Questions about playing with friends

[Phantom]

First of all, congrats with the launch of the game!
It has been sitting on my Wishlist for quite a long time.
I didn't have the opportunity to participate the closed beta test,
nor with the actual physical table top game.
So, perhaps...
Perhaps some ideas of the core gameplay was already there
Yet still, I'd wanna offer my two cents after playing for an hour on stream
Both with the Story mode and trying to playing with my friends.

The Story mode(Single player mode) is great.
It's more like a puzzle-solving game, such as Candy Rush or Sudoku.
Linear learning/difficulty curve, top notch music.

---

But when it comes to playing with friends, we encountered a few issues:

1) Difficult to join or invite

The lobby system is kinda rough, unfinished.
When you invite your friend,
the invitation will only be sent AFTER the host started the game.
And you couldn't send invitation via Steam friend list, which is a bit counterintuitive.
Where the game is surrounded by the theme of "cats",
we all wanted to design/make our own cats and put it in the game to see.
Yet, with this design, only the host could select their own cat.
Leaving the rest of the slots random.

2) Gameplay with friends

Now, this is the deal breaker for all of the us.
Perhaps this was how the game was supposed to be originally.
We all thought that we'd be playing on the same board making the same quilt.
Interacting with all of our cats,
brainstorming to achieve goals and collect as many cat sigils as we could.

However, that wasn't the case.
Each player has their own board/quilt, with different goal patches at the beginning.
So, instead of cooperating and working together,
we had to turn against each other, to see who got the most points.
It felt... separated, like we all were just playing different games/matches

3) Traditional Chinese Translation

The translation is unfinished,
and all the text were just straight up translated from Simplified one.
Some of the translated sentences or names were weird
or simply didn't make sense.
I would love to help with the translation,
that is ofc, the game being fun and able to enjoy with friends.

---

That's all for now.
I know I'm not very experienced with Tabletop games.
Most of the games I've tried before, are party games.
Players could either work with each other, or against each other as teams.
Such as cards or abilities to disturb other players from progressing.

Thanks for making such an adorable game!
Good luck, good day

[mc.bjs]

Hello,
glad to hear that you enjoy the game. I'll try to explain stuff and address some of your concerns here, let's get straight to the point.

Originally posted by Phantom:

1) Difficult to join or invite

The lobby system is kinda rough, unfinished.
When you invite your friend,
the invitation will only be sent AFTER the host started the game.

Yes, this is how the invites work. There is no actual lobby, the screen that looks like a lobby is actually just a game setup screen and the invites are sent once you decide that the setup is complete and you want to start the game. As the custom games have no timers, the first turn acts as a lobby of some sorts, where everyone confirms that they are ready for the game by setting up their boards.
Thanks for your input on the matter, we will for sure discuss internally the possible paths to take to make it better in the future.

Originally posted by Phantom:

And you couldn't send invitation via Steam friend list, which is a bit counterintuitive.

Yes, this is a "byproduct" of how custom games in Quilts and Cats of Calico work. You can invite your steam friends through in-game invites of course, but I understand your point.

Originally posted by Phantom:

Where the game is surrounded by the theme of "cats",
we all wanted to design/make our own cats and put it in the game to see.
Yet, with this design, only the host could select their own cat.
Leaving the rest of the slots random.

The host is actually selecting the GOALS of cats that will be used in the custom game. There are 10 Goals to choose from in the game, each has its corresponding standard cat, which can be replaced by a custom cat in the cat editor. Once the game starts, each player will see the cats that they have selected to correspond to the specific 3 goals used for the game. You can switch view to a board of another player while in game and you will be able to see what cats they have, so you will be able to see their custom cats if they have any. Hope this helps clarify how it works!

Originally posted by Phantom:

2) Gameplay with friends

Now, this is the deal breaker for all of the us.
Perhaps this was how the game was supposed to be originally.
We all thought that we'd be playing on the same board making the same quilt.
Interacting with all of our cats,
brainstorming to achieve goals and collect as many cat sigils as we could.

This is how the original board game works. I'm sorry if you were led to believe that this was a cooperative game. Quilts and Cats of Calico is an adaptation, and while we added some things extra like the story mode, we didn't want to change the fundamental design of the original game.

Originally posted by Phantom:

3) Traditional Chinese Translation

The translation is unfinished,
and all the text were just straight up translated from Simplified one.
Some of the translated sentences or names were weird
or simply didn't make sense.
I would love to help with the translation,
that is ofc, the game being fun and able to enjoy with friends.

We are aware of the issues with Chinese translation. You can join our discord or drop some contact info at [e-mail] and I will let our localization coordinator know that you want to help with that, it will be greatly appreciated.

Originally posted by Phantom:

Thanks for making such an adorable game!
Good luck, good day :winter2019happyyul:

Thank you for playing the game and for giving such detailed feedback!
Good day to you too :)

[Phantom]

Thanks for your reply!
I appreciate the effort you and you guys put into the game,
as well as maintaining its community.

Originally posted by mc.bjs:

The host is actually selecting the GOALS of cats that will be used in the custom game. There are 10 Goals to choose from in the game, each has its corresponding standard cat, which can be replaced by a custom cat in the cat editor. Once the game starts, each player will see the cats that they have selected to correspond to the specific 3 goals used for the game. You can switch view to a board of another player while in game and you will be able to see what cats they have, so you will be able to see their custom cats if they have any. Hope this helps clarify how it works!

I understand, but let's put it this way.
Say, there are 4 players in a game.
Each with their own design of cats
(That's the whole point right? Seeing the cat you design on the board)
A hosted the game, while B, C, D joined.
With the current system of "lobby"
Only A would be able to select their own cat.
While B, C, D could not have any influence towards that.
Since they joined AFTER the game started at the 1st Round.

What I suggest is that, the need of a proper lobby system before any game starts.
So that not only A could choose their own cat, but also other players as well!
I know this is more like a QoL(Quality of Life) thing.
It's just a feedback from my end.

[edrache]

Hi,
Indeed, only player A has the ability to select their own cats, knowing the cat goals. However, if you're playing a Custom Game with friends, you could communicate with them. For instance, you might choose 3+, 4+, 5+ goals, allowing them to adjust their cats to match these Goals. I understand this isn't the ideal solution, but it may work for you.

Additionally, I can assure you that we're considering a more user-friendly system for custom cats in online games.

edit: I messed up goal tiles with cat tiles. Sorry :)

[Bluefiress]

Originally posted by mc.bjs:

The host is actually selecting the GOALS of cats that will be used in the custom game. There are 10 Goals to choose from in the game, each has its corresponding standard cat, which can be replaced by a custom cat in the cat editor. Once the game starts, each player will see the cats that they have selected to correspond to the specific 3 goals used for the game. You can switch view to a board of another player while in game and you will be able to see what cats they have, so you will be able to see their custom cats if they have any. Hope this helps clarify how it works!

Can we have 'Playing with Friends' instructions included ingame somewhere, please?
1. How to invite a friend to a game
2. How cat goals are used in custom games (your information quoted above)
3. How to set up and begin play in custom games.
4. Indicators for whose turn it is and for whose board you are viewing. (Discovered this in discord chat. Had not even noticed the board indicator!)

I have managed to send an invite to a friend, but we couldn't understand why our cats didn't match and at the moment it isn't allowing us to have our first turn each.

[mc.bjs]

Originally posted by Bluefiress:

Originally posted by mc.bjs:

The host is actually selecting the GOALS of cats that will be used in the custom game. There are 10 Goals to choose from in the game, each has its corresponding standard cat, which can be replaced by a custom cat in the cat editor. Once the game starts, each player will see the cats that they have selected to correspond to the specific 3 goals used for the game. You can switch view to a board of another player while in game and you will be able to see what cats they have, so you will be able to see their custom cats if they have any. Hope this helps clarify how it works!

Can we have 'Playing with Friends' instructions included ingame somewhere, please?
1. How to invite a friend to a game
2. How cat goals are used in custom games (your information quoted above)
3. How to set up and begin play in custom games.
4. Indicators for whose turn it is and for whose board you are viewing. (Discovered this in discord chat. Had not even noticed the board indicator!)

I have managed to send an invite to a friend, but we couldn't understand why our cats didn't match and at the moment it isn't allowing us to have our first turn each.

Thanks for the feedback. We are constantly having internal discussions about how the players are experiencing the game. Can't promise any changes right now, but be rest assured we will continue improving the game.