My Review of MULE 2

[sjleader]

First a big thank you to those that spend alot of time bringing us this game.  We appreciate it!

We will start with the negatives:

1. Graphics
Mule is simple. Its not about how pretty it looks.  Its a game of strategy really.  I think its pretty, but honestly the new interface is distracting- the vital information is not easily seen and digested- Examples of this:
1. Order of players
2. How much of what everyone has, and needs.

2. Land Grab
Yikes, I really hate the cursor jumping back and forth, its distracting and makes no sense. Is this a bug?

3. The 3d auction.
VERY hard to see minor movements or where you stand.  Again, the original is simple and makes it easy. I also do not like how your position changes on the board.  Just another visual cue to pay attention to, instead of thinking about strategy.   Instead of simply looking to see where everyone is, you have to look below at the money to see where they are actually standing.

Also, and this is MAJOR.  YOU CANT SEE other items during an auction. So, if you are on ORE, you cant see how much food you have or energy. This is BAD.  If you forgot, or missed it, you wont know how much to budget ect.

Finally, the time to declare buy or sell is REALLY fast. When its counting 3-2-1 you cant move your guy.  I think you should have until the last second to switch.

4. Turns.
On the one hand, the game goes faster with people going all at once. However, this REALLY changes the strategy.  Not knowing what people are doing during the turn.  If colony is short on food, and everyone does food, you may chose to do ore, or energy etc.  Now there is no benefit to what order you go in as well... For example, if you want to spike ore, and you get to kill the mules so other players do not get to go... Thats strategy.  What if there is only one mule left? Who gets it, whovever is first?  This adds an Arcade element that I for one, do not like at all.

5. Five players.  Oy, waiting for 4 was a bitch sometimes.

6. MULE corral.  20+ Mules?? You can never spike ore, which, was a big part of strategy.

7. Land Bidding is in multiples of 10.  I think sometimes $1 makes a difference.

8. Selling out. I was not able to sell my food to 0. It made me keep one.   Why cant I sell out of something if I want?



Positives:

Race-
I like how picking a race gives you a bonus, this is a nice touch to explore.

Map-
I love a bigger map.

Production-
FAST. Thank you.



Overall-
Kind of disappointed. I don't fear change or anything-- Just feel that MULE was a great addictive strategy game that didn't rely on graphics, or arcade elements to play.  Information was easily seen and used.  It is brilliant in its simplicity.  While I dig the new look and idea to make it grow and change...I cant help but think of Chess or Backgammon, or poker.  Its simple, you don't need the bells and whistles for the game to be fun and challenging.

[Acavia]

I agree with all the above, except I kind of like the land grab - just take a couple of games to get used to it, and it will lead to some plot misses from time to time I suppose.

[Death_Mule17]

Sj covered almost everything! One more thing to add is the map is even larger than the borders, making things a li'le distracting. Making the white border stretch out to fit the screen would help alot. The moving water is also distracting when you got other players assaying,placing mules and the wampus is going off. Oh and one more thing :the store is not as easy to jump in and out of, the river seems spread far and really slows you down(leggite would be good here maybe). Please people give mule 2 a chance!! Planetmule back in dec '09 was flawed all over the place, it took at least 10patches over the yrs to get planetmule just right to where everyone is happy. Mule 2 is no different, Its just a baby and will need more work. So please no more negative feedback, instead you can maybe post what you find wrong with mule 2 and let the mule gods do what they do best(tweak mule2). When I played mule 2 yrs ago I remember there were 2 other new species...pls bring them back! And that extra good called buntonal?

Im positive that mule 2 will be a success in the future!!


Dm17/ aka MsM

[mherbst]

I totally agree with all sj wrote. I would like to stress the 5 players issue. It is gonna be almost impossible to start a game without AI, as collecting 4 human players was already time consuming.
I' m also unhappy with the 3d graphics. Mule is about precision, sometimes 1 unit of good or money is decisive. With 3d interface you can hardly see how much you bid relative to other players, and how much you produce.
The new PM is pretty but less playable than the classic version.

[john256]

Speaking AS A PLAYER I agree that forcing 5 players is an issue. Regarding the bars and so on, it always prints the exact values on screen in text as well. And the whole point of the 3D bars is they have a grid, so each row is exactly one unit - you see it fills up in discrete chunks. So for resource auctions, I don't have any problems what is going on. It tells you exactly what your bid is at the bottom so you could ignore the pretty bars entirely.

[sjleader]

Hey John-
Yeah, but a biggie is that you cant see OTHER resources during an auction.  Sometimes you notice for example that someone has no energy, so you know that they are going to pay a high price for it...Therefore, you can, for example, blow your cash buying tite at a low price, or ore.   Without seeing everyone's totals its hard to make those strategy choices-- And its harder to remember those levels with 5 people!

Also, again, with the info, you are looking at the bottom of the screen instead of the line where you can see all players move. If you are scanning the numbers at the bottom, you can miss someone jumping ahead of you by one notch.   I would say with all the issues, this is the #1 thing that probably needs to be addressed.

[john256]

Hey John-
Yeah, but a biggie is that you cant see OTHER resources during an auction.  Sometimes you notice for example that someone has no energy, so you know that they are going to pay a high price for it...Therefore, you can, for example, blow your cash buying tite at a low price, or ore.   Without seeing everyone's totals its hard to make those strategy choices-- And its harder to remember those levels with 5 people!

I thought the same about assay results when I got into PM1 and was told "it's part of the game" so you could make the same argument

Not for me to decide these things, it probably depends on the feedback we get - some people might like it or take screenshots or something.

[bleeflooflah]

Hey I'm pretty new with M.U.L.E. so I am not going to carry as much authority as some of the vets. But I really enjoyed M.U.L.E. 2 I have a list of pros and cons. As a new player, here are my thoughts:

PROS

-The new PUB setting is really cool. Its got a lot of style, and the round results taking place in the PUB really blends well with the rest of the game.

-the fact that you can toggle the map on and off at the end of the round is great. That was really helpful to me as a new player. It allowed me to take my time in discovering what other players did last round and what I would be doing in the coming round.

-the pictures of events that pop up in the center of the screen bring a lot of personality and charm. Definitely keep those.

-I personally liked the simultaneous play. I can see how some vets disliked it due to the fact that its impossible to pay attention to what other players are doing. However, it dramatically decreases the amount of time the game takes to complete, and it removes a huge barrier to new players, who are going to hate waiting through rounds (I'm new, and generally a patient guy, but waiting and staring at a screen is a little too much for this game.) Thus, I think it should stay, but I think vets should have the option of turning it off at the beginning of the game. Also, waiting for other players to carry out their tasks is the best time to chat with other players (smacktalk, chat, ask questions, ect.) and adding simultaneous play ultimately removes that.

In the end, the pros and cons of simultaneous play are split right down the middle. Whether it is on or off should be left to the individual player at the beginning of a game.

CONS

-The auction screen isn't all bad. The theme is really nice. However the railroad track effect (where it becomes harder to see the further you move up the screen) should be minimized rather than completely removed like some players have suggested. The players view of the screen is already at a somewhat over-head angle, so perhaps just lessen the angle that the player is viewing the chart at...does that make sense? The grid is a beautiful addition. I appreciated looking at it, as it can be easier to compare your positions relative to your competitors.

-In the production screen where it shows how much each plot of land produced, there needs to be a prompt- to move away from the screen. I wanted to study it to see how much my competitors and I produced, but it was always torn away from my sight before I was ready.

-I'm still new, but I'm pretty sure my game had way too much smithore supply in the beginning of the game. There was never a need or desire for more, which is contrary to every other MULE game I have played.

-Toward the end of the game I had a lot of issues getting everything done that I wanted. I literally only had time for 2-3 plots of land. I don't know if that's intended or not (I know one of the species carries movement as a perk) but its something I did notice that also left a sour taste in my mouth. I thought it might bear mentioning.

[Death_Mule17]

Just a few things to add after playing a full game with bots:First thing is the bots hold or alot more than the old bots...I mean going 3rds with no cash/food to hold ore(all 4bots) that is clearly not spiking, is silly. Bots can definitely use a makeover in some places. I also noticed a game timer ,great add. What was giving me the most trouble was the fact that in the store, every things on top! Maybe moving the outfitting to the top or bottom separately from the coral,pub,assay,and missing land sale office would help get that mule "feel" back. And last : the little boxes on the bottom that keep track of every individuals goods/money...they dont have all the info needed as sj has expressed, making it real hard for a pothead like me to remember every unit and plan ahead. Using the old mule 1 interface down low should be an easy fix and would help everyone during auction time a great deal.


Oh and im not sure but every time a player caught a wampus during my turn, I noticed he would not come back for the rest of that turn. Glitch or legit?



Still have high hopes of mule2 success!
DM17/MsM

[john256]

Oh and im not sure but every time a player caught a wampus during my turn, I noticed he would not come back for the rest of that turn. Glitch or legit?

A few people asked this, it is NOT a glitch. You are fighting other players in your turn to catch the wampus.

[data2008]

I replied already in another topic, but since it fits here as well, I repost it sligthly modified:

We pretty much expected and somehow agree with peoples experiences playing PM2 and coming from PM1.

People who try PM2 expect it to behave quite the same as PM1 but only with bigger map and fifth player... but that is not going to go well due to several reasons (playtime, resources store, etc.) and there wouldnt be really a point for doing it the same way as PM1 anyway.
The initial reactions to the changes we did of course to some extend are psychological effect because people get quite acustomed to things over a long time:

http://wiki.classictw.com/images/8/82/PCW_5.jpg

If you look at the original Mule above, specially the auction, you notice, you didnt even have HUDS in auctions that displayed the other amount of goods a player had, also there was no number above the players sprite so you HAD to look down... just saying that people who play PM1 on one side always critized how PM1 was NOT 100% like the original, but forget that the things they probably critize PM2 for now, WERE part of the original strategy, like that you had to remember how many goods you had during auctions, that you had to look down to see the price you were bidding in the auction, etc. Just saying that at some points, we even got back closer to original Mule 1 than PM1.

The point I agree is most important to think about is if the 3D auction works well enough or if we should switch that back to a 2D view with 5 Players. (We also had an LCD type arcade version of it, that was essentially the auction ON SPEED, but that would probably cause veterans to jump on their chairs and debate endlessly how the slow going up and down tickled players to buy or sell stuff).

Also thinking about 3 instead of 2 waves of development to still be shorter with 5 players than PM1 is worth thinking about, so the 2 leading, the 2 middle and the trailing player get their own dev round, resulting in the trailing player being the most informed one as he can concentrate on what the 4 other players did and has the chance to catch wampus independtly on his own.

Otherwise thanks DM17 for pointing out that people need to give PM2 a chance free of prejudeces that easily are due to resistence of thinking of Mule from a new perspective and not comparing it to PM1.
Just playing it for a few times should help wrap around some of the new ways of playing this game, while PM1 still is what it is and is always there to be played regardless of how PM2 develops.

Thanks for all testing PM2 and providing that feedback, especially the highly opinionated and passionate feedback, this is probably how the original Mule team went through it too druing such a phase, tweaking and developing the game into what Mule 1 became then.

[Bossi]

(i want to write my short review in this topic too)

Game looks very nice, the Auction-Screen would be better at 2D, but:
I almost cant play the game. My ping was rated with 450+ (at Mule 1 most times at 200, with host in europe 100 or less) and with that ping i almost missed land plots (this jumping back). At the first ore-auction i cant sell any unit, at my 2nd ore-auction time clocked after just after the auction began (for me).
At this point i quited that game.

Another point: the chat should be implanted in the normal game screen - you cant see the comments of the other players very good at the moment. And the screen is too small for the graphics (i use a 20` LED-Monitor with 1600x900)

But: I think there was lot work to make that game and it looks nice!
thumbs up!

[john256]

And the screen is too small for the graphics (i use a 20` LED-Monitor with 1600x900)

That isa  good point. The normal version is current a fixed size and if your resolution is high, ir will only be a small part of your screen!

You could try the web-start version if you prefer, which lets you resize the window.

[C-128]

Liked your post.  Let me throw in my 2 cents:

1) Land Grab

Go back to the run-for-it grab with a delay based on rank!  Awesome....

2) Development

1 round of development -- all 5 players!  Make Mule 2 a fast game, that'd really differentiate it and make it popular in a unique way.

3)  4/5 players

Can we make it 4 or 5?  I'm afraid more players just means more AIs and preying on a clueless noob to always win.

4) 3d Auction

I agree with others, kind of a waste of screen space and not very practical.  I would go to a 2d version.

5) Bar

If a player waits there too long because he's putzing around at break, have his character drink beer.  When he plays, have him wander drunkenly as punishment.

6) Assaying

The 1/2/3 stuff needs to stay longer in the round so people can see it.  Just have it stick through development, helps with the multiplayer mode.  How about L/M/H instead?

7) Order

I'd rather see the squares reorder than the numbering, which is too subtle.

Random connection crap on right side

The top two numbers that jump around like crazy should go away.

9) River

Have it still during play and run during production!

10) Good/Bad News blurb pictures

Liked those! 

11) Colors

Still with the purple?  Can we have a black instead?  Maybe make this more selectable from a wider palette?

12) Auction Land Store

No!

[beeman]

If you look at the original Mule above, specially the auction, you notice, you didnt even have HUDS in auctions that displayed the other amount of goods a player had, also there was no number above the players sprite so you HAD to look down... just saying that people who play PM1 on one side always critized how PM1 was NOT 100% like the original, but forget that the things they probably critize PM2 for now, WERE part of the original strategy, like that you had to remember how many goods you had during auctions, that you had to look down to see the price you were bidding in the auction, etc. Just saying that at some points, we even got back closer to original Mule 1 than PM1.

Yes it's true you could not not see the players goods and store inventory during gameplay of original Atari/C64 version... but remember that in those versions you are just holding UP or DOWN as the players move in slow, tiny meausured increments against a white backround, with no lag.  It was a great improvement to add that information to Planet Mule 1 imo. I get the idea of the challenge of keeping that in your head but I do believe the graphics and gameplay are too busy to leave out that information on the screen. I love the "map toggle" though, I wish you could do that in MULE 1 as well.