Tutorial improvement

[dbt]

Since I've played the card game many times before the tutorial worked for me. However it's more of a QuickStart guide for experienced players than a real tutorial.

 

You might consider keeping it as a quick start, but having a more complete tutorial that walks people through some options and choices if they are new to the whole game concept. In this game there are a lot of options at every step and if you don't understand the interactions it's hard to see when you should use a blessing or have your other party members help you or use a key item.

 

The card game appealed to fairly hard core board gamers. With this digital version you'll probably be trying to get new people into the game who don't have as much experience with the way these kinds of trade-offs work

 

That said the implementation is very good and I'm enjoying the game immensely

[ChibiAcer]

Agreed. The UI is really well done, but I was thinking that the tutorial might be a bit light for someone new to the game.

 

Related note, are we allowed to record gameplay videos and post to YouTube? I was thinking of doing a Let's Play/how-to-play video.

[Mysterio]

Perhaps adding a statement at the beginning or end of the tutorial that directs those who've never played the physical version to the Rules section would be wise.  I'm seeing a lot of frustration with the tutorial from those new to the physical game, some saying it kills the game for them.  Since it's a free-to-download game, its financial success hinges on customers sticking with it.  Frustration with the tutorial (some have commented that it doesn't always direct them on what to do next) and later with the first adventure ("Did the tutorial tell me how this works?") will cause them to uninstall the app and not spend a dime on it.

Edited April 28, 2016 by Mysterio

[whoopdido]

I agree with this as well.  I've played the physical card game many times and mostly understand all the rules.  There are so many rules and interactions that it's pretty much impossible to know every single one.  My group tends to spend a good amount of time asking questions and arguing about what can and cannot be done until we finally just make a decision.  In any event, I'm quite well versed in how to play the game and even I have a hard time every now and then following everything with Pathfinder Adventures.

 

While the tutorial does a good job of going over the basics, I fear that a completely new player is going to still be pretty lost after completing the tutorial and might get frustrated and simply delete it.  I know I've come across that myself numerous times with board game ports I've downloaded.  I play it for a little bit and really have no idea what I"m doing...I might "win" but have no idea why and don't know why I succeeded or failed and then I just get frustrated and quit.  I find that to happen much more often when I try complicated games and obviously Pathfinder Adventures is a very complicated game, especially when you're just starting out as a new player.  I assume for this game to be financially successful, you're going to need new players rather than only relying on the hardcore players who already know everything about it.

 

All that said, I want to say that you guys did a WONDERFUL job with this game.  I think it mimics the physical game very well and there are enough differences and improvements to set it apart.  I really hope this is successful because the developers deserve it.  I haven't experienced any of the problems that I'm seeing on this board.  I downloaded the season pass and everything worked and haven't experienced even one bug.

 

Good luck.