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Topics - Moo

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Feedback and Suggestions / My list of 1.3 issues
« on: July 09, 2013, 03:28:14 pm »
My observations/opinions based on the dev build. I've checked most of them are still relevant to the released 1.3...
First the chat-related stuff, then the other stuff.
And before someone suggests some lame, discussion-precluding method of reporting, don't bother...

  • Separating global and match chat is a mixed blessing. Perhaps give the option to display two chat boxes (one above the other) or at least be able to re-merge the chat into a single box so everything can be seen at once.
  • Having the J key do different things depending on what is visible isn't ideal. Better would be H for Global and J for Match chat, or something. Oh, H is party chat... G then? Or maybe G could be Party chat and H Global.
  • Can chat in match channels when not in a match. Can also chat in party channel when not in a party.
  • Another idea is to move the spectator slots to the top of the side bar in a match, and add another setting to the chat box to expand but not obscure the slots. The slots could automatically appear at the top when the chat is set to this position, and remain in their normal place at other times, if you don't like the idea of moving them entirely.
  • The chat window itself seems to have a kind of shadow all around it, which is kind of odd.
  • Text sometimes overlaps the chat window scroll bar.
  • The top left corner of the border of the chat window looks kind of unfinished.
  • The left of the chat input is sometimes covered slightly by the top of the surround of the bottom left bar.
  • Players in a game join "Global" channel as well as "Match" channel.
  • The chat returns (with animation) to default size when returning from other pages. Would be better to stay how it was set. This doesn't happen when in a game lobby.
  • Sometimes when switching to Match chat then expanding the window, the bottom (default size) part of the window shows match chat and the top part shows global chat, as if the background hadn't been cleared properly.
  • Something that would be good in its own tab is private messages. They should appear in all views so you can always see them, but a tab that only shows them would be good, as it would mean messages wouldn't get missed when there's a lot of activity, or when not looking at the screen etc.
  • A sound when receiving a private message would be good too. I guess make it optional for those who don't want it.
  • When spectating, toggling the chat shows the full chat window, which can't be clicked on.
  • I am seeing chat from blocked players. With their name in the blocked-player colour...
  • Clicking on the Global (and Match?) button in the chat when expanded hides the scrollbar. Seems to happen at other times too. I didn't notice this problem in the dev build.


  • Icons in top bar are somewhat unexpected. My suggestion would be to move the "Build Party" to the left where the icons are, shrink the role box (less space between them), and have Help and FAQ (text) buttons where the build party button currently is.
  • Build Party button has different font to the other buttons. This could be changed as there's plenty of space in the box.
  • Version number and players waiting appear at bottom left of main menu rather than top left in bar. Why? Now there is a blank space in the bar. I'm hoping this is only temporary, as it's good to be able to see the players and version everywhere.
  • Re #??? "Back" button on Character page should probably say "Cancel", as that's what it does, and Customization Complete also takes you back...
  • "Back" on Ship page doesn't cancel, and is therefore the same as "Customization Complete". So one should go. Or, it can be changed to actually cancel, see above.
  • Store page: New layout is nice. Perhaps rename role categories from e.g. "Gunner" to "Gunner Costumes" or something, to make it more clear.
  • The clan tags look no different from just typing in [abcd] as part of your name, as was previosuly. I think they should, to avoid ambiguity.
  • It says "enter up to 4 letters or numbers" but anything with numbers in is rejected.
  • I think the tags should be done "officially" with some kind of registration system and standards, rather than freely by each player...
  • I preferred the old layout of the Progress page, as it was easier to switch between things...
  • Why are Badges now unlocked manually? Will there be a choice between them at some point? Also they seem to still be called Medals (which sounds better to me) in the Stats page. Does there really need to be a page just for Badges anyway, as they can be viewed by setting the Prizes page to Type: Badge and Status: Redeemed.
  • So, the old layout could be retained, and maybe have a shortcut button (setting the Prizes page to those settings) on the bottom left of the Stats page if being able to see your badges is that important.
  • Summary tab: "Achievements to next level - x" I think would be better with a colon rather than a hyphen.
  • When clicking Practice from the main menu, "Cancel Search" appears at the bottom behind the bar.
  • When viewing other things (e.g. Character page) from the Form Crew screen, the bottom buttons from both things are displayed at the same time, making a mess.
  • Bottom left button in Form Crew window says "Exit Match", but there is no match at this point.
  • Social page shows placeholders for a second when switching to it, before showing correct values.
  • "Last Role" seems to show the rank (e.g. Powder Monkey) of the last role you played, rather than the name (Gunner).
  • Party voice chat lights the voice chat icons in both the party list and the match crew lists, so no way to tell which channel they are using? Perhaps different icons should show, or the speaker icons be different colours, or something. This isn't a problem in game as the bars are coloured.
  • Reported by others, but the purple for party chat during a game is replaced by black when that party member is also on your ship, which is confusing.
  • How about a voice-chat-to-ship key while in a lobby? This would be useful for crew as well as captains.
  • "Invite All" in the party window sends a message/invite to the party... It should have a cooldown or something to stop it being a spam button. It should probably also not send the invite to people already in a match with you.
  • The "Join my match!" text looks like something someone has typed, rather than an automatic message or an invite.
  • "Crew Formation" is sometimes an option in the map vote list. I don't see how this makes sense, and voting for this makes something weird happen.

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Here's my list of mostly minor things I feel could be improved. I waited until the update to see what would change before posting, and a few things were fixed. I think I checked them all but maybe some others have been fixed already too.
I put numbers so it's easier to refer to things (but maybe not easier to read, sorry). If anything isn't clear, please say :)

  • "Matches" screen: Currently red for "waiting" games and green for in-progress. I would think the other way round would be more logical? Normally one would want to join a "waiting" game, I would think.
  • FIXED Running time shown as 00:00:00.
  • Game details shown like "Spectators Welcome - 1 / 4 Captains", which makes it look like that's the spectator slot count rather than normal captains (which would be included in the player count anyway). Rearranging it so the captains and players are shown on one line and the public/spectators shown on the other line would make it less ambiguous.
  • In the in-game manual, page 3, "An airship chooses and outfits the vessel, and directs..." presumably it should say "A Captain" or "An airship Captain" rather than "An airship".
  • FIXED One-pixel-wide line at left of screen not hidden by the black background of the "loading match" screen.
  • When initially displaying the "loading match" screen, it's just black with "Exit Game" at the bottom left. Why not at least have a background rather than just black here?
  • On the "loading match" screen, the text at the top describing the history of the map area highlights and can be clicked on... why?
  • Screens (eg Progress) available from top bar are exited using Back-type buttons, and there isn't a way to do that using the toolbar. Maybe clicking the middle logo part could return you to the "main screen" too?
  • On the Ship/Role/Look screens, there's a "Back" button and a "Customization Complete" button, which both seem to do the same thing.
  • Empty captain slots are shown as "[AI Crewman]  CLICK TO CAPTAIN" but there are no AI captains, so that part should probably be removed.
  • Text input boxes (eg: promo code entry, game password entry) are badly aligned, should be higher up with the caret aligned to the middle of the box rather than the text being at the bottom of the box. Alternatively, the caret could be shortened to not go over the edge of the boxes.
  • Text at top left in game about who destroyed what etc, and chat at the bottom left, and icons in the map, the dark red and blue are often hard to read against the background... Maybe they could be made lighter, or given a light outline, or something?
  • In the ship customization, the guns seem to be divided into two types, Light Gun and Heavy Gun (according to the gun info popup)... But the Item Selection window itself calls them "Small Gun" and "Medium Gun" instead.
  • There is no way to see who or what is in a game other than by joining it, which means lots of unnecessary joining and leaving. It would be nice if there was a popup or something to show at least the ships and their crews before joining. It could go in the space currently taken up by the create-game stuff, and have a button or tab or something to switch between them.
  • When joining a game, one is placed into a crew slot by the system. This can mean people end up in silly places, or have to go to spectator to allow someone else to change ship, etc. What I think would be better is if people joining weren't put into any crew slot, and were put in a "waiting" slot instead, or maybe just a spectator slot. Then they can join whichever slot they do want. This already happens when clicking on a running game.
  • When the match actually begins, everyone spawns in the same spot, which means you end up seeing the insides of the other crewmembers. It'd be better if there were 4 spawn spots (one for each crew position) arranged near the current single one instead.
  • FIXED In Social page, template email displayed on first view of page, but blank on subsequent views.
  • In Matches screen, colour of [Regional] etc when typing is same colour as team you last played on. Should probably be white when not in a game.
  • Clicking the "Back to Lobby" button on the connecting-to-game screen doesn't take you back to the lobby, it quits the game completely.
  • The map filter in the game list filters by map and game mode, but doesn't display the game mode in the text. Either it should show this too, or probably better, just filter by map and not game mode.
  • It would be nice if there was a screen that could be visited post match showing stats, such as how many kills and deaths for each ship, maybe a copy of the whole log of who destroyed/repaired/killed what etc.. Or maybe just a log of which ship destroyed which.
  • The game list can be confusing when there's more than one "Whoever's Game". Maybe it shouldn't let a new game be created with the same name as an existing one. Then, if someone uses the default name and tries to start a second game when the first game they made is still running, they'd have to change the name, at least slightly, before starting.
  • In the Social page, when a friend is in a game, it shows the name of the map they are playing... The name of the game instead (or as well) would be much more useful.
  • Also, the name of the map is sometimes incorrect. This may be showing the last map played when waiting for a subsequent game.
  • When engines are destroyed etc. during a game, it shows the name of the particular engine. These aren't shown on the blueprint page for each ship, or anywhere else that I know of.
  • It is easier to see if a part is completely repaired if you're not standing right by it, which is rather odd. The way the bar works, you can repair something, think it's fully repaired, walk away, and the icon appears showing it's still damaged slightly. It would be better if the "repair display" would make it obvious whether something is damaged or fully repaired. Maybe have the bar in green when fully repaired?
  • The count of captains in the game list for running games can be inaccurate. For instance, it can say "16 / 16 Players  1 / 4 Captains" and when you click on the game, all captains (and crew) are present. I'm guessing this happens when captains leave and rejoin, or are replaced maybe?
  • Keybindings - Gun Keys: There are DismountGun and LeaveGun keys (and similar for the helm). What's the difference? Maybe they should be called DismountGun1 and DismountGun2 if it's just two mappings for the same action. SecondaryFire is actually zoom for guns - I don't think any actually have a secondary fire - so should probably be renamed.
  • Keybindings - Global Keys: ThirdPerson, the Order- and Practice- keys should be Player keys rather than Global, as they aren't relevant in spectator mode, and prevent the same keyboard keys being used for something else there. Map and ScoreLog should be Global keys rather than player keys, as they apply everywhere.
  • Lighting/shadow on hair in Role and Look screens goes on and off depending on character rotation and animation.
  • When first joining a game as spectator, the camera often begins underground. Having it start at a high altitude would solve that.
  • In the game lobby, and social screen, player ranks are shown by number. In game (player labels/score display) and all chat, they are shown by title. I think there is enough room for both, in all these places, so why not show both for all of them? If not, some more consistency would be nice. Maybe only show the rank title, as the numbers can be seen by clicking on the player name (except when playing).
  • Related to (15): Trying to join a "waiting" game with all player slots occupied does nothing. It should at least allow you to join as spectator. Semi-fixed in 1.2, it shows a message that the game is full. But what if I wanted to spectate?
  • When voting for a map, the "click to vote" text, or the image, can be clicked on to vote, but the text showing the map name can be highlighted and clicked on and does nothing.
  • After the end of the game, the red and blue regional chat from during the game appears in white, which makes it look like the regional lobby chat. It would be better if it stayed blue and red so it can be distinguished.
  • When you are waiting for a game to start, you have regional, team, and crew chat. No chat for only your game, which would be very useful. The "Regional" channel does different things at different times, which can be confusing for new players. Perhaps the Regional channel could be split into two. A Game or Match or something channel, which was for only your game. This would be the one that was available during a game. This could be the one on J. While waiting for a game to start, it would be available, as well as a Global channel (on H?), which is equivalent to the current lobby-regional one. This would solve (35) too.
  • Chat from friends, CAs, etc., are shown in different colours. It would be nice if chat from your captain was highlighted somehow while waiting for a game, as it is easy for it to get lost in the other chat.
  • It would be good if the message saying your captain has left during a match was highlighted in a very obvious way.
  • When people join a match in progress, there's several "join" lines, one for each channel. This could just be put on one line, listing all the channels they joined. Or it could just say the most specific. For instance, if they joined your crew, you know they must also have joined your team...
  • It could be useful to be able to scroll the chat and "damage log" during a game, as they can go past quite quickly. Another alternative would be a popup while holding a key, like the map display, that showed more history for these things.
  • What is the use of being able to set the "area" for a game anyway? As it doesn't affect the server (as far as I know), it can't be about physical location for latency purposes. Continents aren't anywhere near specific enough for language purposes. So what is it for? It seems fairly redundant to me, and a more useful per-match "setting" IMHO would be "level", so you could set it to beginner, advanced, mixed, etc. Now 1.2 has added a beginner game option, that might not be such a good idea though.
  • It would be good if the popup when clicking someone's name also showed the game they were currently in.
  • Spectators can vote for maps. Is this intended?
  • When spectating, when not focussing on one ship, the camera view rotates about a point in front of the camera. This is fine when rotating around a focussed ship, but makes controlling the camera in the free camera mode difficult. It would be better to have normal rotate-the-camera-directly when in free camera mode.
  • It would be good if the camera position and view angle were shown on the map when spectating.
  • The number of kills/points required to win a match isn't displayed anywhere.
  • When spectating, the CameraUp and CameraDown keys move relative to the facing of the camera, rather than the ground, which is rather strange.
  • Game names can be set that are too long to see when in their lobby. In the game list screen the length given to the game name is even shorter. Maybe it should have a little popup for the full name when you point to these too-long names.

    New for 1.2
  • Key labels in Piloting tutorial shown as names of keys rather than actual keys ("[increaseThrottle]" etc). Also one is "[hemlRight]".
  • F7 icon in sandbox shows an airship, but it actually summons a static target. Should be an icon similar to the other 3?
  • F9 icon doesn't highlight when pressed.
  • "LVL 1-2" marker/box got stuck at one point on the third visible game in the list, whatever it was. Even with "beginners only" filter set to No.
  • Message about giving thumbs up (and boxes for that) after a match is shown to spectators. Boxes are shown in tab list too.
  • Unable to "unclick" the thumbs up after giving it. Also the receiver is notified immediately, which isn't great if it was accidental.
  • IMHO it would be better if the boxes weren't displayed at all for people other than your crew, and were empty rather than a darker thumb icon when not selected.
  • Clicking on a ship when you're on the lobby screen of a game in progress shows "Loading ship" and the model never appears.

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