Game menu - your feedback is needed

[DeletedUser12086]

Dear Kings and Queens,


We would like to improve the Forge of Empires menu ingame, and we'd like to ask for your feedback on some mockups. Guilds are currently buried in the Global submenu, which isn't very intuitive, and this makes guilds and their functions less accessible to players.

We know that players become very familiar with the game menu over time, and simply moving buttons around can be annoying when you are used to their earlier position. Therefore, what we want to do is to ensure that any change we make is a real improvement.

We've got a couple of ideas on how we could improve the menu, so please go ahead and read on, and then vote for the idea you like the most. If you have any comments to make about the proposed menus, we want to know about these too, so please post your feedback in this thread. We are open to suggestions and ideas, however there are limitations: for example, we cannot add further menu items because this would mean the game would no longer fit into lower-resolution screens.


Menu A

In this option, all message-related items are moved into a submenu, for example the guild forum, message center and community forum buttons. A ranking button is also added to the menu for better accessibility (not everyone knows that it can be clicked on at the top of the game window).

Menu B

In this option there is no ranking button added, the community forum button is moved out of the menu (and into another location in the game). The guild forum button and guild button are both added to the menu.


One final thing to add: we are asking players in every market for their feedback about the game menu. Even so, this does not mean that the most-voted-for idea would be implemented. What we want to do is gather feedback and votes and assess it all together - including comments and other ideas - in order to find the best possible solution for everyone.

Thank you for taking the time to be involved in this discussion, and thank you for supporting Forge of Empires.



Sincerely,

The Forge of Empires team.

 

[DeletedUser]

Menu A shouldn't have the message centre hidden like that. It will eventually drive people crazy having to click two tabs instead of just one to read messages. What if the flashing notification system still malfunctions like it does now, flashing without there being anything new to read.

Menu B doesn't need the Your Guild tab exposed like that. From my experience the ones who use this tab are most likely guild leaders since many of the leader options are listed clicking this tab. Other players probably don't need access to this on this particular level. GvG:ers would probably enjoy having faster access to the Treasury with the Your Guild tab exposed like this. Not sure which group outweighs the other.

That said, Something Else would be nice. I just don't know what that would be.

 

[DeletedUser98942]

I agree about the flashing message tab. Having guild forum notifications and message notifications on the same button seems like a potentially very annoying solution. I think Menu B is a better option in that respect.

 

[DeletedUser]

I would like to have history button so when come in from work i can see what been happening
I am finding hard to get to it
The only time see the history is when the general pops up and says there has something happened while been away

 

[DeletedUser99218]

I agree about the flashing message tab. Having guild forum notifications and message notifications on the same button seems like a potentially very annoying solution. I think Menu B is a better option in that respect.

I also agree with this entirely.

 

[DeletedUser15432]

I quite agree, having all messages under the same heading, with the current problems with the message system (they were supposed to have been fixed before the came came out of beta mode) would be very annoying, furthermore, option B is not much better, I would prefer that an additional menu button be inserted in the upper row

 

[DeletedUser97199]

PLEASE PLEASE don't tinker with the message button. It's one of the most useful things there.
Removing community forum = good idea, as long as you can get there somewhere it's not in regular use.
Having a guild shield instead of the vague term 'Global' might make it clearly for people - but there's no need to separate guild and guild forum - it could still bring up those two options as now.
I assume you could still find individual ranking somehow? I use it for the search to trace other players.

 

[DeletedUser15468]

1 Firstly I agree about the message tab and leaving it alone. I don't want to click twice to get access to the messages. Whilst we are on the subject though can the dialogue box be made larger? A single message fills a lot of space because the dialogue box limiteds the size on the screen. You cannot access anything else on the screen whilst the dialogue box is open although it is marginally helpful to see if anything requires attention. Surely the message dialogue bix could almost fill the screen enabling much more information to be available to read.

 

[DeletedUser15468]

On the right hand side there is box which indicates bonus elements available which is limited to three items. Could the icons be reduced in size to enable more to be added? I have three bonuses from Great Buildings and the third drops off as soon as a building becomes inactive. The buttons don not need to be as large and/or the box could be larger.

 

[DeletedUser2989]

I like Menu A because it just seems to make more sence. If you want to communicate you open the Message Centre and then everyone can find messages AND the guild forum. So many people have had trouble finding it even after a few times explaining it.

I'd rather not have B because it removes two of the buttons and puts them somewhere else. The ranking button is in there for a reason stated in the original post "(not everyone knows that it can be clicked on at the top of the game window)". If they implemented B they'd have to make it clear exactly how to access these lost buttons, if it's not intuitive enough it'll suffer the same problems that the Global button currently suffers.

 

[DeletedUser96867]

I really don't have any issues with the current layout but if I had to choose between option A, and option B i'd prefer B as i'd rather not have the message button buried.

Slightly off topic but currently when you go into the global button in a gvg province the tab pops up with 2 buttons on it called 'global rankings' I'd suggest changing the name of one of the buttons to 'province rankings' or different with each age such as "Iron Age rankings" as the button is just for the gvg provincial age rankings. Just a thought.

 

[DeletedUser7719]

I chose option B for the reasons others have already mentioned. It would also be great to add the Guild Treasury to the Market tabs

 

[DeletedUser]

Same here, option B. We use the messaging system a lot so please dont hide it.
Having the option to go onto the forum elsewhere on the page looks like the best thing. I myself dont even use the game menu button to come here but right click anywhere on the page and from there forum, just as I do with contact support.
You could make 2 small buttons for forum and contact support on the top left side next to the logout one.

 

[DeletedUser4571]

I would suggest something else but do not throw all away. In whole I kinda like the menu as it is. I like to see the flashing option when there are new messages (if there is no bug). The same goes for the forum messages. I want to see if new posts are made without having to open them all. What i really would like to change is a more sophistacated mail system.
1. You cannot do anything else when mailing. ( I suspect this will be difficult, since its a popup) But It would be nice if there was a solution to that.
2. It is really annoying that when you reply to one it goes to the front of the line. I am sometimes scrolling forever to find them again. (yes I have a lot of mail)
3. I like the ranking button with the option, I wouldn't want it changed.
4. It makes sense that a messagecentre is separated form the rest.
But you would have to make that more user friendly.
Suggestion:
Why not have an inbox with a box in front of of every mail that can be ticked and deleted form a separate commandbox below all the messages. New messages would be bold, read messages would be greyed.
Separate in box completely from out box.
Have a little commandcentre with action buttons, such as reply, forward, delete etc.
Separate the different messages with codes or colors. (forum, updates, GBlevels, trades etc.)
If you have all of that you have an easy overview of what has happened, sorting through is easy, no flashing buttons are needed anymore.
So Im opting for the same (more or less) but with a totally new message centre

 

[DeletedUser6968]

Same here, option B. We use the messaging system a lot so please dont hide it.
Having the option to go onto the forum elsewhere on the page looks like the best thing. I myself dont even use the game menu button to come here but right click anywhere on the page and from there forum, just as I do with contact support.
You could make 2 small buttons for forum and contact support on the top left side next to the logout one.

I agree. Option B.

 

[DeletedUser]

I vote for Menu B, besides that it feels more natural for met to put the "Guild Treasure" in the "Market" screen. Since you already manage all your goods in that place which makes it a more logical place than the guild screen in my oppinion.

 

[DeletedUser100717]

Easy....regarding the comment 'we cannot add further menu items because this would mean the game would no longer fit into lower-resolution screens'.....ditch the superfluous eagle thingy to the right of the portraits bar giving enough extra room to add another column of buttons.....job done!

 

[DeletedUser100341]

I do not like either option. Leave messaging where it is. If you belong to a guild it is one of the most used features. I would suggest you move forum to the global button since it may be the least used feature. Leave guild and guild forum in global because they are also infrequently used. I would add a button to access the GB list. I am always sprinkling FPs around GBs to get BPs, Fps or medals.

The guild chat feature is worthless as is. On a small monitor the text is so small it is nearly impossible to read. I would suggest increasing the font size. We tried to use it at the beginning of GvG but abandoned in favor or messaging. Global chat is a bunch of blah blah. I never use it.

 

[DeletedUser]

I do not see the need to change the current main menu layout. If there is a need to add extra buttons for GvG, then just add a second level menu for these, like the global button.

As to the message button, the flashing indication of messages is hard to see. Could the colour of the button change instead of the flashing to indicate new messages.

 

[DeletedUser13805]

the menu system is fine how it is. i dont see the need nor urgency to change it at all ? so i vote other and choose the system to be left alone