It's one of those games where the learning curve of the game is extremely hard on new users, too. When I started in W5, I had extreme difficulty just
remembering how things worked because of how complex they are on the surface. For example, learning unarmed and melee combat tactics is still confusing to me-- granted I haven't worked on it very much because of its overt complexity, but that's exactly the reason why new people avoid it.
With simpler systems, though, such as item production, the process is simple: crafting menu, plant and harvest, whatever. There, the complexity lies in the formulas used to calculate the quality of the item, or remembering how long it takes to bake/tan/dry/etc. In my opinion, this is a stronger design choice in the case of pulling in newbies.
But there is one "problem" with the overall design of the game, and it's that in order to "win" the game, the player will most likely have to learn how to utilize and manipulate these formulas and systems effectively in order to come out on top, or more often, survive incoming attacks from raiders, who all mostly know the tips and tricks to quick and effective leveling. In this game, survival and success don't usually show dominantly through being skilled in very active situations [probably not worded well here]. I can make 2 quick comparisons to some popular games with similar control schemes:
1. Starcraft vs. HnH: Here I feel the macromanagment skills are similar to an extent. In both games, the players must maintain an economy through the balance of workers, militia, rescources, and production (except when living as a nomad I suppose). The learning curves are generally the same; newbies in both games have a hard time learning the specifics and timings of construction, production, and expansion, and for the longest time I could say that both games were pretty much equally hard, but only until Starcraft II came out. There, they redesigned the game to be faster and easier in terms of gameplay, and in order to attract a larger audience, they made demos and noob-friendly game modes available in the game itself. Personally, I would've been stuck in the zerg rush rut if it weren't for Starcraft II's more streamlined gameplay.
Unfortunately I don't feel that those approaches to making the learning curve less ridiculously hard for newbies will work for a game like HnH. Your friends can mentor you with the controls, yes, but unless if it is at the start of a world or settlement where the pace of the game is slow enough for a noob to pick up the controls and simple mechanics, I don't see very many new people sticking around for long without getting bored
because of the complexity of the game, which cannot be easily explained at this point in the game without delaying a portion of a village's economy in a way (unless if you really have that many people around). There's just too many things to learn for a noob in an experienced group at this point, and it's gotten pretty dangerous for noob camps to sprout up and live to become brickwalled villages.
2. DoTA(s) vs. HnH: Micromanagement comparison, more specifically, controlling the player. I've introduced a few friends to this game, and a major complaint was the clunkiness of the controls. Everyone bumps into an object every once in a while because of how player pathing and hitboxes work in this game. I personally no longer have an issue with it, because, in a way, it's become an important mechanism that balances the game in combat, both when fighting animals/trolls and people[/trolls ;o]. The restrictive movement leaves the player wholly responsible for all their actions when in combat or fleeing from combat, which I think is somehow a great design choice-- but only in combat situations. My friends have gotten way too annoyed and confused that their character didn't auto-path around objects, or they've bumped into the corner of a square hitbox of a round object and couldn't seem to understand why this kept happening, etc. That's just one small turn-off for new players. There's still the issue of the complexity of the combat system, which I think Jorb/Loftar has acknowledged already in the recent past(?). And I know there's shift-clicking for movement and other various shortcuts, but the new player
is not aware of this and will not be aware of it until someone brings it up. I didn't even know about it until a few weeks ago. I'm dumb I guess.
I'm not saying HnH is a poorly
designed game. I feel that I agree with most of the posters here that HnH is a very niche game, appealing to people who enjoy investing a shit ton of time and effort into survival, and there's not many people that enjoy that. These are just specific things that I've observed and thought about while playing the game so far.
If there's any way to make the game easier for noobs to pick up on their own, or to at least make it more appealing overtly without mauling the game's core as it is right now, it'd be cool to see a few changes regarding that.
Last edited by Puppybutt on Fri May 17, 2013 9:33 pm, edited 2 times in total.
by Taxaso » Fri May 17, 2013 7:38 pm 
