The simplest cartoon can be made into a help device. I'll try to demomstrate right here:

S/ = spearman
mS = scout

scene#1:
open field of grass

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
,,,S/,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,mS,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,MINE,,,,
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

S/ to mS "hey let's TAKEOVER that mine"
mS to S/ "ok I'll get NEXT TO IT first"

scene#2
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,S/,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,mSMINE,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

mS to S/ "we are lucky the mine is
UNCLAIMED with NO barbarians
S/ to mS "well you are NEXT to it so just click on it
and then click the TAKEOVER BUTTON"
mS to S/ "OK but I like the ones where we have to KILL ALL the BARBARIANS FIRST"
S/ to mS "great the mine is ours as soon as I can get NEXT to it and COMPLETE the TAKEOVER"
mS to S/ "Yes but only the COMMANDEER can REPAIR it so it will be at 100% production"

PS:
This can easily be made more appealing with a JPG paint file and maybe when I feel more ambitious I'll make more effort to improve it plus if pasting pictures of units
is allowed it can be much better but there are copywrite laws folks.
It can be done with almost any function from
building to fighting to demonstrate RPS.
Just one or too simple drawings with cloud text dialogue.

*Sorry but it has to be kept simple.
Even us oldies get tired of reading stuff with too much
detail to get through.

PPS:
Can any of you new folks understand this cartoon?

TR

Last Edited : Wednesday, 29 June 2005 - 05:22

I think you should try stand-up!

hi George
thanks for the compliment.

George has always had something good to say in support of me but just to keep it all honest, I added a little effort.
Sorry as I said before, I can't draw very well with a mouse ;
but I offer this idea for whoever wants to use it and of course do better work with computer graphics.

www.geocities.com/marsgranite/grassfielda.JPG

www.geocities.com/marsgranite/grassfieldmineb.JPG

www.geocities.com/marsgranite/grassfieldminec.JPG

www.geocities.com/marsgranite/grassfieldmined.JPG

PS:
I still don't know how to "gang-load" the files so they can all be viewed together which would be collated better and actually my original thought was to do a short animation with the movie maker which I haven't learned how to use either.
Also I'll have to add a scene to get the rest of the dialogue but I really just wanted to show the idea.

PPS:
Any better George?

TR

Last Edited : Thursday, 30 June 2005 - 03:37

This cartoon gives the impression that it takes two units to take over the mine.

Yeah i got that impression to...

Well sometimes if you want to get immediate production it does take another unit to complete doesn't it?
I'm the guy who wrote A help thread that advocates that they learn for themselves somewhat through trial and error.
If they see that the first guy only got 40%, they may be able to deduce that the means to complete the task is at hand. If they get the job done with the first guy, no harm done. All it takes is some logic and I think your logic is wrong ... sorry.

Also the spearman is intentionally left in the background to try to give the impression that the units are not exactly together and if the player does succeed to capture with the first unit the player can deduce that the spearman can swing elsewhere. Of course one little cartoon can't tell the whole story either. It's just a matter of adding another scene to demonstrate BATTLE POINT FATIGUE and So maybe l'll add another scene later, but without two units the dialogue would be reduced to thinking out loud with not enough information displayed.

It's easy enough to even change the dialogue to "No I was able to get the MINE alone So go get that pile of wood". I'll have to add a pile of wood in NEXT SCENE.
On second thought maybe I should put one of those Cs inside a circle on this.
It can go on and on like a movie.

TR

home.earthlink.net/~johnoco/HowToAttack.html

This is a little Flash animation I made to show how one attacks. I could make more of these mini-tutorials for other aspects of the game too. This was my firt attempt some months ago and I could do it more realistically in future episodes. What do you think?

I could add a reset button to play it again, too.

Mog
the effects are beautiful ... there's no question of your talent and that little scene is obviously demonstrating how to attack but where's the swinging sword?
We have to try to keep these disoriented new folks oriented with game elements that they can recognize.
Again my compliments to your KNOW HOW and the effects are beautiful but I did mine in about 5 hours
and as I said I don't KNOW HOW to use the movie maker but
I think a moving type still life animation can be done for several functions without much effort in a few hours.

If you guys are able to do quality work involving programming ... fine, but I suspect it takes hours upon hours for even minimal progress while our hungry for answers new guys keep "driving some guys up a tree" but not me because I take the shortest distance between two points to give them what they need and want and they don't want to read more than they have to read. I have a few threads with answers that I copy and paste to their thread because I get asked "how do I play" in PMs at least once a week on average.

Also before I forget, I have found recently that the manual only needs some updating and that it is really quite good when I finally realised that I was mis-reading the tech area (i.e. not paying close enough attention to headers). Yes to some detailed questions there are no detailed answers but these methods like yours Mog and I think cartoon scenes like I have demonstrated can be used to supplement the manual. That manual is an epic task and I admit I'd rather do "cartoon scenes".

PS:
I have added another "cartoon scene" in my post above to satisfy the comment made by Juxtaposer above.

TR

Last Edited : Thursday, 30 June 2005 - 04:37

Yes, TR, my animation isn't entirely accurate and it should be. I'd need to have a "screenshot battle" to cature every nuance, so maybe we can do one of those sometime.

I'll fool around a bit more with some other scenes.

Well I learned enough to apply the 4 scenes above to my movie maker, add a music intro and scene change fade aways and then view it; but I have no idea how to allow it to be viewed other than by possibly sending an e-mail attachment.
It plays as I mentioned like a timed still-life gallery but really it seems a waste of memory for unnecessary embellishment.

TR

I would like to see more screen shots with their stories told. This would set exiting examples of gameplay.

Juxtaposer,

I don't expect to be the one doing this because I'm not equipped and trained at computer artwork and I don't like taking liberties with someone elses's artwork;
but in any event although some screen shots of the actual map where players have interacted can be exciting, the device being used here for the purpose of detailed display of key information to help learn specific game concepts is to use close up scenes so that pertinent dialogue can be displayed together with specific game elements;

So that even if screen shots are used I would feel that the same type close ups are necessary to gain the same results. Again I'm just not comfortable using someone elses's artwork but also this idea has been used before elsewhere and I'm not trying to claim a first so as far as I'm, concerned anyone can use the technique using any artwork or other methods that they want to use.

If this idea is unliked by you I think that is no problem especially if you just don't like my attempt at art but I'm sure there are others who can make a more pleasing scene. As far as I'm concerned though this cartoon answers a few questions of new folks and actually only took not 5 hours but only 3 hours of my time.

TR

Last Edited : Friday, 1 July 2005 - 14:37

Nice antimation Mog.