Introduction
Hi all,
We noticed that changes we make don't always get the reception we're aiming for here on Beta, and we think we can do better. We'd like to improve cooperation with you guys, and this type of post is one of the things we want to do. We'll explain some changes and our reasoning for some changes we've made to the Great Building level up screen, in the hopes that we can show you why we think it's cool and gather feedback about aspects that you think should still be improved.
Short version:
Over the last few months, we've had a small project running on the topic of improving a few aspects of Great Buildings. There were two main areas that we thought had the most potential for improvement.
Note: this Great Building level up screen was actually partially active here on Beta a few weeks ago. That was unintentional at the time, but it did provide a good opportunity to gather and act on your feedback, so we used it to make some more changes.
What and Why
We started by defining which aspects of the current Great Building Level Up screen were most in need of improvement and came up with this list:
For reference, here are the old screens and new screens side by side.
[TD]Old[/TD][TD]New[/TD]
[TR][TD]Browser[/TD][TD]
[/TD][TD]
(Level Up tab)[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]Mobile[/TD][TD]
[/TD][TD]
('empty the FP bar' button will only be available on mobile once the 1.93 app update takes place this week)[/TD][/TR](click the images for larger versions)
So, we've made the following changes:
How
We think that the new screen offers some improvements over the old one. We do want to see if the improvements are actually as neat as we think they are, so we're going to do a gradual rollout. Some of you will already have had the new screen activated for your account, and others still have the old screen. We also plan to have a gradual rollout on the live servers as well, because it allows us to gather information about differences in how the screen is being used compared to the old one.
If feedback and results of our observations are positive, we'll activate it for all accounts.
Closing
Well, that got a bit longer than intended. We hope it was interesting!
Please let us know what you think of the plans and the new screen (If it isn't activated for your account quite yet, check out the pictures above) in this linked feedback thread.
We'll read along and see how the discussion develops from here and might try doing this type of thing more often.
Yours,
Forge of Empires Team
Hi all,
We noticed that changes we make don't always get the reception we're aiming for here on Beta, and we think we can do better. We'd like to improve cooperation with you guys, and this type of post is one of the things we want to do. We'll explain some changes and our reasoning for some changes we've made to the Great Building level up screen, in the hopes that we can show you why we think it's cool and gather feedback about aspects that you think should still be improved.
Short version:
- We're making it easier to spend forge points from packages + diamonds on the GB level up screen
- There will be a gradual rollout - not everyone gets it at the same time
- Read the rest for more information!
Over the last few months, we've had a small project running on the topic of improving a few aspects of Great Buildings. There were two main areas that we thought had the most potential for improvement.
- General awareness of the Great Building feature (for new players)
- Ease of investing Forge Points in Great Buildings (for everyone)
Note: this Great Building level up screen was actually partially active here on Beta a few weeks ago. That was unintentional at the time, but it did provide a good opportunity to gather and act on your feedback, so we used it to make some more changes.
What and Why
We started by defining which aspects of the current Great Building Level Up screen were most in need of improvement and came up with this list:
- Spending from Forge Point packages is a long process. On browser, spending multiple Forge Point packages requires several clicks per package. On mobile, there wasn't even a button on the screen to spend Forge Point packages. Similarly inconvenient situation if you're trying to use Diamonds. In fact, generally spending large amounts of Forge Points is a bit inconvenient. This point was largely fueled by feedback from the community.
- The information about what benefits the next level of the Great Building brings was among the most hidden information in those screens, even though we figured it was some of the most important to be able to easily access. You should be able to easily answer the question of "do I want to spend my Forge Points here?"
- There wasn't a lot of space left on the screen, and a lot of information was crammed into a small amount of space. This is generally not great for ease of use or quickly understanding what's going on on a screen.
For reference, here are the old screens and new screens side by side.
| Platform |
(Level Up tab)[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]Mobile[/TD][TD]
('empty the FP bar' button will only be available on mobile once the 1.93 app update takes place this week)[/TD][/TR]
So, we've made the following changes:
- Made it easier to spend Forge Points from packages (less clicks). We added two buttons to the screen that will spend either 1 or 10 Forge Points and will pull those Forge Points first from your Forge Points bar, and then start cashing in packages into your bar to hit the amount desired. If you're completely out of Forge Points, those buttons turn into diamond buttons.
- The "10" number was chosen to make it easier to invest larger amounts at a time, like 30 or 50. We also figured it was a convenient amount to have easily available for passing around Forge Points in guilds.
- And we did both of those on mobile as well, so you can spend from packages there now.
- After the first revealing of this feature on Beta, you pointed out that you missed the "please just empty my Forge Points bar" button, so we added that back in. You had an excellent point.
- Put a bit more emphasis on the bonus that the next level of the Great Building will provide. We realize that you won't usually want to see this screen when you enter a Great Building, so the window will remember what the last screen was that you visited a Great Building and default you to that one. So if you're checking out progress, you'll generally land on the contribution screen, and if you're moving between different Great Buildings to see what they do, you'll land on the benefits screen.
- Separated some information from the one very full Great Building level up screen into multiple screens to make it a bit more easily understood when players are taking their first steps into Great Buildings.
How
We think that the new screen offers some improvements over the old one. We do want to see if the improvements are actually as neat as we think they are, so we're going to do a gradual rollout. Some of you will already have had the new screen activated for your account, and others still have the old screen. We also plan to have a gradual rollout on the live servers as well, because it allows us to gather information about differences in how the screen is being used compared to the old one.
If feedback and results of our observations are positive, we'll activate it for all accounts.
Closing
Well, that got a bit longer than intended. We hope it was interesting!
Please let us know what you think of the plans and the new screen (If it isn't activated for your account quite yet, check out the pictures above) in this linked feedback thread.
We'll read along and see how the discussion develops from here and might try doing this type of thing more often.
Yours,
Forge of Empires Team
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