[glob2-devel] Taking the game to the next level (eg the 1.9 todo-list)

[Bradley Arsenault]

If we compare Glob2 to commercial games, there are several key
differences (lets tear the game apart):


    1) Our campaign system sucks. The campaign selection menu looks
exactly like the map selection menu, their isn't a feeling like you
have to start on the first and work your way up. You also can't save
your progress in campaigns. Not in individual maps, but in the
campaigns as a whole. That makes it quite logical, as you "save your
progress" in the campaign.

    2) The net game system is underdeveloped, very ad-hoc. However
wonderous having YOG on an open source game is, it isn't all that
beautifull. All you really get on the yog screen is an irc chat box
and a little tiny menu at the top that 90% of the time is empty, and
so people don't actually understand what it is. People don't know that
it represents games, and just that there are none. There is no
matching utility, no "Welcome to YOG", no detailed game list, nothing.
The menu is *too* simple.

    3) The custom map system is very un-customizable. Again, this a
menu thing. You can't control whos allianced with who. You can control
win conditions. You can't randomly generate a map and then jump into
playing it (you have to generate the map seperatly, then save it, then
you can play it.). Theres also no obvious way to affect difficulty.
Although us more experienced players know that the three AI's play at
different levels of difficulty, being easy, medium, and hard
respectivly, the players don't know that. All of this also counts for
net games, as you can't adjust any features, such as alliances, with
them.

    4) The map editor is very bad. I think this has been mentioned
before, many times. But it still is bad. The script editor is
terrible, its small, no one actually wants to write a script in that.
When you hit save, it saves, but not to anywhere you would expect it
to. It happens to save to a folder called "scripts" in ~/.glob2. Now,
who checks *hidden* folders other than developers? As well, there is a
portion of the map editor that isn't updated, it remains black, anmd
if you move your scroll mouse over it, the pictures aren't blit over.
As well, whenever you enter any menu, the proccessor maxes out as the
clouds rush by really quickly, obvioussly because there is a timer on
the clouds that seems to be deactivated when you hit a menu. As well,
the building icons aren't shrunk, and its hard to determine what
building corrosponds to what icon. This definitly needs to be fixed,
as it is an in-your-face problem.


Suffice to say, this all needs to be fixed. Most of the games problems
aren't gameplay issues, I must say, the game plays very nicely,
despite graphics and music being on the lower end. These are all user
interface issues, and these aren't the only things I could criticize
the game on. Right now, I'm going to take the time to learn the games
widget systems, of which it seems nct is the only one who knows how to
operate. I'm going to code up a new menu to adjust options on a game,
such as alliances. I'll consider changing arround the YOG menu to be
more user friendly. I'll probably take a knack at the map editor,
which is broken beyond belief. Lowest on the priority list, I will try
to make the capign system feel more like campaigns, and not just a
bunch of maps with their own special menu.

As well, the tutorial map shouldn't show up in the custom games menu.

I see so much potential in the game. I think we should criticize it,
try to find everything wrong and fix as much as possible.