

AskHN: Feedback for online game: "Squad Leader" by Avalon Hill. - robertmrangel
http://ec2-67-202-32-1.compute-1.amazonaws.com/sl/
I am making an online game based on Squad Leader. Has anyone heard of Avalon Hill's Squad Leader? I'm making an online game in facebook that will work like the demo:<p>http://ec2-67-202-32-1.compute-1.amazonaws.com/sl/<p>Feedback, please.
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ars
I don't think you are ready for this game to be reviewed. Mainly because I
could not make the game do anything except tell me NULL:2:2 in an alert popup.

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endtime
I did even better - "NULL:NaN:NaN"

I'd be more than happy to review your game, but in addition to debugging,
please include instructions!

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robertmrangel
The alert messages have been removed and instructions added. It's not a full
fledged game, only a demonstration of UI ideas to solicit feedback. Should
have been more clear about that.

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VinzO
For someone like me that has never played this kind of game, I have no clue
what to do. I don't even know which color is my team. The only thing I can get
is NULL messages. I clicked a lot of times on "I am done" to see what happens,
nothing moved and then game was over. I expected maybe my ennemy to do some
movements. You should really include some help or instructions at start. At
this point people will try just a few minutes and won't come back to your game
again.

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chris11
I really like the game design. It is simple and really fits a board game.

That said I don't know what I'm supposed to do. And I only got pieces to move
once. Now I only get error messages.

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pbhj
Worked for me after an intial NULL:2:2 error.

Some instructions (there's plenty of chrome on the RHS to put them in) would
be handy. The game would be improved immensely by having some sound effects
too. The objective wasn't at all clear nor how to improve the chances of
defeating the opponent - I did notice a "woods modifier" mentioned on one
turn.

I'd do single left-click to select the troops, have a cursor move then with
the mouse movement highlighting the cell that is active, then single left-
click to reposition them or to fire. That would remove the need to click a
button to end your turn at the possible expense of people making a mistake
occassionally (though I couldn't move troops back once I'd moved them anyway).

That said, I don't really care for games like this.

HTH

pbhj

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e1ven
Robert, I'm very interested in how you got the rights to do this game. I don't
see any contact information in your account here.

Can you please contact me- cdavis@darkenedsky.com?

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philh
Ideally, the game board should be small enough that you can see everything
without having to scroll. That probably isn't possible in this case without
sacrificing too much clarity, but reducing it would be worthwhile.

Have you tried putting the board on its side? It looks like if you did that
and put the sidebar on top, it would fit (maybe with a little shrinking) in a
horizontal browser window 1000px across, and players wouldn't need as much
vertical space.

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axod
Lots of 'alert()' popups when I click on things eg "null:6:4"

Don't understand what I should be doing...

Looks like a good start though :)

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reticular
Where's Sgt. Kelso and my LMGs? I really like the concept and flow of game
play. I played this for many hours as a kid. Nicely done.

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thejash
I've always loved these games. You have a nice start and I'd love to see more.
Email me if you feel like it, maybe I can help somehow (I'm pretty busy with
work though, so no promises)

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dreur
Could fire once but now only error messages ... and one squad went under
another.

Will be looking to play again when fixed.

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blogimus
Is Squad Leader still copyrighted by Avalon Hill or someone else now? Or has
it been put into the public domain?

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blue1
The original squad leader is long out of print. I suspect Hasbro owns the
rights to it, since they acquired AH. Advanced Squad Leader instead is alive
and well, being republished and expanded by MultiManPublishing.
<http://www.multimanpublishing.com/ASL/asl.php>

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ojbyrne
Loved the original. Fix the bugs. A. the null messages. B. What happens when
you move into the same square.

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robertmrangel
Thanks for the input. I got rid of the javascript alert(NULL:2:2) and added
simple instructions to the left panel.

I should have been more specific in the title: This is only a demonstration of
the UI I am building and wanted feedback on the general concept.

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adsyoung
I was more of a panzer general fan. Is that all there was to squad leader's
gameplay? I just moved them into cover and then fired back and forth turn
after turn hoping for a hit which very rarely came.

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robertmrangel
First of all there are no leaders, no machine guns, no morale checks or broken
units. Once those are added you can call it Squad Leader.

In the original rules, it is very rare that you get a KIA when firing. It's
more likely that you'll get a "Morale Check" where you roll the die against
the unit's morale number. If you have an unfortunate morale check roll, then
your units are "broken" and are required to run for cover away from enemy
units. Leaders stacked with units help with the morale checks, and can "rally"
troops to get them unbroken.

Machine guns are used to create devastating fire lanes with their long range
and penetration effects.

That's just the introductory rules. Successive modules added such things as
panzerfausts, smoke, tanks, americans, minefields.... until we have "Advanced
Squad Leader" which is an incredibly detailed and complex game system.

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mynameishere
Got the NULL:1:2 errors in ff. IE7 wouldn't load up the map.

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mroman
I love the concept, I played Squad Leader a few times and enjoyed it quite a
bit. I think that PanzerBlitz would also be great to see online like this. Too
bad I don't have enough time to check it out today.

