each one where you want it. Would that do?2. I am having some trouble with where the Turn Events comes up. No matter where I put it, at some point it hides something I want to talk about. The best place I have found for it is over the bottom half of the Units Window, because that real estate is rather rarely used in the tutorial. That may work out okay. But it seems then we'd need to put it in the settings file that way. And that is Clearly not the best place to put it for other scenarios like delenda. Ideas?
Implemented in the ScenarioFile and Images files I just sent you (that is, the second ScenarioFile, with includes the seed option also - I wrote the code as I was reading your post).3. One other small issue I've run into is in explaining the power circle. Unfortunately, given the extremely small power of the units and task forces in the scenario, the power circle size won't change until the player has something like four of the 1000 person warrior groups. (And that's after I change the minimum power circle size to decrease it to about the smallest possible without it looking silly.) One idea I had is to have era-specific or scenario-specific power circle size settings. What do people think?
I like the tutorial better the way it is now, without all the "almighty"s and similar effusions.
CheersComment
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Either use x,y as Gary proposes or, later on, we could use something like giving a window name (or set of) so that the popup mustn't hide these. It would be up to the program to find a layout that doesn't hide the windows, even if the player moved them along. It may be overkill.2. I am having some trouble with where the Turn Events comes up. No matter where I put it, at some point it hides something I want to talk about. The best place I have found for it is over the bottom half of the Units Window, because that real estate is rather rarely used in the tutorial. That may work out okay. But it seems then we'd need to put it in the settings file that way. And that is Clearly not the best place to put it for other scenarios like delenda.
About the text:
You should add a 'From the advisor' in screen 1 of objective 4. Also, in screen 2 of objective 7, when you first say task force, add a comment like "(abbreviated TF)" since the TF abbreviation appears in the menus.Clash of Civilization team member
(a civ-like game whose goal is low micromanagement and good AI)
web site http://clash.apolyton.net/frame/index.shtml and forum here on apolyton)Comment
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Why do power circles have a minimum size? I vote for simply eliminating the minimum size and seeing what the game looks like then.Originally posted by Mark_Everson
3. One other small issue I've run into is in explaining the power circle. Unfortunately, given the extremely small power of the units and task forces in the scenario, the power circle size won't change until the player has something like four of the 1000 person warrior groups. (And that's after I change the minimum power circle size to decrease it to about the smallest possible without it looking silly.) One idea I had is to have era-specific or scenario-specific power circle size settings. What do people think?
Long-term solutions are far trickier, however. If a powerful Roman army's power circle fills up one map tile, a modern army's would cover half the continent. But that's discission for a different thread.
The most important feedback you can give the team is telling us if our approach for different parts of Clash seems to be going in the right direction or not!
Maybe put something in there about how our goal is to eliminate micromanagement and tedium, and if players notice these starting to develop they should especially tell us about them.
You will see that one of the available unit orders, at the bottom, is Colonize. Click on this order and then OK to confirm the construction of a new settlement with our 5000 people. Once that is done, push the End Turn button at the top.
People will want to know which squares are best to colonize. Maybe put something in there like "This square is good to colonize because of the large number of farm sites. You can see the number of farm sites in the detail window..."
The strength of military forces in Clash is illustrated graphically using Power Circles that surround the units in the map window. The Area of the circle indicates the strength. You can see from the main map that your warrior band has approximately the same strength as that of the barbarians.
I'd add instructions on seeing the detailed combat statistics of the units. "You can see the full statistics of our warriors by right-clicking them on the units window and selecting "details" and you can see the stats of their warriors by selecting their square on the map window and right-clicking them in the units window.Comment
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Hi everyone, thanks for the suggestions and general support! I'll work on including some of the good suggestions next time I've got time to work on the doc.
Thanks for all the quick fixes Gary! Forget about my Turn Events point for now... I think I can work around the issue.Originally posted by Gary Thomas
Don't understand this. What does "Turn Event comes up" mean? I can put x and y coordinates in the BulletinEvent, so you can put each one where you want it. Would that do?
But I would really like the option for x,y location of the bulletins!Project Lead for The Clash of Civilizations
A Unique civ-like game that will feature low micromanagement, great AI, and a Detailed Government model including internal power struggles. Demo 8 available Now! (go to D8 thread at top of forum).
Check it out at the Clash Web Site and Forum right here at Apolyton!Comment
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I'm game, anyone object to a test?Originally posted by Richard Bruns
Why do power circles have a minimum size? I vote for simply eliminating the minimum size and seeing what the game looks like then.
The plan was to eventually have it so that the largest TF known or sustatainable in an age would overflow that square by a bit, and everything else would be scaled from there.Long-term solutions are far trickier, however. If a powerful Roman army's power circle fills up one map tile, a modern army's would cover half the continent. But that's discission for a different thread.
Thanks for the other suggestions, Richard!Project Lead for The Clash of Civilizations
A Unique civ-like game that will feature low micromanagement, great AI, and a Detailed Government model including internal power struggles. Demo 8 available Now! (go to D8 thread at top of forum).
Check it out at the Clash Web Site and Forum right here at Apolyton!Comment
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