Hello,
First of all - I like this game, I think it has great potential and I really want to one day say I love this game. It reminds me of great times, great friends and fun that was supposed to last longer.
I'm an MMO Veteran - with over 20 years of experience from the most successful and many less successful MMOs. I've also dabbled in game desing and development. I have a somewhat of an understanding what can make or break a game, or atleast I like to think so. I've been a gamer for 30 years, so if I don't know this then I know nothing.
You're offering a service that has a monthly fee. I expect the most basic things would be at least slightly polished and functional, when a game is fully released and getting ready for continuous subscribers. However the chatbox does not even allow the user to choose font size nor do the color options work in the settings.
Also the skill tree is quite messy, the text size is tiny and we can't scale it which is somewhat odd, since you can scale the compass size and it's the easiest element of your UI to see. Sure the tiny font doesn't matter, if you play on a computer monitor sitting really close, resolution isn't too high and/or you have perfect eye sight.
Furthermore the skills are unorganized, hard to navigate and a lot of them don't have any description. Maybe you could just split them in to Primary and Secondary, and organize alphabetically ? You could also have groups - Combat, Magic, Survival, Athletics for example.
The buttons for skill gains, locks and losses are crude and unappealing.
Why do I focus on these minor details, the team surely has more important matters to look in to ?
I disagree, the UI is the most in your face element of any game. It's the bread and butter of controlling your character and creating immersion. If the UI has several sources of irritation and is even slightly dysfunctional your gaming experience is instantly less than it could be. A smooth and easy to navigate UI allows the user to focus on the main thing - the actual game. Some people will request a refund, before experiencing the game itself. Sure, you can say you don't need those milkdrinkers, you have your hardcore fans. But no, that's not true - you need them both if you want your game to truly grow and blossom.
To recap:
- Improve your chatbox, working settings for text colour and font size - bare minimum of and MMO after -99.
- Add scaling option to all UI elements, people with limited eyesight or with monitors further away can actually see them.
- Add the possibility to lock at least some of the UI elements in place
- Organize the skills list better, put in more descriptions
- Might want to put some work in to the actual graphical design of the UI. Having 0 artwork will drive away more people than it will bring in, even if some people like a simplistic UI. It doesn't need to be a grand work of art. There is middle ground.
Minimizing the sources of irritation and fustration, will improve the user experience and deepen immersion. These should be fast and easy fixes and upgrades to help Mortal Online grow.
First of all - I like this game, I think it has great potential and I really want to one day say I love this game. It reminds me of great times, great friends and fun that was supposed to last longer.
I'm an MMO Veteran - with over 20 years of experience from the most successful and many less successful MMOs. I've also dabbled in game desing and development. I have a somewhat of an understanding what can make or break a game, or atleast I like to think so. I've been a gamer for 30 years, so if I don't know this then I know nothing.
You're offering a service that has a monthly fee. I expect the most basic things would be at least slightly polished and functional, when a game is fully released and getting ready for continuous subscribers. However the chatbox does not even allow the user to choose font size nor do the color options work in the settings.
Also the skill tree is quite messy, the text size is tiny and we can't scale it which is somewhat odd, since you can scale the compass size and it's the easiest element of your UI to see. Sure the tiny font doesn't matter, if you play on a computer monitor sitting really close, resolution isn't too high and/or you have perfect eye sight.
Furthermore the skills are unorganized, hard to navigate and a lot of them don't have any description. Maybe you could just split them in to Primary and Secondary, and organize alphabetically ? You could also have groups - Combat, Magic, Survival, Athletics for example.
The buttons for skill gains, locks and losses are crude and unappealing.
Why do I focus on these minor details, the team surely has more important matters to look in to ?
I disagree, the UI is the most in your face element of any game. It's the bread and butter of controlling your character and creating immersion. If the UI has several sources of irritation and is even slightly dysfunctional your gaming experience is instantly less than it could be. A smooth and easy to navigate UI allows the user to focus on the main thing - the actual game. Some people will request a refund, before experiencing the game itself. Sure, you can say you don't need those milkdrinkers, you have your hardcore fans. But no, that's not true - you need them both if you want your game to truly grow and blossom.
To recap:
- Improve your chatbox, working settings for text colour and font size - bare minimum of and MMO after -99.
- Add scaling option to all UI elements, people with limited eyesight or with monitors further away can actually see them.
- Add the possibility to lock at least some of the UI elements in place
- Organize the skills list better, put in more descriptions
- Might want to put some work in to the actual graphical design of the UI. Having 0 artwork will drive away more people than it will bring in, even if some people like a simplistic UI. It doesn't need to be a grand work of art. There is middle ground.
Minimizing the sources of irritation and fustration, will improve the user experience and deepen immersion. These should be fast and easy fixes and upgrades to help Mortal Online grow.
