Lines beginning with > are my friend Ken Burnside odf Ad Astra Games.
>Allright. Downloaded Wesnoth;
>The installation script did not provide an option for it to be visible
>from an account on the Windows machine other than the Admin account. I
>was able to go and set permissions so that my non-Admin account could
>see the file and I could run without it being in a privileged
>account. Most likely caused by the install wizard creation tool used;
>not the fault of the programmers, but something they should be aware
>of.
Issue for the Windows packager, whoever that is
>The tutorial is well done. I find the music mildly annoying, but I
>find most game music annoying. Not being able to toggle settings like
>music volume from within the tutorial or the game itself is a minor
>knock.
>If there is a way to ‘group’ units so I’m not clicking and moving them
>individually, I did not see it in the tutorial. This is mildly
>annoying, as I see no game benefit to forcing the user to do this sort
>of repetition.
>I’m reasonably certain there’s a way to scroll around the map without
>moving units. I’ve not found it by trial and error yet. Documentation
>doesn’t seem to show it either.
Does map scrolling work on the Windows version at all?
>In comparing it to commercial games, the one I have on hand that’s
>closest in theme is WarLords: BattleCry II, which is vintage of 2002
>for the version I have.
Yes, they're broadly similar. Wesnoth is a bit more tactical.
>In terms of game play - they’re similar. Recruit your troops, manage
>their healing and progression in capabilities, while meeting
>objectives. Wesnoth uses a boardgame hex and move system, which
>appeals to me; WarLords: BattleCry II uses a more ‘free” movement
>system with a finely granular grid. Both use similar (though not quite
>identical) statting systems, put an emphasis on leader units boosting
>the abilities of minions.
>WarLords: BattleCry II is an RTS, this is turn based - major point of
>difference, and makes a point by point comparison on game play less
>than perfect.
>Chrome and such: WarLords: BattleCry II has MUCH less repetitive
>music. (Personal quirk - repetitive music is annoying), and I can
>change most settings from within the game itself rather than save,
>change and reload. WarLords: BattleCry II uses 3-D accelerated
>graphics. Wesnoth doesn’t. Me personally, I go for game play first,
>chrome second. However, WarLords: BattleCry definitely wins on
>chrome. Wesnoth is basically a sprite game with a reduced color
>palette. Its major innovation from 1993 computer games in terms of
>display and chrome is its support for resolutions greater than
>1024×768.
>Documentation: I recommend adding a documentation page that lets
>someone mouse over a map and get pop ups explaining what each thing IS
>prior to starting the tutorial. This is also good for showing
>locations of things like the End Turn button.
Useful idea. Dunno if our toolkit can do it.
>Contrast issues: Putting black buttons on a dark brown border on top
>of a black area of the screen is a great way for buttons to get
>lost. I spent noticable amounts of time trying to find the End Turn
>button initially, because I simply couldn’t SEE it. Not a major issue,
>but could definitely be addressed.
I think Kemn has an excellent point here -- the buttons should have a
more contrasty color.
>When I compare this to turn based strategy games (Civ III, circa
>2002), the graphics don’t compare well. Comparing to Civ IV, the
>graphics really don’t compare well.
>Overall: Game play is OK. Graphics are retro in a way that probably
>hinders its consideration for the under 30 age set. Music is annoying
>enough that I turned it off completely the second time I started it
>up.
>Am I likelier to blow time away playing this or Civ IV? Probably Civ
>IV. Though now that I’ve got WarLords BattleCry reinstalled that might
>get a few turns on the wheel over Civ IV. Most of that is because CIV
>IV, to me, is deeper game play than “string scenarios together to make
>a campaign”; WarLords BattleCry got uninstalled because I didn’t find
>the theme compelling enough to make me go through the campaign
>grinding; Wesnoth may well suffer the same fate.
>I’m running it on a WinXP box (Pentium IV, 2.8 GHz, 4 GB of RAM, 512
>MB 3-D accelerated video card) My machine high end in early 2004 when
>it was built, and got a video card upgrade in 2005, but it wasn’t
>cutting cutting edge 5 years ago when built, and it’s far from cutting
>edge now.
--
<a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/";>Eric S. Raymond</a>
[W]hat country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not
warned from time to time that [the] people preserve the spirit of
resistance? Let them take arms...The tree of liberty must be
refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Col. William S. Smith, 1787
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