BattleMaster Community
BattleMaster => BM General Discussion => Topic started by: Glaumring the Fox on September 08, 2011, 03:20:28 AM
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I recently started playing by phone . Its nice but effects Rp.
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It's convenient when you're on the go, but not much fun for writing anything but brief messages on.
Er, why is this topic on the Dwilight forum?
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Oops! Can move if want to. I mainly play Dwilight though.
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The mobile site is a huge improvement from trying to navigate the normal site on a mobile browser.
If you aren't using it, you should be.
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I do use the mobile website. I use an iPhone, and I find that the 'keyboard' is not very fun to use to type out more than a few dozen words. It's great for checking up on things, reading messages, and setting orders, travel, etc., but I try to avoid sending messages from it.
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Where is the link to the mobile website? I use an iphone4 so I just mainly use the web and zoom etc.
I was trying to think of ways to better optimize the mobile experience of playing BM.
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I do use the mobile website. I use an iPhone, and I find that the 'keyboard' is not very fun to use to type out more than a few dozen words. It's great for checking up on things, reading messages, and setting orders, travel, etc., but I try to avoid sending messages from it.
Yeah, typing a message of any length other than "very brief" is definitely a pain in the ass. But that's the nature of phones and mobile devices, not any short falling of the site.
Where is the link to the mobile website? I use an iphone4 so I just mainly use the web and zoom etc.
I was trying to think of ways to better optimize the mobile experience of playing BM.
It's just http://m.battlemaster.org it certainly helps with the navigation part a lot. Still some small links, etc. But it's better than trying with the classic.
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Times like this are when I'm glad the Droid has an actual keyboard and not a touchscreen one. Hah! Score one for practicality.
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I use a galaxy S, and I use it often to check messages and orders in the train. Good to here there is a mobile site.
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i personally never went along with the mobile phone hype and still have a very basic one, which can... call and stuff, you know, what its for in the first place ;)
But don't these phones have something like dictation software?
On the pc you have Dragon naturally speaking, which works pretty well once you learned your self and the software to get along with each other.
If its also for mobile phones, i'd suggest using that.
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i personally never went along with the mobile phone hype and still have a very basic one, which can... call and stuff, you know, what its for in the first place ;)
But don't these phones have something like dictation software?
On the pc you have Dragon naturally speaking, which works pretty well once you learned your self and the software to get along with each other.
If its also for mobile phones, i'd suggest using that.
Like using a real scribe :D
I've only used my phone to sign in when abroad. I don't really read messages, but simply avoid the inactivity counter :P Though I usually can't resist to at least read some letters. Typing is inconvenient, though.
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Like using a real scribe :D
Can imagine this to create pretty funny situations when your writing an angry letter to some lousy troubling nobles, dictating it out loud in public places. ("...behave properly to your King or you will be quartet and hanged!..."
People will think your psychotic and schizophrenic, perhaps even get scared of you(i would :P).
They'd obviously think your just calling someone.
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They'd obviously think your just calling someone.
In a pseudo-medieval lexicon? :P
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I've moved this thread to a better place. And I'd like to add that I am very interested in feedback from those who use a phone, iPad, or other mobile device often to play the game, because that number will only increase in the future and the game should be well playable that way.
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I've been almost exclusively playing BM from my iPad for three weeks. So far I have had a near perfect experience with the BM site, I didn't know about m.battlemaster.org, I shall give it a spin.
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I use a Samsung Focus, which runs on Windows Phone 7. This means I'm currently stuck with the WP7 version of Internet Explorer. That's fine, it works alright in most cases. On the non-mobile version of the site, some links refuse to work (I push, no response at all. really strange) and sometimes I simply cannot write.
On the mobile version, everything works as intended. The only complaint that I would have is that the top menu buttons are sometimes merged into the text, which confuses the phone in that it doesn't know if it should highlight text or click the button. Sadly, it usually defaults to highlighting.
If some sort of hard coded space could be put in between the menu and everything underneath, that'd be amazing. :)
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On the mobile version, everything works as intended. The only complaint that I would have is that the top menu buttons are sometimes merged into the text, which confuses the phone in that it doesn't know if it should highlight text or click the button. Sadly, it usually defaults to highlighting.
I hate to say it, but that's what you get for using Windows Phone. Windows works good for PCs. I have no problems at all with Windows 7, which is very nice. But Windows was always horrible as any kind of mobile OS.
My htc G2 works almost perfectly with the mobile site. The flip-out hardware keyboard makes it very easy to write messages. There are some issues with usability both related to the way mobile OSs work, and the way the site works. No show-stoppers, just inconvenient. I think the following improvements would be very useful for the mobile site:
- Duplicate the main navigation tabs at the bottom of the page. (Message, Actions, Orders, etc.) It's a real pain to have to scroll all the way back to the top to get to the links, especially if you have a battle, or a lot of messages. It's quite tedious to keep flipping and flipping to get back to the top. Even a "Back to top" link at the bottom of the page would work.
- Message background coloring doesn't work on the mobile site when reading messages. When you send a message and it shows you the message you just sent, coloring works fine there. I have verified this using my regular computer/browser on the mobile site, too.
- Message flagging works on the mobile site, bit is awkward. Both the flagged and non-flagged icons show up, and you don't know if the message is flagged or not. But clicking the icon will change the state. You just can't tell if it worked or not. Again, using the mobile site from a regular browser duplicates this effect.
- Add more spacing between links. Text is small on a mobile browser, and it's difficult to get the right one, especially for some links that have important effects and no confirmation. Like a duke starting a festival when what you wanted to do was hold court. You can say "Just be careful" all you want for regular desktop/mouse users, but for mobile users it's like trying to use a normal keyboard while wearing heavy mittens. (My G2 has a mini-trackpad that makes selecting links a snap, but most phones don't have something like that.)
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- Add more spacing between links. Text is small on a mobile browser, and it's difficult to get the right one, especially for some links that have important effects and no confirmation. Like a duke starting a festival when what you wanted to do was hold court. You can say "Just be careful" all you want for regular desktop/mouse users, but for mobile users it's like trying to use a normal keyboard while wearing heavy mittens. (My G2 has a mini-trackpad that makes selecting links a snap, but most phones don't have something like that.)
This. On my HTC Desire Z the link spacing whack out so that the Play and Del links on the userdata page are right below each other. Thankfully character deletion has a confirmation page, but it still makes me uncomfortable every time I login with my phone.
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- Message background coloring doesn't work on the mobile site when reading messages. When you send a message and it shows you the message you just sent, coloring works fine there. I have verified this using my regular computer/browser on the mobile site, too.
Personal messages aren't signified as such, as well.
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Id like to say that BM on the iPhone4 is near perfect. Just need wider spaces to click things.
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- Duplicate the main navigation tabs at the bottom of the page. (Message, Actions, Orders, etc.) It's a real pain to have to scroll all the way back to the top to get to the links, especially if you have a battle, or a lot of messages. It's quite tedious to keep flipping and flipping to get back to the top. Even a "Back to top" link at the bottom of the page would work.
- Message background coloring doesn't work on the mobile site when reading messages. When you send a message and it shows you the message you just sent, coloring works fine there. I have verified this using my regular computer/browser on the mobile site, too.
- Message flagging works on the mobile site, bit is awkward. Both the flagged and non-flagged icons show up, and you don't know if the message is flagged or not. But clicking the icon will change the state. You just can't tell if it worked or not. Again, using the mobile site from a regular browser duplicates this effect.
- Add more spacing between links. Text is small on a mobile browser, and it's difficult to get the right one, especially for some links that have important effects and no confirmation. Like a duke starting a festival when what you wanted to do was hold court. You can say "Just be careful" all you want for regular desktop/mouse users, but for mobile users it's like trying to use a normal keyboard while wearing heavy mittens. (My G2 has a mini-trackpad that makes selecting links a snap, but most phones don't have something like that.)
I agree with all of these.
I have also thought in the past that an actual BattleMaster iPhone/iPad APP would be a really good idea. It's a huge field these days and there are plenty of people out there who know how to make them, I'm sure we could find a few volunteers. It would not only be convenient for current members, but it would also get BM out there. The exposure from being in App Store alone I think could be huge.
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I have also thought in the past that an actual BattleMaster iPhone/iPad APP would be a really good idea. It's a huge field these days and there are plenty of people out there who know how to make them, I'm sure we could find a few volunteers. It would not only be convenient for current members, but it would also get BM out there. The exposure from being in App Store alone I think could be huge.
While I like the idea of an app, it would likely snowball into needing one for every mobile OS and then updating all those for various layout changes, new links, etc. A code management headache for all those involved.
However... the exposure could be worth it...
I've given up playing on my iPhone or iPad. I've definitely mis-clicked more than once with near perilous results.
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While I like the idea of an app, it would likely snowball into needing one for every mobile OS and then updating all those for various layout changes, new links, etc. A code management headache for all those involved.
Sure, it would be nice to have Apps across multiple mobile OS's but I mean we could take what we can get. If we can find someone who wants to develop an iPhone/iPad app for us, excellent. If someone else wants to do an Android app, that's awesome as well. If we can't find one for Android, for instance, though it's not a big deal. I mean we wouldn't be any worse off than we are now.
Just imagine... Push Notifications for New Messages!
My BattleMaster obsession would know no bounds!
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Just imagine... Push Notifications for New Messages!
My BattleMaster obsession would know no bounds!
Which is why I won't support such a thing. I don't like obsessions.
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Too late.... ;D
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Sure, it would be nice to have Apps across multiple mobile OS's but I mean we could take what we can get. If we can find someone who wants to develop an iPhone/iPad app for us, excellent. If someone else wants to do an Android app, that's awesome as well. If we can't find one for Android, for instance, though it's not a big deal. I mean we wouldn't be any worse off than we are now.
Just imagine... Push Notifications for New Messages!
My BattleMaster obsession would know no bounds!
WP7 app would be easier, as most people are more familiar programming for windows-based things than overprices Apples. ;D
And Indrik, have you actively used Windows Phone 7? Not the old Windows Phone/Windows Mobile OS, the new one.
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I play on my way to and from work occasionally on a Xperia x10. It works well enough from the mobile site when I found out about it. Biggest problem has more to do with the phone than the site as you can't copy/paste anything outside the texteditor which makes sharing scout/battlereports and adventurer links impossible.
I'm also prone to miss messages and vital pieces of information from the phone and writing long letters just takes to long time.
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Which is why I won't support such a thing. I don't like obsessions.
You should probably shut down BM then... :-[
WP7 app would be easier, as most people are more familiar programming for windows-based things than overprices Apples. ;D
You mean for those two people who have a Windows Phone 7 compared to the 200 million iOS device owners?
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Which is why I won't support such a thing. I don't like obsessions.
Well the nice thing about push notifications is they are very easy to turn on and off, and apps that feature them universally allow you to choose whether to activate them or not as soon as you download them.
And I agree that an app could an excellent way to expand recognition of the game. However, I'm guessing that one would not be easy to develop. Smart phones these days tend to be icon-based, and don't rely as much on text, and are not particularly friendly to text-based interfaces for that matter. We'd also have to have a mobile interface for registering for the game.
And I would say that there's no need to develop one for every mobile OS under the sun. Do one for Apple (which is much more standardized hardware-wise than, say, Android) or really whichever we can get someone to volunteer to do, and leave it at that.
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Well the nice thing about push notifications is they are very easy to turn on and off, and apps that feature them universally allow you to choose whether to activate them or not as soon as you download them.
And I agree that an app could an excellent way to expand recognition of the game. However, I'm guessing that one would not be easy to develop. Smart phones these days tend to be icon-based, and don't rely as much on text, and are not particularly friendly to text-based interfaces for that matter. We'd also have to have a mobile interface for registering for the game.
And I would say that there's no need to develop one for every mobile OS under the sun. Do one for Apple (which is much more standardized hardware-wise than, say, Android) or really whichever we can get someone to volunteer to do, and leave it at that.
The actual app would be relatively easy, making sure it played nice with the existing server might be more difficult, I've never tried making an app that would access a server via standard URL strings, and I doubt anyone wants to spend the time creating a mobile interface API for the server :)
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I often play using an iPad and Galaxy S2, and agree that while its convenient (playing BM in bed!), it is annoying to write out anything more than brief messages. I also agree with the suggestions Indirik made, with the addition of a "scroll to bottom" button as well as a "scroll to top". Some browsers allow you to make your own (like Atomic Web) but not all.
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You mean for those two people who have a Windows Phone 7 compared to the 200 million iOS device owners?
Ah, the replies of Apple fan-boys. Unshocking.
And psst. WP7 and Android devices are growing faster than Apple devices now. :)
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Well, since Tom uses iPhones, iPads, and iPods, I think that if he was going to develop a mobile app for BattleMaster, you'd probably find it in the the AppStore, and not the Marketplace. And definitely not in whatever MS calls their store.
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Ah, the replies of Apple fan-boys. Unshocking.
I'm not a "fan-boy".
All I said was that there are a lot more people out there with iOS devices than ones running WP7. A app in Apple's App Store would expose the game to a lot more people than one in Microsoft's mobile store. This is completely true; it's fact. Does the mere statement of fact make you a fan-boy, now?
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I'd say don't ignore the Android market. It's nearly as big as the iphone market, and much more versatile.
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I sometimes check updates on my iphone. Typing long messages is impossible though.
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I'd say don't ignore the Android market. It's nearly as big as the iphone market, and much more versatile.
Indeed, Android is a huge market as well.
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Have started to use my phone for BM as secondary device - though I did not know about the mobile site until now. I would suggest adding a link in the main login page pointing towards the mobile page to make it easier to find.
So far I have been using the regular page on my mobile (HTC Desire HD) and was pleasantly surprised on how well everything worked/was displayed. I did not have any problems except for the bottom line (hours, status, region) sometimes being displayed several lines upwards from the bottom overwriting other text (very minor annoyance). My main trouble/fear is hitting a wrong link on the family page where you decide which character to play: login/quickplay/pause/delete are all in one line and on my mobile device (if I do not zoom in far enough) this line is wrapped leading to 'login' and 'delete' being one right above the other. I know there is a confirm before deletion of a character but with a touchscreen being not the most exact device I would very much prefer to have these options seperated by some distance. I log in 1-3 times per day per character but /never/ have used the delete option and pause only once. If delete + pause on the login page could (for example) be moved below the family graveyard a misclick would be much harder (that applies to laptops using a touchpad as mouse as well).
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Silly people playing by phone. How do you type long messages without breaking your fingers in frustration at how small the buttons are? I would suspect a decent sized keyboard would be a necessity in battlemaster. ??? ???
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Silly people playing by phone. How do you type long messages without breaking your fingers in frustration at how small the buttons are? I would suspect a decent sized keyboard would be a necessity in battlemaster. ??? ??
The htc G2 has a fairly decent sized hardware keyboard.
(http://www.htc.com/us/content/images/phones/t-mobile-g2-MoreViews-1160.png)
The biggest problems I have are the lack of a decent copy/paste function, and the lack of arrows keys to control the cursor.
As far as the site itself, the edit boxes are way too big. They don't fit on a single screen, and some browsers have a big problem with that.
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Silly people playing by phone. How do you type long messages without breaking your fingers in frustration at how small the buttons are? I would suspect a decent sized keyboard would be a necessity in battlemaster. ??? ???
I'd bet most people don't send messages when they login on their phone, but rather just hold court or move with the army and do other actions that are just a few button pushes.
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I've been known to send messages that are hundreds, if not thousands of characters long while on my android. That's why I prefer hardwire keyboards to touch screens, the only mistakes that can be made are due to user error, not because I can't tell exactly where my thumb is touching while I'm typing.
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What's a good browser to use on the Galaxy S2 for BM? I've tried "Internet" (whatever that is on Android), Firefox and Opera, but they all have their issues with BM. The default "Internet" is particularly bad, as you can't see what you're typing in the message window for some reason. With Firefox, it won't let you move the cursor easily when inputting characters. Very annoying.
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I would assume the default on an Android would be a Chrome-based browser...
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Nope. Not on the original droid at least. It's just Browser. How dull...
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I would assume the default on an Android would be a Chrome-based browser...
The default browser on Android is based on the WebKit engine(same as Chrome uses) and uses Chromes JavaScript engine. So it's essentially a bit stripped down version of Chrome.
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I don't have the internet right now. I've been using the mobile site to play, but I've had to write messages and stuff (I had a war to start!) It's been pretty horrific at times. Using a Blackberry Curve with Opera Mini. Once you input a message you have to use the back key to get out of the text field. At which point it tries to autoload a preview. Often though, it seems to duplicate the message text twice so I have to mess about deleting the text and then trying to beat the auto-refresh to hit the preview button a couple of times to just get one copy of the letter I want to send. Definitely discourages you from making anything more than essential communications.
Love being able to do all the button pressing via mobile. Messages are challenging.
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I've been playing BM on my galaxy s for over a year. I never knew about the mobile site until now.
I'd suggest that the main website auto redirects to the mobile version if you're using a phone - it'll stop people like me failing to realise it's there :)
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I've been playing BM on my galaxy s for over a year. I never knew about the mobile site until now.
I'd suggest that the main website auto redirects to the mobile version if you're using a phone - it'll stop people like me failing to realise it's there :)
Or at least add a prominent link to it somewhere :)
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I'd suggest that the main website auto redirects to the mobile version if you're using a phone - it'll stop people like me failing to realise it's there :)
I hate it when sites auto-redirect you to a mobile site. Give the mobile user a link. Make it publicly known that a mobile site is available. Etc. Sometimes you *want* the full desktop site, but the brainless redirects keep sending you back to the crippled mobile site, and you can't get done what you need to get done. This is extremely irritating when you *know* your phone can handle the full site.
Anyway, I'll see if we can get a newsticker post about the existence of the mobile site.
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Why not a link on the login page:
I forgot my password | Enter mobile site
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Why not a link on the login page:
I forgot my password | Enter mobile site
Sounds like a good place for a link to the mobile site.
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The mobile site works quite well for me, has some small issues with the rendering of the menu and the links are far too small but other than that pretty decent.
Things I'd do for the mobile site:
- The aforementioned link from the main site
- Change the links to be button'ish. Could be as simple as just padding them all, would especially help for mobile phones. Tablets are better but you can still mis-click.
- Use a bit more HTML5. Not the fancy stuff, but just simple things like <input type="email"/>, which helps with the correct keyboard. It also degrades gracefully to a normal <input type="text"/> on HTML4 browsers.
In general though, on my GalaxyTab 10.1 it looks pretty decent and works quite well.
On my Galaxy S2 it works decently, but the visuals are horrible. There's just a bit too much info and choices for a screen of that size, neither of which is exactly easy to deal with :)
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PSP for me.
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When I'm outta home, I use the mobile site on my Nokia and everything seems fine except one thing. In dwilight, the message editor doesn't recognise new paragraphs when one sends a message.
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I use the mobile site sometimes as well, from my phone. Also, I use the forum's WAP2 layout from my phone. (I'm using it to write this post.)
The editor issues should be fixed soon, I hope.
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I use very often the Iphone to play.