The Dink Network

This D-Mod disturbs me to no end... While it definitely has great potential, almost nothing comes of it. The basic element of this D-Mod is to travel between cities buying and selling goods to try and make a profit - (actually, this is the only element here). I had really hoped for a multi-tiered economic management simulator, but, alas, that is not to be the case. Here is my summary...

***Plot***
Possibly the weakest element of this D-Mod. The only present story elements is that you are a sea trader that starts out dirt poor, and sells trade goods to try and make a profit. While a background story is not completely necessary, the major falling out that I see here is that there is no challenge beyond trying to trade for a profit... The gold you get from the trade goods can only be used to buy one thing, which is more trade goods- thus, in my mind, completely defeating any real drive or purpose to the game. There are no outside elements to influence your trade- save occassional pirates, no scenarios, no possible advancement, no challenges, and no real purpose in this D-Mod.
***2.5***

***Gameplay***
The menus that the game ran from were streamlined and easy to use, and was very easy to pick up, saying that other games of similar genres are normally not very beginner friendly. This, however, is to be expected, since the game never really bothers to take things to the next level, prefering to stay near the beginning. I find it very sad that there is so little material in this D-Mod. It would take very little to make it much more interesting... You could, say, for example- get to buy better ships which either hold more or are faster- be able to hire specialized crew members - engage in local politics of the differant cities - deal with a boycott of one of your profitable goods... In sort, with only one or two extra scripts, this game could have actually added an element of challenge and strategy that it is lacking. Simply trading goods grows redundant fast, and may induce heavy sleep for the player...
***3.0***

***Sound***
The midis were catchy, but they (like everything else) grew tiresome quickly. The game seems to dismiss the idea that one could add ambient sounds, to say, give the player the impression that there ship is in the middle of the sea, traveling between two major docks...
***4.0***

***Map***
The map provided was painfully simple, and served no purpose at all, since you could instantly travel between any two cities you choose.
***2.0***

FINAL SCORE:
***2.6***

I may seem like I am being harsh, but it is not because this is necessarily a horrible D-Mod so much as a piecework of savagely lost potential. With only a few additions, I think that I could bring it up a few score points- but, alas, as it is, I find myself tearfully bored after each playing...

This is quite original a dmod. It isn't the usual rpg action adventure game, but.. a sea trading game!

It's not much though. The only thing you do is buy some items, go to another town (which is basically just more clicking) and sell the items for more money so you make profit.
All you do is clicking. No thinking, no fighting, no interaction, nothing. TheProphet claims there are pirates in the game too, but I haven't seen them.

All you see is basically a (badly drawn) map, some very pixelated items, and a Go and Quit button. Go makes you go to other towns (though you actually don't see any movement or animations) and quit makes you.. uhh.. quit. Yeah. That's it. This is boring. Very boring.
You lose when you have less than 100 gold. The graphics of the screen you get to see when you lose are ok, but could have been a lot better. It's clearly been color-reduced by Paint, which is a bad idea.
The music was okay, some very nice midis. It can't help the game though, since you quit the game before you even finished listening to the soundtracks.

Overall, this is a bad game. It simply isn't any fun.

GRAPHICS 4: Makes you all sleepy. Could have been a lot better, if more effort was put into this.
SOUND 7: Some nice midis, no new sounds. Nothing spectaculair.
GAMEPLAY 3: Nearly nonexistant. Some points for originality, but it just bores the hell out of you.
LASTING APPEAL 1: For about 3 minutes at most.
OVERALL: 4.0

Okay music and original concept can't save this. Download it to check it out, but I don't think you'll spend more time playing this than downloading it.

This D-Mod is different than normal mods. It's basic premise is going on a ship from city to city buying and selling goods. Your goal is to get profit I assume. And sometimes a pirate attack occours and you lose all your goods. Now I did pretty badly at this game, but even if I could play it I would find it boring. The concept is interesting, but the execution is not great. I would only recommend this if you are interested in a basic implamentation of strategy elements using the Dink engine. Otherwise you are better off playing something else.

Plot: You have to buy and sell and buy and sell over and over and if you don't have 100 gold you lose your crew which do nothing from what it seems and you have to get 100 gold in debt payed
Music: It was good for the different areas, but it would get annyoing after a while of hearing sooner or later
Time: It took about 5 to 10 minutes before it got boring or annoying
Personal: It got boring after a while if I wanter to trade things I would play Fable to get some extra gold and It seemed like the price of food always rised and the selling value was lowered
Sword's Rating: He didn't see it he was busy doing stuff
Bugs: I'm not sure, but if the food thing isn't a bug then I find any
Recommondation: People who like things that are slightly unfair or that require luck you should get it or if you have a collection.

Depending on the kind of game you like this could be a great game or something terribly boring.

Thing is this D-mod has you navigate charts whereby you buy and sell goods at higher and lower prices to earn profit. The fact that this D-mod was scripted to essentialy become a "Sea Trader Tycoon" game is incredible. Though it is very limited as you can only go to a handful of places and only sell a handful of things. There is quite good progression as you go from selling cheap goods like food to more rare items like art, but it essentially maintains itself as a game of numbers and planning.

If you like such games play it for a while otherwise you can skip this. Regardless everyone should see the game itself just to see what the Dink Engine is really capable of doing in the hands of the skilled. (See also Redink1's "Checkers'" and "Explorations" for other examples of drasticly different uses for the Dink Engine.)

Sincerely,
The Vault Dweller

An interesting idea for a mod. However, all of the gameplay (I have witnessed) is on one mapscreen. The problem that arises is that the game almost seems like a mini-game withing a larger game (without the larger game). I found boredom came quickly. The ideas were great but it was carried out badly.

Ok, why did I download this? Oops. *Ahem* Well, very interesting. Sea tradeing, not RPG, no fighting, very original, not much to do really unless your bored. It made me more bored. New graphics. My rating system...
Graphics
8.0
Boresomeness
-4.0
So I'd give it a 4.0. Only for those with a lot of time or are so bored, they have nothing better to do.

This one sounded decent at first but once you start it you see otherwise

Storyline: You are a trader trying to make your fortune

Gameplay: At first it looks good, and the concept is, but then as you play it you notice the repetition of it all. You buy, you sell and you after a long time prosper. Although this may sound good it really isn’t, there is no incentive to buy, no rewards or upgrades to help you, and it is just the same basic thing over and over again, there are no random events or pirates, as you would expect in such a game, instead there is just the repetitive buy click, go click, sell click. After a wile this gets boring.

Graphics: All new graphics! But they don’t really add anything to the experience. None of them animate, they don’t need to, the game doesn’t do any moving bar the mouse.

Music: None that I can hear…

Final Thoughts: Good idea, not well executed. I believe you should try again making one in dink view instead of the way you currently have made it. And if you still need to do the set coarse thing try to make random events
Good: The idea
Bad: The Execution

Agathain sea traders.

Idea:Good 7.8

THe thing to do here is just to "Sail" around the world, trading goods. But its not pretty good, it could be added more things to do. It gets kinda boring, after 10 minuttes 2.4

Total 5.1

It may be fun for a little while, but then it gets boring. It would be better if you went to another town and then you saw your ship sailing toward that town. The graphics arent that good. I dont know weither its just me or that you actually cant make any gold on this dmod.

Overall: Not so good

Storyline: There is no storyline as this is a strategy game. The goal of the game is to get as much money as you can. You can earn money by buying goods, such as food, clothes and furniture, and selling them at a higher price. In order to do that, you have to buy goods in one town and sell them in another. While you are on your way to another city, pirates can steal your goods. Another difficulty is that the prices in the towns keep on changing.

Map and graphics: The map is a drawing of a sea with shores and cities. The graphics used are new and suit the game very nicely.

Music: Fair.

Good: Although a strategy game is not original, it is however original to use the Dink engine to make a strategy game. When you see the map it is like you have just started a unknown strategy game, which is nice since it makes you feel excited to learn all about the game, the rules an how you can win, just when you start any other new strategy game.

Not so good: You do not actually travel to another city, so the map with cities is just for fun. The only thing you can do is buy and sell things and that gets tedious after a while. Since you cannot depend on set prices, you can not set out a strategy but have to depend on luck.

Overall: Very nice game, but it gets boring too soon.

Fit for: If you want to play a very simple strategy game.

I like the potential of this, it could be very cool. but it needs a MAJOR overhaul!! The game just feels like it should have another 2 or 3 sections, and while what has been made is nice, it is far too simplistic and boring.
I thought this would be a lot more like PiratesGold, but it feel like some sort of spreadsheet...ugh...