Configuration is unnecessarily complex, and other feedback

from Stardock Forums

I think that the configuration of Ready to Play was far too involved, and a lot of the data was too subjective to be of use. I think that instead of asking the user about their rig, it should just pull the CPU, card and RAM from Windows, for example. The preferences thing was very annoying too- why on earth did I have to sort by ALL of them? Shouldn't there be an "I don't care" option? Moreover, you couldn't re-order your preferences, so I twice had to undo the list and re-do it, and the animation was very slow, you couldn't just click-click-click done.

Also, my SoaSE is unpatched, so it's not exactly ready to play.

Also, why the hell can't I change the width of the window? That thin is very annoying. It's not an IM. If you maximize it, the "Choose Friends" window doesn't expand, even if you have more than enough friends in it, so the extra space is a giant waste. If you have only one game, it still asks you to choose. Why exactly does it need to be on my taskbar? It can run in the icons in the corner. What if none of your friends are online, or you want to play with totally random people? Why is there a buddy list, AND a friends list?

A system to improve game join times should double as a server browser, as well as a friends list.

I think that the visual design needs tightening. For example, the space that says "Choose game" could just be cut and replaced with the listbox, since it's pretty obvious what it does, AND it has a helper entry. I think that the text at the top should be tightened too, the R2P icon really doesn't need to be there, and it definitely doesn't need both the icon AND "Ready to Play" on it. If you double-click a friend's name, there's no messaging box. If you right-click, there's no information popups. Why are my friends game-specific?

I definitely like the colour scheme, but the add friend icon appears to have been virtually entirely ripped from MSN. While I think it's a perfectly functional icon, I just looked and instantly made the connection. You might want to try to differentiate it a little more. I like the tools menu icon design, although both the icons could use going up a bit further, but the gap between the text is far too large. I can see why you put in sections, and I like it, but the gap is fricken huge.

In the Choose friends window, why is there a refresh button? If I want to refresh, I'll use a server browser. Why is there a separate options button? We already have a master tools button, and it has only one option? Those avatars are far too small to see. I took a look at the Buddy list, and it seems far superior, although no game info button.

 

I know that you're going to hate me for comparing you to a competing product, but I think it's necessary here. If you look at the Steam friends list, it uses less screen space, and has much more functionality. I can join a game, view game info, message a friend, see the friend, organize the friend, for all games. The players from recent games thing is a godsend as well.

I think the other best thing you could do is launch players into a global chat room. If you look at GPGNet, Battle.net, you get instant chat with other users. In order to use R2P, I already need friends, and plenty of them, online right now. I think that it needs to serve players of all stages of integration into the community, and having a global chat room allows people to instantly meet other users, add them, ask them for help, and generally socialize. You'd also be amazed how many TS problems get solved by other users in global chat, I see it all the time in GPGNet.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Overall, I think that it's a good start, but it needs a hefty UI and general re-design to have some more focus. What is the purpose of R2P? To allow users to easily mix with other users and get games going (I assume, anyway). How are you going to achieve that?

#1- Global chat. I've only just covered this so nothing new. The Demigod IRC would be fine, except Demigod doesn't actually send you there

#2- Server browser. If I don't already have friends, R2P should serve me up a list of games I can join, preferably for all of my ready games. Users that I play with should be tracked and listed. A lot of features from the Demigod thing can be used here- for example the ability to leave user-specific notes, preferably in-program. R2P should show me extra data about the game I'm clicking on- who's in it (an info page like you can now get in Demigod is good), what are the settings, how long has it been up for. Double click to join, right click for information.

#3- New tabs should be right-click->open in new window, if the user chooses. I'm not inherently for or against the Steam system with separate windows, but I think that the best of both words is tabbed by default, windowable by option, preferably configurable. You can see Chrome for a GREAT example of how to handle tabs- they're totally dynamically dockable on each other, easy to open new windows or move them onto each other.

#4- UI redesign to be less UI, more function. I've already covered some redundant functions and places where the UI can be cut, so I'm not gonna go into this in a big way.

#5- Competitive stats. I should be able to see all sorts of information about myself- Demigods killed, times died, games won, all of that. That's just a Demigod-specific example, but ideally that kind of stat would be available for all games supported by R2P.

 

What I'd love is for the developers to leave feedback here so I can see what was useful, what wasn't useful, what needs more information, etc. Sometimes I think that the art of leaving feedback for a developer, well, needs more feedback on it. You leave feedback, and if you get any response, it's a generic thanks. I can't learn to write good feedback like that.

1,514 views 1 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

I think that the configuration of Ready to Play was far too involved, and a lot of the data was too subjective to be of use. I think that instead of asking the user about their rig, it should just pull the CPU, card and RAM from Windows, for example.

that'd be very hard to implement with new CPU/GPU's constantly coming out, but pulling from the windows experience index would theoretically work (if they are able to pull each part and use those rather than just the overall score)

 

The preferences thing was very annoying too- why on earth did I have to sort by ALL of them? Shouldn't there be an "I don't care" option? Moreover, you couldn't re-order your preferences, so I twice had to undo the list and re-do it, and the animation was very slow, you couldn't just click-click-click done.

already addressed

 

Also, my SoaSE is unpatched, so it's not exactly ready to play.

this is a good point and hopefully on "the list"

 

Also, why the hell can't I change the width of the window? That thin is very annoying. It's not an IM.

If you look at the Steam friends list, it uses less screen space

kinda confused by that bit, but basically there's no real reason to make your buddy list any larger than it is; not many games have names that long, and there is a scroll bar for if they do.

 

If you have only one game, it still asks you to choose.

because not many people are going to use an app like ready2play with just one game on their system, and there's not much point coding in stuff to detect if you only have one game when time can be better spent on other things.

 

Why exactly does it need to be on my taskbar? It can run in the icons in the corner.

it does run in the icons in the corner?

 

What if none of your friends are online, or you want to play with totally random people? Why is there a buddy list, AND a friends list?

recommended people are also given when you try to start a game, not just people on your buddy list. however, people that are your friends are listed first. don't know what you mean by that second bit, what do you mean buddy list AND friends list?

 

 

A system to improve game join times should double as a server browser, as well as a friends list.

#2- Server browser. If I don't already have friends, R2P should serve me up a list of games I can join, preferably for all of my ready games. Users that I play with should be tracked and listed. A lot of features from the Demigod thing can be used here- for example the ability to leave user-specific notes, preferably in-program. R2P should show me extra data about the game I'm clicking on- who's in it (an info page like you can now get in Demigod is good), what are the settings, how long has it been up for. Double click to join, right click for information.

ok, this could theoretically work for demigod and elemental, and maybe sins, but I can't see it working for any other games, especially ones that aren't sold on impulse. you're talking about something much more in-depth than r2p (and would take a huge chunk of screen real-estate ;p)

 

I think that the visual design needs tightening. For example, the space that says "Choose game" could just be cut and replaced with the listbox, since it's pretty obvious what it does, AND it has a helper entry. I think that the text at the top should be tightened too, the R2P icon really doesn't need to be there, and it definitely doesn't need both the icon AND "Ready to Play" on it. If you double-click a friend's name, there's no messaging box. If you right-click, there's no information popups. Why are my friends game-specific?

ok, the "choose game" thing plays on the "choose game, choose friends, send invitation" "it's easy as 1,2,3" thing, and really doesn't take up that much space at all :X as for the text at the top, "Ready to Play" is the name of the window, and the R2P icon is the default image when you don't have an avatar set up. if you double-click a friends name in this screen it checks then unchecks the box, not sure what else it would do... i do think you should be able to right click and be able to 1. start a pm (if they're already a friend) 2. go to their profile or 3. add as a friend. as to the last bit, what do you mean why are your friends game-specific? i don't understand what you mean.

 

I definitely like the colour scheme, but the add friend icon appears to have been virtually entirely ripped from MSN. While I think it's a perfectly functional icon, I just looked and instantly made the connection. You might want to try to differentiate it a little more. I like the tools menu icon design, although both the icons could use going up a bit further, but the gap between the text is far too large. I can see why you put in sections, and I like it, but the gap is fricken huge.

the "add friend" icon is the same for aim/skype/msn/pretty much every other messaging program with very minor differentiations. as for the gap, change your status to unavailable and it gets a bit smaller ;p

 

In the Choose friends window, why is there a refresh button? If I want to refresh, I'll use a server browser. Why is there a separate options button? We already have a master tools button, and it has only one option? Those avatars are far too small to see. I took a look at the Buddy list, and it seems far superior, although no game info button.

if you want to leave it up on that window and refresh every now and again to see if anyone new is looking to play a game without having to go through the process over and over again? as for the options button, that's about the only way to make it obvious whether or not to include recommended friends; putting it in the main options menu would just cause confusion. I don't see any difference between the avatar size on the invite screen and the buddy list screen, and i don't see how they would make the avatars any larger without using up a lot more screen space.

 

and has much more functionality.

you can pick a game and it'll show you friends who have that game and are ready to play it? ;)

 

I think the other best thing you could do is launch players into a global chat room. If you look at GPGNet, Battle.net, you get instant chat with other users. In order to use R2P, I already need friends, and plenty of them, online right now. I think that it needs to serve players of all stages of integration into the community, and having a global chat room allows people to instantly meet other users, add them, ask them for help, and generally socialize. You'd also be amazed how many TS problems get solved by other users in global chat, I see it all the time in GPGNet.

that's what IRC is for (built into impulse). and as for needing lots of friends on r2p online right now, i don't really understand. the most i can think of for a game would be 9 other people that are running ready2play and have that game... not really that difficult... as for a global chatroom dedicated to each game, most games already have those or their own IRC server, the only thing i can think of is having an option in r2p to launch impulse and join #whateverthegamenameis, but that seems a little messy to me...

 

#5- Competitive stats. I should be able to see all sorts of information about myself- Demigods killed, times died, games won, all of that. That's just a Demigod-specific example, but ideally that kind of stat would be available for all games supported by R2P.

where would you see that? you can already view a person's profile where the stats are stored on there... but i really don't see how you could look at all that data from within r2p