Clean User Interface and Strong Visual Presentation

The game had to be easy to play. The players would have no patience for complicated and obscure displays that required understanding some complex symbol code. Also, it was imperative that players be able to see everything about the game in a single view. Thus, the map clearly showed the terrain in each square, and units were shown with icons plainly indicating the mode. The player had available a wide variety of special displays showing particular aspects of the game. For example, the player could elect to show the game using icons that indicated the strength of each unit. Strong units were big on the map, and weak units were small on the map. With a display showing American or German flags on each of the landmarks, the player could also see who owned each landmark. The best of these displays was the supply display. This showed the supply lines for one side with small red dots moving along the roads toward the front to indicate where supplies were flowing.

Since the game was played in real time, orders entry presented me with the same problems I had with Legionnaire. The problems were even worse in Patton Strikes Back, because I elected to present the orders by putting the unit through a little dance showing its intended sequence of moves. When the player selected a friendly unit, that unit would dance out its current orders. The player could then enter orders using the keyboard, or simply click and drag to designate an objective. The problems arose from the many ways in which the player could enter orders during the dance. The player could add orders or delete orders midway through the dance; how was such a situation to be handled? I eventually got it straight, but the number of unanticipated logical possibilities was frustrating.