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Author |
File Description |
Bobby the mapmaker |
Posted on 07/13/00 @ 12:00 AM (updated 07/16/00)
File Details |
Version: |
Age of Kings 1.0 |
The objective in this map is to take care of a farm and improve it to earn money. The idea of this map is to be original so don't expect one of those RPG maps that keep you playing for over an hour or something like that. In fact, this map is so original that I won a contest for "The most original map in Age of Kings", but when they were giving me the U$S10000 prize I woke up. Download it now! |
Author | Comments & Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
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The Downward Spiral
Official Reviewer |
Posted on 09/22/00 @ 12:00 AM
First off, I have to congratulate Bobby the mapmaker for making a scenario on one of the best games ever: Sim Farm! This scenario is really good, but could use some work. But hey, what scenario couldn't?!
The scenario's Playability was average. It started out really fun. I said to myself "Wow, I just get to sit here and run a farm!" However, this got boring after a while. You start out a single male villager farming. Once I gathered about 100 food (this took a little long :-() I went to the city and exchanged the 100 food for 100 gold. I went to the slave market and bought two more villagers to work at my farm. I just kept farming and farming until I got 10,000 gold and won the scenario. It was really fun at first. But it was the same thing after a while. Just waiting :-( Yeah wolves attacked you at times, seasons changed, ect. These were all good tries, but it just got old after a while. A suggestion, perhaps let the farmer start out with a family. This would help a lot. Because you start off really slow anyways.
The Balance in Sim Farm was above average. However, it was a bit easy after a while. Once you get going all that happens is a few wolves attack you. Once you're half way through the scenario, you have about 25 easily. Perhaps you should add more things to ruin your crops as the scenario progresses. Maybe a hurricane that destroys all your farms, or a plague, ect. That would have been great.
The scenario's Creativity was Sim Farm's hot spot. How more creative can you get then make a scenario based on Sim Farm? The author was a genius to make this scenario. And the fact he attempted to implement seasons shot this score up to a five. Good job, Bobby. Although you could have been a bit more creative, you gave it a great shot. I thought you did an excellent job in this aspect.
The Map Design in Sim Farm was very pleasing. I liked the city especially. However, perhaps you could have used a bit more eye candy in the scenario. The map design was great. It wasn't perfect either, though.
The Story/Instructions of Sim Farm were nothing special. They could have been improved. One of the things I really would have liked to see was the initial farmer having a family. Maybe even family members could have names, and they could talk during the scenario. And if they died, you wouldn't be defeated, but you would be warned. Just a thought. I know this didn't happen in Sim Farm, but in a few other games where you ran a farm (like Harvest Moon), this happened. Just a suggestion. There's not much you can do with a story for Sim Farm. But if you played around a little bit, I'm sure you could have made the scenario have a story. ;-)
In conclusion, this scenario is really great. It just got a bit boring after a while. If you're a simulation game fan, you better download Sim Farm! |
Droocee |
Posted on 10/31/03 @ 12:00 AM
First of all, I don't normally make comments on games/.scn's/cpn's etc...I've downloaded so many , i lost track of who's who and whats is good or needs help. in any case i'm only putting a comment here because this is a decent attempt at a .scn - when i see someone go on and on about bugs , I want to scream! I am a Technician who trouble shoots operating sustems, printers ,all in ones, networks etc. and I know first hand that most of the bugs that people experience are their own fault for having Crap on the system or they have apps that are running or are multitasking or ANYTHING! - they think they got the big machine and they know everything....I've been a technical support Agent since 1982! and I don't know everything...my system still plays tricks on me....bottom line, make sure its a bug and not your overloaded system or your inability to run your system cleanly before you attack someones attempt to make a decent .scn.
good attempt on this one, I fixed most of the bugs, which were MY systems fault:-) |
Tanneur99
Official Reviewer |
Posted on 12/17/04 @ 12:00 AM
The scenario is a RPG, a puzzle based on the simulation game 'Sim Farm'. The events take place somewhere in France, the population is growing and due to the lack of prophylactics, the region is in an urgent need of food. You play a Sim dude, a farmer, your objective to build up your farm, employ workers, accumulate food and fight wolves.
PLAYABILITY: The scenarios beginning was fun, later it became repetitive and boring. In addition, there are bugs, and I will exceptionally spoil the pleasure Bobby had making fun out of you, because the concept failed, it was not tested. The scenarios objective, to accumulate 10'000 gold, is at the bottom of my list of "the most exciting game objectives of all times". Not in the author's intention though, but if you fall in the trap due to the bug for the alternative victory, it gets annoying. You have to sell food to get the gold, only 10 stock of food at a time, which takes exactly 10 seconds. You buy villagers and military units at a slave market, if we disregard that build up, only the final objective, clicking the market, will take 10'000 seconds that is 166.66 minutes or 2 hours and 46 minutes. No, please wait; read on, the author was pulling your leg. 'Muwhahahaha' I can still hear Bobby laughing after all these years, at the player who clicks the market for hours to achieve the final objective. Once you survive the wolves' attacks and scout, there is a game, a puzzle, you solve it, and your reward is instant victory, a shame it does not work. In addition, you can only buy one archer and the wolves, gathering outside your palisade walls instead of disappearing look odd. One play testing only and this would be a short, fun, mocking scenario with a good playability, as for now, it is well below average. 2
BALANCE: The beginning gave me two restarts of the scenario; well there were three wolves against my villager. After that, a walkthrough, too easy, you get a big army to stop the wolves' attacks and a puzzle to win, but this is 'Sim Farm', a struggle for survival was not in the intention of the author. From the review tutorial: “One important item to note about scoring the balance category for scenarios where no fighting takes place, such as cut-scene scenarios, some puzzle scenarios and some rpg style scenarios, is that just because the player cannot die in such scenarios, that doesn't mean the scenario isn't balanced. You also need to take the author's original intent into account, giving the author some benefit of the doubt. If the author never intended the player to face a struggle to survive, then there's no reason to knock down the balance score if there isn't any fighting. So keep in mind that you do need to take the intent and goals of the scenario into account when scoring the balance category, especially for those scenarios where fighting is not included.” 5
CREATIVITY: Excellent was the first application of The Sims to AoK, a day-to-day life simulation game. The game shows the hard life of a farmer, wolves' attacks, but the storms failed, as four farms and extremely fertile sheep give more food than you can click every ten seconds. I liked the good humor and the option to get a huge army. Unfortunately, the alternative victory solving a puzzle failed; was not part of my game experience. 4
MAP DESIGN: The map design shows a lack of terrain mix and blending, had unfortunately palm-trees next to pine, but was still slightly better than a random map. 4-
STORY/INSTRUCTIONS: The scenario comes with a small story, the main objective to collect 10'000 gold and two helpful hints. However, the overall quality of the instructions was below average, questionable, for which I knocked one point off. From the objectives, "if you don't find it you are an idiot!" the hints "If you lose you are stupid", the win message "...a dumb..." the loose message "...is it that you are not strong enough to pull a potato up? Loser!!!", and the history section "Once upon a time there was a farmer... blah, blah, blah.... yadda, yadda, yadda." 3
OVERALL: Could be in the best of AoK after play testing and an edit.
OBSERVATIONS: IMO, you can only take the liberty of mocking yourself, to pull the leg of the player if you meet the requirements to do so and that would be a bug free scenario. There are three things a designer needs for a perfect scenario, primarily to play test, second, to play test and last not least to play test. Quote from Bobby the mapmaker from the comment page "I didn't test it but you don't need to reach 10'000 gold."
SUGGESTIONS: Edit this scenario, to buy archers, trigger 'Buy Archer 2', effect 2, activate trigger 'Buy Archer 1' instead of trigger 'Buy Wolf 1'. Same trigger effect 3 deactivate trigger 'Buy Archer 2' instead of 'Buy Wolf 2'. To remove objects, wolves, trigger 'wolves 2', effect 0 change the set location to the left of those trees, left of that dead tree, it is the area where wolves get removed in trigger 'wolves 3'. For the game, the alternative victory, trigger 'game 1', condition 0 elongate the set location by one tile up right, condition 1 set the location south of the stone pile to the right by two tiles square, condition 2, set the location by one tile more south, behind that tree. Not an elegant fix, but it works for me. ;) The set locations for the triggers to fire are in the correct areas, but that is the theory, often if you task a unit it arrives a tile or more off the set locations, to play test is mandatory.
IN CLOSING: Without an edit, the above is not a recommendation to download, the main objective gets boring after a short time and the alternative does not work. |
HGDL v0.8.2 |
Rating |
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3.7 | Breakdown |
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Playability | 2.5 | Balance | 4.5 | Creativity | 4.5 | Map Design | 4.0 | Story/Instructions | 3.0 |
Statistics |
Downloads: | 6,617 |
Favorites: [] | 0 |
Size: | 182.20 KB |
Added: | 07/13/00 |
Updated: | 07/16/00 |
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