Flash Example of Play

[TonyLB]

Is that the situation on your machine, or does it go slower for you? (it also doesn't seem like a substantial slowdown as it goes from roughly 1/4 of a second to roughly 1/2 of a second. I realize that that's twice the time, but it's still fast enough that it still registers as fast)

It goes slower for me, by about a factor of two.  Which is the timing that the Flash reader is supposed to be running things at (since it is supposed to be measured in frames-per-second, not "how fast can your graphics card display this").  So yeah, the thing you're seeing?  Too fast.  That is really valuable information, even though it gets me a little steamed at Macromedia.

Have you considered having the animation start when they push the button? That way, they'll read the step, then have a way to start the animation that shows them what they just read.

I hadn't, but that's a solid idea.  Let me work up a draft of the step-by-step using that setup, and we'll see how people like it.

[TonyLB]

Okay, Same old place, brand new approach to the Step-By-Steps.  Now you get the animation, once, after you click the button.  I think you were right, it is easier.  Does it work for you now?

[dunlaing]

Okay, Same old place, brand new approach to the Step-By-Steps.  Now you get the animation, once, after you click the button.  I think you were right, it is easier.  Does it work for you now?

Very nice, I like it very much. You've addressed all of my quibbles really well, thanks.

The Big orange "step-by-step" button could stand a little exposition, I think. Maybe change the name to "Reset Animation" or something? I don't know, maybe I'm overthinking and it's clear enough what goes on.

[TonyLB]

I'll be adding some popup thought bubbles that fade in when things are looked at for the first time.  That should help to explain the function of the tabs, the back-and-forth toggles, the step-by-step button and the individual step buttons.

[TonyLB]

One more, the same link now has updated content.  The new version has (I'm pretty sure) more than a hundred individual steps of rules mechanics laid out to be stepped through at your own pace, or seen in their original animated sequence.

I could work on popups to introduce people to the UI, but I'm not sure that (a) I have the energy and (b) it's necessary.  I'm thinking of making this public pretty soon, for the start of the week.  Is it in good shape for public consumption?

[Hans]

I second the praise showered on this by others.  Just going through it taught me a number of things I had missed going through the rules and the non-flash example in the book (for example, we have been doing the turn order incorrectly).  The real gem, though, is the Strategy section.  It puts things into context, and is the most useful feature of this example for someone who has played a bit but not a lot.

I have only two suggestions for mechanical improvements:

* I recommend an opening and a closing animation/window/something.  The opening would set the scene (three people, Adam, Bob and Claire, sitting around a table, deciding to play Capes), and the closing would let you know the thing was definitely finished, and summarize what has happened and what could happen next.  To my mind, some kind of opening and closing thing is important for the final product out on the web site. 

* When I turned off the "Step-by-Step" indicator, it would still jump through several steps with each click of the green arrow.  After playing with it, I realized that the animated steps continue if you don't have the "Mechanics" window as the main window when you click the green arrow, regardless of whehter the "Step-by-Step" indicator is on or off.  If, mid way through the animation, you click the Mechanics window, the animation stops.  Was this an intended design feature? To me it seems counterintuitive, but if it was intended to work that way I can't call it a bug.

Otherwise, I think this is great, and as soon as it is available I will direct all of our group to it to give them more insight into the game.

[Hisho]

I find this flash demo really good, watched it trough tonight and found only one small mistake, at the scene were the crimson claw modifies Mannelli gun at the mechanics-part

Adam: EVIL? Well of course MUAHAHAHA! And I roll ... err ... a two.

The die in question does show a 3, isn't a big problem because the following Improvise a gadget is also a 3.

Otherwise... great work, I would wish there would be more people who use flash for demos like this, makes explaining a game more easy.

Michael