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[Valshier]

Matt and I recently released the beta version of Eternal Duel of Wits:

http://www.mediafire.com/?2mqv84dx4pawepq  (75 mb)

We're currently looking for any feedback. Here are some example questions:

• Was the tutorial easy to understand?
• If you skipped the tutorial, could you understand things with tootips and the help button?
• Any thoughts on pacing or perhaps balance ( between Intelligence, Charisma, Guile)?

Also, feel free to try out multiplayer with a friend, or we'd be happy to setup a match.

[pluckyporcupine]

• Was the tutorial easy to understand?

Yes.

• Was the game easy to understand?

No. I understand the concept of the feints but it literally makes it impossible to judge what to play.

Literally any card could be a feint. And the little meter is just not accurate enough to give you a good idea of if there was a feint.

And then even if you did know that there was a feint, any card except the one that was placed could be under the feint.

Want to outsmart their feint by going for the weakness of the card type opposite the type of the feint?

What if they anticipated that?

Want to go for the weakness of the feint?

What if they anticipated that?

There's just no way of knowing. The tutorial makes it seem like you're supposed to be able to guess what's under the feint (provided you KNOW it's a feint) if you pay attention. But in practice, that's just not possible (or at least it wasn't for me).

Given the tutorial, (I don't remember which stat it is) but I'd always pick the player with the highest ability to detect feints. Why wouldn't I? At least I'd have a higher chance of knowing it's a feint, which is one better than the other guy.

Also, I like the concept of the grid but it's just too small. In the time it takes to get the cards on there, between you and your opponent, it's a mess of different colors and the chances of getting a 3-in-a-row of cards is pretty low.

• Any thoughts on pacing or perhaps balance ( between Intelligence, Charisma, Guile)?

It's a bit slow. Not sure about balance. Only played the tutorial.

[Valshier]

Thanks for the feedback johnki. 

There are a few tricks to knowing what your opponent played, such as if it was even possible for their card to have beat your previous card.  Also, the read function can narrow down the possibilities of suits that your opponent may have.

As for the grid combos, we have considered the possibility of making more combos possible by allowing consecutive numbers to make combos instead of just colors and the same number.

The longer a match goes on, the more likely a combo will become since cards will all reach 9 over time.  Later matches have larger crowd sizes in the single player modes, and we're currently making starting options for skirmish and multiplayer match (so you'll be able to select crowd size).

The desire for more combos is a good thing for us to keep in mind.

[pluckyporcupine]

There are a few tricks to knowing what your opponent played, such as if it was even possible for their card to have beat your previous card.  Also, the read function can narrow down the possibilities of suits that your opponent may have.

And it does help a bit (I actually forgot about reading until you mentioned it and now I have to change my argument a bit) but it's still a gamble. From what I've seen, there are still just too many possible cards compared to the amount of information you're allowed to have.

I'll find someone to go through a multiplayer match with later and see if the opinion changes but right now, I'm pretty grounded in that opinion.

As for the grid combos, we have considered the possibility of making more combos possible by allowing consecutive numbers to make combos instead of just colors and the same number.

That would go a long way in helping it not be a jumbled mess haha.