Just a personal prejudice I suppose, but really, there's no way a developer (however admirable he/she/it may be) is going to get my money if they can't deliver a product that at least meets some basic standards for 21st century code--like Windows-standard resolutions, for example. If that means I don't get games from small one-man shops, so be it. I don't have the time or money to spend on all the games out there anyhow, so this simply makes it easier to filter what I do buy I guess.
Too bad, because I'm a huge WWI fan.
ORIGINAL: Ichirou989
Well, since I already made an observation here, and was even quoted (!), I guess I better wade fully in and give my 200 cents worth. Let me start by saying I am a wargamer from long ago, back when SPI was in business, TSR made wargames...and was also in business for that matter, and Avalon Hill was king. I am most certainly one of those referred to by the term 'grognard'. From this perspective, I could care less if the interface is cludgy, or the screen won't scale...I want content! And knowing Frank Hunter's previous Civil War endeavor, I know I won't be let down. The meat of the game is the thing, and considering some of the crude components to both board and computer wargames that I've put up with in the past, a rough edged interface is the last thing I'll be worrying about.
Now that I've been clear on that point, let me move on and put on my other gamer personna...the one associated with such strange acronyms as FPS, RTS, and MMRPG. With that crowd, presentation is very important, and in some cases crucial. And the main thing is that these folks are really difficult to get to try out a new game unless it looks slick and is easy to use, otherwise they can't be bothered. 'Man...that thing your playing looks old, you say that's a new game? Looks boring...' And so it goes...trying to get non-wargamers to even look at a wargame, board or computer, has always been on the difficult side of things. Unless of course it looks slick, and doesn't require a bunch of reading to learn how to play. Pretty and intuitive, that's the ticket.
So when and where will the twain meet? That's the thrust of what Berkut's been saying right from the start, and being a person who has battled long and hard to bring new players into the hobby and also knowing what they seem to want to see, I do agree. So long as things like interface, screen resolutions and other such issues are dated and difficult to grasp easily, it will be difficult to expand and broaden the genre. The issue also isn't what wargamers like myself or others here will put up with, but what other folks who might be interested will be put off by. And while it might sound like a superficial agruement when, after all, 'the game's the thing!', it is still this sort of thing that will get new people to look at these games and give them the attention they deserve, like this game.
All that said, there is one last point I'd like to make, and that is it does seem rather unfair to bring all this up on this particular title however...I would have preferred that this came up in a more general discussion forum without naming names. Not that it should somehow be exempt from these arguments, but more because it really was a one man labor of love on the part of Mr. Hunter to make this game. I can forgive him an interface that will take some getting used to, or an issue with a single res screen, because he concentrated on what he felt was the most important thing and that was the game itself. In short, he sang to my wargamer's heart, not that other guy, and being a wargamer first I'm smiling. [8D] And for that, I give you many thanks. But I do think, very strongly, that future designs and designers should take note of these arguments and concerns. You may want to consider it just fluff, but it's fluff that not just helps sell the games, but helps sell them to newcomers. And it's clearly not just me who thinks so...look at how the majority of the review sites always have rating catagories for graphics, presentation, etc. And so coming from a long time champion of expanding our hobby, I think these are valid points and honestly should be considered as important as the game itself if we as a whole wish to continue in that Holy Grail quest of expanding the wargaming community.
