Interface changes

Not likely. It could probably move buttons, but the way things are coded I cannot really interact with the system itself.

Once again: I do have ideas on improving the interface, but instead of adding things on top of what we have, I'd rather do it [i]just[/i] right this time. Maybe if I have time this weekend I'll mock something up quickly, but I can't promise anything. Meanwhile, while all these fixes can be really helpful, it is not as easy to just "paste" them into our code, since we also have to take into consideration different screen sizes and user preferences. Improving the game interface is pretty high on our todo list, but there are a few issues that are more urgent that we want to address to improve the experience with the website, so bear with us, we only have so much spare time to spend on DXII ;)

appreciate all the work the VOLUNTEER programmers do. thanks for your time over the years, you guys are pro's!

Hear, hear, Hoodlum, hear hear!

[quote=Hoodlum]appreciate all the work the VOLUNTEER programmers do. thanks for your time over the years, you guys are pro's! [/quote] Generally speaking dude... Volunteers = Amateurs !! A Pro would be someone like Dough_Boy... ;)

I had some spare time on the train and was stuck on some other things for Dominating 12 without internet access, so I decided to quickly hack together my idea for an improved attack interface. *drum roll* [img]http://i.imgur.com/syW9VhL.png[/img] This is very much just a concept. We have to think about how this behaves in all the different cases and if we can make sure that this little popup always appears in the right place. My idea was to always put it above/below the territory that you are moving to. This box would replace the bottom half of the coloured bar in the top. We can use it both for moving troops after attacking as for the reinforcements phase. I am pretty sure we can also come up with something similar for placing troops and attacking, which means we can eventually get rid of the entire bottom half of the top bar, which I think has been a bit of a point of discussion ever since we introduced it. Of course we have to consider how this would work on touch devices (tablets, phones) as well, but hopefully it will actually reduce the amount of scrolling necessary. Please let me know what you all think about this. Is this the right direction, or should we go for something else entirely? Again: the thing in the screenshot does not work. It is really just a mock to see how something like this would look. So please don't think I can put this into the game like... tomorrow or next week :P [size=12px]@Aitch: well done! I think you have officially used up all the staff's goodwill by now.[/size]

I was going to say: Given 10k troops on each territory, how can I transer exactly 1336 and not a single more? But then we can't do that currently (at some point troops up with 10 each or something), so I guess this should work fine - looks good. The only thing is: I'd like to see the words "from" and "to" in there. Just to make things a tiny bit more obvious.

I thought about adding a number input box, but I don't really want to make this box have even more interactive controls. Same for adding "+" and "-" buttons for finer control. We can talk about these, but I'd rather cut out anything that is not super useful to keep it nice and simple :) About "from" and "to": we can see if we can put that in.

And what makes you think our volunteers are amateurs ? Sure, they may not be able to implement everything but that does not mean they don't possess the know how. And let's say they don't possess the knowledge of doing a certain thing, have you ever met a person who's an expert at everything? No, because no such person exists. Same with programmers, no one is an expert at all the areas but that does not mean they are amateurs . Anyway, our Volunteers maintain the site during their free time and do so as a hobby because they enjoy what they do without asking for anything in return. Sure, we did look for a programmer to hire during some time because the programmers needed the extra hand but they managed without it. So in conclusion, D12 would not even exist without the Amazing work put in by the Volunteers. You have already seen and experienced it, from the gorgeous maps, the clean friendly chats and the functions and game options. :)

[quote=Cireon]I thought about adding a number input box, but I don't really want to make this box have even more interactive controls.[/quote] I agree. [quote=Fendi]And what makes you think our volunteers are amateurs...[/quote] Either he is trolling (which means it's not worth a reply) or he absolutely doesn't grok concepts like [i]open source[/i] and [i]life[/i] (in which case a reply is probably not going to help him much either).

I don't know, I think there is plenty of space for a + and - button on both ends. If I'm playing on my phone it might be difficult to get the slider exactly where I want it, even if I zoom in as much as possible. Getting the slider as close as possible and then touching a plus or minus button would be easier.

Well, I tried it, and I feel it makes the whole thing feel a bit cramped. We could make the thing bigger, but I feel it already taking up a large portion of the map. Anyway, here are the things I tried: [img]http://i.imgur.com/Qh9fmkc.png[/img] [b]2A[/b] Adding the + and - buttons, but moving the "send all" and "send none" down below because there is space there. It feels cramped and I also feel that the location is less logical. [img]http://i.imgur.com/539829A.png[/img] [b]2B[/b] Switching the button roles around, because I really liked having "send all" and "send none" in the same row, but again this looks a bit weird. [img]http://i.imgur.com/5zOgrcn.png[/img] [b]2C[/b] I really feel there is added value in having everything in one row, so I put everything next to each other, but the slider is now really cramped. Again I am not sure if it's worth having them. If there are only a few troops you can probably get it with enough precision, and if you have a large number of troops we already limit your options in the select box anyway, so I don't think we're really losing functionality here. Feel free to give suggestions though, but I really want to go for keeping it simple stupid (KISS) here if possible. @@Matty: I added "from" and "to", is this what you wanted?

[quote=Aitch]Generally speaking dude... Volunteers = Amateurs !! A Pro would be someone like Dough_Boy... ;)[/quote] I would think everyone would know this...but you get more flies with honey than vinegar. Any site that is run by volunteers will have capacity issues (because let's face it...they have other things on their plate too). I have no ill will or complaints for any of the team here. They are doing a bang up job. Sure there are always tweaks that could be made, but all in due time. Frankly I am surprised they just haven't banned you Aitch. I don't even think you have contributed the $25 to be a premium member (but could be wrong on that).

[quote=Cireon]@@Matty: I added "from" and "to", is this what you wanted?[/quote] I had thought about an interface next to the bubbles as well for everything. I just wasn't sure how it would work covering up things (as well as I can't do it on my end). If I am in reinforcement mode, when I click on one of my territories the "modal" would position next to it. There would be a drop list with the number of troops to place and a "fortify" button. If I am in attack mode, once I choose the territory to attack (after having already chosen the territory to attack from) the modal would appear beside the one being attacked with the spots for the dice as well as the "attack" button. After I had conquered that territory the modal would switch to a fortify screen. After I chose how many to fortify with, if I clicked another adjacent territory to attack I wouldn't have to choose mine to attack from (it would default to last one). Rinse/repeat. If I am in fortification mode at the end it would be very similar to what you have...after choosing the destination it would pop up something like you have. Ultimately all of the controls would be positioned next to the target. Maybe if there is a new interface you make it an option to "beta test" it. Either turn it on for all, or just a select few to test it out. Good Luck!

I agree, that is where I wanted to go in the end. We can start with this interface for attacking and reinforcing and slowly convert everything to the new system. For now this would be an option that you can select in the settings menu. Of course, we would have to implement it first, and the more feedback we can already get on the static mocks, the better ;)