TL;DR
Even as a 'veteran' player the main menu confuses me.It struck me when I launched 0.17. Since one of the major feature of this patch is to prepare launch with the introduction of a tutorial/campaign, and with the new GUI, I guess i saw the menu with kind of new eyes.
What ?
Start campaign :I may be traditional here, but to me a campaign is a succession of missions.
So what I expect to see when I start one is a window asking me to name it (so I can have multiple campaigns on the same computer, mine and my little brother for example).
Then, I should only see the first mission. Or an optional tutorial + the first mission at most.
Succeeding in the first mission unlocks the second one and so on... Bonus : create bronze/silver/gold success requirements.
Now I just choose whatever I want, and I have no indication about the difficulty of each option.
But the worst to me is that it doesn't seem to recall which mission I already did... It doesn't seem to record how much time it took me for each mission, or any other metric.
New Game :
I would name it "Custom game", so there is no confusion between the campaign and about what is the canon way to play Factorio.
Or, if the campaign does not become a real one, just rename Start campaign to "Tutorial" and leave New Game as is.
But right now, having both at the same time and "Tutorial" being a non existent word in the menu, I think it is confusing.
And let's be honest, the canon way to play is the New Game option. The campaign will never be a C&C one with actors, cutscenes and a long story.
Finally, if I remember correctly, devs have told that the campaign goal is to serve as a tutorial.. So let's name it tutorial !
Now, let's go back before clicking on *play*
Map Editor :
This is confusing that after Map Editor, we see "Create scenario".
Firstly, it doesn't match. Just rename Map Editor to Scenario if this is what this sub menu is about.
Sencondly, when I choose to create a scenario I get the exact same window than when I click on "New Game". The difference is only known after having generated the map. This is minor but a tooltip or a window title saying "generate a map to play on" or "generate the map you want to edit after" would help a bit.
Also, I have no option to create a wave defense or a supply challenge. Whatever I create, it will be listed as a freeplay scenario type. I may have missed something though.
Last but not least, I can't create a campaign (i.e : serie of maps).
If this paragraph doesn't make sense, just think to what the AoE2 scenario editor was. In Factorio I don't see what justify it to be called Create Scenario instead of Create map.
So, what makes sense to me would be this menu :
- Play
> Tutorial
> New Game
> Scenarios
> ...
- Map Editor
> New Map
> Load Map
I have no idea what "Convert save" does. If it is to import older saves into newer versions of the game, then it should be done automatically when loading it (with a question to the user and maybe an option to lock a save / save the older version of the save...).
And I think that's it. I hope it makes sense and helps.
