You only get out what you put in...sux!

The first castle I built sank into the swamp...

After extensive play testin g I've been making a wee adjustment to the lumbering in Driftwurld, due to go live tomorrow.

The adjustment is that when your playing the mini game to gather lumber supplies, once you get some you have a chance of winning 2 extra lumber on top. You can win this once a day - just keep gathering until you win (secret in the know knowledge - each time you have completed gathering lumber, you have a 33% chance of winning this extra 2 points of hard wood lumber).

I was basically playing and I realised how horribly linear the aquisition of this important resource is. You want more lumber? You just keep playing it over and over and over until you've gotten the amount you needed. There would be no surprise twist - it was as predictable as just grinding away at it.

The whole essence of gameplay is uncertainty. Sure, in the mini game you might choose the wrong answer, but in the larger 'game', there was no uncertainty. Just a predictable increment, as bad as the Flanders version of snakes and ladders where everyone moves one square at a time (because dice are the work of the devil!)

It's nice to have the idea the player has put in, in order to get something. But not at the expense of gameplay/uncertainty.