Need opinion on how to help people understand :)

Hey guys/gals, one weekend a couple of weeks ago i got bored and decided to make a little flash game. Which i havent done for quite sometime. Now its a Norts and Cross's clone of some sort except i decided to add a couple of things in, like pickups and traps under tiles. Now the game works but the problem i am having is people dont seem to understand how it work's :) its not that complex of a game but i understand why people think its hard to understand. Now i have instructions that describe how to play and i think they are pretty straight forward. But when it comes to playing thats when confusion steps in. Now my question is how would you change the gameplay so that taking turns and pickups make sense?

Here is the title of the game
http://www.freshvision.com.au/projects/game/title.jpg
And here is the link

BOMB - tic tac toe

Any other comments welcome. Thanks

PS: Dont worry about the high submit score thingy yet its not linked to the high score table yet :)

I played it and seemed to understand it.

The only thing I would make clearer is showing things being used on the side(how the bomb used say in 2-3 turns, whatever it was). Example, you could animate the bomb/marker moving on to the bord, and the bomb/markers, moving into position in the waiting line.


That took me a game or two to understand.

Edit: Cool game.

Thanks for the reply UnknownGuy, yeah I see what you mean. The moves list sort of updates instantly and the user doesn't notice what the next moves are. I'll defiantly make that change to the game. Thanks.

Any other comments. I personally think it needs a few more sounds for pickups and stuff, and also some bg music.

I've always found a baseball bat tends to help..........

Seriously though, just having a quick animated explaination of the abilities of the bombs, etc, would be enought for most people to grasp it quickly. People always grasp pictures better than words.

Maybe even, instead of just having the letters on the bombs, somehow make the bomb itself clearly show it's effect somehow.

Hmm i do have a baseball bat at my disposal, that may come in handy :D

Yeah i know what you mean by showing in game how a bomb will effect the board. And i think i know what to do. Thanks for the advice DominumBelli.

Add some text on the left side saying something like "This turn" and "next turn" to show what the things on the left mean.
I didn't read the instructions and picked it up in about 3 games but I know a lot of stupid people who would never learn.

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Originally Posted by 691175002

Add some text on the left side saying something like "This turn" and "next turn" to show what the things on the left mean.
I didn't read the instructions and picked it up in about 3 games but I know a lot of stupid people who would never learn.

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Thanks for the recomendations mate.

Yep, I'm clearly stupid... I don't get it.

I thought it was very straight forward.. i didnt even read the instructions. Did find those arrows a little annoying though.. like if they push your marker out of the way even just once, you have basicly lost unless its right at the start of the game.

Ali

[EDIT]
27275 wooo :) can't remember how many rounds that was :p. i actually really like it.. the random lose factor makes it more fun. One thing i would suggest is maybe have a more clear description of what each bomb does on the bombs (or maybe just a little icon of each at the bottom of the screen with what they do written next to them). That would mean you could just quickly check what the bomb does before you use it. i didnt have a problem working out what they did, but it could get confusing.

routine404 = not stupid :D

Thanks for the reply alillm, i have a few things to add in this week. That will hopefully add better flow to the game, and help people understand their moves a lot better. I'll try have the completed version posted sometime this week.

Thanks again to everyone else for the replys and comments. Helps heaps.

It was frustrating for me :)

Looks like I'm dumb, man.

I understood the arrows that moves my coins and a bombs that i can pickup, I understand also the meaning of each bomb, but the most frustrating thing for me was that i cannot use the bomb I've picked :(

It was hard for me to understand that the bombs and coins i'm going to place in order of the appearence :)

I encourage you to show the one will be placed next begger or blinked on the screen.

You need highlighting to indicate turns, and to indicate that you are going to place a certain object. That's it!

Yeah think the screen update in split second, that's why I think people find it hard to follow there moves. Been pretty busy with work atm but will have it fixed by next weekend hopefully. Ill post it again then for more criticism

Double post :S

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hooligan2001

Yeah think the screen update in split second, that's why I think people find it hard to follow there moves.

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Ah yes... create a "pace".