Alpha Client Feedback

[Nosferatus]

The graphics chip isn't that wonderful, the machine isnt new either.
I think its one of the first few years where they made netbooks with dual core cpus.
But i can play games like warcraft 3 or battlefield vietnam on low settings without problems.
I don't think Blackforest is more demanding then those games.

[Vita`]

Those games are also probably much more optimized to ensure their playability than Black Forest is.

[Nosferatus]

I will test it on ubuntu linux coming week, planned to install it anyway.

[Tom]

The problem is likely that I have done ZERO performance optimisations so far, so whatever Unity spits out is how it is.

But it should not really be very demanding.

[James]

other minor things:

the actions under the family members do not stay centralised under the specific family member taking the action (ie if you choose gather wood for the first couple, the next one is listed under the fourth member so there are alignment issues).

the text boxes for all the pop out menus I find quite hard to read - I'm playing at 1024x640 windowed at fantastic quality (also tried at 1024x768 both windowed and full screen), is there a recommended resolution to play at?

Would be good if, in the events pop out, your family actions are highlighted so they are easier to find (and/or give a separate listing that shows your actions for the previous turn)

Not having to press the login button each time would be nice as well - it clearly knows who I am as I don't have to enter any details, so could just auto go to the games listing page?

[Tom]

A new build with some annoyances fixed is coming today.

The recommended minimum resolution is 1440 x 900.

Update: Client has been uploaded. Download links are on the download page.

[James]

Highest resolution I have as an option (on 13" MacBook) is 1280x800.

[Tom]

Maybe I should just make the GUI bigger and that's it.

[Tom]

Build 10 is coming today, fixing a few more errors and including an indication of dead peasants and showing how many players in a game have given orders.

[James]

Something that would definitely be useful would be an indicator if 'I' have given orders... As I've a bit of a rubbish memory :)

Just downloaded the new client, went into the games. One has all my family now listed as dead (as they have been for a while, but now officially so), one other I did all my actions as expected, the other two had one family member listed with an action, the others as idle, but I couldn't allocate any tasks to them (which makes me think I'd already done the orders for that turn, but not certain as it still listed most of the family as idle...)

[Ehndras]

Unable to access game. No server response. I'm player ID 9. New client already downloaded, for the record.

[Tom]

Simply try again, please. Sometimes there might be network issues.

@James: done indicator will be in the next build, and some texts will be bigger there as well, for your lower resolution.

I'm tracking one issue where family is not reset when you play several games (i.e. go to main menu, next family, etc.) - check if this issue persists if you quit the client, start again and then choose that family first.

[Tom]

I am uploading build 11, look for a new download in about 15 minutes.

This contains UI improvements, small bugfixes, a bigger font in the game, an indicator if you made your turn already, and even some early performance optimisations, so everyone should give it a try.

[James]

I am uploading build 11, look for a new download in about 15 minutes.

This contains UI improvements, small bugfixes, a bigger font in the game, an indicator if you made your turn already, and even some early performance optimisations, so everyone should give it a try.

Font is definitely better, I like the flag for the home now as well. The indicator for having made your turn doesn't seem to work properly though. It says 'no' for my dead family, and said 'no' for the two games that have just started, but for any of the ones that had already started, it said 'yes' even though I hadn't yet done their turns.

[Tom]

At the moment, it is implicit - it will turn to "yes" when you have actions for all living members of the family. And to "no" on the turn.