Not at all! It's a text-based... adventure? Unsure on how to classify it. The object of the game is to chase down a character through a series of locations, but the gameplay itself is fairly spartan.
I'd compare it to Hunt the Wumpus (1973) for gameplay, but something like Hammurabi (1968) or Civil War (1968?) for User Interface.
I see! The apple probably has a diegetic reason, but I probably just missed it- I assumed it was part of a puzzle that would require the guy on the south of the hill.
Not sure how I would approach the map (maybe have Scenes associated with a predefined coordinate value when you go to the Map Screen?), but it's fine for what it is!
I hope that your students enjoy the game, it's certainly a novel way of teaching methinks!
I love the game so far! For the longest time I figured that argumentation would make for a wonderful battle system, and it was wonderful to see how you accomplished this!
My biggest issue with the game so far is a combination of player walk speed and the presence of a map but no fast travel. I understand that you're working within the constraints of the Game Boy, but the presence of a map with selectable regions seems to imply that this is a functionality that is planned. Though, it could just be me having missed out on something, or other players having trouble remembering the names of places on the map.
In addition, your location on the map doesn't seem to be connected to your physical location-- when I opened the map north of the gates to Athens, I mistakenly thought that it was indicating I was in the middle of the city. Though, I did figure out where I was after only a few minutes, so not the worst of problems!
The combat system seems really great! Though arguments seem to be tied closely to a specific order of knowledge and opinion, it could just be that I wasn't able to find anything equivalent to a healing item, and the ability to redo arguments renders this problem largely moot. Though the idea of collecting knowledge/opinions to use in battle is not only novel, but seems like it works well as a teaching aid for players unfamiliar with philosophy contemporary to the setting.
I got stuck with Athena's Owl directing me to collect Olives. The way the scene is framed implies the tree in the Temple's courtyard is the Olive Tree, but there's no way to enter that temple. If you have the Olive Tree implemented, I'd recommend using a similar visual hint as when Athena's Owl flew off towards the Parthenon- either a vision of where the olives are, showing the owl or leaves flying off towards the tree. Though, if it's just because the tree's not yet implemented, no worries.
Overall, I look forward to the finished game! The demo has great promise, and was very enjoyable- especially as someone who's read some of Plato's work.
