Bug#774361: how to play?

[Tomas Pospisek]

Hello Markus,

On Sat, 3 Jan 2015, Markus Koschany wrote:

> Hi Tomas,
>
> On 03.01.2015 14:22, Tomas Pospisek wrote:
>> tags 774361 - moreinfo + patch
>> severity 774361 wishlist
>>
>> thanks
>>
>> Hello in the new year Markus,
>>
>> I've should have also read the accompanying "README.lgeneral.gz", then I
>> would have known. However I suggest to make it easier to users to "just
>> play".
>
> I have just improved README.Debian. You can find the new version at
>
> http://anonscm.debian.org/cgit/pkg-games/lgeneral.git/tree/debian/README.Debian
>
> I hope this new version incorporates your suggestions and makes it now
> generally intelligible how to start and play a game.

Please do mention the "README.lgeneral.gz" file as that has a description 
of the controls. To illustrate this point: when I select the first 
available campaign - Albania - there is no field I can click on where I 
could /do/ something. Some of the fields display some additional data, 
since they contain some infrastructure, but no action is available. So 
giving the user quick access to how he's supposed to play the game would 
make the package much more "user friendly".

>> Imagine the following situation:
>>
>> It's christmas holidays and I'm bored. I fire up aptitude and install
>> some games at random. Then I start them from the "Applications" menu.
>>
>> Once the game is started I think the user will intuitively start
>> clicking around, not least around the menu. But unless he first selects
>> a scenario *and then also a campaign*, he will not be able to play.
>
> This is not correct. You can play the game by selecting a single
> scenario. A campaign is merely a sequence of scenarios accompanied by a
> short briefing screen. A campaign is not mandatory to play the game.

You're right.

>> I think ideally the game should give the users a hint what to do next.
>>
>> So upon loading the scenario, the text that is displayed should tell the
>> user "and now select a campaign from the menu".
>>
>> But all of this is material for upstream.
>
> I agree that the game could be a lot more user friendly. However one
> must understand what LGeneral always was, a game engine without free
> data. I believe this is already well explained in README.lgeneral but I
> did emphasize this in README.Debian too. For playing the original,
> non-free, Panzer General campaign, the user has to take additional steps.

Sure. However the point I was trying to make above in the "imagine the 
following situation" is that the Debian user that is starting the game 
might do so, just because he wants to play some game and installed yours 
because it's installable and not because he's coming from or has knowledge 
of the original game.

I understand what you are saying, but it might not describe the situation 
of the person running your game.

>> What the Debian package could do is to make it easier for the Debian
>> user. I think an "advanced" user will at least have a look at the
>> README.Debian, and that's where you could give him/her the necessary
>> hint. The same hint should also go into the manpage IMHO...
>
> The Debian package already goes far beyond what upstream provides. You
> can install lgeneral and you will also get additional free WWI scenarios
> + a very convenient way to install the original PG campaign by using
> game-data-packager.
>
> 	game-data-packager lgeneral -w
>
> I think the man page is fine because lgeneral really is only the engine.

Again, as a user, I very like might not know that. I install the package, 
then type lgeneral on the command line. "The game starts". And now what? 
So I either search for a README or I type "man lgeneral". And that should 
give me the info that's necessary. According to Unix tradition all 
necessary should be contained in the man page.

> I think a pop-up warning would be nice, if you click on the PG campaign
> but didn't install the data prior to that. This is something for
> upstream and I gladly forward patches to him.
>
> If there are no further objections, I will fix this issue with the next
> scheduled upload of LGeneral.

Thanks for the changes you did. Please - if I may ask - consider the 
arguments I brought up above.

Danke!
*t