*sigh*
There is a balance to be walked between "flavour" and "recognition".
I'm sure the mod makers will find it.
The sarcastic replies are neither helpful, nor particularly witty, and I assume are not from the makers of the mod itself, and therefore utterly ignorable.
Implying that my suggestion for more recognition is a request to remove all flavour is not only incorrect but will also discourage everyone from bothering to post their feedback at all.
I agree with you, and love hearing this sort of feedback, don't be put off.
Design in general is trying to find the sweet spot between two unfun (to most players) extremes. No decision will be quite perfect for everyone but if we are creative and really think about it we can usually come up with solutions that make it significantly better for people that prefer one end of the extreme and doesn't detract from the other.
So I understood everything you were saying and I am very interested in making FfH more accessible (without losing its flavor). It doesn't have to be about the specific example and good designs can achieve both goals. So far I would love to:
1. Put more data on the custom game selection screen. Im not really sure how to do this.
2. Provide a "manual" online, in the game and in a printable version that hits all the high level concepts. We will probably need to wait until the game is done to dig into this to deeply, though the website is a good introduction and the wiki has tons of detail.
3. Make scenarios that allow the players to learn more about the civs as they play. I know what you are thinking, you dont like scenarios. I think you may surprise you with what we can do in a scenario, and how much fun they can be.
4. Reduce the amount of objects/mechanics in the game. We will always have tons of new stuff to learn. But we have to get it down to a few things per civ so that a player can play a civ for a few games, learn a few thigns each time until he really feels like he has mastered them. Then go on to another civ and do the same.
From the begining I wanted a game with tons of new mechanics and features. But presenting the player with 100 new features is just to overwhelming. So we created the 21 civs, each to be a holder of a small portion of those mechanics (and some global ones that everyone has).
Right now we are in the middle of the project, so we are adding stuff and trying it out. But by the end the stuff that works will be made as streamlined and easy to understand as possible. The stuff that doesn't will be removed and we should be left with a game with set global functions and 21 civs each with a subset of a managable number of special functions you only need to really know when playing them.
We will get there.
). Try to think of yourself as the leader of the civs, of course you're not going to no everything about them when you first start, but you eventually after many games/partial games you will have every civ and their abilities down by memory. You don't need to how to say the names or know what they mean just match the name or color with some theme in your head. The leader heads are also helpful in determining what each civ can do. For starting players who have no idea who do be just spend about 20 minutes before you play and browse the pedia or just pick one that sounds cool, you'll pick up on it soon.
