Ultra Noobie Annoyances

[JasonS]

Playing on Linux..

Feedback after 4 minutes playing  

Annoyance One: Registering.
This one is really simple. When you active your account via e-mail there should be a little message saying. "Please choose a password to complete activation". I worked it out after about 30 seconds but pressing the activation link and seeing "Choose Password" did make me think 'hmmmm, did that activate?'

Annoyance Two: Settings Screen is laggy!
I don't have the fasted laptop in the world, the game runs fine but the settings screen on the opening screen kill's my performance...

Annoyance Three: Changing Screen Size
As far as I am aware you cannot change the screen size in game. It would be fantastic for the game to measure your screen size and choose the most relevant resolution before launching for the first time. I was stuck on 1024x800 and my screen is about 760px high... even with top and bottom menu bars hidden I was struggling to hit the buttons at the bottom. When I saw no way to change this in game my head dropped. I was then a bit annoyed when the game started again and the launcher was still big... making it difficult to hit the actual play button! Why does it have to be that tall?

Annoyance Four: Unique First Name
I like to play as Dave or David Giant. No chance on this game. Had to go for something random, forgettable and unpronounceable... why!?

Annoyance Five: Get some regex on chats!
First NPC. 'Let me know when you are ready to progress.'
Me: 'I am ready'.
First NPC. 'I am sorry, I didn't understand that. Don't get frustrated and try again.' (Or something to that effect)
Me: 'ready'.
First NPC. 'I am sorry, I didn't understand that. Don't get frustrated and try again.'
Me: 'I would put you down if I knew the buttons.'
First NPC. 'I am sorry, I didn't understand that. Don't get frustrated and try again.'
Me: *right click* -> *chat icon* -> AHAHAHAHAHAHA

Honestly, for the roleplay server this may be the dogs testicles but on the 'fun' server I can't help but feel that if you match the keyword that the npc is looking for, that should be enough. So the first NPC could accept.

'I am ready', 'ready', 'i am ready to rumble'

Annoyance Six: http://jasonstanley.co.uk/Screenshot.png
This is a simple UI issue that should be fixed. Under settings there should be an option for 'small icons' which pin to either the left or the top of the screen. I can mock up a screenshot if you want. Further more, ideally I would like an option to pin the chatbox to the bottom and auto hide the chat history when I am moving around.

I know I could toggle the buttons but this is a game. Surely the main goal is to play it, not keep stopping to tweak your UI to fit your current situation.



EDIT!

On the menu item why does the game install itself under 'Other'. Can't you just dump the executable in the Games folder?

[Illysia]

If having to play mechanic on the game bothers you, I'd suggest finding a different game as PS has always required you to fiddle with it before you can get it to halfway work right. However, if you aren't ready to give up on it, I'd suggest having IRC open when trying to run the game so you can ask for help as you encounter problems.

[JasonS]

If having to play mechanic on the game bothers you, I'd suggest finding a different game as PS has always required you to fiddle with it before you can get it to halfway work right. However, if you aren't ready to give up on it, I'd suggest having IRC open when trying to run the game so you can ask for help as you encounter problems.

I don't mind making tweaks and changes. I gave this game a run out a year ago and it looks like the UI hasn't changed at all. I don't mind playing through. However, most of these things can be fixed.

Point 1 - 2 minutes editing the HTML on the PHP file.
Point 2 - This might be a bug specific to my hardware / build but if this is common on a lot of Linux systems this should be investigated and fixed.
Point 3 - It just seems common sense to me that the game opens at a size in which you can play it. If it is too big for the screen then you cannot play the game...
Point 4 - This may be a game mechanic, if it is a tooltip would be nice to just explain why in game.
Point 5 - This is my opinion; I think it would make the game far more playable and intuitive if you had some flexibility in how you can respond.
Point 6 - This is the failing of so many open source applications. They just don't have the UI people on board that commercial projects have. As a result the UI is built to be functional instead of intuitive. This is then forgotten about. The elves theme was made in 2005..

I am determined to give this game a decent play and contribute if I can, I am sure I will be able to provide more feedback later.

[weltall]

1) well it's mostly something outside programming that page is opensource so can be changed easily.
2) the setting screen makes as many fps as it can, maybe your setup has some issues with this (x.org can have issues under load (cpu/ram) and maybe (couldn't reproduce) this could happen on single core cpu; additionally i've no idea how ati/opensource drivers work under this load: only nvidia here)
3) Can set any resolution by editing the config files or passing the --mode=axb command line, also the launcher has various resolutions to choose from (even though it may lack some exotic resolutions which i've seen around which aren't really standard like 1050 vertical for full hd monitors). mostly 1024x768 was a choice anyway in linux you can move windows by keeping alt pressed and clicking on the window. As for Auto detection: that most of the times it fails. even more in linux: not even gnome can always detect correctly the screen resolution as soon as you have more than one monitor (no xinerama and your task bar will go outside screen >_>) in other cases you would get an area field of the entire screen which includes dead areas in place of a single screen, which is probably what you would wish (even commercial games fail at this like amnesia from frictional games: actually with dual monitor with twinview and xinerama it can even crash, create a window filling both screens and showing only the 4:3 of the image related to the vertical resolution of the most little monitor in the screen setup). Windows usually bares with this better (letting alone the amount of api we should query to know this information and then give a prority which could work for someone and fail for others). In other words autodetection has several issues.
4) something must be unique or you wouldn't be able to target anything. The engine itself can bare with same names but then to target people you would have to use numbers and i doubt you wish to do it PS: i always find my nick taken
5) regex without check is dangerous on the other side: it will hit what you don't wish. Plus it would be have to be autogenerated making it more dangerous: we can't ask setting developers (writers) to learn regex and check that their regex won't hit wrong things. But in the case (better to give the exact text, npc and quest name when possible but i've found it in the db) you have found it's a quest bug. it was decided to use "yes" as trigger so ready would never trigger as it's essentially not there. Before the menu there were a lot of triggers but because of a bug it was needed to remove them. Now they work again in multi triggering but some choices from the setting team back then were sub optimal and now the old triggers should be put back in. Most of the time if the triggers are put correctly in the quest script it will triggers also on variations and replace things like synonims, remove things like names articles and so on.
6) definitely bad defaults (artist choice) but you just need to poke that little triangle on the bottom right and you can choose your size

[JasonS]

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I am a web developer and don't know much at all about application development.

Touching back on the names, is there any reason why the whole name cannot be unique? This would make David Smith and David Jones different users. I am sure you are happy with the way things are set up currently. I just find it a bit odd thats all... unless the first name is the family name. In which case maybe that should be made a bit clearer on the set up screen.

On the skin front.. I am going to make my own shin and see how I get on with that. It looks fairly simple, just need to make some png's and edit an xml file. I assume that the theme will automatically appear on the settings page when it is zipped up and placed in the right directory. On the surface it looks like there is a lack is of options. I will release what ever I make and let people know how I get on.

The main thing I need to do is play the game some more.  

Actually something else. The menu's are a little difficult to resize as the resize doesn't proportionally resize. This means the graphics are often stretched and distorted. Anyway, back to playing

[weltall]

well the problem is mostly user and gm use having to write David Smith vs David could get quite annoying also notice some commands will require you to do even "David Smith".

Being able to resize it like that allows more flexibility over doing a keep ratio resize.

[LigH]

About #5:

The "Multiple Choice Dialog" quest system was implemented after too many people complained that the free-text recognition system was too unreliable. But I would be surprised if that one already got disabled completely?!

[JasonS]

I completed the tutorial!

Only annoyance. RATS DON'T DIE! That and they don't always drop a hide. The upshot of this was twenty minutes trying to batter the buggers till they dropped something. 

[Roled]

You're gonna need to know about those rats in game... they are persistent... and can lead to many unexpected things... {no spoilers just titillaters...}

[Illysia]

Do some quests and build enough cash for two weapons then try duel wielding for what it is worth. When last played, PS didn't have penalties for duel wielding.

[novacadian]

It is very likely that the BoT would be happy to sponsor an exterminator of rats for the public good. Drop round the GuG Temple. They appear to be holding a vigil of some sort there.

Nova whistles innocently

[Wavemaker]

If having to play mechanic on the game bothers you, I'd suggest finding a different game as PS has always required you to fiddle with it before you can get it to halfway work right. However, if you aren't ready to give up on it, I'd suggest having IRC open when trying to run the game so you can ask for help as you encounter problems.

"If you don't like it, just turn around and leave!"

This community reminds me of a hicktown prejudice. The OP is obviously interested in participating and has used the correct forum (i.e. "Complaints Department") to make suggestions. He shouldn't have to fiddle with anything or have an IRC client open.

Point 6 - This is the failing of so many open source applications. They just don't have the UI people on board that commercial projects have. As a result the UI is built to be functional instead of intuitive. This is then forgotten about. The elves theme was made in 2005..

This isn't an open source application. The engine is open source (Crystal Space 3D) but the content isn't, therefore there aren't many volunteers willing to give up their work, which requires assigning your rights to Atomic Blue. Unless you want to limit yourself to a fanmade skin on the forums, it will never be included in the official release as an "open source" skin.

[Illysia]

Actually, the statement was more of a "don't waste your time if it bothers you that much," statement. Whether you should have to do that stuff or not is subjective but making a big fuss and holding your breath while waiting for it to change is like sitting in mud then complaining that it is muddy... If you have a problem with mud the better solution is to move.

And as for submitting work, many volunteers were willing to give up their work and they did, the problem was that the work environment isn't very good for keeping volunteers long enough to make large dents in the work load. Further, not every volunteer has every needed skill set.

[Cinade]

Actually, the statement was more of a "don't waste your time if it bothers you that much," statement. Whether you should have to do that stuff or not is subjective but making a big fuss and holding your breath while waiting for it to change is like sitting in mud then complaining that it is muddy... If you have a problem with mud the better solution is to move.

And as for submitting work, many volunteers were willing to give up their work and they did, the problem was that the work environment isn't very good for keeping volunteers long enough to make large dents in the work load. Further, not every volunteer has every needed skill set.

Yeah but that doesnt mean you discourage someone to play the game, or even help out. When I joined the game a month ago I didnt knew anything and was having trouble alot but it was my luck I found the right people who encouraged me to play and taught me stuff. As soon as I came someone even gave me 150 Q sabres that made my life easier with the rats. Not everyone is lucky and as I can see the numbers in the community is slowly dwindling and I see many players like you who instead of teaching them just say "bah! if you dont know how too RP just join the other server" why? cant you just try once to teach them and I am telling this to everyone coz I have seen this happening a lot. I am quite new myself but I spend a god time teaching players newer than me how much I know and even giving them money if needed and provide helpful knowlegde.
I am thankful and lucky I met the right people when  started the game coz if II had met people like you I surely would have quit it the fiirst hour in planeshift. If you cant help atleast dont discourage.

[Aiwendil]

And it is because of replies like this a lot people don't bother to help anymore. Seriously...First Illysia doesn't even play anymore, so for sure she can't be blamed for being unfriendly in game to new players. And second...LOL..Illysia being unfriendly in game at all? Sorry, doubt you know what you talk here about. Illysia ran the Stonehead tavern with the objective to allow players learn roleplaying in PS in a nice atmosphere without having to worry about doing anything wrong. She spend hours trying to convince me and Lhaa doing the same in the Red Crystal Den (and eventually failed on that as we had some different objectives for the RCD). And in all the time I saw Illysia playing I have never ever seen her ignoring a new player and not answering any questions. Also she tried several times to address problems in game players face...and in return got ranted at the whole time from players and the team until she did the only right thing in my view and just stopped playing.
For sure I disagree with Illysia sometimes...but that doesn't keep me of paying her my respect for everything she did and tried. And to all people thinking it's just destructive to tell others to play another game if some mechanics bother them too much I can only suggest searching these forums a bit. Complains about names needing to the unique can be found plenty...and most people who made them already left that game again. It won't change...no matter what people say here. Even worse is the situation with the NPC chat parser...nobody pays attention to the parser anymore since the "no-need-to-read-I-just-click-a-answer"-quests were implemented...expecting improvements in the parser pretty soon is almost naive. And that is true for some many other complains or suggestions new players make...most of them were already made years ago and never got implemented. So telling these players to not waste their time if it really bothers them so much is something bad?