Feedback request for BoardBOSS

[nhelman]

My first products, BoardBOSS and an accompanying free Player, are nearly ready for release (I think). I'd like to get feedback from folks who've been doing this for a while, a sort of beta test and beyond.

I'm hoping this is an appropriate request for this forum... BoardBOSS isn't actually a game. You use it to create board games like Trivial Pursuit, Clue, or Life on computers running Windows 98/ME/NT/2K/XP. BoardBOSS games can be played on Windows computers with the Player.

If anyone would be willing to download it, create a game or two, maybe even play your game, and let me know what you think (of course, send me any error logs), I'd be most grateful. Actually, I have a formal beta program at http://www.boardboss.biz/betatesters.html.

You can see screenshots at http://www.boardboss.biz/bb_screens.html.

You can download the installer at http://www.boardboss.biz/download/bbminst.exe.

As I said, I'd be most grateful for any feedback you're willing to offer.

Thanks,
Neal
nhelman@boardboss.biz

[MattInglot]

It runs here but it doesn't display anything. I can see it listed as a program in Task Manager and a window blinked very briefly, but after that, nothing.

I didn't restart like the install asked me too because I can't really shut everything down just to try a game. If possible you should eliminate that requirement as it's pretty unusual for most software these days to require restart.

I'm running Windows 2000 with all the latest updates.

Edit: I hit close in Task Manager and that brought the BoardOSS window out from hiding. It said that I had exceeded my 30 day trial and that I would have to buy it. I hit the close button and it gave me an error in CLangFilter:ExtractFile : Object variable or with block variable not set.

[nhelman]

Definitely not good. :o

The restart would have only been requested if VB runtime files were replaced (VB6 SP6).

It looks like the ChilkatZip and possibly the ChilkatMail components may not have registered properly. Were there existing versions of these components on the system (DLLs by those names in the system directory)? Also, is there a FILTER.WDL in the Program Files\BoardBOSS\Builder directory?

I don't think it's an OS issue; the install and app have tested successfully on every OS released since Win98.

Thanks,
Neal

[MattInglot]

I'll try to remember to check this stuff out tomorrow.

[MattInglot]

Finally got it running after a restart!

It's definitely an interesting concept. My major complaint is the interface design. I found it be very cluttered and confusing, especially during the wizard. I would suggest using a more traditional Windows interface that many editors employ. Look at WarCraft 2's editor or the actual game Roller Coaster Tycoon.

For any game of this nature your challenge is to eliminate as much as possible the learning curve of the product. Currently I felt overwhelmed when starting it up. Part of this goes back to the clutter and size of the interface, and the inability to resize the window. Even with the tutorial I was left confused as to what I'm supposed to do. I was imagining I would be designing a game board but the tutorial glossed over that pretty quick and I'm still not sure how that part works. People have a very short attention span so it's really important to make it as easy as possible to get to "doing something". This is admittedly tough.

It would also be great if I was given the option of playing a sample game before diving into attempting creating a game, so that I could have a better idea of how BoardBOSS works from the player side. In fact I'm afraid that I was never able to actually figure out how to play a game, either one I created or the sample Animal Trivia one.

All this being said, it does look like you have something solid and innovative here. It just needs that interface polish to make it accessible to users. I'm looking forward to see where you take this.

[nhelman]

I'll take a look at WarCraft2 and Roller Coaster Tycoon to see what you're talking about in terms of user interface. The font and graphic sizes are intended to make the program easier for younger users. I'm already planning for a later to version to allow choices of graphic motifs (close to skins, but not quite); maybe I'll be able to allow resizing along with that.

I could see allowing you to move the tutorial dialog around to get a better feel for the full layout. As for glossing over the game board design screen, that can be a pretty complicated process, much more than a tutorial intended to "create a board game in 15 minutes" would allow. More of the time in the tutorial should be spent creating cards. I *am* planning some demo-style tutorials to show folks how various aspects of the program work, though, and drawing spaces on the game board is definitely one of them. That's all there really is to the Board Designer, anyway. A graphics program this is not.

There's a pretty distinct separation between BoardBOSS, the design tool, and the Player, which is, well, the player. With the current version of the Player available on the website, you ought to be able to play the Animal Trivia game immediately after installing the player.

I greatly appreciate your trying BoardBOSS and your comments.

I've fixed some bugs and other "unwanted features" along the way. Does anyone else want to take it for a test run?

Neal