Suggestion: add an undo action

[-L1-]

Example of a situation:
I have a red die, which I want to use for the Diplomat. I select the diplomat, I pay 6 coins, take a citizen come from my general supply at the cost of 2 influence points, only to conclude that I have 0 Influence Points left. I cannot undo the complete action of clicking on the Diplomat, which results in the loss of my red die.
Yes, it's stupid of me to not think of the needed Influence Points, but this makes me want to quit the game, since 1 action is very important and can make or break the game, and not being able to undo is very costly and harsh, too harsh.
Would you mind looking into the possibility to add an undo button?

[Jest Phulin]

This has been discussed several times before, with various games.

First, within a very short period of time after a game is released, modification to the code stops. The original developer will normally fix bugs, but it is difficult to convince volunteer programmers to add features that are not necessary to game play. Having a new developer add to someone else's code is also highly difficult.

Second, adding an undo button is not a trivial matter. Game components are loaded into the browser, then moved to the appropriate position. This causes complications when trying to make an undo.

Third, when discussed before, members of this community who voiced an opinion did not like the idea of an undo for the situation you describe. While misclicks are frustrating (and people agree that undos would be nice for that), poor planning of the outcome of an intended move was not justification for an undo.

Long story short -- there are higher priorities for developers than adding undo buttons to existing games to forgive players for poor planning.

[Barry Mckeown]

Fair points Jest Phulin but in my mind the lack of even a cancel button is game breaking. It is rage inducing when for example I brush the touch pad on my laptop and see I inadvertently placed a cube somewhere I didn't want, at this point it is impossible to take it back. This is game breaking, and in my opinion if you have to be physically alert all the time just to avoid accidentally clicking somewhere on the screen then the game is incomplete/unfit to play. Imagine this happened in real life, no-one would play.

Obviously nothing is going to happen now, it's too late, the game is too old and no-one is going to go back and alter the code. It's a situation that the programmers have hopefully learned from and integrated into the newer games. However it's just a shame because Troyes should be far more fun than it is and I worry it will scare new players (also because a undo/cancel option allows for experimentation) away.

[fafa-fr]

Fair points Jest Phulin but in my mind the lack of even a cancel button is game breaking. It is rage inducing when for example I brush the touch pad on my laptop and see I inadvertently placed a cube somewhere I didn't want, at this point it is impossible to take it back.

I think there could be an optional "confirm move" feature, that could be interesting for touch device users, or for some actions in some games that are often missclicked. The advantage of a "confirm move" vs a "undo move" is that no game move is processed, so it's much easier to code. There still need to be a short description of the action, like "place a cube in ___" Confirm move?
This is only a solution for missclicks, not for errors you notice only afterwards like the one mentioned by -L1-

[Jest Phulin]

Again, please see my third point There is a difference between "Oh, I didn't plan the results of this move, I want to take it back" and "Oh, my finger slipped as I was trying to do something else." Undo has been supported for the second situation, but not the first. Unfortunately, a computer can't easily tell the difference.

I do like what was done in Puerto Rico, with the individual options at game start that include if a player wants a confirm on certain actions or not.

[NickWright]

Third, when discussed before, members of this community who voiced an opinion did not like the idea of an undo for the situation you describe. While misclicks are frustrating (and people agree that undos would be nice for that), poor planning of the outcome of an intended move was not justification for an undo.

So maybe after three years, people could have the chance to voice an opinion again...? It really is frustrating not to even have a "confirm action" button, let alone an "Undo". If you can do it in Tzolk'in, you can do it in Troyes.

It's one thing playing with friends, but in an Arena game one slip of the trackpad would be incredibly annoying. I understand it might be difficult to convince volunteers to add features "unnecessary to game play" but surely after spending so much time programming it in the first place, they would want it to be a fun experience to play the game they programmed. Right now, with such a tight game as Troyes, some players will consider the implementation broken. So surely they would want to fix it. Adding a 'Confirm' or an 'Undo' option wouldn't make it a worse experience for anyone, only a better experience for many.

I would say its popularity on here does not reflect its popularity in the real world, and maybe that's because when you're considering what game to play, right before you click "Play now!" you remember how frustrating it can be, and click on something less frustrating. For instance, there are only 5 Elite players right now, 16 Silver players, and only 45 players in total above Bronze 1. What does that tell you?

[nandblock]

Recent BGA implementations have had undo and confirm features, e.g. Yokohama and Teotihuacan. It is clear that this is a desirable feature for many players online. But it is unlikely that the older coded games can have it added without complete rewriting.

[Kodama Mumia Smedley]

An undo button is not a trivial matter in game play of Troyes.

Unless it is a roll of the dice or a draw of a card that gives one new results, it is not unfair to add an undo or confirm button of some sort.

Any game played in person nearly anyone would let you stop the action half way through, unless they are complete jerks. Barring roling dice or pulling a card that reveals previously hidden information. Until you..."take you hand off the dice" so to speak.

A game I recently had:
I wanted to obtain more dice for the next round, so I chose a die for the appropriate building planning to place a meeple in the building only to find out I had no influence. The only thing I could do, due to the current programming of the game, was take a meeple from a building.

Sheesh.
Why the heck would I want to do that when I'm trying to get more dice? Net gain: zero dice. Waste of die. Waste of coins (as it was the red building). Waste if turn.

Hopefully someone will implement a confirm button of some sort.