So… I am trying out “Heroic” by CalicoJack at the moment (it’s the only thing available at the moment) to get a feel of how StoryNexus work (and to have some fun).
I am not sure what to say about the writing.
I do have some problems with it - the meance rise (feel) too fast and the anti-meance cards (feel) too weak, even when I expand resources for it. Particularly grating is the Rubbing People The Wrong Way card - I can understand taking a bullet again and again for a child, but why am I compelled to goad them?
Too many cards give a bad rate of exchange between items, and since you can’t discard cards it get a bit annoying. So I use 10 Clues for a challenge to get 2 Favours, and then another card pops out forcing me to use 6 Favours to get 4 Clues.
Small things: The “The Golem Has A Hostage” Card, “Make your Escape” option’s icon is broken. Apparently it is supposed to be Cloud.png, but it end up linking to Cloud…png.
[color=#009900]With such an unfinished piece of work, I wouldn’t worry overly about the way menaces feel just now. The balance is bound to shift.[/color]
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[color=#009900]I like the pinned-card approach to character generation… I don’t know if you’ll need to lock off later content until these are complete.[/color]
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[color=#009900]The world background is basically unsketched at the moment. I’m not sure if this is intentional, a product of its unfinished nature, or accidental. It’s only a problem if it’s the third. :-)[/color]
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[color=#009900]The style is economical and coherent - a good idiom for an SN game.[/color]
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[color=#009900]Important - remember that you generally want one branch on an opportunity card that everyone can play, because SN cards can’t be discarded. Otherwise, it might clog up their hand.[/color]
My only complaints are that your ally doesn’t seem to be recorded anywhere in your stats. That and your given no idea as to how to progress the story. I had to figure out the specific way to stop the robbery for my character type. I hint, hint, nudge, nudge approach would be much appreciated. I like everything else about the game.
I’m going to take all this on board guys, Menace rising/falling and item economy are the factors I’ve been tinkering with the most so far and they’re a long way from perfect. It only recently struck me that some cards need a discard option.
A lot of things aren’t implemented yet, for example, uses for your Allies, menace areas and the Obsession storylines. Today I plan to add in discard options for other cards that need them, tinker with Menaces and make some higher tier challenge cards into the game, but Obsession storylines are still in the planning/testing stage and will take longer to bring online.
Allies were a bit of a headache, I learnt my lesson about making content live before testing it out with that.
I’ve had a look at Heroic and I must say that I’m very impressed. There’s a lot of good stuff there in a very short time. The writing is frugal and clear, perfect for a superheroes game. And I like the show-not-tell approach to the world background.
I would offer some advice, though. The first is, as mentioned by Alexis, that you need to have a branch on each Sometimes card (Sometimes/Always are currently labelled as Opportunity/Pinned, but that’s likely to change) that can always be played. It’s a good habit to give the first branch of each Sometimes storylet no requirements, so you know you have that covered. One storylet that needs this - where I got stuck - was Talk to a Scientist.
The second thing is that I think you could use a little more player agency. At the moment, the game plays a bit like you’re the Fox’s sidekick rather than the hero. You might be planning something dramatic (‘The Fox has disappeared!’) but otherwise I’d suggest you tone down the ‘you wouldn’t stand a chance if the Fox wasn’t holding back’ stuff. The story is and has to be about the player’s character.
I also think that you could use some goals straight away. Always cards that need X clues or Favours from the Law or something, that players could work towards completing early on. Otherwise the early game does seem a little aimless.
Those are the bigger issues I saw. I’ve got a few more specific/technical things:
You probably want to use ‘set to’ rather than ‘change by’ on laterals like the Power Source quality. You’ll get more sensible change messages that way.
On ‘the fox is reading a map’ - I spotted a typo. ‘pore through the information’ rather than ‘pour through’.
But let me say again that this is really good stuff. I like the spare writing style especially.
[color=#6633ff]Nige was saying it should be pore, rather than the ‘pour’ that was in there. [/color]
[color=#6633ff]Through doesn’t really work with pore, anyway. It should be pore over, or maybe paw through?[/color] edited by Emily St Aubert on 8/2/2012
Gladly. For background I chose Child of Wonder. Being a prodigy seemed more fun than being a hero because the Fox knew my parents, or because something awful happened to me in the past. The other 2 could be interesting, but it’s not my play style.
I also chose Unearthly Child as my power source. Mainly because my only other options were gadgeter or batman. Also, Unearthly Child helps explain why I am a Child of Wonder.
So far I’ve gotten the hardened skin and can’t wait to fight the Golem. I’m enjoying the writing and think keeping the focus on 3 stats and 4 forms of currency is working well. I was also going to work on a superhero game so this is especially fun for me.
Gladly. For background I chose Child of Wonder. Being a prodigy seemed more fun than being a hero because the Fox knew my parents, or because something awful happened to me in the past. The other 2 could be interesting, but it’s not my play style.
I also chose Unearthly Child as my power source. Mainly because my only other options were gadgeter or batman. Also, Unearthly Child helps explain why I am a Child of Wonder.
So far I’ve gotten the hardened skin and can’t wait to fight the Golem. I’m enjoying the writing and think keeping the focus on 3 stats and 4 forms of currency is working well. I was also going to work on a superhero game so this is especially fun for me.[/quote]
I did try to write the character creation choices so that any combination would make logical sense, and I’m glad you thought Wonder/UC were a good mix.
I’m looking forward to seeing how your superhero game pans out.
A nice game, but you need to make it possible to at least discard the cards you can’t use anymore.
I personally have the ‘Stop a mugging’ opportunity, but I can’t get rid of it; seeing as my Brawn is above 10.
Also, what does ‘An enemy of the Golem’ do?
So far, it does nothing. Eventually, it’ll force you into a more drawn out battle with The Golem & Golem related opp cards. And the only thing I can do to let you get rid of that card is remove the restriction, unfortunately. I’ll go through and do that ASAP.
I chose Child of Circumstance and Wunderkind. I really hate the idea of legacy and powers-by-birth, by not having any control over your actual life and being defined at the very beginning of your existence. Child of Circumstance was the closest I got to avoiding that. I chose Wunderkind because I love science. : ) Unearthly Child also sounds interesting, though.
Edit: For Obsession, I chose the conspiracy option. I love political intrigue, and I believe that overthrowing a corrupt system of power would do more good than tracking down a single murderer.
I do echo the sentiment about the economy being confusing – perhaps you should try to map out a “base value” of everything in your head, sort of like pence value in FL, even if it isn’t used for anything, just to get a grasp of the exchange rate.
Some warning about what storylets will cost you would also be nice. For example, I did not know that using the pinned card based on “Making a Name For Yourself” would remove the quality, and was rather disappointed to find out. The menace reduction storylets are also a problem. Clearly communicating how much you’ll be trading in and for what is something you should strive for – like how, in FL, there’s often help text like “this will exchange x item for y stuff”.
The early game is rather repetitive, it seems like, but that’s probably a side-effect of development just beginning. I’ll be interested in seeing where this goes. edited by Little The on 7/30/2012
I think I found a bug. I did a Pinned card, “the Fox Wants to Speak to You”. But each time I do it, it comes back–right back, even if I do nothing else in the meantime. (I have two other Pinned cards, both different).
That card will stay there as long as you have the Making A Name For Yourself quality at at least 1, though I’m going to change that to an opp card as it really ties down what I can do with MANFY, something I didn’t consider when I made it.
[quote=Byron Man]So… I am trying out “Heroic” by CalicoJack at the moment (it’s the only thing available at the moment) to get a feel of how StoryNexus work (and to have some fun).
Here’s another issue. I got another “Machine Parts” raising that quality to 2. However, the “Machine Parts” opportunities that opened with Machine Parts 1 are now locked. There was no hint on the cards that this would be the case, and no real story reason (why should a “security card”–a Machine Parts 1 opportunity–suddenly be ineffective once you have Machine Parts 2?)
Sure. I chose “Child of Circumstance” (because that’s the story of my life, really!), Power Source-Gear and Gumption (ditto) and Obsession–A Challenge!.
[quote=Catherine Raymond][quote=Byron Man]So… I am trying out “Heroic” by CalicoJack at the moment (it’s the only thing available at the moment) to get a feel of how StoryNexus work (and to have some fun).
Here’s another issue. I got another “Machine Parts” raising that quality to 2. However, the “Machine Parts” opportunities that opened with Machine Parts 1 are now locked. There was no hint on the cards that this would be the case, and no real story reason (why should a “security card”–a Machine Parts 1 opportunity–suddenly be ineffective once you have Machine Parts 2?)[/quote]
The “Security Card” branch is only playable if you have at least 1 Rubbing People The Wrong Way, likewise the “Medical Researcher” branch is only playable if you have at least 1 Wounded! I can’t see anything wrong with the card on my end, so that’s probably the cause.
I chose child of circumstance and gear & gumption. So what if I’m just Batman? I’m always batman in hero games. I was going to name my guy Batman but that seemed a step to far.