Skyward Collapse Official Trailer

[Bluddy]

I completely second Castruccio's comment on the font.

We've been conditioned to have different fonts conjure up different emotions and thoughts. For a game based on a comic book, or one supposed to evoke feelings of comic books, I'd expect to see the font from Nick's comics (comic book font is instantly recognizable). Casino Hand belongs to a category of fonts that evokes feelings of whimsy or childishness. Any games that involve children heavily or take place in a dream world could get away with using these fonts. Using the 'wrong' font for a particular game can contribute to making that game seem amateurish in the eyes of players. While not a huge deal in and of itself, it's part of an ongoing image that the players develop as they play the game. Using a childish font in a serious game may damage the image of a game more than using a 'serious' font in a childish game, since we're used to seeing 'serious' fonts everywhere. This is part of the reason why using whimsical fonts is more risky -- since we're unused to seeing them, they stand out more.

I would say that the Casino Hand font was probably too whimsical for Valley 2, giving the game an unneeded lightness. However, there was also a tonal mismatch between the strategic and the platforming parts of the game: while the overworld showed a desperate struggle for survival against a fearsome, raging foe, the platforming sections featured some very ridiculous-looking creatures (in particular I'm thinking of the sideways-walking crabs, but other examples exist). The game font therefore seemed more in sync with the tone of the platforming sections.

I haven't played Skyward Collapse, but from the video, it seems like Casino Hand is possibly too whimsical for the tone of the game, unless it IS supposed to be quite whimsical. I'm also not sure about the choice of the comic book font unless you'd want the game to feel like a comic book. When you play a game, you dive into its world and generally take it and its rules seriously, even if the world is mostly silly. Silly fonts serve as a constant hint to the player that he is inhabiting a silly world, and IMO serve to break immersion.

[Pepisolo]

How about getting the community to help with this (at least for future games). Select 5 of your most preferred fonts, create a poll, and let the best font win.

[PokerChen]

For me, the game is very whimsical/comical - how else do people justify brinksmanship on the island?

[x4000]

@Bluddy: I chose the whimsical nature of the font with a lot of care.  Blargh, I had a way longer response written out explaining this in like four paragraphs, but my browser ate it.  Grr.  The short of it was that if you approach it like a traditional strategy game where you try to "control the board," you're going to be constantly frustrated.  Dwarf Fortress is an apt comparison to some degree, where you're going with the flow and seeing the hilarious tragedy of the people you oversee.  Making the best of various bad situations, with the results varying by both your skill and the impossibility of the cards you're sometimes dealt.

@Pepisolo: That's actually a very good idea.  We did something similar for AI War 4.0 IIRC, and that had good results.  Prior to that I'd just been using Arial in that game (talk about low rent).  I'm not sure why I stopped doing that, but we should again in the future.  We actually solicited players to pick their own fonts to suggest to us for AI War 4.0 as well, and that was also helpful.  Part of the problem is that there are thousands of fonts to go through, all with pros and cons, and that takes freaking forever.  And then inevitably someone still hates it in the end, no matter what we do, heh.

[Pepisolo]

That's actually a very good idea.  We did something similar for AI War 4.0 IIRC, and that had good results.  Prior to that I'd just been using Arial in that game (talk about low rent).  I'm not sure why I stopped doing that, but we should again in the future.  We actually solicited players to pick their own fonts to suggest to us for AI War 4.0 as well, and that was also helpful.  Part of the problem is that there are thousands of fonts to go through, all with pros and cons, and that takes freaking forever.  And then inevitably someone still hates it in the end, no matter what we do, heh.

Cool. Seems like it would be useful to me, and a little bit of community fun. Shame we didn't get that for SC, oh well, maybe next time. Plus, if people don't like the font after that you can just blame us forumers!

[Castruccio]

AI War has perfectly fitting fonts in my opinion, so the vote must have worked well.

[nas1m]

Watching the trailer it looks like there is a possibility to repeat the currently selected action without selecting it again from the menu (see the scene in which tiles are smited repeatedly). Is there? I am not aware of a way to do this  ...

[Mick]

Watching the trailer it looks like there is a possibility to repeat the currently selected action without selecting it again from the menu (see the scene in which tiles are smited repeatedly). Is there? I am not aware of a way to do this  ...

Hold shift

[nas1m]

I feel so dumb right now  ...
Thanks Mick!

[Pepisolo]

Wasn't aware of that either. Does it tell you in-game about this facility?

[x4000]

It does not, no... but that's pretty much the same as in every RTS game ever, right?

It is in the control settings, too, but that's a bit more obscure.

[Pepisolo]

It does not, no... but that's pretty much the same as in every RTS game ever, right?

I really haven't the authority to say. Most of my strategy gaming was done in the days of Powermonger, Mega-Lo-Mania, and Populous. I can't quite remember back that far. If it's as standard and ubiquitous as you say then maybe it doesn't need any explaining. Hey, I don't think that a line in the tutorial would really bloat things, though.

[x4000]

Yep, it's true about the tutorial bit... but people won't remember it if it's not relevant at the time.  I'm not sure where to sneak that in.

[Pepisolo]

Whatever you see fit. I didn't really know about it because apart from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, I've hardly played any strategy games in recent times. I guess this game is not really aimed at me, though.

[Cinth]

Wasn't aware of that either. Does it tell you in-game about this facility?

I didn't and I even mantised that it needed to be added.  Kind of funny looking back on it now