I can only talk for me, but I noticed Dyson as a game for casual gamers and like a puzzle every level/map is more difficult, the more highly the level-number. I think you can save developing time if you strike "save function" through of your to-do-list. It is great that the player can choose the level -> map -> challenge (-> problem statement)
(Slightly different start conditions randomly generated for every level/map are good for Dyson to make longer fun beside more maps.)
How much time to save we are talking about exactly? If I have a small time window, I play a small map.
- But if someone wants to play a huge map for a short time, I would ask him why he wants to waste his time on a huge map with a lot micromanagement and gigantic armies if success is the same on a small map.
- If he wants a great challenge on a huge map, I would ask him why it is not a challenge to solve a huge map in a short of time.
- If he wants to finish off the opponent's last tiny planet with a galactic great army, I would ask him what is the different between everyone has a galactic great army and everyone has a small army and why does he need a galactic great army for a tiny planet?
- If he wants to play slow because he need a relaxed mood, I would ask him if he does prefer the begin, the end, or the "break-even-point" of a map/level.
- If he wants to finish the great game of a map later, I would ask him why is this game so unique to save? Was this your first success?
I think Dyson has a potential for educational use for learning basic tactical methods in a relaxed manner. In my view a save function during the game is a "killer function" for the fun of a game, because the game lost the main concept or had no good concept.In my view a save function for the randomly generated start condition has sense to try different solution concepts. But a save function for a game in progress is like to eat a great tasting hamburger later.(Instead of a save function like a patch for a straight scripted campaign I suggest to generate a campaign which offer the player to solve each stage in a long term solution, or a short term. Like a general which has different tasks as a soldier.)By the way:
I know a "saving of progress" feature from other game which was easy to cancel. I set a read-only attribute flag to that file which contained the last game state before I left that game. So I had my own quicksave. I think a good anti-cheat concept is to avoid systems which needs protection. (It is like, who supervises the guard?)
