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From: pem@cadnetix.UUCP (Paul Meyer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac,rec.games.misc
Subject: Review of _Quarterstaff_ (Mac game)
Message-ID: <1015@cadnetix.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 29-Oct-87 18:56:47 EST
Article-I.D.: cadnetix.1015
Posted: Thu Oct 29 18:56:47 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 7-Nov-87 00:13:22 EST
Organization: Cadnetix Corp., Boulder, CO
Lines: 73
Summary: Software should be in beta-test; game should be in playtesting
Xref: mnetor comp.sys.mac:9178 rec.games.misc:1078


[]
	I finally decided to order the game, Quarterstaff, being
advertised by Simulated Environment Systems in MacUser.  My first
impression on opening the package was elation--the documentation was
only a few pages, but implied that, as I expected from a Mac game, the
user interface was simple enough not to intrude between me and the
game world.

	Unfortunately, as soon as I started playing the disappoint-
ments started piling up.  After about an hour I reached the conclusion
that what I was using was more properly beta-test software than a
shippable product.  For example, although instructions were given in
the manual for printing out the contents of windows (including the
automatic mapping window), the actual menu item was replaced with a
disabled line.  I also got a bomb box when I tried to restart from a
save-as.  Additionally, there were several aesthetic problems: The
room descriptions had clearly not been competently proofread (I'm
sorry, religions have "prime tenets", not "prime tenants"!).  The
sounds were too limited and often inappropriate to their uses and the
use of Macintalk was too stilted and inflexible--both were distrac-
tions best turned off.  (At least this function worked--but the disk
space and processor cycles used for sound and speech could be better
applied elsewhere.  See below...)
	After about four hours of playing I discovered that the game
was seriously lacking in robustness--I had several bomb boxes from a
saved game and eventually had to start all over.  (BTW, the file
system usage is not well thought out--to save a game you give a folder
to be created; to restore you find a specific file within the folder.
You cannot double-click on a game to restart it; doing so will crash
because saved game folders do not have some of the constant files the
master folder does.)

	The game also clearly needs to be playtested by someone other
than its creators.  Some operations are incredibly clumsy--dealing
with objects inside containers cannot be done from menus (hierarchical
menus could be used to be symmetric with the menus for what is in the
room and what is on a player's person).  You cannot determine what is
in a container, even on your own person, without spending a turn
looking into it--and if you have no light you can't "look" at all, but
you can still drink from things, remove items from containers, etc.
In any case, to access something in a container you must spell out the
whole name of the object (no abbreviation, no smart parsing of noun
phrases).
	The ad and the manual make a big deal of how the creatures in
the game react to your actions via an "AI rule-based system".  As far
as I can tell, the rules consist of:
  1) If it is not in the room, ignore it (even if it's shooting at
you).
  2) If it is and it does something other than movement, attack it
until it is dead or you are.
  3) If it tries to give you something, take the thing and then attack
it.
	Come off it, folks!  When D&D dungeons work this way, people
get bored.  It's much worse when there aren't any other humans to
interact with!  The games you build with World Builder make creatures
more interesting than this, and they don't claim to be particularly
clever in implementation.

	Another major problem is playing and reaction speed, both
subjectively and objectively.  It takes a long time to do anything--it
takes three or four turns at about 30 seconds or a minute each to do
such simple things as going through a door.  Trading items within the
party has to be done from giver to receiver--otherwise it is an
attempt to steal.

	In sum, after less than a week--only about 10 hours of playing
time--I decided the game was unplayable.  I'm sending a copy of this
review to SES.  If I get a response I'll tell you folks all about it.

	(*sigh*)
-- 
pem@cadnetix.UUCP  (nbires!isis!ico!cadnetix!pem)