Improvements that should be made:

Multiplayer Dashboard:

• The left and right side of this should be about equal length
  
• Add hide/show/maximize buttons for each topic
  
• Make font sizes the same
  
• Automatically don't show Real-Time Ladder, if players haven't unlocked it yet
  
  Past Games:
  
• Give page numbers
  
  
• Only show games that have ended (some active ones still show!)
  
  

Edited 1/13/2015 15:13:00

Dashboard is cluttered, I can't see all the features at once, it's horrible to use and I want to keep the old page forever! Worst update in a while :(

So many happy hours playing a game that I have not paid a single penny for.

I'm not used to this lay-out yet, so prefer the old one at the minute. I will soon get used to this one and continue to have so much free enjoyment.

Love the "next game" button. Will get used to the rest.

Thanks for all the hard work and the fantastic game that is Warlight - ignore the ignorants who just like to complain at everything.

I don't like how the s in 'design maps' is under the mail button.

Also, you can still use the old page by clicking on 'my games'.

Edited 1/11/2015 14:06:39

Just my impression after intensive using new dashboard:

Most annoying thing is when you want to find open game that have settings you like. First you need to scroll all the way down to click "+show ... more open games" Ok, this can be done. Then let me check if there's a game I like. Hmm, no such a game. Let me back here after 5 min. Now I have to scroll all the way up, to get to "refresh" button.
Now what? Now I need to scroll all the way down AGAIN and click "+show ... more open games" because refreshing page hid it for some reason.

That is something at least annoying...

Now I have to scroll all the way up, to get to "refresh" button. Now what? Now I need to scroll all the way down

Since this is an html page, you can actually just use your browser's refresh button, or F5. In fact, that's all that the refresh button on the page does.

The "Active games where I am not eliminated" filter was changed to include games with unread chat, as long as they weren't games you declined or where the host removed you. The goal of this change was to fix the problem where someone says "gg" or "want a rematch?" in a finished game, but their opponent had already left, and therefore would never see the final messages. Once you read the chat, the game will disappear again. In the next update we will add a new filter option for people who want to exclude these games with chat.

The problem with having too many sub-tabs is a temporary one and will be fixed once My Games and Open Games are removed. In the meantime, you can simply use (or bookmark) these links:
https://www.warlight.net/MultiPlayer?DesignMaps=1
https://www.warlight.net/MultiPlayer?CreateGame=1
https://www.warlight.net/MultiPlayer?Tournaments=1

Thanks for all the feedback guys. Even those long rants are sometimes helpful (some rants are not). Like Fizzer said some of the feedback will get immediately addressed in the next update.

There are several things we are selecting to improve from your feedback, even if they don't get released in the next update they will be in future updates. It comes down to priorities for the community. We have exciting new features we are trying to launch like "Take over for AFK players (instead of dumb AI)".

We have exciting new features we are trying to launch like "Take over for AFK players (instead of dumb AI)".

Yeeeeeeeeessss!!!!

We have exciting new features we are trying to launch like "Take over for AFK players (instead of dumb AI)".
This might just be the best update ever!

There seem to be some problem with page "Open games". I tried it on Firefox and Chrome and in both ways the descriptions of games disappeared. We don't know if it's a team game or how many minutes for move, as we used to see.

The 'new games' map type when you look at maps seems pointless, as there is a sort by date published sort, so they both show the same thing.

I like a lot of the changes but;-
Recent Blogs, Forum etc. take up too much width of the page.
Why do you think your COIN GAMES are of more importance than the other games we all joined (& paid) Warlight to play. Please remove from the page & leave them where they were.
At least allow us to customise the page the way we like it.

The "Active games where I am not eliminated" filter was changed to include games with unread chat, as long as they weren't games you declined or where the host removed you.

actually im still getting a game i declined, a game where i was eliminated, and a couple of games where i surrendered. i don't want to see any of these. i mean, i'll deal with it, but if you are going off of people's suggestions, this is the suggestion people are talking about most.

how about a button to hide specific games forever? just click the button when you no longer need to see the game listed in "my games". i don't know anything at all about code, but it seems to my completely uninformed mind that it would be easier to just put that filter back in, and let people have more options on what they see in my games.

anyway, thanks fizzer for designing this game and keeping up with trying to improve and grow it.

I say some of this with experience from the user-interface stuff in my A-level computing course so developers, it might be worth reading. Sorry about the length :P

Positives
I'm really pleased that its moved to html as it used to be that zooming in only zoomed in the top most tabs and the warlight logo, but now it zooms everything! This actually FIXES compatibility with low-res screens, contrary to some comments i have found here, cause it makes up for the extra sub-tabs (which might be under the mail button for example).

I also love how adverts on the dashboard don't pop up, and instead are set to the side. Also I think the fake retirement plan and brothel adverts have gone completely :P Still, nobody is going to really click them but they are fine if they fund the game!

It has already been mentioned, but I really do appreciate the 'next game' button, as many people just power through their multi-day turns and often just go in top-bottom order, so loading the my games page is pointless for them.

AFK takeover sounds like a great idea, I have detailed some features about it you should add in the next section.

Negatives and Future Update Ideas/Essentials
Some little thing I'm not too happy about is the excessive use of (somewhat ambiguous) symbols and having to learn them. It would be nice if some styled tool-tip appeared when you mouse over them too, and that it instantly comes up when you mouse over.

I think that its important that you put a map-title-search-bar in the more easily accessible maps page (not just the one you get when making a game). This maps page isn't even on the mobile edition, so you have to go to create game to view maps?! Please fix this!

AFK takeover sounds great as I said before, maybe it could be some property in finding open games, so you choose if you want to take over an AFK or not. Should get roughly same-level players to the AFK ones, and make some short time period before the game starts again after AFK takeover for teammates to explain current strategy, and have all 'older chat' available to the AFK takeoverer. This could also come with the 'take over from AI' feature, if it stays. As well as AFK players being fairly removed, i think people who have to go should be able to click a button that isnt 'surrender', and have an AFK takeoverer take their place instead. This gets rid of the debate over whether to let players turn to AIs when surrendering, as it would then completely favour being off.

Another thing I really recommend is putting tick-boxes for different game properties on 'my games', instead of a long list of combinations. You should also have a tick box system for open games, where you can select game-mechanic properties (e.g. fog, distribution type etc and AFK spaces too). The tick-boxes for the open games page would be grouped into tabs to save space, and maybe even have the settings in symbols and in a drop down thing like the current 'my games' sort settings.

I do not understand how these can be so hard to add, but switching the code language of a page and making a whole new one can be easy. Yes, the new dashboard gets people interested in the game again, but i don't think people play warlight to be visually interested, unless they want to own a map on an actual game :P. Despite saying that, there is one important visual feature you need to sort out; the white text to black background on the forums is really unpleasant and makes it hard to read lots without your eyes hurting. I think you could have the forum posts look like the pop-up windows on games (e.g. deploy, attack, chat), as those look far more aesthetic and eye-friendly.

Going a bit off-topic here:
A note about the android version is that it all needs desperate sizing changes (text on buttons is only partially shown and part of screen is black etc, my phone is a new samsung galaxy S3 mini i think).
About the AI challenge, I think you should use the bots people have made and rank them in ability, and then have some AI-difficulty setting in the create game thing, as the AIs are all there!

Well done to fizzer and other developers for making such quick progress lately!

Edited 1/11/2015 22:32:54

Mercer: Thanks I discovered that - what happened was I had several "ended" games that initially showed up on my dashboard - once I figured out how to rid the dashboard of them, it's not too bad just more info on the left.

Gosh I didnt realise the new html site can be viewed in mobile browsers and that it opens the app if you have it and attempt to open a game in the browser. I take all my mmobile edition criticism back now! Except for sizing issues

Edited 1/12/2015 13:53:53

I love it. Lots more information about existing games, open games .... all at a glance.

I don't like the dashboard. It's too cluttered for me. The old "My Games" page is much better, in my opinion.

The new system of tagging games is good though. And it put the forums in a place where I could easily find this one. Fizzer should work on incorporating the designs together. Give an option to hide the blog and forums, and I'd have no complaints.

But just looking at this page, I think Fizzer should see that keeping the "My Games" tab is a necessity, if nothing else.

The upside of this is that its now more efficient, and more people know about the forums.

I have to say though, its quite ugly, the dots were nicer than the dash, and those mini symbols make things look more messy and complicated than it is.

Also, it means that every time you open a game you have to go through the Warlight Loading Bar AND the game loading process, instead of just loading bar once. I really dislike this.

The old 'open page' also consists of Auto-boot info, however its gone now.

Btw, did anyone notice the eye is next to the triangle?

ILLUMINATI!!!!!!! ;)

Also, I agree with Pulsey.

Good:
-Love having boot times on the game list.
-The icons will take some getting used to, but they can only help in time
-scrolling is better
-black X through eliminated players shows better than old format


Bad:
-I don't like having that stuff on the left personally. I like having forum stuff separate. I would be OK with blog posts highlighted at the top (along with tourney invites), but not forum posts
-The dot for who still needs to take their turn is too small. Hard to notice.
-Don't like the open games/promoted games on this page. Would like to see that separate.
-what is the sort on this? I have two games which I created but I am not playing and they are on the top of my list. They should be at the bottom like they used to be. A chat game waiting for me to start is at the bottom though (used to be top).

Other:
-would love to not have to see games I declined, games I am eliminated in (unless there is a message), games I was removed by host

Edited 1/12/2015 16:59:33

Better, more user friendly, but probably harder in programming, would be if a player could decide what he see in dashboard. Which parts and how big.