Matrix Games Forums

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets
I have been updating the spreadsheet you sent me. Right now I have 84 responses. Does that match what you have?

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

My conclusion is that I now agree with Dave: the AIO is crucial for sales. Indeed, I see this as a personal challenge, with players saying they can play MWIF better than any AIO I can create. [:D]

ORIGINAL: mlees

Sorry, I just saw this thread. If the poll is still open:

I don't plan to play a human opponent, ever.

I plan to play versus the AI opponent most of the time (80%). If it is too tough, or if it is buggy, then I will shift to Solitaire exclusively.

EDIT: Even if the AI is non-funtional and I must play solitaire, I will still feel that it was/is money well spent. I have the boxed boardgame, but I don't have the room to set it up. (Even a single Theatre scenario takes up too much room.) I have only played the boardgame solitaire, so a computer version (that enforces the rules of the game ;D ) will be a huge godsend.

ORIGINAL: Froonp

ORIGINAL: mlees

Sorry, I just saw this thread. If the poll is still open:

I don't plan to play a human opponent, ever.

I plan to play versus the AI opponent most of the time (80%). If it is too tough, or if it is buggy, then I will shift to Solitaire exclusively.

EDIT: Even if the AI is non-funtional and I must play solitaire, I will still feel that it was/is money well spent. I have the boxed boardgame, but I don't have the room to set it up. (Even a single Theatre scenario takes up too much room.) I have only played the boardgame solitaire, so a computer version (that enforces the rules of the game ;D ) will be a huge godsend.

I believe it is still open.

But could you make your vote more precise. You only said 80% AI Opponent. What about the other 20% ?

ORIGINAL: Froonp

ORIGINAL: mlees

Sorry, I just saw this thread. If the poll is still open:

I don't plan to play a human opponent, ever.

I plan to play versus the AI opponent most of the time (80%). If it is too tough, or if it is buggy, then I will shift to Solitaire exclusively.

EDIT: Even if the AI is non-funtional and I must play solitaire, I will still feel that it was/is money well spent. I have the boxed boardgame, but I don't have the room to set it up. (Even a single Theatre scenario takes up too much room.) I have only played the boardgame solitaire, so a computer version (that enforces the rules of the game ;D ) will be a huge godsend.

I believe it is still open.

But could you make your vote more precise. You only said 80% AI Opponent. What about the other 20% ?

ORIGINAL: mlees
EDIT: Is there any practical coding difference between "Head to Head" and "Solitaire"?

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

Survey
I ran a simple survey of the World in Flames forum members asking which mode(s) of play they expected to use, as a percentage of the time they spend playing MWIF. This was motivated by my conversation with Dave about how important the AI Opponent would be. My guess prior to this survey was that the break down would be 50% NetPlay, 30% AIO, 20% PBEM. I was completely wrong.

The scrren shots are taken of spreadsheet that Patrice created for summarizing the responses from this survey. As I write this we have had 86 players respond; that is a healthy simple size, though perhaps biased, since the survey is of active forum members. Patrice used the word 'votes', which is imprecise. I think of them as 'responses' - since no one is getting elected.[;)]

The dominant mode of play is going to be AIO (52%) with PBEM second (23%), NetPlay third (17%), with Solitaire and Head-to-head making up the rest. You can see these numbers in the first page of the spreadsheet.

From the comments players made when completing the survey, Solitaire, and to a lesser extent AIO, will be used to gain experience with the game so they can play against human opponents using PBEM and NetPlay. But there are over 60% of the customers who expect to play against the AI most of the time. If you look at the bar chart, you’ll see that AIO overwhelms the other modes of play for use Predominantly (75% or more of playing time). It is also equal to the sum of all the other modes of play for use Most-of-the-time (50% to 74% of playing time).

Overall, PBEM beats out NetPlay slightly, and almost 90% of the respondents had zero interest in Head-to-head play. Solitaire use is apparently expected to be a learning/planning tool rather than a means of playing the entire game from start to finish.

My conclusion is that I now agree with Dave: the AIO is crucial for sales. Indeed, I see this as a personal challenge, with players saying they can play MWIF better than any AIO I can create. [:D]

ORIGINAL: paulderynck

ORIGINAL: mlees
EDIT: Is there any practical coding difference between "Head to Head" and "Solitaire"?

Copied from Steve's post #105 in this thread:

Hotseat has prompts built in that tell the players to switch who is seated in front of the computer (i.e., switch sides). The Axis player doesn't get to see the US Entry chits. When making simultaneous decisions (e.g., air-to-air combat), the players should not see what the other side is doing.

ORIGINAL: mlees

Jagdtiger14, at the risk of straying offtopic, I wish to point out a couple reasons why I plan to play solo/solitaire:

1) Extremely flexible scheduling.

I am not "commited" to any game. I can play as much (or as little) as I want, whenever I am in the mood. If I were to enroll in a PBEM game, I know that I am expected to turn in my moves in a timely fasion, and on very busy days this would "hang over" me like some deadline for a class or work assignment. I can abandon games without angering anyone.

2) Liberal "mulligan" policy.

I can restore the game to a previous save state when I make a spectacularly dumb move. The computer rarely complains. 

By the way, IIRC, Steve et. al are not programing the AI to cheat on dice rolls.