I am overwhelmed by all the positive reviews and great feedback I am getting for Islands of the Caliph!

However there is a subset of players that, perhaps rightfully, seem to be very upset over some of the game's mechanics.

Now some of these I completely understand and am working to improve. If quests are not clear to a player, I want to fix that to make sure they understand what to do.  If players get soft-locked, I want to make sure i provide some means of proceeding. These are not intentional, but thing that got overlooked in the testing phase.

However there are other things that are really part of the core of the game that some people don't like. I tried to be upfront about these things on the store page.  This paragraph in particular seems to be generating most of the issues:

From the Store Page
"Choices the player makes will set them on a course of action suited to their style of play. Some of these may allow players to reach new heights of spiritual awakening, while others may bring disaster down upon themselves or on all the Islands of the Caliph, it is your choice!"

I really wanted to make something that would require players to consider the consequences of their actions. There are many in-game prompts that warn players not to do things, or offer them ways out of a certain path they have undertaken.

Rogue-like-like?
I guess this is not a common thing in modern game design, but I was intrigued by the popularity of rogue-likes where the player's entire character gets lost and requires a complete re-start of the game.

I've always felt that's too harsh for me, so I allowed a similar kind of consequence. On 'death' which is actually described as unconsciousness in the game, players can either re-load a saved game, or restart on the nearest island after losing some silver and some of their items.

Particularly bad choices can lead to worse situations, but I have endeavored to make it possible for players to rebuild their character wherever they are. Initially, there were some major issues with this, but I believe it's working as designed now.


Might & Magic Book I

Old School RPGs
Also, just the reference to old school RPGs is something I thought should cause players to anticipate harsh consequences.

Bards Tale had a particularly difficult situation for players whose party was killed, especially in the early game. I found this article describing how that game worked: http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2010/03/bards-tale-pleasingly-difficult.html

I remember trying to reload a Bard's Tale game after my party was killed. I thought I could circumvent the system by not saving my game! Ha! Little did I know. The punishment? All my gold was gone when I reloaded the game.

I remember thinking I could rob from a town in Might & Magic Book 1 only to get my characters "ERADICATED" by diamond golems as a result. Fun stuff!

Wizardry would leave your dead characters in the dungeon, and only by sending in another team could you recover them or their items.

So harsh consequences were a major part of the lifeblood of these old school RPGs and maybe people just don't realize that?

Sprituality
The spiritual aspect is another one that seems to catch players off guard. Many old games included a spiritual element that required the player to behave a certain way, or suffer certain consequences. Ultima IV and V are particularly well known in this department, and were foundational for me as a game player, and later as a game designer. They tested you to see if you would live up to the virtues you claimed to hold, and punished you if you did not.


Windwalker

One of my favorite old games was Moebius: The Wind Walker, which was based on Buddhist spiritual tradition. I remember (again) stealing something in that game, just as most RPGs would allow you to do in those days, only to see my Karma meter go down a notch. NPCs treated me differently, and would not give me helpful information anymore. I had to learn how to go to the temple, burn incense and say my prayers before I could proceed in the story after that. It was an important moment for me as a player but also as a person.

I really believe the games we play can have an impact on who we are as people. Just as the books we read and the people we interact with can influence our beliefs and behaviors, games are a powerful tool of expression and art that can be used for good or ill. That's the kind of thinking that went into Islands of the Caliph.

Anyway, I wrote this to give a heads up to anyone interested in buying the game, and any players who are wondering what's wrong with me.