myadventuregame-ga,
What a fun question! I fired up each of the games you linked to below,
and checked out both versions of your main page, using both versions.
I hope my comments on your new game play interface will be useful to
you.
At first glance, the new user interface is a great improvement. The
separate play screen reinforces the feeling of playing a distinct
game, as opposed to browsing a website. The austere page design and
lack of non-game links on this page also helps isolate gameplay from
the game select screen. I also like having the ability to view the
description and player comments for a game, without having to exit the
game itself.
The new inventory management system is very good. While I was playing
the Wal*Mart Game under the current interface, I became a little bit
annoyed with having to go back and forth between the separate
inventory screen and the game text screens. This was especially
frustrating in areas where I wanted to try each of my items, to see
which might have an effect. The new screen streamlines this process,
allowing me to Look at or Use each object without loading a different
screen. The new inventory system is almost perfect, though I did
encounter a few creaky areas. I would suggest a slight change to the
behavior that occurs when the user clicks on one of the items.
Currently, the new inventory system only displays information for one
item at a time, and the user must click "Return To My Inventory" to
view subsequent items. I would prefer it if all of the items'
descriptions were displayed on the screen, with the clicked-upon item
at the top. This way, the "Return To My Inventory" click could be
avoided. Also, it would be convenient if the "Take X item and then..."
link would both take the item and execute the described action. As it
is now, the user must click on the item's image to take it, and then
click on the link to execute the action. The games might seem smoother
if this sequence were streamlined into one click, instead.
The Back button is also a welcome improvement. In the current
interface, I found myself using my browser's Back button quite often,
when playing the Wal*Mart and Finals Week games. For games in which
death or failure is a common ending, the Back function is essential.
However, I found its placement in the upper right hand corner of the
New game interface screen to be somewhat limiting. Because the options
are situated far from the choices presented in the game, it is a bit
difficult to naturally flip back and forth between the current and
previous list of choices within the game. For this reason, I found
myself using my browser's Right Click->Back option much more often
than the on-screen Back button. I would prefer for the game options to
be in a more central location, perhaps similar to how they are
arranged in the current interface, or even along the center of the top
bar, instead of the right of it.
While playing, I found a few small functionality bugs, but did not
encounter any asp.net error screens.
I hope my comments help with your Alpha release. If you'd like
clarification on any of these points, please request an Answer
Clarification. I'd be happy to help you. Your question isn't finished
until you're satisfied with my answer, so please don't hesitate to
ask! Thanks again for the fun and interesting question!
Play Strategy:
I played the Wal*Mart game to its completion (the "Cool Ending"),
under the current interface, and then played about ten minutes of it
under the new interface, for comparison. It's a shame the "Uberending"
for this game is broken, because I was rather proud to have found it!
Next, I played the Finals Week game to its completion, using the new
interface only, to get a better idea of how the inventory works when
proceeding through an entire game. Finally, I sampled The Black Hand,
using both interfaces. |
Request for Answer Clarification by
myadventuregame-ga
on
07 Nov 2003 20:41 PST
What an excellent answer! Thank you very much for taking the time to
do all of this, your comments are very valuable -- we especially like
the idea about the Inventory (i.e., having it show the list of items
and the selected item). And of course, we're quite impressed you were
able to finish the "Wal*Mart Game"! It's definately one of our
absolute favorites. Anyways, just a quick follow up ...
Were you able to finish the Wal*Mart game with out the walkthru? Did
you find the difficulty level too easy, about right, or too tough? (we
keep in touch with the author, who is always interested in comments)
We are thinking of moving "GO BACK" to the left of "GAME OPTIONS",
instead of under it. Do you think this would work?
And finally, we have two other different questions -- please don't
hesitate to answer those if you'd like! Any idea why they're not
being answered as fast as they were last time (almost a year ago)?
|
Clarification of Answer by
vorfeed-ga
on
09 Nov 2003 13:10 PST
myadventuregame-ga,
I used the walkthrough to figure out how to move the guard by the food
section. Come to think of it, my failure was related to another small
design foible. I had tried using the RC car, originally, but because
I'd accidentally forgotten to click the "Go back" option on the "You
go to use this here and now, before realizing how silly this is" page
before doing so, nothing happened. It might be nice if items tried
from the "You go to use this here and now..." pages would have the
proper effect on the page the user was last on.
As for the difficulty level, I think it's just about right. Most of
the items' uses were logical, and the game itself isn't too long or
too short. I was very impressed by the feel of the game, as well. The
short-but-rich descriptions and variety of options remind me of the
many hours I used to spend playing Zork-style text adventure games.
I think your proposed location for "Go Back" would be a lot better
than the current arrangement. It should make the button a bit more
obvious, and I think people would use it more, as a result.
As for why your questions aren't getting answered as quickly as last
time, I'm not entirely sure... but I can tell you honestly that the
most effective way to increase researcher participation is to raise
your question price. As Google Answers' Help & Tips page notes, "The
higher the price you set for your question, the more likely a
Researcher will begin work on your question quickly."
Google Answers: Help & Tips
http://answers.google.com/answers/help.html#B
Thanks again for the rating, and the generous tip! If I have the time
today or tomorrow, I may take a crack at your other questions, too.
Thanks a lot, good luck with your website!
-vorfeed_ga
|
,
0 Comments
)