DeletedUser18465
Guest
I like Elvenar. But, I have to say, that it's quite tiresome and time consuming at times, when it need not be.
I believe the game would be improved by providing ways to reduce the number of clicks/presses needed to do certain things.
While I understand that, as makers of this game, that it may seem attractive for us to individually have to interact each and every time with every item, but I can tell you that as a player, it quickly gets to the point of inducing repetitive strain injury, and it would make this game much more playable, especially for those that are limited in time available to play per day.
For most of the time, I use the web client with a non-touch screen, so there is a lot of point and click activity happening. Sometimes, I use a touch enabled tablet (android), so I'm familiar with how both of these clients work.
but, both types of interface are hugely repetitive when making neighborly visits or dealing with multiple items in my city.
so, here are a couple of ideas on how it could be improved. certainly there are other ways too.
1. improve making of neighborly visits.
I'm sure that you have noticed that quite a few players are using the city name text as a way to let other players know what kind of neighborly help they would like.
why not support this in the game, and let city owners define a pecking order they'd like help in. the messages typically show the main hall, builders and culture (sometimes just one or two of these), by abbreviation, in a sequence indicating the order of preference. why not allow that sequence to be defined and stored by the city owner, and show it to the visitors?
then, when visiting, we should be able to define whether we want to comply with the city owner's requested preferences or ignore their preference, and define instead, our own giving preference sequence.
now, we have enough information to automate the visiting process until our storage of coin or supplies is about to be maxed out.
if that happens, then the visiting could stop, we can make whatever preparations are needed, and start the process off again (only for those that we have not yet visited, of course).
a nice plus would be having a display that shows whether we need to clear supplies or coin in order to complete the process before starting, and if we do need to make preparations, by how much. eg: 5 KP worth, for example.
2. multi-select or repeat apply a command.
today, we can collect produced goods/coins/supplies with a swipe of the finger or slew of the mouse across multiple items. it's very convenient.
that convenience does not happen when it comes to applying instructions to the items. eg: telling 20 workshops to all do the 3 hour option, or that steel manufacturing should take the 3 hour option. they all have to be set up one at a time.
if there was a way to repeat the last command to the subsequently pointed at items, as many as you point at, it would be one way of achieving the improvement.
another option would be to create some kind of easy multi-item-select capability, and then pop up the dialog that allows user to set what all of the items selected should be doing next.
3. if nothing else, allow numeric keys to select the available option buttons in *all dialogs*. especially those in adventures.
4. items in adventures - the icons along the left hand edge - please do *not* automatically move on to the next type of item to be created. a nice to have would be a drop-down to allow the item to be jumped to directly rather than having to get RSI while cycling through the list to get to the one that's wanted?
I believe the game would be improved by providing ways to reduce the number of clicks/presses needed to do certain things.
While I understand that, as makers of this game, that it may seem attractive for us to individually have to interact each and every time with every item, but I can tell you that as a player, it quickly gets to the point of inducing repetitive strain injury, and it would make this game much more playable, especially for those that are limited in time available to play per day.
For most of the time, I use the web client with a non-touch screen, so there is a lot of point and click activity happening. Sometimes, I use a touch enabled tablet (android), so I'm familiar with how both of these clients work.
but, both types of interface are hugely repetitive when making neighborly visits or dealing with multiple items in my city.
so, here are a couple of ideas on how it could be improved. certainly there are other ways too.
1. improve making of neighborly visits.
I'm sure that you have noticed that quite a few players are using the city name text as a way to let other players know what kind of neighborly help they would like.
why not support this in the game, and let city owners define a pecking order they'd like help in. the messages typically show the main hall, builders and culture (sometimes just one or two of these), by abbreviation, in a sequence indicating the order of preference. why not allow that sequence to be defined and stored by the city owner, and show it to the visitors?
then, when visiting, we should be able to define whether we want to comply with the city owner's requested preferences or ignore their preference, and define instead, our own giving preference sequence.
now, we have enough information to automate the visiting process until our storage of coin or supplies is about to be maxed out.
if that happens, then the visiting could stop, we can make whatever preparations are needed, and start the process off again (only for those that we have not yet visited, of course).
a nice plus would be having a display that shows whether we need to clear supplies or coin in order to complete the process before starting, and if we do need to make preparations, by how much. eg: 5 KP worth, for example.
2. multi-select or repeat apply a command.
today, we can collect produced goods/coins/supplies with a swipe of the finger or slew of the mouse across multiple items. it's very convenient.
that convenience does not happen when it comes to applying instructions to the items. eg: telling 20 workshops to all do the 3 hour option, or that steel manufacturing should take the 3 hour option. they all have to be set up one at a time.
if there was a way to repeat the last command to the subsequently pointed at items, as many as you point at, it would be one way of achieving the improvement.
another option would be to create some kind of easy multi-item-select capability, and then pop up the dialog that allows user to set what all of the items selected should be doing next.
3. if nothing else, allow numeric keys to select the available option buttons in *all dialogs*. especially those in adventures.
4. items in adventures - the icons along the left hand edge - please do *not* automatically move on to the next type of item to be created. a nice to have would be a drop-down to allow the item to be jumped to directly rather than having to get RSI while cycling through the list to get to the one that's wanted?