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Messages - DemonGenius

#1
QuoteI don't work for shuffleit

Never said you did. And as an outsider to ShuffleIT, you have even less say in what their customers find justifiable than even they do, unless you are the customer in question.
#2
QuoteI think it's reasonable to get more information, and I certainly don't think anyone is faulting the user for that request. However, because the message does indicate the number of steps, it's also not a game-breaking issue that would justify this line:

"what other choice to I have to thwart cheaters and poor sports other than quitting this game altogether?"

Sorry, but it's never the supplier's decision what is justifiable from the perspective of the customer (unless you're Apple). Sure there's bad customers, and firing them (or banning toxic players) can help increase your revenue. However, a patronizing attitude towards your customers (particularly by blaming them instead of helping them) is a great way to hemorrhage revenue and brand value.

Luckily, I just happen to really like Dominion and won't be going anywhere soon, save for some egregious error on the part of the maintainers.
#3
As a professional software developer myself, I have to give AdamH kudos for examining an issue outside the nuts and bolts of the software itself and looking at the relationship the software (and its creators) has with its users.

Too many developers have a "blame the user" attitude towards their work and I feel that that's a major cause of our profession being held in disrepute, indirectly contributing to the mass depression of our wages across the market.

As related to my issue in question, I still feel as though the undo mechanic is fundamentally broken. For instance, how would any of you feel about playing chess with someone who asks to undo moves to the beginning of the game because he was losing? Most people would consider that, at the very least, an implicit resignation. What if there was a rule in chess that someone can do this via whatever means possible? How much would any of you want to play chess then?

Just like dynamite breaks the game of rock-paper-scissors, enabling undos to the beginning of the game breaks ShuffleIT Dominion. Multiple undos really should just be restricted to the current turn, or this feature should be configurable for the user with it being disabled by default. The use case for multiple turn undos is really too narrow to be applied across the board as it is now.
#4
Honestly, I had no idea that was a feature, to undo the whole game. My opinion is that feature shouldn't exist. Like the player I was up against, anyone could take advantage of this and dickishly undo any game they were losing against with their opponent thinking they were being nice and undoing a single move. With the speed at which most players click, this is very easy to pull off on anyone.

Undoing moves outside the current turn needs to be explicitly communicated to the player granting the undos, or completely removed from the game. If this doesn't happen, I can only see myself refusing all undos for everyone to prevent what happened to me from happening again.

I don't like that, and I'm sure my future opponents won't like that much either, but what other choice to I have to thwart cheaters and poor sports other than quitting this game altogether?
#5
Game #15752144

Near the end of the game, the opposing player requested an undo which I granted. The game immediately reset to the initial state and we had to start over from the beginning, same game number, same kingdom.

This was particularly frustrating since in the original game I was winning, but in the reset game, I was too distracted trying to figure out what went wrong so I could report it and ended up losing.

My hope is that foul play isn't a factor here as that threatens the user experience of this game more so than just a simple bug.
#6
Username: DemonGenius
Location: Canada



  • An offline client, allowing you to play campaigns against bots
    This would be nice, but campaigns have limited enjoyment. How about the ability for the players to create custom campaigns?

  • A bot with a setting for different play styles
    Yes, it gets boring when you can predict what the bot is going to do, or when the bot isn't smart enough to leverage a particular quirk of the kingdom.

  • A strong bot.
    Yes, possibly modeled after patterns of top players?

  • Options for timed games
    As long as the game defaults to no actions/buys/nights if time runs out. Not sure how this works when choosing between different duration effects, I suppose the game can make it in the order they print in.

  • Options for undo settings
    No opinion, I like the undos the way they are, rarely use them anyway as I like to factor in my own stupidity/mistakes in the game.

  • Online mini-tournaments; the option to easily create one for you & your friends.
    This would be a great addition, do it!

  • Option to invite specific players to your table
    Sure.

  • More translations (to what language?)
    I'd like to see French.

  • Better animations when cards are gained/bought/played/...
    Yes, I like the animations better in the previous version. I'm getting used to the Shuffle interface, but it needs to make game states and card descriptions more intuitive to display. For a card in the game that isn't in a kingdom pile, it's difficult to see what it is unless it's in the log (lot's of scrolling), in the trash, or in play. There also needs to be an elegant way for the game to work in various screen sizes/

  • Better visualization of split piles, Archive/Crypt contents, Prince targets, ...
    Yes, there should be a way to see the description of a card in the lower half of the split pile but without exposing the order of those cards (like the Knights)

  • Option to hide the log
    Yes, but I think the log can be prettied up some and made quicker to navigate.

  • Android app (or just improved compatibility?)
    An Android app would be ideal for me, I only play Dominion on my laptop currently.

  • iPhone app (or just improved compatibility?)
    I don't have an iPhone but an iApp should be created as well.

  • Downloadable game logs
    Please, and with end game statistics.

  • Improved moderation (dealing with chat abuse, slowplayers, ...)
    Yes, there are some characters in the game that start getting abusive because they don't like to lose. But the slow playing issue is one I can't really escape as I live rurally and suffer with a 1.5 Mbps rate along attenuated phone lines (at least for now).

  • Tutorial on how to play Dominion
    Sure, the learning curve can be a bit much for some.

  • Tutorial on how to play dominion online.
    Sure, same as above.

I'd also like to see support for currencies (or at least a conversion) other than the Euro, and the ability to pay for subscriptions in native currencies (within reason, I understand getting into the conversion business can be costly). I'd also like better visibility into the cards I'm able to play and how much my subscription would be based on my remaining subscription. Having to do guesswork and then a conversion is making me delay renewing to get the Nocturne cards until my existing subscription runs out.

The overall interface of Shuffle iT Dominion needs a facelift so it doesn't look like a project a couple of guys built in their dorm room. Currently, it's only the cards that make the game look attractive (props to Donald X and the many artists of Dominion for that). Sorry for the frank critique, but it comes from a place of caring :)