Using All the advantages of ZunTzu
Posted: 18 Feb 2022, 17:58
Hello fellow gamebox makers...
I'm probably going to take some flak for this post but I'm hoping it will spark some discussion on this forum.
ZunTzu is experiencing a much welcome resurgence thanks to the efforts of Ricky Perz, Jerome, and several other dedicated individuals. ZunTzu is a fantastic platform and it's good to see it grow. Thank you gentlemen for all your hard work.
Now for the "but"...
While I applaud the dramatic increase in the quantity of gameboxes offered, I'm not so enthused with the quality of some that I've opened. I'm talking about playability issues here. A lot of the gameboxes seem to be nothing more than scans of the game components...and that's fine if all you want to do is recreate what you get in a cardboard box. But ZunTzu is so much more than that. At the very, very least, a setup scenario should be offered so the players don't have to go through the drudgery of taking pieces from the countersheet and placing them into individual hexes or locations on the map. That's a nightmare to do with cardboard; you shouldn't have to do that electronically. Why put your gamebox audience through that? I think that a gamebox should open with a scenario already set up or have a selection of them ready to go.
Part of that setup should include the charts and tables that are needed to play the game. It's not enough to have them located on another tab, they should be able to be placed right next to the mapboard so a player can use them easily. I'm referring to ZunTzu's Terrain feature now. A Combat Results Table or Terrain Effects Chart should be scanned as a Terrain sheet so it can be moved from its tab and placed on the same screen as the game board. Really, anything that doesn't have to move should be made into a Terrain feature. Order of Appearance Cards, Turn Record Tracks--anything that counters need to be placed on--can be a Terrain feature. It's one of ZunTzu's greatest strengths...and not used nearly enough.
I was lucky that my introduction to ZunTzu was through Bill Barrett's D-Day gamebox. He had all the accessories called out as Terrain features and had them neatly aligned with the gamemap. I took apart his gamebox, looked at his xml and zts files and learned a lot. He was kind enough to answer questions too. (Thank you Bill.) If you open up any of his gameboxes you'll find a well thought out, ready to play game that uses all of ZunTzu's capabilities. Quality work.
That's what I think we, as gamebox makers, should strive for. It's more effort for sure but if ZunTzu's advantages are utilized, then the games are easier to play and, hopefully, more people will use ZunTzu to play them.
Rather than go on with my thoughts, I'll stop here and open this up to comments. I look forward to a polite discussion. Thanks.
Frank
I'm probably going to take some flak for this post but I'm hoping it will spark some discussion on this forum.
ZunTzu is experiencing a much welcome resurgence thanks to the efforts of Ricky Perz, Jerome, and several other dedicated individuals. ZunTzu is a fantastic platform and it's good to see it grow. Thank you gentlemen for all your hard work.
Now for the "but"...
While I applaud the dramatic increase in the quantity of gameboxes offered, I'm not so enthused with the quality of some that I've opened. I'm talking about playability issues here. A lot of the gameboxes seem to be nothing more than scans of the game components...and that's fine if all you want to do is recreate what you get in a cardboard box. But ZunTzu is so much more than that. At the very, very least, a setup scenario should be offered so the players don't have to go through the drudgery of taking pieces from the countersheet and placing them into individual hexes or locations on the map. That's a nightmare to do with cardboard; you shouldn't have to do that electronically. Why put your gamebox audience through that? I think that a gamebox should open with a scenario already set up or have a selection of them ready to go.
Part of that setup should include the charts and tables that are needed to play the game. It's not enough to have them located on another tab, they should be able to be placed right next to the mapboard so a player can use them easily. I'm referring to ZunTzu's Terrain feature now. A Combat Results Table or Terrain Effects Chart should be scanned as a Terrain sheet so it can be moved from its tab and placed on the same screen as the game board. Really, anything that doesn't have to move should be made into a Terrain feature. Order of Appearance Cards, Turn Record Tracks--anything that counters need to be placed on--can be a Terrain feature. It's one of ZunTzu's greatest strengths...and not used nearly enough.
I was lucky that my introduction to ZunTzu was through Bill Barrett's D-Day gamebox. He had all the accessories called out as Terrain features and had them neatly aligned with the gamemap. I took apart his gamebox, looked at his xml and zts files and learned a lot. He was kind enough to answer questions too. (Thank you Bill.) If you open up any of his gameboxes you'll find a well thought out, ready to play game that uses all of ZunTzu's capabilities. Quality work.
That's what I think we, as gamebox makers, should strive for. It's more effort for sure but if ZunTzu's advantages are utilized, then the games are easier to play and, hopefully, more people will use ZunTzu to play them.
Rather than go on with my thoughts, I'll stop here and open this up to comments. I look forward to a polite discussion. Thanks.
Frank