AskHN: Feedback for online game: "Squad Leader" by Avalon Hill.

http://ec2-67-202-32-1.compute-1.amazonaws.com/sl/

by robertmrangel • 17 years ago

14 20 17 years ago

ec2-67-202-32-1.compute-1.amazonaws.com

I am making an online game based on Squad Leader. Has anyone heard of Avalon Hill's Squad Leader? I'm making an online game in facebook that will work like the demo:

http://ec2-67-202-32-1.compute-1.amazonaws.com/sl/

Feedback, please.

axod• 17 years ago

Lots of 'alert()' popups when I click on things eg "null:6:4"

Don't understand what I should be doing...

Looks like a good start though :)

ars• 17 years ago

I don't think you are ready for this game to be reviewed. Mainly because I could not make the game do anything except tell me NULL:2:2 in an alert popup.

endtime• 17 years ago

I did even better - "NULL:NaN:NaN"

I'd be more than happy to review your game, but in addition to debugging, please include instructions!

robertmrangel3• 17 years ago

The alert messages have been removed and instructions added. It's not a full fledged game, only a demonstration of UI ideas to solicit feedback. Should have been more clear about that.

chris11• 17 years ago

I really like the game design. It is simple and really fits a board game.

That said I don't know what I'm supposed to do. And I only got pieces to move once. Now I only get error messages.

dreur• 17 years ago

Could fire once but now only error messages ... and one squad went under another.

Will be looking to play again when fixed.

pbhj• 17 years ago

Worked for me after an intial NULL:2:2 error.

Some instructions (there's plenty of chrome on the RHS to put them in) would be handy. The game would be improved immensely by having some sound effects too. The objective wasn't at all clear nor how to improve the chances of defeating the opponent - I did notice a "woods modifier" mentioned on one turn.

I'd do single left-click to select the troops, have a cursor move then with the mouse movement highlighting the cell that is active, then single left-click to reposition them or to fire. That would remove the need to click a button to end your turn at the possible expense of people making a mistake occassionally (though I couldn't move troops back once I'd moved them anyway).

That said, I don't really care for games like this.

HTH

pbhj

VinzO• 17 years ago

For someone like me that has never played this kind of game, I have no clue what to do. I don't even know which color is my team. The only thing I can get is NULL messages. I clicked a lot of times on "I am done" to see what happens, nothing moved and then game was over. I expected maybe my ennemy to do some movements. You should really include some help or instructions at start. At this point people will try just a few minutes and won't come back to your game again.

ojbyrne• 17 years ago

Loved the original. Fix the bugs. A. the null messages. B. What happens when you move into the same square.

reticular• 17 years ago

Where's Sgt. Kelso and my LMGs? I really like the concept and flow of game play. I played this for many hours as a kid. Nicely done.

philh• 17 years ago

Ideally, the game board should be small enough that you can see everything without having to scroll. That probably isn't possible in this case without sacrificing too much clarity, but reducing it would be worthwhile.

Have you tried putting the board on its side? It looks like if you did that and put the sidebar on top, it would fit (maybe with a little shrinking) in a horizontal browser window 1000px across, and players wouldn't need as much vertical space.

adsyoung• 17 years ago

I was more of a panzer general fan. Is that all there was to squad leader's gameplay? I just moved them into cover and then fired back and forth turn after turn hoping for a hit which very rarely came.

robertmrangel3• 17 years ago

First of all there are no leaders, no machine guns, no morale checks or broken units. Once those are added you can call it Squad Leader.

In the original rules, it is very rare that you get a KIA when firing. It's more likely that you'll get a "Morale Check" where you roll the die against the unit's morale number. If you have an unfortunate morale check roll, then your units are "broken" and are required to run for cover away from enemy units. Leaders stacked with units help with the morale checks, and can "rally" troops to get them unbroken.

Machine guns are used to create devastating fire lanes with their long range and penetration effects.

That's just the introductory rules. Successive modules added such things as panzerfausts, smoke, tanks, americans, minefields.... until we have "Advanced Squad Leader" which is an incredibly detailed and complex game system.

mynameishere• 17 years ago

Got the NULL:1:2 errors in ff. IE7 wouldn't load up the map.

mroman• 17 years ago

I love the concept, I played Squad Leader a few times and enjoyed it quite a bit. I think that PanzerBlitz would also be great to see online like this. Too bad I don't have enough time to check it out today.

blogimus• 17 years ago

Is Squad Leader still copyrighted by Avalon Hill or someone else now? Or has it been put into the public domain?

blue1• 17 years ago

The original squad leader is long out of print. I suspect Hasbro owns the rights to it, since they acquired AH. Advanced Squad Leader instead is alive and well, being republished and expanded by MultiManPublishing. http://www.multimanpublishing.com/ASL/asl.php

e1ven• 17 years ago

Robert, I'm very interested in how you got the rights to do this game. I don't see any contact information in your account here.

Can you please contact me- cdavis@darkenedsky.com?

robertmrangel3• 17 years ago

Thanks for the input. I got rid of the javascript alert(NULL:2:2) and added simple instructions to the left panel.

I should have been more specific in the title: This is only a demonstration of the UI I am building and wanted feedback on the general concept.

thejash• 17 years ago

I've always loved these games. You have a nice start and I'd love to see more. Email me if you feel like it, maybe I can help somehow (I'm pretty busy with work though, so no promises)

AskHN: Feedback for online game: "Squad Leader" by Avalon Hill.

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