🚀 go-pugleaf

On Tue, 05 May 1998 23:05:02 -0000, "John Shiali" <jo...@heights.demon.co.uk>
wrote:


>Well, you would Derek, because you know the games backwards and
>forward ;) 

hehe


>Look Derek, do you want to sell BC 3000 or not? Are you just going to
>sit there and say that you're not going to cater to a chunk of your
>target market because it would mean having to rethink the interface?
>I'm not saying rewrite the game or dumb down what your aims are for
>BC3000, just make it easier and more intuative to control.

Duly noted. I see your point.

>
>> > As a competent and hardcore gamer who gave up on the game, I can only
>> > suggest that you give a lot of thought to how to give some kind of
>> > spoonfeeding to the player, just so that he can do enough to keep his
>> > interest alive until he becomes competetent enough with all the
>> > systems.  Maybe make things selectable on screen with context sensitive
>> > menus that lead you from a choice to the next set of logical choices?
>> > Kind of like a "wizard" system to guide you around basic tasks?
>> 
>> Unfortunately, that's going to be difficult to do and again, BC3K will
>> remain in a class all by itself.
>> 
>
>Well, the whole premise of the game was difficult - that didn't stop
>you when people told you that it couldn't be done. Improving the
>control of the monster game behind BC3000 will be the difference that
>makes it a huge hit or a might have been. 

Again, you're right.

>
>> > Or what about training missions? Right from ship handling, weapons
>> > deployment, right up to "graduating" to a command?
>> 
>> These will be in BC:3020AD
>> 
>> ============================================================ There are
>> dozens of threads on my website daily and when I was finished typing
>> this post, I went over and grabbed a few. Feel free to go over to the
>> COMMLINK section and read for yourself. Then you will see what I mean
>> when I say that there definitely is a market for an indepth space sim
>> and not just realistic sims such as F15, Longbow2 etc
>
>Oh, I'm sure that BC3000 in its present form will generate a
>subculture of websites and alt* newsgroups, and some people will play
>it for years on end, but the same thing happens for Spectrum
>emulators. If you really want to hit the mass market, *without* having
>to compromise the game, then (IMHO) have a serious think about that
>interface and what can be done to make the learning curve less
>painful. 

OK, noted.

Thanks for your suggestions. I can assure you that we're taking steps to make
the game a bit more intuitive. I will do the best that I can in this short
amount of time but regardless of how it turns out, BC:3020AD will be far more
intuitive than BC3K ever was.



Derek Smart, Ph.D.
Designer/Lead Developer
Battlecruiser:3000AD

"The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further 
than the crowd.  The man who walks alone is likely to find 
himself in places no one has ever been."

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