RE: MWiF Tutorial (Full Version)

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Froonp -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (9/18/2006 8:51:36 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

Ok, I'll try to butress mt argument that they should play Barbaossa and Guadalcanal numerous times, before taking on Global War. My basic point will be that Global War takes a lot of time and effort and that if you do not know what you are doing, it will mostly be wasted time. I think the concept of strategic plans built on operational lpans, built on tactical expertise should be in there somewhere too.

When I first learned WiF 15 years ago, we first played Barbarossa, once, and then Guadalcanal, once too, and then we went through our first 39-45 campaign.
This was only that that was interesting us.

Nowadays, when introducing new players to the game, we play Barbarossa and Guadalcanal once each and then we begin a 39-45 campaign telling everyone that we will stop the game anytime, that it is just a learning game, and then we play for real.

Using the computer game, with no counters to sort out, I would only play global war, each time, even to introduce new players. We would play only 2-3 turns of the beginning of the game. I would advice a lone player to play a couple of Barbarossa & Guadalcanal, and then to try Global Campaign.



Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (9/18/2006 9:04:58 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Froonp
quote:

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets
Ok, I'll try to butress mt argument that they should play Barbaossa and Guadalcanal numerous times, before taking on Global War. My basic point will be that Global War takes a lot of time and effort and that if you do not know what you are doing, it will mostly be wasted time. I think the concept of strategic plans built on operational lpans, built on tactical expertise should be in there somewhere too.

When I first learned WiF 15 years ago, we first played Barbarossa, once, and then Guadalcanal, once too, and then we went through our first 39-45 campaign.
This was only that that was interesting us.

Nowadays, when introducing new players to the game, we play Barbarossa and Guadalcanal once each and then we begin a 39-45 campaign telling everyone that we will stop the game anytime, that it is just a learning game, and then we play for real.

Using the computer game, with no counters to sort out, I would only play global war, each time, even to introduce new players. We would play only 2-3 turns of the beginning of the game. I would advice a lone player to play a couple of Barbarossa & Guadalcanal, and then to try Global Campaign.


Yes, I agree. However, mastering Barbarossa and/or Guadalcanal would make the player much stronger when he gets to Global War.

I also expect the other scenarios to get a lot more play in MWIF than they do over the board. A major drawback to the "late in the war" scenarios when playing over the board is separating out all the counters. It is easier to start Global War because there are vastly fewer counters on the map and some of the major powers are still inactive.



wfzimmerman -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (9/18/2006 9:09:00 PM)

Now we're on the same page!

I agree that the scenarios will get more use in computer.   But it will still be 80% Global War.



composer99 -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (9/20/2006 12:50:32 AM)

Tutorial screenshots are lookin' good! And Steve, you might find it easier to appease your mathematician side if you understand that your tutorial numbering is using the set of whole numbers rather than the set of integers. That ought to keep it quiet, at least if my mathematical memory is still good enough to stretch back the ten years since we covered the definition of whole numbers in class.



Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (10/2/2006 11:11:47 PM)

Here are some screen shots similar to what I have shown before. The difference is that instead of hand loading each bitmap and text just for the screen shot, these are generated by the program itself. The bitmaps are on disk and the the text descriptions are in one large file. All the text is read in when the program is loaded but each page is parsed on the fly and the matching bitmap is fetched from the disk. The parsing of the text is the new part - indeed, the screenshots used for the bitmaps are out of date.

[image]local://upfiles/16701/237B5A9C00D5407D8A73948BE051F454.jpg[/image]



Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (10/2/2006 11:13:50 PM)

I have also made all the navigation buttons in the upper right corner work. You can change pages and tutorials effortlessly.

[image]local://upfiles/16701/6A93D80DFB584FA390E8374A4E231712.jpg[/image]



SamuraiProgrmmr -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (10/2/2006 11:15:22 PM)

This may be by design, but the image showing the entire map does not show the entire planet.  Much of the Pacific is left out.

By the way -- GREAT WORK!



Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (10/2/2006 11:18:10 PM)

I had to shorten the space for the bitmap. It is now 650 wide by 640 high. Which is why the bottom of this bitmap is cropped too close.

Now that the system for presenting the tutorials is working, I expect to write 1 or 2 pages of the tutorials every day. There are a lot to do but I prefer to have a mix of tasks - continually programming (or even worse, debugging) can wear one's soul thin.

[image]local://upfiles/16701/5F5F1CCD8F9E45CF88651FA528F25906.jpg[/image]



Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (10/2/2006 11:21:36 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: SamuraiProgrammer

This may be by design, but the image showing the entire map does not show the entire planet.  Much of the Pacific is left out.

By the way -- GREAT WORK!

Thanks.

All the screen shot bitmaps for the tutorials are drafts. There will have to be final versions made just before game release. Until then, I'll probably only keep them up-to-date if the image gets out of sync with the text.



Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (10/5/2006 8:02:53 AM)

Here are the first 6 pages of the first tutorial. I want to eventually add another page about assigning or bidding for major powers. Though the bidding stuff might be left for the discussion of playing over the internet.

[image]local://upfiles/16701/A4CF1797DF9449D2B95D36844515E721.jpg[/image]



Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (10/5/2006 8:04:04 AM)

The writeup for this page is new.

[image]local://upfiles/16701/954D32B9F3B147BFBAF7FFD07C1D1082.jpg[/image]



Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (10/5/2006 8:06:03 AM)

Page 3

[image]local://upfiles/16701/462AA388A7FF462EA2E76529F9A7A9CC.jpg[/image]



Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (10/5/2006 8:07:28 AM)

Page 4

[image]local://upfiles/16701/4A2D1561EFFB44528933E8CA5F561978.jpg[/image]



Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (10/5/2006 8:08:30 AM)

Another new page, written today.

[image]local://upfiles/16701/E46B82A0D3A04A3BB8090879DE94C8D1.jpg[/image]



Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (10/5/2006 8:10:02 AM)

Last in the series, also written today.

Now on to tutorial #2 - Countries

[image]local://upfiles/16701/D9C6036C6698445081A867FA335EA79E.jpg[/image]



wfzimmerman -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (10/5/2006 3:47:42 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

Another new page, written today.

[image]local://upfiles/16701/E46B82A0D3A04A3BB8090879DE94C8D1.jpg[/image]


You might want to add a sentence to the effect that agreeing on options among multiple players can be a protracted process. ;-)



YohanTM2 -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (10/5/2006 10:20:49 PM)

"You might want to add a sentence to the effect that agreeing on options among multiple players can be a protracted process. ;-) "

That's why you want to be the player to set the game up <g>



Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (10/6/2006 9:05:42 AM)

Here is my first pass at the first half of the second tutorials. A lot of typos, but I am interested in everyone's comments.

[image]local://upfiles/16701/0E3A6530764D4DC8BB6182854713A332.jpg[/image]



Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (10/6/2006 9:07:20 AM)

I could use a couple more sentences here.

[image]local://upfiles/16701/9C04929BC9E34BA68A9090E548F25B38.jpg[/image]



Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (10/6/2006 9:08:21 AM)

Perhaps some more text here too?

[image]local://upfiles/16701/22E321075D9D4D47A3817F1300FD2453.jpg[/image]



Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (10/6/2006 9:10:15 AM)

I have done 6 pages so far and there won't be more than 14 in the second tutorial. Possibly as few as 12. I'll see how it goes.

[image]local://upfiles/16701/A96AA893BF7A4BB298168150E43B700E.jpg[/image]



Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (10/6/2006 9:11:41 AM)

Obviously this screen shot will look a lot better once we have the bitmapped coastlines for Japan.

[image]local://upfiles/16701/49BAA8A775DE46A39936DFC057FA6252.jpg[/image]



Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (10/6/2006 9:12:55 AM)

Last in the series.

[image]local://upfiles/16701/3F287F5AD40044D093EF62D56760856B.jpg[/image]



Froonp -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (10/6/2006 10:20:04 AM)

Problems I saw :

About Germany, you say : "This picture shows the hexes owned by Germany (...)".
This is not really true. Control of hexes is not shown on this picture. Borders are shown, but not hex control.

About France you say : "Continental France (...)".
Continental France is called "Metropolitan France" preferably. Continental France is never used.

About Italy you say : "(...) it also includes Sardinia and Sicily.".
You should not say it this way, or you should point out that Sardinia and Sicily control is different. The former is a Territory controlled by Italy, the later is part of Italy home country. Very very very different, especially regarding the conquest conditions of Italy, soI think you should be more precise here.

About Russia you write : "(...) at the tiop of the (...)", and "(...) th egerman player (...).
spelling here.

About China you write : "Note that the is (...)"
I suppose it is meant "Note that there is (...)".
Also there is a caps missing in the first word of the next sentence.
In the last sentence of the 1st para, there is a ")" missing.



Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (10/6/2006 12:03:52 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Froonp
Problems I saw :

About Germany, you say : "This picture shows the hexes owned by Germany (...)".
This is not really true. Control of hexes is not shown on this picture. Borders are shown, but not hex control.

About France you say : "Continental France (...)".
Continental France is called "Metropolitan France" preferably. Continental France is never used.

About Italy you say : "(...) it also includes Sardinia and Sicily.".
You should not say it this way, or you should point out that Sardinia and Sicily control is different. The former is a Territory controlled by Italy, the later is part of Italy home country. Very very very different, especially regarding the conquest conditions of Italy, soI think you should be more precise here.

About Russia you write : "(...) at the tiop of the (...)", and "(...) th egerman player (...).
spelling here.

About China you write : "Note that the is (...)"
I suppose it is meant "Note that there is (...)".
Also there is a caps missing in the first word of the next sentence.
In the last sentence of the 1st para, there is a ")" missing.

I'll fix most of these, but the German text is not incorrect. Owning land is different from controlling it. A simple example would be owning a car versus controlling/driving it. A more technical way to say the same thing would be to refer to "Germany proper" or the German home country. Either way the message is that "this is Germany". The message is not "these are the hexes Germany controls".



mlees -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (10/6/2006 5:11:55 PM)

A couple minor nit picks from post #109:

The Italian flag is displayed. (I assume that it because you are in the process of setting up the Italian units when you took the screen shot of France?) Looks a little odd to have the Italian flag when talking about France. (Unless, of course, you are an Axis Fan Boy and proud of it... "Look at your future conquests, Mussolini!") Ditto all the other Major Power screen shots.

The passage "France also owns Corsica and numerous territories in Africe, the Middle East, and the Pacific at the start of the war." completely leaves out the possesions in the Carribean and S. America. Maybe: "France also owns numerous territories scattered throughout the world at the start of the war." I know, this is a minor nit pick.

It also seems to me that this might be a natural point to reference the map display filters (or at least the map display filter tutorial), if those filters are capable of shading the French possesions on the minimap for the player to "ooh-and-aah" over.



SamuraiProgrmmr -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (10/6/2006 6:26:44 PM)

At first blush, would it be helpful to outline the major power's names with white in addition to making them larger?



mlees -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (10/6/2006 7:39:17 PM)

quote:

At first blush, would it be helpful to outline the major power's names with white in addition to making them larger?


Where are you refering to? The country's name on the map?



SamuraiProgrmmr -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (10/6/2006 8:10:41 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: mlees

quote:

At first blush, would it be helpful to outline the major power's names with white in addition to making them larger?


Where are you refering to? The country's name on the map?


Yes. Currently all country names are red. It might help if the Major powers are red outlined in white. This would also make other areas more identifiable (such as sicily and sardinia)




Froonp -> RE: MWiF Tutorial (10/6/2006 8:23:11 PM)

quote:

Yes. Currently all country names are red. It might help if the Major powers are red outlined in white. This would also make other areas more identifiable (such as sicily and sardinia)

Size of the font already distinguish Major Powers from the Minor countries, an also from Territories.
I don' t know if Steve can add an outline to the texts.



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