r/4Xgaming

I went down a rabbit hole on whether gamers read less in games than they used to. Short version: yes, and dramatically. Strategic thinking motivation dropped. WoW players skip quest text unless forced to wait. Bungie deleted Destiny's entire Grimoire system because nobody read it.
Yet 4x devs have done the opposite: Paradox built nested tooltips for CK3, Old World added 1000+ text-only events, Stellaris added text-to-speech rather than cutting text content.

So the question I want answered for 4x devs such as myself:
Should 4x try to grow by trimming text and lowering that barrier? Am I correct in trying to minimize text where possible? Or would I try appeasing an audience that doesn't exist?

Hi guys!

Monarchs at Play is turn-based 4X strategy with one-hour-matches.

We are doing our first Monarchs at Playtest on Steam (yeah I really like this pun) from April 24th - May 1st. Link is in the comments.

If you like 4x games in a shorter format, THIS IS FOR YOU.

Whats inside the playtest?

• A tutorial to help you learn the basics
• Singleplayer mode against bots on procedurally generated maps
• Challenges: 6 handcrafted scenarios where you can compete for the highest score

Every feedback is welcomed and encouraged so I'd love to have as many playtesters as possible <3

Cheers,
Eric
MixedMoonGames