Suggestions & Improvement

[thezooqueen]

Maybe a section dedicated to the notes for each story. So if we get lost or confused on the story we can refer back to it. If that it to much maybe tabs in the journal so we can go look up what we have written there, but that would be more difficult. It would be better if we had like a file for each story. I just like the idea of rereading what we have already done. Especially if it takes us days to complete a game. I am not sitting there wondering why again I am trying to find papers on a dead nun?

[Legate of Mineta]

You can read all that in your Journal, of course, but you are right: it's not organized by case. That's a pretty cool idea.

[thezooqueen]

It would make things easier also for organizing things like Sterline is involved in seemingly two different story lines, Same with Roland. Then you have two different family story lines. Yes they are all tied in one way or another, but it can get confusing, and it is easy to loose track of what is what. LoL One of the quotes that pops up in the bubbles even says something like 'This is spy Main not Spy Turkey'

[Legate of Mineta]

Not a bad idea at all- likely you'll see something like this in 1932. Cases are a good way to present them.

[diggery]

That actually already is in the game!

 

If you look at the Inspiration Screen, you'll see a number like 9/10 or something- the second set of digits is the maximum, the first your current.

 

Where is this exactly? I can't find it anywhere.

[thezooqueen]

Where is this exactly? I can't find it anywhere.

 

The screen where your cards are collected with your inspirations, that you click on for challenges.

[Legate of Mineta]

diggery;

 

I don't have the game up at this moment, but I believe you should see it on the Inspiration Screen, in the upper left, below the first row of Inspirations (by memory!)

[diggery]

Ok I see it on the screen that pops up when I get more Inspirations than I can hold. I guess that is that you guys are talking about? There isn't another way to bring that screen up, is there?

[Fhoenix]

I did not read the whole thread, so I apologise if this was mentioned before. But here are my suggestions/impressions.

 

1)Change the color of the text from white to black on save and load screens. White is really hard to read on yellow and gray.

 

2)Make save slots bigger in size. A ton of space is wasted on the splash screen. While the text in the save slots and the screenshot inside are ultra small.

 

3)Make it obvious in options, which option is chosen ("pressed") at the moment. Right now it's impossible to tell which is which.

Just take a person from the street, who never played the game, and make him guess. See what he thinks about that.

Is black the active one? Or is it white? Why is one of them gray? I am playing in window, but both windowed and fullscreen are same color. So... that must mean... black is fro "not pressed"... I guess. Aha, I feel like a detective alread! But white is so hard to read whithout squinting, I have no idea what is actually selected. And why is there no border around "display", "windowed" and "fullscreen" showing, that they are related, and it's one option?

 

These are the things that jump at you in the first five minutes of starting the game. Before you even begin to play. They are small and you can get USED to them and OVERCOME them with DEDICATION and BURNING PASSION. But I would think you lose a lot of sales, just because the interface is hard to use even for the simplest things.

 

After ten minutes

 

4)I think a quick save, quick load and mute sound buttons in the main window would do lovely. Inside those leafs at the corners of the textbox there is enough space for icons.

 

After fifteen minutes.

 

5)An option in the options to make the music stop when the window is out of focus. Emphatically. And especially since there is no mute button.

 

6)Is there a backlog? I tried to scroll up. No backlog appeared. Am I doing something wrong? Is there really no backlog in this game? Black Chicken, why do you torture me so?!

 

 

p.s. Sorry, for the snark. Bought the game, love what you are doing. But ah, I really wish the interface was thought out and play tested better.

[Legate of Mineta]

Fhoenix;

 

Snark's no problem. I think it's universal inside and outside of the Team that the Y1 UI...needs to be taken out back and dealt with.

 

1)Change the color of the text from white to black on save and load screens. White is really hard to read on yellow and gray.

 

Good suggestion!

 

2)Make save slots bigger in size. A ton of space is wasted on the splash screen. While the text in the save slots and the screenshot inside are ultra small.

 

That's a general fault of the UI. Changed in Y2, not to worry.

 

3)Make it obvious in options, which option is chosen ("pressed") at the moment. Right now it's impossible to tell which is which.

 

Makes sense.

 

4)I think a quick save, quick load and mute sound buttons in the main window would do lovely. Inside those leafs at the corners of the textbox there is enough space for icons.

 

More than enough space, we agree.

 

5)An option in the options to make the music stop when the window is out of focus. Emphatically. And especially since there is no mute button.

 

Hahaha, noted.

 

6)Is there a backlog? I tried to scroll up. No backlog appeared. Am I doing something wrong? Is there really no backlog in this game? Black Chicken, why do you torture me so?!

 

You can view a day's history by clicking on the older day in the Calendar, if that's what you meant? There is no central log, though, in Y1.

[thezooqueen]

Professor Nigel should wear a high-crowned, wide-brimmed sable fedora while adventuring in 1932

[Legate of Mineta]

Hmmm.

[thezooqueen]

What? Couldn't you see it??

[Legate of Mineta]

No, definitely.

[pianomaestra]

I'm still playing through the game so this is probably a bit premature, but I am loving it so far--especially all the wry humor you managed to pack in (those comments about the contents of Sterling's luggage just about killed me). The amount of content is also very impressive.

 

One thing that did bother me was that sometimes, doing capers can reference to events that you haven't played through yet. For example, I think the Raeks adventure had Sadie freaked out because of a comment Anna made about a mummy, but you could take the caper before you'd even gone to Egypt. This gets a little bit worse later on. Also, if you're in the middle of something that has changed the dynamics of what's going on--say Felix and Sadie getting into a fight--an automatic event sometimes pops up that totally resets things, or assumes that's it been dealt with already, and that seemed a little out of place.

 

I also kind've wish the characters interacted a little more--especially the male ones. I was thinking all along that Sterling and Ahmose would have a very tense dynamic that would've been interesting to see, for example.

 

But there's some fantastic stories in the game--I really like the blending of the historical and the surreal, and especially the 1930's setting that acts as the backdrop. It made for a novel experience.

[Legate of Mineta]

Pianomaestra;

 

Thanks! Rivalries between Characters is something we really want to introduce in 1932, but it's a great suggestion.

 

If you have any specific areas of reference beyond the Raeks you mention, let us know, and thanks!

[thezooqueen]

One example would be

 

Peru Ahmose adventure. If you do not talk to the Museum guy first to find out about the Ruby eye, you still talk about Ahmose turning to dust even though you should not know, yet."

 

[Legate of Mineta]

Thanks! Stick any more over in the bug section, and we'll close e'm out!

[pianomaestra]

Great to hear about the rivalries! Honestly, they don't even have to be rivals, it would just be nice to see them interact. Things like Sterling and Roland trying to outsnark each other (which is obviously impossible, as the universe would have to explode first), Nigel bursting with fanboyish glee at meeting Ahmose, Felix being the awesome, low-key guy that he is, and so forth. You've got a cast of really vibrant characters, but it would be nice to let them meet each other.

[thezooqueen]

I so agree there!!! <3

[kokois]

Something I would add for new players - a way to see all the tips from the tutorial. When I was first playing the demo, I was pretty lost and I didn't remember everything from the tutorial, so I ended up having to re-figure out things that had already been told me. So just a help option with all of the basic tips would be nice.

 

I also think it would be convenient to have some of the calendar information available on the main screen. I kept having to go to the journal and scroll all the way down to the middle of the year to figure out how much time I had left. So just a little "10 days until we leave Peru!" or something on the main screen would be nice.

[Legate of Mineta]

Kokois;

 

Both excellent suggestions, thanks! For the latter, originally the bottom bar was going to be a ticker-tape, showing exactly that sort of information.

[Pixelen]

Sooo a minor thing, but something that annoyed me slightly, on Roland's romance path, right at the end in Turkey, I built up my problem solving skills all the way for the first 'task' on his Turkey mission which I passed, then was met with the second task which required courage or self knowledge. As this did not seem to be required on the map since it was not in red I decided to build up for the first task rather than the second, as usually the story carries on anyway but you gain 1 stress or whatever. Well, it would not skip over or even give the option to rest to build up more skills, it just kept repeating the task over and over until I eventually had to go back to my old save and build up self-knowledge instead, ignoring the first task in the story. So what you would need to do there is:

 

1) make the text red to show that the second task is necessary

2) give the option of a rest to allow the user to build up more skills

OR

3) allow the game to skip over that task if they don't have enough skill points

 

Hope this helps and thanks for the game, it's great!

[Legate of Mineta]

Pixelen;

 

Thanks, that's a very good point- it should be in red.

 

I'll pass that on to the Team!

[Adrian]

I realize this will be a bit off topic (almost a decade) but I thought the comic too sweet to keep to myself; Lackadaisy

Hope you enjoy I found the newest comic about halloween very cute.