Post by puzzud in Pausing the game and Collusion

Viewing post in Pausing the game and Collusion

Thanks for the feedback.

Pausing
I recently implemented pausing in offline games. It will be in the game's next update. The game will pause when the main menu is activated. And the gamepad method of bringing up the main menu will switch to the "start" button from the B button. I realize this pausing method will obscure the screen, unlike pausing in the original game. I do plan on eventually adding a pause without the main menu, complete with the clock ticking sound, but it will have to wait for some other important features to be implemented. Concerning pausing in online games--it gets complicated and I don't know of a nice way of doing it.

Collusion
There is no ability to collude, in the classic sense, in MULE Online. The decision to leave that feature out comes down to 2 things:

Collusion goes against the free market mechanics of the rest of the game--competition driving lower prices; demand driving higher prices. The only feasible argument for collusion I've heard so far is that it's useful for when a computer player is winning. In practice, I find when collusion is used to cut out another human player, it inevitably results in hurt feelings.
The original method of initiating collusion, as you described, does not translate well to online play. It was clumsy enough on the same machine.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on the purpose of collusion. Perhaps I am missing something.

I have a very large backlog of a lot of other (better) features that I think you'll enjoy.

DarkWingFan1 year ago(+1)

Thanks for the quick response. We did try pausing by clicking the B button in an offline game. It went to the main menu but the game continued underneath the obscured screen. We will look forward to the next update! This is the one video game my wife of 30+ years and I both enjoy playing together and we usually will play in offline mode though we will use the online mode to play with our sons (one who lives in a different country). Collusion does go against the free market mechanics, but it helps when teaching new players the game without letting them get crushed, especially by a computer player. Thank you for all of your hard work with this game!

puzzud1 year ago

Awesome--that's a big part of why I made the online capability and how you & your wife can play from the same computer with your sons who are remote.

puzzud1 year ago

Version 1.9 has dropped. Includes pause when main menu is up (pressing escape, "start" button on a gamepad).

DarkWingFan1 year ago(+1)

Awesome. Thank you!

chrisrimple191 days ago(+1)

I played a LOT of MULE on Atari 800 with 4 human players, and collusion is a critical and fun element of the game. Could it result in hurt feelings? Perhaps, but it also allows a player with a monopoly on a resource to maximize their profit, try to maintain a majority resource position, etc. I've been in many games where 2 players collude and later collude with others - it's not been my experience that it results in 2 players "dominating the game" against others. If you have concerns about misuse, make it an option during game setup.

puzzud191 days ago (1 edit)

I appreciate people providing feedback on this matter. I have been convinced that it is worth bringing back into the game. I am something of a hypocrite to think I can withhold the feature while purporting to provide classic MULE. I had settled towards making it an off by default option, but perhaps it should be on by default but optionally disabled.

itch.io

Viewing post in Pausing the game and Collusion