Work continues painfully but surely on the Flash example of play. I've gotten it to the point where I'm no longer utterly ashamed to show the in-progress files (http://www.museoffire.com/Games/Downloads/Capes%20Example1.swf). So hopefully you folks will enjoy the little preview of coming attractions.
I think the game benefits tremendously from a moving, tactile demonstration of it in action. At the same time, I miss the ability (from demoing it in person) to link the spoken word more closely to the actual moves. I suppose I could use sound-files to represent the voices of the players rather than text, but I suspect that would be even more uncomfortable for some people, and also wouldn't do real well in a quiet environment like a library or computer lab.
Very nice, Tony. I'm getting a group together to play all those fascinating and innovative games out there, and Capes is first on the list. When this is ready to go public, I'll direct all the players to your demo to get a feel for the game before we sit down the first time.
I can only give opinion of someone who is already familiar with the rules but I thought it was a very useful (and entertaining) tool.
A couple of things that struck me:
1) Possibly navigate back to the first tab each time the 'next' or 'previous' button is pressed. I ended up clicking it each time, so I could first see 'whap was happening' and then check out the rules and stratgy comments.
2) I know the character sheet pops up for whomever is acting, but possibly reinforce this with a 'Current Character' title and may something along the lines of 'Player A's Turn' or 'Player B Reacts', maybe this could be in a Headline style to keep in genre :)
Anyway, I think that'll be a most useful tool.
Ta,
Dave
(1) I'm torn. In using it I did three run-throughs: Once all in-character, once all mechanics, once all strategy. And that gives an interesting way to analyze as well.
(2) Absolutely right. There's space. I'll add that in.
I love the tool. I may insist "my players" run through it before we try Capes for the first time.
Thanks!
Quote from: Stickman on August 02, 2005, 01:19:03 PM1) Possibly navigate back to the first tab each time the 'next' or 'previous' button is pressed. I ended up clicking it each time, so I could first see 'whap was happening' and then check out the rules and stratgy comments.
This is something that could be decided by testing it on a few people who don't know the rules.
Minor notes:
The debt tokens could look a bit snazzier. When the first one appeared, I thought it was some kind of button connected to the interface. Putting "Debt" or "D" on them would probably do it, something like the Claim tokens.
Speaking of which, they seem to be marked according to character, not player. If that's how you want it, I think it requires some sort of comment.
I think this is a great way to explain the game! The three-layer approach works really well.
Tony,
This is fucking awesome. Thank you.
I expected it to clear up some misunderstandings I had about the rules, but it did a much better job of showing the "why". Layering strategy, mechanics, and narration like that was perfect.
Tony,
Is it okay to send the link to the preview to interested players?
Sure. I'll keep upgrading it in place, and when I've got it finished I'll give it more prominent publishing. But in the meantime it's better than nothing, right?
Absolutely. I have some players I want to convince to give it a try, and I think this might be enough to whet their appetites.
This is excellent! I particularly like the strategy, because that may be the most difficult thing to get one's head around.
Regards,
Hal (who is now guilty of a "me-too" post)
Beautiful file; to get the same help, you'd have to read many threads (or the book) to get there. This makes a good pitch page, I'll bet.
Scott
Hi Tony, I just watched your little film. It's neat! The section on strategy was very smart. Vax, Lxndr and I had a brief IRC run of Capes in April, and I have to confess that I never quite understood how the strategy was supposed to work.
Also -- here's something else you MIGHT want to discuss: spend a panel or two of Mechanics to explain the typical turn order. I kept asking myself the whole time, "What about the supervillain? Why doesn't he get a chance to jump in there?" It's something that flummoxed me the couple of times we played on IRC too.