Free Allegiance Forums

I like everything except the video. It's slow and makes the game seem old and I never liked that video... We need vid of gamplay with a montage of screenshots or something.

Sorry if this was already mentioned as I don't have time to read whole thread right now.

The random allegiance dogfighting video actually kinda made me upset. How the hell do you miss so much?

I think it's neat. I still don't like the border around the banner at the top, though... I have now been convinced that a border of some sort would work better in this case than seamless, but -- in that case, could you make it match the borders used on the rest of the page? That is, make it slightly thicker and give it rounded edges? Make it fit in a bit more that way...

I like the video, but how plausible would something like this be to make: When someone hits "Combat Video," a little list opens up beside that link, with small links to different videos, illustrating different aspects of gameplay. ^_^ Or failing that, I think some place on the site should collect videos and let you watch them right then and there. Maybe a section at the top of the "screenshots" page? That'd be nice.

Also, this is a minor issue, but I think the order of the buttons should be changed: It should go Download --> Create Account --> Screenshots --> How To Play --> Community Home. My logic is: When I first come to the website of a new game, the first thing on my mind is, "what do I need to do to actually play it? Do I need to pay money? Do I have to track down obscure, obsolete installers and patches from across half the internet?" That'd be the "download" and "create account" links. My next question is, "what's the game actually look like? What am I getting into? Is it worth it?" Screenshots are the quickest way to answer such questions. Next I'd ask "okay, so give me more details -- how does one really play?" and that's the "learn to play" (which, by the way, should link to AFS rather than Cadet I now... ) and community forums and the like, while important, can wait at the bottom of the list. Just the way I feel about it, anyway. I'm biasm.

Also, in the spirit of quick gameplay intros, instead of directing players to the Wiki right away, would it be possible to add a page with something that's in-between the small blurbs Bacon wrote and the details of the Wiki? A sort of brief overview, long enough to give you a better idea than just "exciting! Space-ships! Teamwork!" but short enough that you don't get overwhelmed with "OMG I have to read a hundred TLDR pages of wiki stuff to get an idea of how to play!" Cashto seems to be working on something like that based on his wiki page.

Yeah I can't do any of that fancy stuff, girly =P What you see is the extent of what I can do, and I don't have the willpower to go learn the CSS or Javascript to do more, lol. Just learning to do the hidden content/tabs took over 2 days!

As for the ordering of the links, it's easy to change, but I'm not sure if any particular order is going to be "better." I might put the "download" button at the top, but I think that we do still want people to explore a little bit before they hop in the game.

The border around the banner is staying unless everybody and their mom tells me to remove it. I think it ties the page together nicely and makes it look like one cohesive image. If I remove it, the page looks bottom-heavy, if that makes sense.

I would be open to putting in a "Wiki" link, though, off the portal page. I don't want more than 5 buttons, though, so one would have to go.

As for better videos, I still stand by my claim that the intro video is a great addition. Some of you may not like it, but it's a quality product that sets a mood for the game and was really the motivation for me to do all of this. It may seem dated in the CGI department, but Allegiance is old. If people are expecting Modern Warfare 2 in space, they'll be sorely disappointed when the boot the game up. To contrast it's slower pace, I added the "quake in space" video, which could definitely be improved upon. Making a video, though, is a pretty intensive little project. I'd love to have a video that goes over how Allegiance is played and all the fun things you can do, but who the hell is gonna make it? Any takers?

I like the intro video a lot and agree with your reasoning on including it. I also like the idea of a gameplay video accessible right alongside it. Once the new page is up, updating the screen-shot page with some more gameplay videos would be great too I think.

I agree the ordering of buttons isn't terribly important, it just... bugs me a little. It's probably just my personal preference anyway, though.

For the wiki/"Learn To Play" thing, I was thinking something like this, tell me if I'm crazy: When you hit "Learn to Play," you don't get taken to any wiki page, but to a specially-written introductory page that gives a quick summation of what the game is like, but in more detail than the "factions/ships/weapons" links on the main page. Something that gives you a general, quick overview of how the game is played and won, what you'll actually be doing as a pilot, etc., in enough detail to give you a fairly clear picture, but not as overwhelming as the Flight School on the wiki. Then, links to the wiki could be integrated into this page, along with a big link somewhere that goes to the main AFS wiki page and says "to learn more, go here." So, say, the page starts by saying "here's a quick overview to get you started, but to learn more go *HERE* to read Flight School stuff, but DO NOT PANIC OMG THERE'S A MILLION PAGES WE PROMISE IT WILL BE OKAY." Then after that it starts a quick overview, with extra links, like say "to win, blow up all enemy bases! Link --> AFS page on winning the game, Another Link --> AFS page on bases, etc." And "To be useful, start by flying a scout cuz it sees more stuff and also you can click on cargo to put in probes and a nan gun! Link --> Wiki intro to scouting" etc. And so forth. I hope that makes sense, I'm kinda sleepy.

P.S. Like I said, Cashto's page on the wiki includes some sort of introduction that they seem to be working on but I don't know what it's for or what it is I just stumbled on it by accident maybe I shouldn't be talking about it I'm sorry.

Bacon wrote:QUOTE (Bacon @ Dec 14 2009, 10:08 PM) it sends my tabs along the bottom off of the initial screen and you'd have to scroll to see them.

You do have to scroll . . . .

There are plenty of people in the world still using 1024x768 (I'm using 1280x800 on my laptop). At first I thought you got rid of that design altogether.

fuzzylunkin1 wrote:QUOTE (fuzzylunkin1 @ Dec 15 2009, 01:51 AM) You do have to scroll . . . .

There are plenty of people in the world still using 1024x768 (I'm using 1280x800 on my laptop). At first I thought you got rid of that design altogether.

Same here, but I kinda agree with Bacon's logic anyway: If the screenshots were at the top, you'd have to scroll even further. A nice big button that takes you to screenshots (again, that page seriously needs an update... ) is probably enough, pretty though SpaceJunk's original idea is. ^_^

Oh, yeah, I looked at the page on my laptop. Can't see em unless you scroll. Oh well, nothing to be done about that really... only so much screen real estate to be had! That stuff is all just bonus info anyway.... if people are curious they'll scroll, or just go into the community and learn about it all that way.

Unless somebody has an alternate design.... but I can't say I'm chomping at the bit to make a new layout again, hahaha.

edit:

I could shrink the banner a bit and maybe squeeze the tabs into a 1024x768 screen.... I'll test it out tomorrow perhaps.

Hmmm, girly, I like your idea about the "quick overview" page linked from the portal. Just quickly go over what you need to do to have a pleasing experience when you install Alleg and join a game.

I could write something like that pretty easily, and just make a 2nd page that, in turn, could link to the Wiki.

Having to scroll isn't a problem for me was just letting you know in case you cared a whole lot .

By the way, you CAN use more horizontal space if you really need. I don't think you do, though.