Order Entry

[Lord Diamond]

I just realized that I cannot use the site with my iPad....

It is too busy for my taste. The white font with the art in the background could cause an epileptic fit. I think there is an opportunity to make the site more attractive, but if I have to choose between this version and the old version I choose 4 with a side of 6, 2, and a very weak 3.


Edit: Seriously, stare at it a minute and tell me you don't feel a migraine coming on. Maybe if there wasn't more of the art as a background behind the area where you enter commands.....

[DuPont]

At first glance I totally hate it, but I'll give it another chance later. I would much prefer that the keyboard arrows be able to move the cursor around than anything else, frankly.

[Ry Vor]

People that are used to looking at Excel and have been playing Alamaze with this form for some time won't mind how it looked up until today. 

We need more people.  I constantly get emails from people that are perfectly content with how Alamaze was 15 years ago and also fine that maybe only 50 people are playing at any given time, they just don't want anything changed.  They don't want price increases either.  They think its great we have the best game at 25% of the price of others, who cares if its not enough players for the owner?

People, we need people.  Everything we can do to make the game more attractive, more accurate, less looking like a .txt file or Excel for that matter is all good.  We don't need to hear how 3 people want to print their .txt results, we need a couple hundred people playing.  I'd still like to think if everyone brought just one friend in, all would be good.  When a guest visits and sees something that looks like a spreadsheet, they are not inspired.  I believe 95% or more of people that have ever played at least 3 turns of Alamaze love it, but it is hard to get that initial buy in.  We need to increase the enticement, then the game should take care of the rest.

And if anyone can catch up with Steven Colbert or John Stewart and get them to comment, that wouldn't hurt either.

[Thudargh]

I can give some feedback from the perspective of a recent addition to the Alamaze community.

I think the artwork is a great addition. It makes you feel more immersed in the game. I think it will definitely make the game more inviting and accessible to new players. Granted this is all psychological - functionality hasn't changed - but I think that's the point.

I did find the white text somewhat difficult to read. And the white text boxes made my orders more difficult to read - I think it's a contrast thing, with the white background overwhelming the dark text. So I suggest experimenting with the text and background colors.

[Jumpingfist]

LD had me scared so had to try it on my IPAD no problems works fine on IPAD and my PC.

I really like that for my IPAD it is now scaled to allow me to see the entire set of orders. I do not have to scroll around to much.

The white text over the backgroup is a bit hard to read but not like I ever read that any more anyway.

Awesome Uncle Mike.

[unclemike]

To help those having difficulty looking at the web page, I changed the table cells to be more opaque so it's easier to read. Check it out. I like this version better too!!

Just keep in mind that the order checker has a limited life so there may not be that many more changes to it moving forward. I don't have Ry Vor's/Ciper's schedule in front of me but I think in the 4th quarter of 2015, we're hoping that Alamaze will become fully online like Fall of Rome. Which means that the order checker will go away soon and I don't want to spend much too much time reworking it. I upgraded its appearance because Ry Vor mentioned it looked too much like a plain worksheet so I tried to make it look more attractive in that sense. Just keep in mind that the order checker may be going away in as little as 6-8 months so enjoy it while it lasts

[Lord Diamond]

I still can't get it to work on my iPad. When I try to log in, nothing happens although it does validate my user id and password. Must be a browser setting or something....

Unclemike, if you can actually build. Alamaze into a GUI you will have fulfilled a long time dream for almost all of us. Frankly, the only reason I started playing Fall of Rome was because the website promised that Kingdoms of Arcania (Alamaze Online) was due out by December, 2006. I loved the game and got very good at it, but I never stopped lusting after KoA.

There are two major (to me) things about FoR that I hope does not translate to Alamaze Online.

1. When you gain control of your region, all Unusual Sightings are revealed. This eliminated my favorite thing about Alamaze by making them too easy to find.

2. The HP could reveal all the Unusual Sightings in a large circle. Again, this ruined the quest aspect of the game.

Back to the original question, I wasn't arguing for a plain text version. I just want something that won't give me a headache with the difficult to read contrast. I wouldn't have said a thing if we hadn't been asked for feedback.

[kevindusi]

For the background on the order entry, I can resurrect my picture of me in the kiddie pool. I know the guy from Suspense & Decision wanted to use it at one point.

Let me know!

[Lord Diamond]

It looks much better now. We have attractive art and no danger of an epileptic fit! I like the tweaks very much. Thanks, Unclemike!

[unclemike]

If your browser has no problem with the login screen but doesn't go any further (and you're currently in a game), it means that you're pop-up blocker is preventing the second page from displaying. As mentioned way back on page 1 of the order checker forum post, you need to disable pop-up blockers to use the online order program.