Kaiju-A-GoGo

[kasnavada]

Yes, never underestimate how dumb anyone (even you and me) can be.

I mean ask anyone in tech support for funny (or hand banging) examples. And yes even something really really, really, really obvious needs to be explained. Like "gold is used to buy stuff". It sounds dumb, but really, it's not. A good dev and a good design both take this into consideration when making a game. Kerberos never did unless the players complained first though. Unless, of course, the point of the game itself is to understand its mechanics. But it's kind of rare.

Also, "obvious" is kind of relative. My first kid will soon reach 3 years old. Somehow he made me realise how what is supposed to be "obvious" is really the result of years of learning...

[WingedKagouti]

Also, "obvious" is kind of relative. My first kid will soon reach 3 years old. Somehow he made me realise how what is supposed to be "obvious" is really the result of years of learning...

Including stuff like "Fire=bad" and "Pulling a cat's tail = claws to the hand".

[Draco18s]

Kerberos never did

And they just hit my "never buy from, ever" list.  TY
They're the second company to, the other one being Kalypso.  They had to work harder.

[screamingpalm]

And this is where it fails the "Mom Test."  That is: give it to your mom and see if she can figure out how to play without any instruction.

Is there a Dad test? I mean that doesn't sound like a misogynistic charicature at all lol.

Also, "obvious" is kind of relative. My first kid will soon reach 3 years old. Somehow he made me realise how what is supposed to be "obvious" is really the result of years of learning...

Not sure that three years old is the target audience here...

Wow this thread turned out terrible. :/

[kasnavada]

<off-topic that no one cares about>
Well, mine would love to see kaiju destroying giant buildings, while dad's playing.



Which is actually the very reason why I would not let him see that game. I already stopped showing him Marvel Heroes because of all the explosions around making him laugh.
</off-topic that no one cares about>

I was just pointing out that nothing is obvious to everyone, even if "most" obvious things are obvious to most people.

[screamingpalm]

Obviously.

All I'm saying, is that it doesn't necessarily mean it's good design just because a game is developed so that a three year old can understand it. Sometimes my kids' games are well designed, other times not. I do know that if my favorite devs started treating me like I am three years old, I would probably find that insulting and stop playing their games.

[kasnavada]

I don't think I said that either . Sorry if it seems I implied it.

I just said it's good design to point players toward playing your games well, and explain how the core mechanics of the game work, unless the point of the game is to discover how it works. And that it's bad design to assume that something is obvious.

[Draco18s]

And this is where it fails the "Mom Test."  That is: give it to your mom and see if she can figure out how to play without any instruction.

Is there a Dad test? I mean that doesn't sound like a misogynistic charicature at all lol.

Its the same thing.  I just heard about it first as the Mom Test, but the idea is to give it to someone who knows nothing and see what they do.

[screamingpalm]

Its the same thing.  I just heard about it first as the Mom Test, but the idea is to give it to someone who knows nothing and see what they do.

I understand that, and I know you didn't come up with the term, I just find that sort of stereotype to be annoying. I think someone at Blizzard said that they make games for grandma to play or something idiotic like that. Thing is, I hate their games and find they lack enough depth or complexity to hold my attention. But like I said earlier, this gets into subjective opinions, and there is no sense in debating it.