*Updated for 2.1.4* Temporary removal of new top/side bar
When you relaunch the update for new top bar with the changes that you mentioned, please also reconsider the clock placement. I prefer it where it was, in my city screen. Also, while leaving the arrow to navigate quickly through the cities, perhaps blend the new city navigation as well! Thanks guys!
Thank you for backing the changes off. I didn't like them one bit.
First, you lost the max people count, ie 1,810 / 4,159. Yes, you could remove the commas, but at the city level, the max people and actual people are crucial pieces of information.
Those numbers being displayed always let me know that I still needed to finish the farm in that city, without having to look at the farm lvl.
Another MAJOR topbar problem - the city name space isn't long enough. My city names are formatted like "user.region.city#" thus "Bannor.41." is not enough when I have 20 cities in region 41.
Last, the city left/right buttons are indispensable.
To roll through my cities, after I had finished one city for the moment using the new topbar, I had to open city hall, slide down to the rename field just to see what city I was in, THEN hit the city sidebar, slide down to the next city.
When attacking from multiple cities, I used to be able to open the "attack send" report that I just sent, click on the city being attacked, click on attack, then left/right until I found the right amount of troops to launch my next attack on that city. With the new topbar, I couldn't left/right, I'd have to click the city sidebar and pray that I found a city that had troops to send an attack.
Also, because this is a network game, and the Internet is such a finicky beast, the Refresh is a mandatory item.
For the city sidebar to be effective, we need troop info for the city, statuses for buildings, and so much more information. Until then, the city arrow keys make much more sense.
Peace,
Bns001
First, you lost the max people count, ie 1,810 / 4,159. Yes, you could remove the commas, but at the city level, the max people and actual people are crucial pieces of information.
Those numbers being displayed always let me know that I still needed to finish the farm in that city, without having to look at the farm lvl.
Another MAJOR topbar problem - the city name space isn't long enough. My city names are formatted like "user.region.city#" thus "Bannor.41." is not enough when I have 20 cities in region 41.
Last, the city left/right buttons are indispensable.
To roll through my cities, after I had finished one city for the moment using the new topbar, I had to open city hall, slide down to the rename field just to see what city I was in, THEN hit the city sidebar, slide down to the next city.
When attacking from multiple cities, I used to be able to open the "attack send" report that I just sent, click on the city being attacked, click on attack, then left/right until I found the right amount of troops to launch my next attack on that city. With the new topbar, I couldn't left/right, I'd have to click the city sidebar and pray that I found a city that had troops to send an attack.
Also, because this is a network game, and the Internet is such a finicky beast, the Refresh is a mandatory item.
For the city sidebar to be effective, we need troop info for the city, statuses for buildings, and so much more information. Until then, the city arrow keys make much more sense.
Peace,
Bns001
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neuroblade
- Lancer
- Posts: 21
- Joined: Mon Jul 09, 2012 1:04 am
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PwnLaw
Hey Folks,
Oh man, lots to share. Let's get to it.
One thing before we begin: Orlor isn't responsible for changes to the game, he's responsible for making sure that your thoughts and opinions are communicated internally and I'd say the rapid response is a good indication that's he's on top of it. He spent all of last night relentlessly advocating on your behalf. If someone needs to be called out by name in a rant/vent, make sure it's me and not your friendly neighborhood community manager. But definitely feel free to rage on him if he gives you bs answers and doesn't communicate.
Beta Testing
The Bad News: There are some very specific constraints on how many devices can access unreleased builds of an application. This restriction prevents broader offline beta tests from occurring, and means that the group of people we can poll before launch is relatively small (~20 outside the company). We ran the application through this group of experienced players, and there was very little by way of negative feedback. Clearly we needed a broader testing pool. However, to build such a testing pool, we would need to create a beta system on our live product for the testing of new features. That's very costly and time consuming.
The Good News: We're building that system (hence some of the server glitches, we needed to make A LOT of changes). You will need to wait on Orlor to release details on how you get into beta testing.
Sidebar Changes
Generally you folks have been pretty quiet on this one, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say this feature could be very useful as we progress and develop it. I like it and I believe you guys will like where it ends up.
Top Bar Changes
The arrows. Dear lord, the arrows. They haunt me.
I'd say this is probably the place where I've seen the most comment. Arguments on the "Worst thing in the history of mankind" side of the equation probably are a bit of a stretch, but it's very clear that the loss of arrows set people back. I'm upset that this turned out to be such an inconvenience, and we're going to sit down internally to see how we can move the top bar forward without moving other pieces backward. We'll get there, and hopefully everyone here will be a part of that.
City names cut off. I'm vexed on this one. Clear miss. Apologies.
Simplified Bar. It looks better and ya'll know it. We can change some colors around, but it's less busy and easier to move through. I'm sure people would wish we made the gold button a little bit smaller, but we do very little pushing of gold in our game (avoid popups, constant messages about it, etc.) and so we need to give it a bit of real estate.
User Comments
Honestly? I love them. I spent all yesterday reading the forums. I responded here and there, but mostly I just appreciated that so many people dropped in to make a comment. You have no idea how fulfilling it is to make a game and have people care enough to come over and type out a manifesto on their phone explaining how much they want things to be different. You care, and it makes me and my entire team care a lot more. Some of the comments ran a bit harsh, but we're gamers and that's how we do. I'll be pointing out a few comments I found particularly helpful in a later video so you guys can see what helped move opinion internally. Volume of posts never hurts, but people that drop the hammer and explain everything in detail (from their thoughts on the play to any feelings they had), get a star on my side and are brought up during design meetings.
That about does it for now. Ya'll will be hearing from me a lot more moving forward, and I can't wait to share with you the stuff that just came out of design. It's very...different. And by different I mean vicious.
Best,
PwnLaw.
Oh man, lots to share. Let's get to it.
One thing before we begin: Orlor isn't responsible for changes to the game, he's responsible for making sure that your thoughts and opinions are communicated internally and I'd say the rapid response is a good indication that's he's on top of it. He spent all of last night relentlessly advocating on your behalf. If someone needs to be called out by name in a rant/vent, make sure it's me and not your friendly neighborhood community manager. But definitely feel free to rage on him if he gives you bs answers and doesn't communicate.
Beta Testing
The Bad News: There are some very specific constraints on how many devices can access unreleased builds of an application. This restriction prevents broader offline beta tests from occurring, and means that the group of people we can poll before launch is relatively small (~20 outside the company). We ran the application through this group of experienced players, and there was very little by way of negative feedback. Clearly we needed a broader testing pool. However, to build such a testing pool, we would need to create a beta system on our live product for the testing of new features. That's very costly and time consuming.
The Good News: We're building that system (hence some of the server glitches, we needed to make A LOT of changes). You will need to wait on Orlor to release details on how you get into beta testing.
Sidebar Changes
Generally you folks have been pretty quiet on this one, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say this feature could be very useful as we progress and develop it. I like it and I believe you guys will like where it ends up.
Top Bar Changes
The arrows. Dear lord, the arrows. They haunt me.
I'd say this is probably the place where I've seen the most comment. Arguments on the "Worst thing in the history of mankind" side of the equation probably are a bit of a stretch, but it's very clear that the loss of arrows set people back. I'm upset that this turned out to be such an inconvenience, and we're going to sit down internally to see how we can move the top bar forward without moving other pieces backward. We'll get there, and hopefully everyone here will be a part of that.
City names cut off. I'm vexed on this one. Clear miss. Apologies.
Simplified Bar. It looks better and ya'll know it. We can change some colors around, but it's less busy and easier to move through. I'm sure people would wish we made the gold button a little bit smaller, but we do very little pushing of gold in our game (avoid popups, constant messages about it, etc.) and so we need to give it a bit of real estate.
User Comments
Honestly? I love them. I spent all yesterday reading the forums. I responded here and there, but mostly I just appreciated that so many people dropped in to make a comment. You have no idea how fulfilling it is to make a game and have people care enough to come over and type out a manifesto on their phone explaining how much they want things to be different. You care, and it makes me and my entire team care a lot more. Some of the comments ran a bit harsh, but we're gamers and that's how we do. I'll be pointing out a few comments I found particularly helpful in a later video so you guys can see what helped move opinion internally. Volume of posts never hurts, but people that drop the hammer and explain everything in detail (from their thoughts on the play to any feelings they had), get a star on my side and are brought up during design meetings.
That about does it for now. Ya'll will be hearing from me a lot more moving forward, and I can't wait to share with you the stuff that just came out of design. It's very...different. And by different I mean vicious.
Best,
PwnLaw.
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Xerxes2012
- Lancer
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Fri Sep 07, 2012 5:57 pm
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