Just Some Thoughts

[wishmaster]

Still not had time to give it a good go but thought I'd add a small list of thoughts so far:

 - It really does need a proper Close button/option, no one should have to ask how to do that!
 - When in a forest, walking through the trees is a bit weird, it's all a bit 'in your face'. Think Bill mentioned this - Possibly the camera angle? A bit big?
 - There's a 'turn' just before night that is really really dark. So much so that first time round I thought it was night. I think you need to lighten that bit somewhat, you can't see a thing!
 - I've only just realised that there is a manual save option (and load come to that) because I read through some of the other peoples comments - Apparently by pressing the space bar? How would I have known this option existed?
 - The option to start the game with a previously started scenario(?)/Game should be on the start screen, not by starting a new game then reverting.
 - I think you need either an On-screen/In-Game guide or a PDF guide/manual provided with the game. Possibly an on-line wiki?
 - I noticed that Bill said about the desktop icon. The alpha version game, which I believe came with an installer, used the box art for the icon - I thought that was pretty good.

All of the above are just some basic observations. The work you two have done here is incredible.

On the M/MU site you asked about 'getting the word out there'. How about contacting Retro Gamer? They've given a fair amount of coverage to Chris Wild's version and LoM in general in the past. There are many game review sites, contact them with links to the site. Social Media may not be to everyone's liking but it works! Create a Facebook page for the War of the Solstice, get everyone you know to like it, mention it on there Facebook status, share it, whatever. I don't use Twitter but lots do, get them to get it out there.

However, I think I'd agree with Bill's suggestion, get the above and other 'nasties' sorted quick and before you let 'Joe Public' loose on it, else you could be feeding yourself to the wolves. Social media and hardened game reviers alike, take no prisoners!

Finally, well, for now(!) - Keep up the fantastic work!
Hope some of this helps.

Kev

[BillH]

Just a couple of notes on that:

The elevation of your viewpoint can be lowered by the "-" key on the numeric pad, so you can look through the forest under the canopy as you would normally.  It's just the initial elevation that is too high.

As for the desktop icon, the original box art would be a dubious choice as the copyright ownership is unclear.  I'd stay clear of anything that isn't either original artwork created for WOTS or else expressly licensed from the copyright owner.

[wishmaster]

Given that Andrew has used tbe box art for the start screen with no problems, I assume all all checked and verified through Chris W, etc, I see now problem for the icon.

Thanks for the tip re camera angle.... Definitely need a manual!

[BillH]

Not sure that Chris owns or controls the copyright to the box art Kevin.  I'm pretty sure that wasn't Mike's work so the copyright would have presumably reverted to the artist or remained with Beyond (or whoever still holds what's left of their intellectual property rights) - the latter is what Wikipedia suggests regarding the cover image.

I'm not saying using the box image will cause problems, but it could given the ownership status of those images is unknown.

[FrozenEmpire]

Thanks Kevin,
Appreciate your time to report your findings and advice.
To be honest I could have done with another few months to top and tail some of these points, however I felt very strongly that it needed to go live and after all what's the point of having a version 1.x.x.x if you are not going to use the other sets of digits for bug fixing
All the feedback that is coming through is valuable and will be addressed in some kind of orderly manner.

[FrozenEmpire]

Given that Andrew has used tbe box art for the start screen with no problems, I assume all all checked and verified through Chris W

Checked and verified might be stretching it a little, but I've had no feedback until now to suggest that it would be an issue.

[FrozenEmpire]

All above points have been addressed in 1.0.2.4

[MarkAbbott]

Hello, is anyone else having problems downloading the latest patch? My virus checker seems over eager and blocks it!!

[FrozenEmpire]

Yes my virus checker also throws a warning, however I can assure you that the installer is virus free and can be safely allowed to run.

You may have noticed that I released a 1.0.2.6 patch this evening. This is to fix some graphical glitches that seem to have crept in with the 1.0.2.5 patch. Therefore please take this latest patch instead. I've distributed this one as a zip file, but you may still get a warning when running the executable...

I'm doing a little research on how to prevent his happening!