Carcassonne Central
Carc Central Community => Online Games and Competitions => JCloisterZone FAQ, Suggestions & Bug Reports => Topic started by: jungleboy on January 18, 2016, 10:21:59 AM
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Hi farin (and all),
Thanks again for all your work with JCZ. It's been so great to be able to play these online games and competitions.
One problem I very often have with JCZ (as danisthirty and others can attest) is that when playing with the Tower, I lose track of what is happening in the game. The lack of 3D often means that even with the number on top of the tower, I am unaware that one of my followers is about to be kidnapped. And also that it's hard to know when your opponent's move has been to add a tower piece (e.g. this doesn't show up in the 'show last moves' feature). In several games, I had a follower kidnapped when that just wouldn't have happened in a 'real life' game.
I know it's hard to implement the Tower in a 2D setting, but since we'll be having a Tower league sooner or later, I wanted to see if others have the same problem that I do and ask for people's opinions on what could be done to make the Tower more 'user-friendly'.
Thanks!
jungleboy
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I agree, that the issue of not noticing, that somebody placed a tower piece on last turn, is a non-issue in table play, because you actually see, if somebody puts a TP on the board. So I would also find it suitable, that the last piece set is marked in a way. (Maybe by a circle around the number?) This could be toggled on or off with the "Show last turn - x" command.
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So, we are asking for a full 3D version of JCZ to overcome the Tower visibility issue?
Sounds simple...... ;)
VR may be the answer.....
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So, we are asking for a full 3D version of JCZ to overcome the Tower visibility issue?
I'm asking for ideas as to how the Tower visibility issue can realistically be improved within JCZ.
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What about a mouse over to show capture area?
Edit: and you said, the placed tower should really be highlighted - there's a call back for this.
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I know about this issue. I must admin that during world cup matches it wasn't ideal.
One partial solution is
https://github.com/farin/JCloisterZone/issues/56
Second idea is add some "animation" - when you place tile it appars with opacity ove whole board and slide to proper place, same with meeples and other tokens
so you wlll be notified about anything placed.
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the placed tower should really be highlighted.
After Group stage of Tower League I am sure this feature must be implemented. I lost both of my games just because I didn't see coming threat from growing tower, which I was able to cap in time.
Will it be animation, message alert, confirmation window, tile or tower piece highlighting - doesn't matter. The goal is to control the game and be as close to the real game as possible. In a real game I see that my opponent placed a tower piece, he can't do it unnoticed. The same applies to other gaming elements, that uses same technics (place the wood not on the just placed tile), for example, Magic portal, Tunnel, Festival.
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How about highlighting the most recent raised tower in the player colour?
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Having played a few games in the recent competition, I am no longer sure that any visual hints about tower pieces are needed.
The tiles with active towers are visible. They go in straight lines, so they are easy to visualize. The number of pieces on each tower is visible.
Overall, I think that one needs to play with the Tower expansion a few times to train your eyes. Other than that, the game board seems more than sufficient.
The level of play of the game's AI with the Tower expansion is another matter. Seems like the rules and gameplay need some development. My humble opinion - fixing the AI needs to be a higher priority than enhancing the presentation.