this gives the graphics UX guy something to do. He's probably not involved in the other things that are "broken".
A lot of assumptions are made when you don't know their employee structure and game architecture.
Let’s assume they have someone devoted only to working on UI improvements. Did that person fix the persistent scaling issues observed across multiple devices? Nope. Did they solve the gauntlet display issue with skills over 999? Not that I have noticed recently. So why redesign the shuttle screen (poorly) now when there are known problems to be solved?
I'm going to join the echo chamber on the small text. Please make it bigger. Please make the graphics bigger too. Other than that, I don't care about the layout. Just make the important things bigger.
I'm all for saying you don't like something but you need to give specific feedback on it. WHY don't you like it? What is problematic for you? How could it be fixed?
My main issue is the slots for loading crew are way too small. As someone else pointed out there's a lot of wasted space on the left half of the screen. Those boxes should be bigger so that they're easier to hit on small screens. It's so hard to load shuttles on my phone now. Make the boxes bigger or put them on two different rows. Make use of the space over there. I think the old layout made much better use of the space by having the shuttle seats going across the top the whole length of the screen and the rewards showing across the bottom. The layout now doesn't make any sense.
I also don't need the story of the mission to take up so much space. That could be a little smaller or wrap more. The rewards could also wrap (be two rows wide instead of 1).
It’s like DB took the investment money to make the game bigger, better and more accessible to new users ... and got so blind drunk they are screwing everything up.
Sober up guys, you have a great game but you seem to be flying the ship apart while missing crew from the engineering team.
I don't like these changes so far, but I'm reserving judgment until next Tuesday.
Remember, they said that there are server-side updates happening next Tuesday. It could be those will introduce something that makes all this understandable.
After those server updates are out, I'll decide what I think of these changes. Right now, we may only have part of the puzzle.
If this change had made it so rewards from missions all showed up simultaneously instead of slowly, one by one, at least there'd be some benefit.
I've waited a couple of days before commenting, but all I can think of when that Success screen scrolls down from the top-center is when old people discover Powerpoint transitions.
It's one step away from changing the font to Comic Sans. It's just not something a designer would do (except as a joke).
Is it possible that one of the directors' (presumably adult) children has been given a job at DB and needed to be given something to do?
Shall we focus on positives first DB? OK then.
I like that boosts now show exactly what they're adding in the form of a blue section on the bar.
I'm not completely against the AND and OR being visually a little different, helps me pay attention tbh.
However I'll echo some other comments. The skills are really really teeny tiny. MED and CMD are so small they're difficult to deferentiate. Seems there's a lot of wasted space. Ill keep an open mind but I'm not getting any younger and I already need glasses to see stuff.
Finish screen is fine, could be bigger. There's another Seven of One (can't work out if she's Mirror or my long lost (evil) twin sister) and she plays on a tablet which isnt ideal but not too problematic. I play on a phone though and I already felt like I have massive elephant hands I now also feel like I should equip myself with an eyeglass. If you could send Detective Data my way that may help to improve the situation.
Another one who dislikes the new UI. It is waaaay to small, even on my iPad Pro 12.9" it looks awful, and on my phone it's positively miniscule, to the point of being almost unreadable, certainly at a glance.
It was so much better as it was before.
Others have commented about the flaws with this UI, so I'm not going to echo them. If this is actually readable on any consumer display I'd be surprised.
Please DB I do want to like you and not pile on the hate but honestly if you would put more resources into testing events, distress calls and packs before they go live rather than trying to fix things that aren't broken it would reflect back on you much better.
Perhaps it's time to reconsider the beer taps in the office?
In addition to text so small you need a microscope to read it and symbols jammed on top of one another so they can’t be read, I also noticed some overlap between the credit/XP rewards and the crew level in the mission complete screen:
In all honesty, I don’t think I have really cared to know how my crew have leveled up from a mission since February of 2016 but look at all the wasted blank space...having blank space is incredibly important but this is far too much.
I know I said I'd reserve judgment until next week, but I'm going to speculate here:
Might the change to tiny crew icons means that they're going to really boost the number of shuttle seats on a "normal" mission, to where they'' need that extra space?
I know I said I'd reserve judgment until next week, but I'm going to speculate here:
Might the change to tiny crew icons means that they're going to really boost the number of shuttle seats on a "normal" mission, to where they'' need that extra space?
As someone with a fairly deep crew (most of the 4*s and a healthy number of immortalized 5*s) I could make that work but having 6- or 7- slot shuttles would be an enormous middle finger to people who have not been playing for two years or spend a ton of money on packs and crew slots.
I know I said I'd reserve judgment until next week, but I'm going to speculate here:
Might the change to tiny crew icons means that they're going to really boost the number of shuttle seats on a "normal" mission, to where they'' need that extra space?
As someone with a fairly deep crew (most of the 4*s and a healthy number of immortalized 5*s) I could make that work but having 6- or 7- slot shuttles would be an enormous middle finger to people who have not been playing for two years or spend a ton of money on packs and crew slots.
As we keep saying, we'll see. But if we get 6 or 7 slot shuttles, things start to look uninstall worthy. I hope to be surprised, but these recent changes haven't been for the better.
I honestly don't care if they give us 6 or 8 crew per shuttle I still am struggling to see what I'm doing in the best of light. That interface **tsk tsk** on my Android phone and I don't like it.
I honestly don't care if they give us 6 or 8 crew per shuttle I still am struggling to see what I'm doing in the best of light. That interface **tsk tsk** on my Android phone and I don't like it.
I doubt very much if they care whether we like it or not. They obviously dont play their own game so the usability of the interface is an absolute non-priority.
As someone with a fairly deep crew (most of the 4*s and a healthy number of immortalized 5*s) I could make that work but having 6- or 7- slot shuttles would be an enormous middle finger to people who have not been playing for two years or spend a ton of money on packs and crew slots.
It does seem consistent with DB's/TP's current engagement strategy. Just as moving the featured 5* reward a week earlier will drive people to spend more (real or virtual) to level their characters, having larger shuttle crews will mean needing more leveled, quality characters to crew these missions (and potentially more crew slots for some).
Usually I unfreeze event characters temporarily but in general manage may crew tightly (top six base and voyage stats only, otherwise into the freezer you go). I have a lot of 4*s on shore leave I could recall to duty, and 35 beds that could be filled at the moment. I could comfortably move from top six base crew to top eight or nine and still have wiggle room, but I know many people don't. Thus, more spending on crew quarters for many.
My 8-Point STT Strategy:
1. Voyage.
2. Have fun. If something isn't fun, don't do it.
3. Only pursue characters I care about.
4. Contribute to the fleet.
5. No more spending beyond monthly cards.
6. Have fun.
7. Voyage.
8. Have fun!
Comments
Came here specifically to say this.
The dev team need to have a crash course on designing for accessibility.
Why... What in the world are you saving all the space for? Seriously... Who approved this UI change?
Let’s assume they have someone devoted only to working on UI improvements. Did that person fix the persistent scaling issues observed across multiple devices? Nope. Did they solve the gauntlet display issue with skills over 999? Not that I have noticed recently. So why redesign the shuttle screen (poorly) now when there are known problems to be solved?
My main issue is the slots for loading crew are way too small. As someone else pointed out there's a lot of wasted space on the left half of the screen. Those boxes should be bigger so that they're easier to hit on small screens. It's so hard to load shuttles on my phone now. Make the boxes bigger or put them on two different rows. Make use of the space over there. I think the old layout made much better use of the space by having the shuttle seats going across the top the whole length of the screen and the rewards showing across the bottom. The layout now doesn't make any sense.
I also don't need the story of the mission to take up so much space. That could be a little smaller or wrap more. The rewards could also wrap (be two rows wide instead of 1).
PM for details.
So long and thanks for all the fish.
Sober up guys, you have a great game but you seem to be flying the ship apart while missing crew from the engineering team.
Remember, they said that there are server-side updates happening next Tuesday. It could be those will introduce something that makes all this understandable.
After those server updates are out, I'll decide what I think of these changes. Right now, we may only have part of the puzzle.
Text I can live with, but I can't make head or tail from the icons anymore, especially MED and CMD are too similar in this small font.
"Testing? What is this concept?" DB employee
I've waited a couple of days before commenting, but all I can think of when that Success screen scrolls down from the top-center is when old people discover Powerpoint transitions.
It's one step away from changing the font to Comic Sans. It's just not something a designer would do (except as a joke).
Is it possible that one of the directors' (presumably adult) children has been given a job at DB and needed to be given something to do?
I like that boosts now show exactly what they're adding in the form of a blue section on the bar.
I'm not completely against the AND and OR being visually a little different, helps me pay attention tbh.
However I'll echo some other comments. The skills are really really teeny tiny. MED and CMD are so small they're difficult to deferentiate. Seems there's a lot of wasted space. Ill keep an open mind but I'm not getting any younger and I already need glasses to see stuff.
Finish screen is fine, could be bigger. There's another Seven of One (can't work out if she's Mirror or my long lost (evil) twin sister) and she plays on a tablet which isnt ideal but not too problematic. I play on a phone though and I already felt like I have massive elephant hands I now also feel like I should equip myself with an eyeglass. If you could send Detective Data my way that may help to improve the situation.
It was so much better as it was before.
Please DB I do want to like you and not pile on the hate but honestly if you would put more resources into testing events, distress calls and packs before they go live rather than trying to fix things that aren't broken it would reflect back on you much better.
Perhaps it's time to reconsider the beer taps in the office?
In all honesty, I don’t think I have really cared to know how my crew have leveled up from a mission since February of 2016 but look at all the wasted blank space...having blank space is incredibly important but this is far too much.
Might the change to tiny crew icons means that they're going to really boost the number of shuttle seats on a "normal" mission, to where they'' need that extra space?
As someone with a fairly deep crew (most of the 4*s and a healthy number of immortalized 5*s) I could make that work but having 6- or 7- slot shuttles would be an enormous middle finger to people who have not been playing for two years or spend a ton of money on packs and crew slots.
As we keep saying, we'll see. But if we get 6 or 7 slot shuttles, things start to look uninstall worthy. I hope to be surprised, but these recent changes haven't been for the better.
Check out our website to find out more:
https://wiki.tenforwardloungers.com/
I doubt very much if they care whether we like it or not. They obviously dont play their own game so the usability of the interface is an absolute non-priority.
It does seem consistent with DB's/TP's current engagement strategy. Just as moving the featured 5* reward a week earlier will drive people to spend more (real or virtual) to level their characters, having larger shuttle crews will mean needing more leveled, quality characters to crew these missions (and potentially more crew slots for some).
Usually I unfreeze event characters temporarily but in general manage may crew tightly (top six base and voyage stats only, otherwise into the freezer you go). I have a lot of 4*s on shore leave I could recall to duty, and 35 beds that could be filled at the moment. I could comfortably move from top six base crew to top eight or nine and still have wiggle room, but I know many people don't. Thus, more spending on crew quarters for many.
1. Voyage.
2. Have fun. If something isn't fun, don't do it.
3. Only pursue characters I care about.
4. Contribute to the fleet.
5. No more spending beyond monthly cards.
6. Have fun.
7. Voyage.
8. Have fun!