BlackFalcon

@Tomms123 Thank you for your thoughtful reply. To be honest, I wasn't sure what stage your game was at. I have been tracking it for some time and when I decided to purchase it I thought that at this point it would have been at some level of release. If you are having trouble discerning which people are new to the game and which are now hard-core veterans of it, may I suggest that you break the "Suggestions" section of your forum into two sections; one for new players who will find the issues you need to resolve with the interface (like me) and a second section that would allow the more hard-core players suggest issues and potential resolutions to the more in-depth aspects of your game. As a senior software engineer myself, I am aware of how each of us are looking at your product. As a developer of business applications, I had to understand that the interface would drive the application processes since the interface was inherently tied to the internal processes. However, I have ventured into game\simulation development and have an appreciation for the issues that you and your colleagues have to deal with. Your emphasis then most often tends to be how is a certain process going to work and how will it look like to the player, which is very understandable. The interface then can become somewhat of an add-on process in some respects to what you are trying to accomplish internally. I understand that since this is a result of how you have been trained to do such complex work just as how I was trained to provide my users with an intuitive feeling for my designs. The most intuitive interfaces I have found for simulation and game software can be found at John Tiller Software, which produces historically accurate war game simulations. My suggestion would be take the master menu bar in such games and make it more flexible by providing a menu-system that can be hidden with a few critical buttons in a corner that can be quickly accessed by the players to either re-establish the menu display or hide it. If hidden, the minimal button set would be displayed, if not, the button set would be hidden as a result the menu being displayed. By using such a menu system you can add as many options in a clean format as desired without ever worrying about littering up the screen. As to my item# 4, where I suggested a refinement in the way you enter a battle, what I was trying to get at was that from my short experience with your simulation you appear to have gotten quite a bit of the advanced physics down. As a result, as player's ship enters a battle zone, instead of displaying a complete screen that blacks out the ocean-based playing area, simply, for example, place a notice in a corner of the screen with an option to prepare for battle (Y/N), which would then have the software outfit the ship for battle as is currently done. Once done, the player can continue sailing his vessel into the engagement in a normal fashion instead of rushing him or her into it, which admittedly is not very realistic. You already appear to have the measurements within the playing area worked out, which I imagine is what triggers the battle-screen in the first place. As a result you really don't need the battle-entrance screen at all. I think you and your team have what will shape up to be a great product. And I am hopeful that once you get the underlying physics and graphics down pat and refine your interface you will entertain an option to take up the "Battle of Jutland" in a new product as I am a very interested in WWI history. As to my remarks about my experiences in the Rise of Flight forums, I was in fact making suggestions as to how that community could re-invigorate the game. The development team has let that simulation to survive on its own in order to produce new WWII simulations. I can understand that from a business perspective but from a sustainable business model it doesn't make any sense since if they follow the same trends with their newer products they will always be looking for the "next new thing" to capitalize on leaving their existing communities to fend for themselves. The result has been that the Rise of Flight Community has broken down to a large extent in terms of civility that resulted in my suggestions, all of which were made in a professional manner, being denigrated along with my person. Other people have had this happen to them on these forums as these people seem to think that doing this is fun. As a result, I am working on developing an alternative Rise of Flight site where people can come and not fear that their enthusiasm may be stepped on for the pleasure of such people who enjoy taking other people down. Not only have other people commented on the vitriol of the Rise of Flight forums, a number of have already stated that they would never recommend anyone joining such a community. And my own flight mates refuse to go there anymore. This is a terrible shame since Rise of Flight is a beautiful piece of software just as yours is shaping up to be... It is nice to know that your group takes a dim view on such a lack of civility as it is becoming a serious issue internationally. With all respect, Black Falcon

Hello... I am new to this game as I just started playing with some friends the other night. I have to admit that I have some mixed feelings about this game but am willing to hang with it since I understand how difficult it is to develop such games. I have seen a lot of suggestions and discussions regarding the actual features that many people would like to see in this game. I have no idea how a development group could accommodate so many requests (and hopes). In any event, I have been building software for 44 years and am already in the planning phases of a new product. I have a lot of experience with intuitive interface design and I believe this is the area that is causing most of the complaints and negative reviews people are seeing about this game. An interface in any application should intuitively guide the user or player in this regard as to what is available and what the limitations of the application are. In a game such as this, the limitations would calculated to be the level of experience that a player has gained over time by successfully playing the missions in the game. In business software, limitations are usually imposed as result of the level of access to certain functionality that any one user can have. This is what is known as "security" rights. I see the biggest issue that could generate negative reviews and comments is a result of the confusing interfaces, which appear as if they are not completely finished. As a result, the game has an incomplete feel to it and I found the game mechanics as a result, difficult to ascertain. From what I have experienced so far it appears that the game interface is on the right track but is still in need of quite a bit of refinement. If I may here is what I would suggest as some refinements... I. Instead of having separate screens that move you back and forth between actual game play I would refine your existing menu design to be much smaller with the entirety of your game play options under various master menu options. Each selected option would then bring up a new form for the user to interact with over the playing screen. II. A refined menu would also be able to be hidden so that users could play the game without the menu being visible. In its place you could use what you are already using in the game, which is the icon with the horizontal bars, which would be display in a corner when the menu is hidden. III. Another facet to the menu system, which is standard in all well-designed applications is a HELP option, which provides the various screens for each of the sections of an application with information on how to work with it. In the case of a game, this information would be mostly relegated to the keyboard and mouse options that are required. None of my friends I was playing with knew of any such option in the game and they had been playing it for a while so this is something that is definitely lacking. Like the menu icon, which is already being used in the game, a standard help icon could also be placed in a corner when the menu is hidden. IV. I noticed that prior to entering a battle a new screen comes up and tells the player that you are about to enter a battle. From what I have seen from playing the game, I don't see this as a necessity and it also interrupts the actual game-play making it feel somewhat rough. The game play has already shown that the physics are rather sophisticated. As a result, there should be a more refined way to inform the player that he or she has entered a combat zone and should ready is ship for an engagement if he or she would like to do so. If not, the player has the option to sail away from the combat area. As a software engineer interface design has always been paramount in application design as it guides the rest of the application's development since that is what all the internals are supposed to react to; the users selections. Poor or incomplete interface design can ruin the potential of any application and over the many years I have been in the software development field I have seen many a software tool fail as a result. I believe you have a naval simulation that has all the possibilities of becoming a very high quality product, which could go a very long way to providing other periods of time for naval action in new products down the road However, I see all the symptoms from the many forum responses I have read that your efforts may be headed in the wrong direction in that you will continue to add and refine features and complexity in the game in the hopes that you will be able to maintain interest without refining the interface adequately to be to accommodate them smoothly. No doubt these comments may cause an uproar in the forums. I am becoming used to that since I have made various proposals in the Rise of Flight forums for which I have been vilified to a degree. However, my proposals were an attempt to enhance a community that has all the earmarks of one that is declining in relevance to the general market, while the developers pursue other, unrelated projects. Unfortunately, my predictions for that community are being borne out and I would hate to see the same for another potentially, fine product that has what appears to be a loyal following. With all respect... Black Falcon