This is one of my recently played games and I think it is excellent. In the following paragraphs, I will analyse this game from different aspects.
Home Interface
The invitation to the game is simple and fits the overall art style
The choices are continue, start new, cardopedia, options, and quit. It's relatively concise and clear.
image: screen capture
Player number & mode
There is only 1 player
It's the player's interaction with the game system( a stand-alone game)
Player's role
A dominator, like a villager
Mainly attract the Explorers in Bartle's taxonomy of player types (this game is based on cards and the player will be in the role of a dominator, they need to arrange the resources they have and explore further in order to beat the final boss)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartle
_taxonomy_of_player_types
Player's Goal
Long-term Goal:
Development (building + maintain + management) - the management of resources is the core element; mostly by strategy rather than luck
Discover (discover new combinations of cards) - discover + battle (bosses will appear in discovery areas)
Short-term Goal:
Prepare enough food in order to support all of your villagers to survive
Defeat the regular bosses
Main Game Interface
image: screen capture
Current quests will appear in the left top corner. It acts like a guide to the players. If you don't know what to do next, you can always check here
The idea section near quests is where players can see the formula they had already unlocked. It acts like a handbook, to remind players how to build other resources
The current food storage, money, and the maximum volume of cards are shown at the top right side, left of the game time(players can adjust the time speed by clicking the symbol at the right side of the year)
In the main board part, different card bags and their costs are shown. These bags contain different functional cards and the contents are randomly composed.
Overall, this interface is not complicated and easy to follow. Players just need to place their cards on the board and wait for them to work automatically.
However, in my opinion, when the game runs into the middle part, there are always too many cards on the screen. In order to solve this problem, a new arrange system could be introduced. The main interface can be divided into 4 sections(the food produce section, explore section, the building resource produce section and the house section), so that whenever the player needs to find some specific resource, they can go straight into the section.
Manipulate
Q: Who can manipulate?
A: The player
Q: What can the player do?
A: Manipulate the cards and make interactions with them
Q: Where does the manipulation occur?
A: On the board, players can only manipulate during their turns
Q: How can players manipulate?
A: (mainly) Mouse drag and drop; (sometimes) mouse click; (optional) Space - pause
The Rules
Q: How does the player learn the rules?
A: Through the little tutorial at the beginning
Q: How does the rule operate?
A: According to the specially designed combination, it will be automatically executed if the conditions are met, and no interaction will occur if the conditions are not met
Cards
cards details can be found: https://stacklands.fandom.com/wiki/Stacklands_Wiki
There are 9 types of cards:
Structures
Humans
Resources
Ideas
Food
Mobs
Locations
Fish
Rumors
Human Cards:(examples)
https://stacklands.fandom.com/wiki/Stacklands_Wiki
On each card, there will be a name, illustration, and health rate
During each turn, the cards will do their jobs automatically
Coins
Obtain: sell cards
Use: by card packages and travel cars(contains 1 random card)
Goods
Different goods have different scarcity (wood - sticks - planks)
Need to make storehouses in order to put more cards on the board
Conflicts
Battles ( regular bosses & the final boss)
Maintain the game ( collect enough food to support humans, 2 food per person; the cards can not go over the current limitation)
Conclusion: This game is still in development, since the last time I played, there have been more things and functions added to the game. For example the Fisher and rumour. Overall, the interface can be further developed, to let the player feel more organised, especially in the future when more functions have been added. At the same time, the Stackland Wiki is a really good and clever way to help players have a better understanding of the game content.
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