GP's comments on Demo 6

[TCO]

1. had a hard time downloading the game.
2. manual is not user friendly. especially for new users. Not well organized. (important stuff to get started at front, e.g.)
3. Couldn't start a game. Only a scenario.
4. More later. Need to read more of the manual.

[TCO]

all views a little counterintuitive. It works on minimized windows but won't open any?

Also what is a "TF". You introduce the acronmym without defining it.

[TCO]

Finally got my guys to move. Aboviously not that user friendly. They cover up the villages too...how do I know what is underneath.

[TCO]

"still running last turn. Can't start new one."

[Mark_Everson]

Hi GP, and thanks for checking out the demo, and for the early stream-of-consciousness comments! If you could put any more-detailed or ones of an important nature in the "Demo 6 Comments and Bug Reports" I'd apprecitate it

I had to check, but you're right, I didn't define TF early enough... I did the manual and you can tell I don't have any skill or enthusiasm for it. Hopefully Dale can do a Much better job with a tutorial. After D6 we all agreed to put effort into a better "new player" experience, so any comments you have on what is essential in that regard are welcome. Please put such comments in the "Documentation: Manuals and Tutorials" thread.

"Still running" can frequently be ignored, but sometimes indicates a problem. If you wait until each turn is completed before starting the next one you generally won't get it.

Cya,

Mark

[LDiCesare]

Still running can also mean the program is stuck (when there is an exception that we don't know how to handle)...

[TCO]

That's what I got...

[LDiCesare]

Argh... You can retry the game. If you get it repeatedly then we should debug. If you know how to get the error output, you can send the trace here. I think you can get it by running from a dos windows something like java game.manager.GameMain but you have to setup the classpath to the jar file. If you don't understand what that means, don't try. I am afraid I am too geekish to be able to explain propoerly how to do it, but maybe Mark can.

[Mark_Everson]

Sorry GP, those things are usually quite rare, at least the way I play... But you may have stumbled into something that none of the other playtesters found. Just restart for now. If it frequently crashes like that, and you're interested in pursuing it, what you need to do is use the "if you have trouble" set of directions that launch from the batch file. When it crashes, you need to post the text from the dos window that comes up when the batch file executes.

My apologies for all the hassles! Thanks for sticking with it!

[TCO]

No problem. I will fiddle with it a little more, when I get in the mood.

Will continue to give you guys some stream of consiousness comments (too lonely otherwise...plus I need the advice). But will summarize them after I'm done.