Welcome to Jokerball !!

[MarkSteere]

Jokerball is a violent, army game, involving strategy and luck. You fight to your last man if necessary. It's also soccer game, but the ball doesn't have to be kicked. It moves on its own in random directions. You win when the ball passes through the enemy goal.

Strategy involves killing as many enemy as you can to open up your opponent's defense. Set up for immediate retaliation when your men are killed. Line up the ball for shots at the enemy goal. Use the ball to block enemy men from killing your men.

Jokerball is not a Backgammon variant, but it carries some things over from Backgammon: Backgammon checkers, dice, a board (though it's 2D, not 1D), a doubling cube, up to 21 point matches, the Crawford rule, the dead cube rule, and a high skill to luck ratio.

Suggestions I received:

1. "Add Undo button."

To me, aesthetics is paramount. Simplicity is an overarching theme in Jokerball: the rules, the board, the pieces, the graphics, and the interface. BGA Jokerball is a simple program for a simple game. I really don't want to clutter the interface with "Are you sure?" buttons and Undo buttons. Clarity and convenience are important, but not at the expense of simplicity.

It is possible to unselect a selected man. You can click any unhighlighted cell and it'll take you back to the beginning. But there's no way to undo moves. Man moves and ball moves are permanent. Consider your moves carefully before you make them.

Please read the rule sheet and the wiki rules summary.

2. "Add ball direction arrows."

There are only 6 ball directions in Jokerball. You don't have to memorize all of them, although it would make playing easier if you did. You only have to remember that direction 1 is near left. Directions 2 through 6 fan out clockwise from there. I don't want to clutter the lovely, simple interface with unnecessary, direction arrows.

Jokerball, in spite of it's whimsical name, is a serious game. To get the most out of it you'll have to invest something into it, including learning the ball directions.

.........

Professional developers go to great lengths to make the interface clear and convenient. BGA players are accustomed to a high degree of user friendliness. But in my case, I'm not a professional developer. I'm just an inventor, and my priorities are a little different. I'm not willing to sacrifice aesthetics to provide the ultimate in user friendliness. But I think you'll find that, with a little effort on your part, the interface is friendly enough as it is.

I look forward to your feedback about the gameplay. It takes a few plays to begin to understand the strategy though. The game will seem mostly luck driven before you learn how to compete effectively.

You're welcome to suggest changes to the interface, but the chance of me changing anything at this stage is remote, especially if it compromises the aesthetics.

Some people love to program. I am not one of them. It's just a means to an end for me, although it is truly satisfying to complete a program and start using it. I'm reluctant to open a can of worms with program changes, unless there's a really compelling reason to do so.

Thanks to the professional BGA developers, who were always willing to answer questions when I got stuck. Special thanks to Nessuno, who got into the program, tracked down bugs, and killed them.

[Silverbullet999]

Hey Mark, thanks for making the game, I'm in an asynchronous game of this with a friend and am finding it fun. But did find myself making dumb mistakes and wishing for those two things.

For 2. Ball direction, would you consider having the numbers of the direction right outside the board for each side? Hard to describe it in text, but basically think of the outer board boundary as a clock and then right outside each corner (give or take) you can slap a 1, 2, 3 so that it's an easy reference for someone to know the direction of the ball without a dynamic arrow or anything being on the board itself (maybe make the numbers green if you want to be fancy so players intuitively know it's related to the green die)?

For 1. I don't think you necessarily need to make the ui filled with "Are You Sure?" and things, but after ball move, have a confirm that auto confirms in 5 seconds and an undo button to the right that allows you to take back the move. I think this is less needed if you have an easier reference for ball direction.

I think if you implement something for two, it allows people to have less friction in their first few games, which gives better first impressions. However that's just my two cents, thank you for the effort already done .

[MarkSteere]

Hi Silver. I'm glad you're enjoying Jokerball. There have been a number of requests for various bells and whistles to help flatten out the learning curve. But the learning curve is not very steep. I can't ruin the aesthetic to provide unnecessary spoon feeding.

Just remember that ball direction 1 is near left, and the other five directions proceed clockwise from there, ending with direction 6 at near right. This will get you through your first game or two. After that it becomes automatic and effortless.

Imagine Chess with arrows showing where all the various pieces can go. It's not necessary in Chess, and it's not necessary in Jokerball. Six ball directions are much easier to learn than six types of Chess moves, especially with all the Jokerball directions arranged in order.

Same for Undo and Confirm buttons. I have them in Blast Radius because they're necessary there. But they're not so needed in Jokerball that it justifies cluttering the board with extra buttons. I already have four buttons for match play: Offer Double, Roll Dice, Accept Double, and Forfeit. That's enough buttons.

Just figure out what you're doing before you do it. Your opponent has the same challenge of getting their move sorted out as you do.

[Jellby]

I'd probably have replaced the number on the direction die with an arrow pointing in the corresponding direction, because the number actually doesn't matter there. Maybe as an option? (e.g. show dice with pips or with green arrow and purple number)

[MarkSteere]

The dice should look realistic, like dice you have at home - with pips, not arrows. In my opinion, direction arrows, on the dice, on the board, next to the board, or anywhere else would look babyish (no offense). As the designer and developer, I have a clear vision for an ultra simple, realistic interface. So far, I haven't heard any convincing arguments for departing from that vision. But I'm always willing to listen.

You only have to remember one thing. Direction 1 is near left. The other five directions proceed clockwise from there. Is this really an insurmountable hurdle? I've played a lot of Jokerball by now. The direction mapping is automatic and easy.

I don't even want an option for ruining the aesthetic with direction arrows. It's unnecessary.

[Razurazu]

The dice should look realistic, like dice you have at home - with pips, not arrows. In my opinion, direction arrows, on the dice, on the board, next to the board, or anywhere else would look babyish (no offense). As the designer and developer, I have a clear vision for an ultra simple, realistic interface. So far, I haven't heard any convincing arguments for departing from that vision. But I'm always willing to listen.

You only have to remember one thing. Direction 1 is near left. The other five directions proceed clockwise from there. Is this really an insurmountable hurdle? I've played a lot of Jokerball by now. The direction mapping is automatic and easy.

I don't even want an option for ruining the aesthetic with direction arrows. It's unnecessary.

holy based