Review Guidelines


Scenario and Campaign Reviews


Category Scoring

Before we detail what we expect for each category, there are some general scoring guidelines to make note of. All of the categories are subjective, some more than others, but try to be as consistent as you can with your own scoring. Also, take special note of a few things that should NOT affect the score of a scenario. These things should be noted in the review, but they should not affect the rating scores in any way.

  • First is the length of a scenario, or how many scenarios are included in a campaign. There is no rule that says a scenario must last more than 15 minutes or that a campaign must include at least 3 scenarios. The scores should only reflect how good the scenario was while it was being played. A great 5 minutes should score much higher than a mediocre 2 hours. No reduction in score should be made based on the length of a scenario.
  • Second is the number of triggers in a scenario. This is simply irrelevant to how good or bad a scenario scores. Lots of designers like to brag about how many triggers their scenario has but if the triggers are poorly constructed and don't contribute to gameplay, they might as well not have any triggers at all. A scenario does not need to have very many triggers to be a lot of fun to play. Scores should be based on playing the scenario, not opening the designer and counting the triggers.
  • Lastly, a scenario should not be penalized for not including special extras like music files or custom AI files. These extra items are great if used effectively and certainly can boost a score but a scenario should not be rated poorly just because of a lack of extras. A scenario should still be able to achieve a score of 5.0 even without using special extra files. The Rise and Fall editor is incredibly powerful and versatile, a designer should not be required to use custom files if they can achieve their design goals using what is already built into the design tool.

Playability


Playability is probably the most subjective element of the scoring. It is simply a gauge of how much fun you had playing this particular scenario. One thing to look out for when reviewing is to only play scenarios that use a style you enjoy. For example, if you hate playing RPG scenarios, don't try to review one since you are bound to not enjoy the scenario. Try to keep within styles that you enjoy.

There really is no specific criterion on how a score is given in Playability but there are quite a few things that can affect playability in a negative manner. Trigger bugs, victory condition bugs and any other playability-destroying bugs obviously can ruin a scenario's playability. Lag is another playability issue that a scenario can be marked down for. If a player is ever confused about the next goal to accomplish, that's a playability problem. If a player can complete an objective in a way that the author obviously did not intend to be possible (i.e. there's a hole in a wall that allows the player to skip half the scenario), that's a playability problem. Anything that adversely affects your enjoyment of a scenario can be deducted from the Playability score.

Playability answers the questions:
  • Is the scenario captivating and enjoyable?
  • Upon completing the scenario, do you want to play it again because it was so fun?
  • Does the scenario lag?

Balance


Balance is slightly different from Playability and Creativity although it involves elements of both. Balance represents the difficulty and flow of the work. Was it beatable but not too easy? If you had to build and upgrade your units between battles, was this done well and fairly, not attacking you with too many powerful units before you could fight them off? Are you still challenged by the scenario even if you've already won it? If the answer to all these are yes, it gets a high balance score.

Keep in mind that each player is a different skill level and what might be perfectly balanced for one player might be way too easy or way too hard for another. As a reviewer, you must take your own skill level into account when giving a balance score. A perfectly balanced scenario should provide a challenge for a veteran player.

There is no set number of times that a player must reload in order to achieve outstanding balance. If a player is able to complete the entire scenario the first time, it does not necessarily mean that the scenario is too easy. The Rise and Fall editor is powerful enough that designers can auto balance their scenarios. Use your best judgment though, if a designer is auto-balancing the scenario, the scenario should still be challenging. If the scenario fails to provide any kind of challenge it is probably too easy. On the other hand, a player should not need to reload 15 times to get by a certain part of a scenario. That is frustrating and the scenario is probably way too difficult. The ideal scenario balance happens when a player gets stuck, but he knows that it's possible to complete the objective if only he did something a little differently. A player should not win by luck, the scenario should be constructed so that a player can learn from mistakes and use his skill to complete the objective.

Balance Answers the following questions:
  • Was the scenario too hard, too easy or just right?
  • Is the scenario balanced so that both veteran and new players will find the scenario challenging?

Creativity


This area is probably second in subjectivity behind playability, and basically is the originality and expressiveness of the scenario. Creativity is found in all aspects of a scenario, from trigger tricks, to map design, to the story, to what units a player is given, to the objectives, to sounds used, etc... Remember, every aspect of a scenario factors into creativity. One thing to be careful for is not to knock points off of creativity if the designer uses a trick you've seen used in another scenario. There's nothing wrong with using the same trick that someone else used and no reason to deduct points because of that.

Creativity answers the questions:
  • Is the scenario a retread of other people's ideas or is there something truly unique about this scenario?
  • Does the author make good use out of the design tools provided?
  • Does the scenario stand out in your memory because it features something not found in other scenarios?

Map Design


Map design is one of the few categories that's very easy to define and give a rating to. We have pretty clear-cut rules on how map design is scored and this is how it should work. A random map is a 3. All a designer needs to do to score a 3 is to use a generated random map. Random maps look good, they function well and there's nothing wrong with using a random map in a scenario, but it's just average. From that basis, it's easy to figure out where scores of 1, 2, 4 and 5 come from.

A rating of 1 is for a pathetic map... these usually consist of large blank areas with lots of square areas and straight lines. These maps look completely unrealistic and are quite unattractive. A rating of 2 is somewhere between a pathetic map and a random map.

A rating of 5 is for an outstanding map with lots of special details and concentrated effort to make the map much better than a random map could possibly provide. Obviously, a rating of 4 is given for maps that are slightly better than a random.

One final note on score map design... only the portion of the map that can be seen during play should be scored. If there are large empty areas that a player never sees, that should not affect the map design rating.

Map Design answers the questions:
  • Is the map enjoyable to look at?
  • Does the overall map view in the lower right corner look attractive?
  • Are cliffs and elevation used in a reasonable and practical way?

Story/Instructions


This is another pretty clear-cut category. If there is no story or instructions, the score is easy... it's a 1. If there are instructions but no story, the max score is a 3, unless the file being reviewed is a multiplayer scenario. Stories can often be cumbersome for multiplayer scenarios, thus a designer should not be deducted points for failing to include a story in a multiplayer scenario. In a single player scenario or campaign file if there is any story at all, the rating goes up to a 4 and if the story is really good, the rating can be a 5. If the instructions are wrong, misleading or confusing, the rating goes down. Also, keep in mind that in Rise and Fall, the instructions and the story goes far beyond the pre-scenario instruction screen. Often the story is continued throughout the scenario by using trigger events to move the story along. Also, since objectives can change in the middle of a scenario, the quality of the instructions must be judged throughout the playing of the scenario.

Some other guidelines on scoring this category: An introductory .jpg and/or .mp3 is a nice touch and a good image can often raise the score, however, an introductory .jpg and sound is not required to score a 5. It certainly helps, but it's not an absolute requirement. Hints and History can also be judged here... these two areas are not required, but they can also help boost a scenario's score. While .jpgs, .mp3s, hints and history are not required, it would be difficult to give a rating of 5 if all three areas are missing. The rating should not be affected based on whether the story is fictional or historical. It doesn't make a difference as long as there's a story that draws the player into the scenario.

The last item that factors into the rating of the story and instructions is grammar and spelling. A designer should be diligent in this area of his scenario, since it's very easy to copy the text into a word processor and spell check the instructions. There's no excuse for having spelling errors in a scenario. It simply shows a lack of effort on the part of the designer. The only exception we make is for designers whose primary language is not English; we are usually quite a bit more lenient with them.

Story/Instructions answers the questions:
  • Are the instructions ample?
  • Are the instructions confusing in any way?
  • Is the scenario riddled with spelling and grammatical errors?

Next: Movie Reviews
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5

HeavenGames