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Messages - markusin

#2
Card Bugs / Re: Priest + Sewers
29 September 2018, 06:15:11 PM
I guess reacting to the Priest trashing with Market Square and then trashing the gained Gold with Watchtower also doesn't trigger the +$2, right?
#4
My username is markusin on Dominion Online.

I'll start off by saying that I am pretty happy with the gameplay offered by the client. At no point does the UI discourage me from playing more. In particular, the recently added undo and autoplay features are really great, especially when playing against bots as often as I do. I'd like to deeply thank you for providing this experience and for maintaining it the way you have up until this point.

As for specific gripes, I don't like certain aspects of the current log. In particular, I don't care for how it condenses treasures played and cards bought and gained during the buy phase into a single line. Right now you see stuff like "m plays 2 Gold and 2 Silver" and then "m buys and gain 2 Settlers, 3 Merchants, 3 Pearl Divers ...". It becomes a pain to parse visually when lists get long and discourages me from using the log what with having to jump around text in a weird way to let's say check if the opponent bought a Pawn. I think mixing the collapsing of same copy gains/plays with lines breaks would be great. So, something like:

m plays 2 Gold,
2 Silver, and
2 Copper.
m buys and gains 2 Settlers,
3 Merchants,
4 Pearl Divers, and
2 Pawns
...


Also, It's annoying how there is no searchable game history anywhere that gives the game ID# of your past games. The reload old game feature is a workaround for logs right now (when the game load feature doesn't fail to load the game) but there is no good tracking of game ID#s. Scavenger only goes so far back and only works for rated games, at least as far as I know. One has to record the game ID# of every single game played manually on a notepad or something if they don't want to risk not being able to find the game sometime in the future. Something like Goko Salvager would really be great.

As for the feature list provided, the short version is I prioritize gameplay smoothness and a more consistent bot AI.

The long version:

1. An offline client, allowing you to play campaigns against bots

I would play it, but it doesn't seem too necessary. I think it would be good if the offline version could do a bulk import of boards to save using a text input. This can let you import a "campaign" set or a "boards of the week" kind of thing.

2. A bot with a setting for different play styles

Doesn't seem too worth the effort. I'd like to see a better all around AI first.

3. A strong bot.

What matters to me is not that the bot is particularly strong, but that it is consistently permissible and doesn't just drop the ball when it comes to certain setups. Right now certain cards make you really just want to reroll the board against the bot because of how badly it plays certain cards. Examples include Torturer against which the bot voluntarily locks itself out the game by discarding every time (even when curses are out), Pooka whose Cursed Gold the bot spends with every opportunity, and Counterfeit. This prevents a player from gaining any sort of proper gauge on strategies with the bot's help when it comes to certain cards.

4. Options for timed games

This doesn't interest me.

5. Options for undo settings

I'm not picky about undo settings, but it's odd how the play-all-treasures feature can be undone with a single undo step, but the other player can't easily figure out if the play-all-treasures feature was used because the opponent's treasures are always played one at a time. Goko/MF had that nice instant spread of treasures when an opponent used play all. This could matter if they are requested to have a play-all-treasures undone. Having it be clearer what would be undone if you accept an undo request would already solve the play-all-treasure issue I just mentioned.

6. Online mini-tournaments; the option to easily create one for you & your friends.

I wouldn't personally use this feature.

7. Option to invite specific players to your table

I'd like to see this happen.

8. More translations (to what language?)

I have no request for an additional language.

9. Better animations when cards are gained/bought/played/...

I'd like to see gained cards by opponents being made more visible. If having the cards dance and expand to the front of the screen is too intrusive, then maybe just flash the borders around the supply pile from which a card was just gained by the opponent. I'd also like to see an option to have cards revealed one at a time when playing stuff like Hunting Party and Scrying Pool, which is currently seen when your opponent plays those cards.

10. Better visualization of split piles, Archive/Crypt contents, Prince targets, ...

Yes, I'd like to see cards set aside with Archive, Crypt, Prince and the like. I've noticed their absence and found it disappointing.

10. Option to hide the log

I mentioned my issues with the log earlier, which are an annoyance to the point where I'd consider using an option to hide the log unless I need it.

11. Android app (or just improved compatibility?)

I wouldn't play on an Android app, but I might like to be able to spectate on an app. In my ideal world, an Android app would exist that has a dedicated user interface specifically optimized for spectating games.

12. iPhone app (or just improved compatibility?)

I don't own any Apple products that have install-able apps and so this doesn't concern me.

13. Downloadable game logs

I'd like to see this happen. At the very least, a way to get the game ID#s of past games, both rated and unrated, as I mentioned above.

14. Improved moderation (dealing with chat abuse, slowplayers, ...)

I don't currently deal with this much, so I can't comment on how well moderation has been up until now.

15. Tutorial on how to play Dominion

I don't personally need it.

16. Tutorial on how to play dominion online.

Yes, I'd like this. I still find certain aspects of the online client confusing, and I can't tell you how to undo back to a specific decision point in a game. There are probably other features that exist that I am not even aware of.

Thank you for giving us this nice opportunity to give feedback.
#5
(14) yudai214 defeats (123) markusin

4-1
#8392632 yudai214
#8393781 yudai214
#8394346 markusin
#8394910 yudai214
#8395947 yudai214
#6
markusin vs. mglagrla
markusin wins 4 - 2

#7987672 mglagrla (unranked)
#7987956 mglagrla
#7988348 markusin
#7989012 markusin
#7989694 markusin
#7990015 markusin
#7
Losers' Bracket / Re: Losers' Bracket Round 3 Signups
04 October 2017, 06:26:34 PM
I will sign up as well.
#8
markusin defeats petrovic 4-1

7225828 (unrated)
7226201
7226689
7226965
7227337
#9
2017 Championship (archived) / Re: HTTPS for the forum
14 September 2017, 05:33:10 AM
I feel dumb for not noticing this forum wasn't using HTTPS. I strongly agree with the sentiment to have this forum moved to HTTPS. I did not reuse a password for this forum at least (yeah, password managers are handy).
#10
I'll sign up too.
#11
Quote from: allanfieldhouse on 06 January 2017, 09:37:59 PM
Quote from: Ingix on 06 January 2017, 07:08:08 AM
This is something that will be very hard to effectively solve, as there are just so many effects it can apply to. For example at making fun, I set the "delay" to some middle value so I could reasonably see what happened when computer opponent played a card chain, but then I got to wait "for an eternity" if he used a Trader to get 5 silvers and the game client would show me each silver seperately 5 times.

I think the "too slow vs too fast" thing is actually pretty simple to solve in most cases. First, they need an animation to show everything that happens. Especially things like revealing a card with Herald or trashing with Rebuild. Then they need an option to turn animations off or control their speed.

Finally, they can customize some of the specific animations -- if you gain 5 silvers, that should be one animation that flashes up 5 silvers, not 5 animations of 1 silver each (and if you didn't catch exactly how many silvers they gained, you can always just reference the log). Technically you didn't gain them all at once, but in many cases, they can be displayed that way (if you have a duplicate, it would have to show the first gain and then ask you).

Luckily the developers have said they're going to add all the missing animations.

I feel that a lot of the design choices for the game where made with the intention to account for all possible edge cases, or at least as many edge cases as possible. In the case of gaining 5 Silvers, MF may have been annoying with showing the Silver in your face 5 times, but it also let you react individually to each Silver gain this way with say Watchtower. I'm not sure how Watchtower works in the new client, but the use of the log as part of the UI (for example when callign a Reserve card) I feel has stemmed from making sure all legal actions are doable and non-ambiguous at the expense of consistency across all cards. I think is a tradeoff somewhere between fast flow speed and low chance of user errors (which I think is a strength of the new client after you see each effect the first time).

As an aside, the '+' sign on the bottom corner of the cards that are available for gaining/purchasing feels like an artifact from MF given that, in the new client, clicking anywhere on the card gives it to you. Maybe gainable cards can get a bright border instead or something if that behaviour doesn't end up changing down the line?
#12
General Discussion / Re: Initial site impressions
06 January 2017, 08:39:52 PM
I want to highlight AdamH's point about this thread being of immense value. Now, user interface design is an extremely hard problem to solve because it is not solved by simply having more time to work on it. UI design requires consideration of insight from various perspectives, including the brand new player perspective. Developers can't simply "unlearn" what they know about their product and identify all usability issues themselves. ElizabethK's posts here help convey the kinds of thoughts that might go through a new player's mind.

The Shuffle iT team has done a great job developing the core features of a proper Dominion Online experience with the 2017 New Year deadline. There is however lots of room to improve on the flow of things. Finding more people who have attempted to use the new client with little to no prior experience to Dominion and hearing what they have to say can go a long way.

Granted, I don't know the inside working of Shuffle iT and what the final vision of Dominion Online looks like according to Shuffle iT. It could be that a lot the usability issues mentioned in this thread are on the list of things to correct.

I'll finish this post by stating that I don't think it's too late to find people that don't have prior experience with Dominion (could be people close to the developers or testers), give them a high level rundown of what Dominion Online is trying to do, and have them do a Dominion Online trial to see where they get stuck.