Test run #1

A trial run was conducted today with the help of T and PP. First, I ran two introductory PowerPoint presentations, one showing Freeciv screenshots and another showing game objectives and learning objectives. The first one was well-received because of all the graphics, but the second one was too long and offered too much information that made little sense to present so early in the process.

After the presentations, we jumped right into an exploratory game that lasted almost four hours, with frequent interruptions including lunch. (G)oto was easy to teach. (B)uild City was also straightforward enough. Setting technology goals and switching city production to settlers turned out to be more difficult to explain because they involved also learning about the technology tree, grand objectives, and food surpluses. Techtree v3.0 by David W. Pfitzner proved to be most useful in helping T and PP visualize the technology tree and long-range goals.