Fixing the Horrid UI

[frightlever]

reverend said:
I understand that Maldafor is basically a one-man company developing SEV, but even then, basic rules of UI design apply, and I can't understand that the UI, as it is, got approved in the beta.

May God have mercy on your soul...

[Atrocities]

frightlever said:

I understand that Maldafor is basically a one-man company developing SEV, but even then, basic rules of UI design apply, and I can't understand that the UI, as it is, got approved in the beta.

I don't to if I should laugh at this comment or simply shake my head in disbelief at its lack of informed presumption.

The beta testers have and had absolutely no say in what is or isn't a part of SE V. To think that we did is just grossly ill informed speculation at best.

The beta testers made recommendations regarding the UI and if you had attended the CHAT yestarday you would know that the focus of the beta and indeed all asserted current efforts to date have been directed at bug fixes. Then will come UI improvements.

Beta testers are just bug finders and game testers, we do not in any way hold positions of influence over the developer and his product.

[reverend]

Atrocities said:
Beta testers are just bug finders and game testers, we do not in any way hold positions of influence over the developer and his product.

In my experience, software testing specifically includes usability testing.

Perhaps I wouldn't be as disappointed if I hadn't played SEIV and expected a UI that was actually tailored to simplify the gameplay.

Like I said, I didn't mean to offend the beta testers.

If they had concerns about the UI, good then. In this case, Malfador should have listened better. Still doesn't make the problem go away, unfortunately.

There were many very good suggestions in this thread. I will simply wait how many of them are actually implemented in future patches before I think about buying. In the meantime, back to Dominions 3 for me.

[Baron Munchausen]

We did complain about the UI. Then, since he wasn't gonna fix it tomorrow, we started trying to play the game "as is" and other bugs cropped up. Since he was already committed to the UI design he went for the new bugs we noticed and conveniently 'forgot' about the UI complaints. As testing progressed we occasionally grumbled again, but once again went on to other concerns and since he wanted to stick with the UI he had developed he interpreted this continued cooperation as tacit acceptance of the UI. In order to get him to change it we'd have had to stage a 'sit down' strike and refused any further testing until the UI was changed.

The massive outcry after release finally seems to have broken through his preconceptions about his UI design, but once again he is very busy with other bugs and unless there is a lot of push devoted specifically to UI I fully expect it will 'slip' again in favor of other bugs.

[Phoenix-D]

Yeah, MM's patch cycle seems to be..rather odd. Note the comment in the chat about working from the top of the email stack to the bottom..

[AMF]

"Rather odd"? Yeesh kableesh. Rather backwards is more like it.

Someone really needs to ask him to concentrate on the UI. I mean, it's what will, in the end, prevent the game from suceeding in the overall marketplace. I sent him three emails right when the game first came out, but I haven't seen any of my concerns addressed in the patches. Not that I am parochial about it, but my concerns were the same ones everyone else mentioned, and that everyone still does even today. But if he is "working from the top of the pile not the bottom" then he's just, with all due respect, doing things totally b@ss-ackwards. The UI is what will doom the game to be the last in the series. It would be a pity if that happened simply because the way MM fixes things is poorly organized.

So, can I urge people to pile on the emails to Aaron about fixing the UI? Please? I really want this game to suceed, as, I think, we all do. But the UI has to be fixed for that to happen.

Just my two cents.

[Slick]

Saying that he works from the top of the pile will just encourage people to keep submitting their gripes over and over again to keep them on the top. What a strange way to do business. Maybe a prioritizing system? Maybe?