CORDIAL MINUET ENSEMBLE

I have just finished my first few rounds of Cordial Minuet, and I am waiting for someone to join a game I just created so I thought I would type up a couple thoughts for you Jason.

First, a little context of who I am as a player. I have always had an interest in gambling, particularly cards (Hold Em and Blackjack mostly). However, growing up in a strictly Christian household (my Dads a pastor) kind of made that not an option until college. And sadly Maryland only recently legalized table games and I dont live near a casino. Therefore I dont have much in the way of experience concerning the finer points of gambling strategy (I guess this is another perspective than from the other reaction thread from a person with gambling experience) That said, I ADORE mind games and this seems to be right up my alley for that reason (also why I was excited to help test Castle Doctrine).

One thing I want to touch on first is the mandatory money element. Ive seen some of the comments on the articles on Kotaku and Rock Paper Shotgun, and while I think youre going to get alot of resistance about this I think it is overall a good choice. This game is just like poker, even if its just for pennies it matters so much more if there is money on the line. It changes the whole dynamic. I realize I may be preaching to the choir here, haha. Just want to say I completely understand what you're going for.

As for the game itself, I believe it is an extremely elegant design, and VERY difficult to explain in just words and and images. After reading the articles on Kotaku and RPS, I still wasnt sure how the game worked. It wasnt until I watched the tutorial video posted that everything actually clicked. I am excited to really try and dig into the strategy of it all.

As I dont have much experience with gambling, I have no idea what is standard for this; but it feels like the amount the house takes each round is too steep. I much prefer the option explained in Asminthe's thread, having the house's cut taken out at the beginning. Or maybe taking one coin per player each round instead of a percentage of the pot? Or maybe have both (pay up front vs % of pot) be an option for the game creator.

As for the mind game aspect of the game, I look forward to trying the game while sitting in the same room as my opponent. I would recommend maybe adding the option to password protect games? Or maybe the ability to see who is hosting a game? It wont be a problem now with so few players, but I forsee that being an issue post launch.

Other little thoughts:
- I love the art direction, I hope you go even further with it
- Will there be music? I feel like this could benefit from some atmospheric music
- I really want to second the request for seeing the game listing while waiting for an opponent in a game I created. I am always worried I am missing something while I am waiting
- Will there be an option to change our alias? This would be more important if the ability to see who is in a game, particularly if we want to play a game with friends
- Will there be any sort of ranking system? There are pros and cons to this, it could help fresh/inexperienced/bad players know to avoid people of high high skill and therefore avoid losing constantly. But it could also cause no one to want to play with high ranked players. Maybe a tiered system? Or a separate lobby for new players to learn the ropes? This isnt really an issue (or practical) yet, but I am worried about someone coming in to try and learn the game/basic strategy and losing horribly to a veteran player and getting turned off from the game.

Anyway, Im not sure if any of this is helpful or not. Ill post more if I get any more thoughts! Thanks for the invite, and I look forward to playing more!