Aesthetically speaking, I’ve got no major complaints either way. However, from a usability perspective, the new change had made things much much harder for me, almost unplayable in fact, for one reason - the need to mouse-over for critical information. I access the bazaar primarily from my phone, and while it’s not the most pleasant user experience, I could still interact with everything and obtain critical information such as what I’m missing for a particular storylet without any issue. However, now it’s become an impossibility.
So, unless there’s going to be a mobile web version of the Bazaar coming soon (and I mean really really soon, it’s pretty much unplayable right now if I didn’t already memorize most of the requirements of the storylets I’m going through, which means I’m screwed when new content arrives), I humbly request that an “on-click” action be added to trigger the information currently displayed from the mouse-over so I can obtain the information when necessary.
A better solution in my opinion would be the use of icons right now, but also display the count needed of items/levels beside the icon. More detailed information can be obtains from a mouse-over/on-click action on the item icon.
My idea of a better solution would be to cut losses and just put it back to the way that it was before. It worked just fine then, and the new design concepts are causing far worse problems than they’re solving. I’ve been hearing people elsewhere also comment that this is alienating quite a large chunk of the playerbase. This is a light, social game, which means that a lot of players dip in when they have spare time during the day, and this is usually going to be on their phones.
I know that it’s unlikely that it’ll be put back, since work has been done to change it, but read up on the Sunk Cost Dilemma
It is worsened by the contrast between the clean, modern storylet buttons and the more refined Opportunity Cards ones (the “discard” ones) and the “Travel” one.
Hi everyone, Paul here. Thanks very much for the feedback! We don’t often make interface changes, so we’re keen to hear how you’re all getting on. Specific and constructive responses, positive or negative, are always useful. Please don’t expect any changes immediately though, we want to let the interface bed in for a while before we make any tweaks. edited by MisterArendt on 1/24/2012 edited by MisterArendt on 1/24/2012
I think one change that might help is if the storylets were ordered in terms of difficulty unlock at each location - most difficult at the top and easiest at the bottom. I’ve noticed that quite often this isn’t the case. It would, at least, help with knowing - at a glance - the difficulty level of each storylet.
(I’m one of the ones who, when I’m at home, play with a touchpad on my laptop, so I confess I am finding it dismaying to have to mouse over so many things now.)
Generally, I like the new look. It does look a little stark and modern, a little white and right-angles - a little softening there couldn’t hurt. I like the new icons for storylet requirements, though I could see how they might be a big problem for touchscreen mobile use. The only issue I can personally comment on is that I’d like to see some return or variation of the “this requires X of Y - you have Z of Y” dialogue for using items and qualities.
We don’t officially support mobile devices (mobile users are still a very small minority for us) but we do tweak things where we can to make life easier. The lack of onclick/onhover support was a glitch when we went live - it should be better now. Try it and see.
Do let us know your feedback on http://feedback.echobazaar.failbettergames.com - there are already threads there. And as Paul says, specifics are essential! ‘I can’t read this bit of text on this background in these colours’, for instance, is something we can fix without starting over.
It should be greyed out, but the grey may be a bit too subtle. We’re discussing whether to change the text caption for locked buttons (which would be better accessibility too, but it opens some other worm cans)
[quote=Lady Red]I think one change that might help is if the storylets were ordered in terms of difficulty unlock at each location - most difficult at the top and easiest at the bottom. I’ve noticed that quite often this isn’t the case. It would, at least, help with knowing - at a glance - the difficulty level of each storylet.
(I’m one of the ones who, when I’m at home, play with a touchpad on my laptop, so I confess I am finding it dismaying to have to mouse over so many things now.)[/quote]
second this although not having to mouse over (I also play with a touchpad) would be better
atm i’m just playing opportunity cards because of the amount of mouse over =(
and I too like some others can’t see “moderate” against the new background edited by quartz on 1/24/2012
While I’m not totally against the new ‘clean’ look I have to say I also miss the gradients, they did give a nice textured look to the buttons, the new look is too clinical for the game.
Also not a fan of the new icons, seeing it written in text was much more convenient and added to the character. If a player wants more options per page then they can just shrink the browser text themselves!
Uhm… Is it just me, or now hovering the cursor over an Opprtunity Card opens up multiple identical description boxes (like activating it multiple times as long as the cursor passes over the card) that tend to stay open even when the cursor is out of the boundaries of the card? O_o
I preferred to acknowledge if it was a general problem or an issue of my browser only (I run an old version of Firefox) before signalling the bug. edited by streetfelineblue on 1/24/2012
thanks, but we’d always rather know. :-) So when someone less helpful than you mails us a month from now and says ‘it’s broken’ we know to say ‘yah, you’re running an old version of Firefox’. As long as you’ve put your browser version in the bug, obviously!
Ah, this reminds me. Even though it seems intuitive that seeing pictures is easier than reading a block of text, the text is much better at immersion for me. It’s like a book, compared to, well, computer icons. (And I’ve added this as a comment to one of the feedback suggestions as well.)
(Edit: Ooh, especially in “A presumptuous little opportunity” and other cards where you trade items for stuff, the mouseover is especially inconvenient because you need to know exactly what you’ll be trading away.)
Since the change is new, I’m planning on reassessing my opinion in a few weeks or so to make sure any bias is eliminated, and possibly adjusting my votes on the feedback suggestions accordingly. edited by Felicity Chase on 1/24/2012
Right now, I have 24 different Storylets possible in the Flit, mostly pertaining to one or two of 5 separate ‘Progress’ qualities I can raise. Pre-change, this would have been merely very confusing, but with the mini-icons it is much too difficult to find the Storylet I am looking for each time. Did anyone else have this problem?
I’m sure I’ll be able to get used to it, but at this particular point in gameplay it is extremely frustrating (I had the same sort of problem near the end of the Empress’ Court). There is simply too much to do. I suppose what I’d really like is better organization in terms of which Storylet relate to which quality.
I liked the old design better myself, but I think the redesign is clearer and easier to read, and that may well help some people enjoy Echo Bazaar better.