Interception Scenario Testing

Discussion and development of scenarios and campaigns for the game.

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OctarineSourcerer
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Joined: July 23rd, 2020, 12:06 pm

Interception Scenario Testing

Post by OctarineSourcerer »

This thread is to track feedback for the development of a scenario being used for research on tension in games - Interception. It's my first scenario, so some stumbling blocks are definitely lurking in the darkness. It's definitely playable at version 0.1.0, just needs tweaking and feedback.

Roughly speaking, it's aiming to affect players' beliefs about both sides' power over the scenario's outcome. The events within the scenario, and players' reactions to them (teased out with a questionnaire afterwards), will hopefully give some insight as to how successful that is, and whether musings I have need to be changed.

Those who are playtesting the scenario (if there are any playing it that I haven't asked, holy heck thank you), it'd be appreciated if you could answer the following questions:
  • Does the scenario drag on for too long? I'm aiming for a maximum of 20 minutes.
  • Any bugs? Don't be shy here; if you think it's even just weird behaviour, feel free to raise it.
  • Does the scenario seem feasible for both sides? I'd appreciate more expert opinions on this; I'm not a downright veteran of wesnoth, so while I've tried to make this possible, I don't know how much of a good balance is currently struck. Might beginners think otherwise? I'm pretty interested in this.
  • Is there any reasonable interest in keeping Nobbs alive at all? What motives lie behind that?
  • Does the sense of tension change with each wave? Purposefully keeping "tension" vague here
  • Any other considerations? eg as of 0.1.0 I'm thinking of moving the orcs' keep a little closer to reduce travel between the rest of the map and them.
Cheers! Hope you have fun with the scenario,
Dan
Konrad2
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Re: Interception Scenario Testing

Post by Konrad2 »

  • Does the scenario drag on for too long? I'm aiming for a maximum of 20 minutes.
  • Any bugs? Don't be shy here; if you think it's even just weird behaviour, feel free to raise it.
  • Does the scenario seem feasible for both sides? I'd appreciate more expert opinions on this; I'm not a downright veteran of wesnoth, so while I've tried to make this possible, I don't know how much of a good balance is currently struck. Might beginners think otherwise? I'm pretty interested in this.
  • Is there any reasonable interest in keeping Nobbs alive at all? What motives lie behind that?
  • Does the sense of tension change with each wave? Purposefully keeping "tension" vague here
  • Any other considerations? eg as of 0.1.0 I'm thinking of moving the orcs' keep a little closer to reduce travel between the rest of the map and them.
I don't think so, I finished in 11 minutes.

When the narrator talks about Nobbs the second time, he does so with Nobbs name, making it look as if Nobbs is narrating himself. When Nobbs actually speaks for the first time, he does so without any name given, so you probably mixed up two lines.
The narrator says with the last wave that the enemy leader will come for me as well, but in truth said leader just stays at his keep.

He's unique, so he has value.

I don't think so, it was pretty clear to me that it is very unlikely that I'd be overrun.

Keep having fun reading about discworld.
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Yellowsilver
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Joined: April 26th, 2020, 9:02 pm

Re: Interception Scenario Testing

Post by Yellowsilver »

OctarineSourcerer wrote: July 25th, 2020, 9:24 am Does the scenario drag on for too long? I'm aiming for a maximum of 20 minutes.
Seems ok to me.
OctarineSourcerer wrote: July 25th, 2020, 9:24 am Any bugs? Don't be shy here; if you think it's even just weird behaviour, feel free to raise it.
Haven't seen any.
OctarineSourcerer wrote: July 25th, 2020, 9:24 am Does the scenario seem feasible for both sides? I'd appreciate more expert opinions on this; I'm not a downright veteran of wesnoth, so while I've tried to make this possible, I don't know how much of a good balance is currently struck. Might beginners think otherwise? I'm pretty interested in this.
I am not an expert like Konrad2. I would say I am an intermediate player. And I have found this scenario really hard because of the lack of gold. IMHO, beginners won't manage. The first time I played I lost, and the second time I had to tweak luck (sometimes coming back to to the start of the turn because my unit hadn't hit) (well I suppose I didn't manage well the footpads with lawful and chaotic periods)
I think that if there were two players of the same level playing, orcs would win. If people can win here, it's because you play against the AI. Both sides have to same type of basic units, and the same gold, BUT orcs have veterans coming in waves. I'm not saying you should take off the veteran, but for the example, replace the two cavalrymen from the beginning with dragoons (lvl 2). Or make Nobbs a lvl 2.
OctarineSourcerer wrote: July 25th, 2020, 9:24 am Is there any reasonable interest in keeping Nobbs alive at all? What motives lie behind that?
Yes. He's your only infantryman, and they're strong, and he's neutral.
OctarineSourcerer wrote: July 25th, 2020, 9:24 am Does the sense of tension change with each wave? Purposefully keeping "tension" vague here
No. I have been playing wesnoth for a long time, and I got used to seeing strong units appearing from nowhere to bug you, and I just try to find a good strategy to bring them down depending on my units.
OctarineSourcerer wrote: July 25th, 2020, 9:24 am Any other considerations? eg as of 0.1.0 I'm thinking of moving the orcs' keep a little closer to reduce travel between the rest of the map and them.
Why not. It would allow to hit the leader and use Roland more easily.
I would suggest more villages. First try I didn't get them and I lost. Second try, I tried to get all the villages possible even if that sometimes meant losing a unit.
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OctarineSourcerer
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Re: Interception Scenario Testing

Post by OctarineSourcerer »

I'm so sorry for such a late reply, I've been working on the questionnaire aspect of this! The gold aspect is good to know; since the initial upload I've added a few more villages, with a lot more roads in between to make getting to them actually feasible.

The two cavalrymen have been replaced with Knights, and Nobbs has been given chaotic :)

The sense of tension thing is really useful, thank you! I'll keep that in mind; I think there's a really interesting difference between viewpoints of new players vs veterans.

Thank you so much for taking the time to preview!
OctarineSourcerer
Posts: 17
Joined: July 23rd, 2020, 12:06 pm

Re: Interception Scenario Testing

Post by OctarineSourcerer »

Konrad2 wrote: July 25th, 2020, 6:35 pm
  • Does the scenario drag on for too long? I'm aiming for a maximum of 20 minutes.
  • Any bugs? Don't be shy here; if you think it's even just weird behaviour, feel free to raise it.
  • Does the scenario seem feasible for both sides? I'd appreciate more expert opinions on this; I'm not a downright veteran of wesnoth, so while I've tried to make this possible, I don't know how much of a good balance is currently struck. Might beginners think otherwise? I'm pretty interested in this.
  • Is there any reasonable interest in keeping Nobbs alive at all? What motives lie behind that?
  • Does the sense of tension change with each wave? Purposefully keeping "tension" vague here
  • Any other considerations? eg as of 0.1.0 I'm thinking of moving the orcs' keep a little closer to reduce travel between the rest of the map and them.
I don't think so, I finished in 11 minutes.

When the narrator talks about Nobbs the second time, he does so with Nobbs name, making it look as if Nobbs is narrating himself. When Nobbs actually speaks for the first time, he does so without any name given, so you probably mixed up two lines.
The narrator says with the last wave that the enemy leader will come for me as well, but in truth said leader just stays at his keep.

He's unique, so he has value.

I don't think so, it was pretty clear to me that it is very unlikely that I'd be overrun.

Keep having fun reading about discworld.
Ah yes the narration's been fixed now, thanks! Have also made the AI change for Grem to actually come with. I can't remember if that version included the waves of units (think the last one has a slurbow in it), but that's really good to know, thank you.

Discworld's one of my favourite series in existence - always happy to read more again.

Cheers for testing!
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Yellowsilver
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Re: Interception Scenario Testing

Post by Yellowsilver »

I played it again and did the questionnaire. I think you forgot one thing: the time limit. It can bring a lot of tension. The first time I lost, I had survived without any problem to the last wave but I hadn't managed to kill the leader before the end (now it's easier because he comes and suicides himself by coming directly to me, which means I didn't even had to survive the last wave, only kill the leader).

The narrator-Nobbs dialogue problem as Konrad2 described is still here I think.
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