Watsup! It's me Cassel, the lead developer of Ratropolis.
After posting the demo version on the homepage, many people enjoyed Ratropolis and gave us their feedback.
There were a lot of comments about usability-related inconveniences.
That was also the top comment received from the past demonstration.
In this journal, I'll show you how we improved them.
- Additional Screen Movement Control –
First, various control options for the screen movement have been added.
The former control was more suitable for the mobile version.
Which was a click-and-drag (click and slide) screen.
< In last version, click-and-drag was used >
Steam is a PC platform, and the control was less favorable to PC users.
Later in the game, as the territory expanded. It required users to move the screen with more unnecessary clicks.
So we changed that! When you hover over the edge of the screen, like in StarCraft or any RTS game,
The screen moves to the selected direction to reduce click and enhance user control.
< Faster and easier screen movement >
After adding the feature, I was very happy.
The game flow is smooth and above all, it is so convenient!
The screen can be moved by hovering a mouse-point to the edge while card is in use.
Placing units or buildings is less cumbersome.
As it is a function that is used very often, I think that the inconvenience of users has been very great.
I'm glad it is fixed right now.
- Hot key –
Many people rested their chin on their left hand as they played Ratropolis.
It seemed like you were struggling to play high strategy games such as chess and go.
< We would like to see little bit of APM. Make stationary hand move. >
We wish players were thinking on their moves.
In fact, Ratropolis was a game that didn't need to use your left hand.
As it is a real-time game, the need for hotkeys has emerged for quick control.
Keys have been added to frequently used functions such as screen movement, drawing cards, and using leader abilities.
Now that players can choose actions with their left hand.
Playing with only one hand would be a hard sight at next demonstration.
- Unable to use alarm –
If you misuse the card, there were no notifications, and cards were not used.
Many users were confused due to this design.
In the public demonstration, I told users how to use it again.
When users download it at home, I can't tell you separately that players could get lost.
By adding a notification, message will show why card cannot be used.
This alarm feature will allow players to recognize the correct usage.
< Alarm in red color, notifying user the action cannot be done >
After adding these features, we might be able to shorten current tutorial.
We regret creating the tutorial firsthand. It would been nice if we had this alarm or notification created first.
- Added Construction Guide –
Many users have had trouble using building cards.
The cards don't show how much space each building takes up,
The buildable location did not appear on the screen when the card was used.
Failing in simple task is what we do not want players to experience.
Buildings are key to playing the game, so we needed show how-to-use it intuitively.
First, the number of squares required for building the card is indicated on the upper right corner.
In previous version, the card description included the required space.
This update simplified a description into an icon.
< Update on the Shelter card >
And when you try to use the building card, the construction space is displayed on the screen.
When a player attempts to play a building card, the available areas in the territory are shown in white color.
Bring the card to the displayed range. Building's blueprint appears in green color.
Although it is not perfectly in place, but I am satisfied very much in a functional part.
< Intuitive building in action >
- Localization –
We are currently implementing a Korean-English language change in the settings window.
Other languages are supported as well. We can also add more languages upon request.
I once uploaded Ratropolis trailer to a foreign site,
Majority said that English was not shown in the video.
I would like to produce a trailer in English, and to distribute the English demo version when localizing is finished.
I hope to receive various opinions from global users.
< Broken English as an outcome of online-translator. Globalization is on the initial progress >
During this week's development, we spent time improving the demo version and improving usability.
I plan to spend some time adding content again.
We always listen to your opinions, and they make Ratropolis to a better game.
Thank you for your interest and feedback!
Squeak~V
Tumblbug(Donation): https://tumblbug.com/ratropolis
Homepage(Download Demo): https://ratropolis.imweb.me/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CasselGames/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CasselGames
Watsup! It's me Cassel, the lead developer of Ratropolis.
After posting the demo version on the homepage, many people enjoyed Ratropolis and gave us their feedback.
There were a lot of comments about usability-related inconveniences.
That was also the top comment received from the past demonstration.
In this journal, I'll show you how we improved them.
- Additional Screen Movement Control –
First, various control options for the screen movement have been added.
The former control was more suitable for the mobile version.
Which was a click-and-drag (click and slide) screen.
< In last version, click-and-drag was used >
Steam is a PC platform, and the control was less favorable to PC users.
Later in the game, as the territory expanded. It required users to move the screen with more unnecessary clicks.
So we changed that! When you hover over the edge of the screen, like in StarCraft or any RTS game,
The screen moves to the selected direction to reduce click and enhance user control.
< Faster and easier screen movement >
After adding the feature, I was very happy.
The game flow is smooth and above all, it is so convenient!
The screen can be moved by hovering a mouse-point to the edge while card is in use.
Placing units or buildings is less cumbersome.
As it is a function that is used very often, I think that the inconvenience of users has been very great.
I'm glad it is fixed right now.
- Hot key –
Many people rested their chin on their left hand as they played Ratropolis.
It seemed like you were struggling to play high strategy games such as chess and go.
< We would like to see little bit of APM. Make stationary hand move. >
We wish players were thinking on their moves.
In fact, Ratropolis was a game that didn't need to use your left hand.
As it is a real-time game, the need for hotkeys has emerged for quick control.
Keys have been added to frequently used functions such as screen movement, drawing cards, and using leader abilities.
Now that players can choose actions with their left hand.
Playing with only one hand would be a hard sight at next demonstration.
- Unable to use alarm –
If you misuse the card, there were no notifications, and cards were not used.
Many users were confused due to this design.
In the public demonstration, I told users how to use it again.
When users download it at home, I can't tell you separately that players could get lost.
By adding a notification, message will show why card cannot be used.
This alarm feature will allow players to recognize the correct usage.
< Alarm in red color, notifying user the action cannot be done >
After adding these features, we might be able to shorten current tutorial.
We regret creating the tutorial firsthand. It would been nice if we had this alarm or notification created first.
- Added Construction Guide –
Many users have had trouble using building cards.
The cards don't show how much space each building takes up,
The buildable location did not appear on the screen when the card was used.
Failing in simple task is what we do not want players to experience.
Buildings are key to playing the game, so we needed show how-to-use it intuitively.
First, the number of squares required for building the card is indicated on the upper right corner.
In previous version, the card description included the required space.
This update simplified a description into an icon.
< Update on the Shelter card >
And when you try to use the building card, the construction space is displayed on the screen.
When a player attempts to play a building card, the available areas in the territory are shown in white color.
Bring the card to the displayed range. Building's blueprint appears in green color.
Although it is not perfectly in place, but I am satisfied very much in a functional part.
< Intuitive building in action >
- Localization –
We are currently implementing a Korean-English language change in the settings window.
Other languages are supported as well. We can also add more languages upon request.
I once uploaded Ratropolis trailer to a foreign site,
Majority said that English was not shown in the video.
I would like to produce a trailer in English, and to distribute the English demo version when localizing is finished.
I hope to receive various opinions from global users.
< Broken English as an outcome of online-translator. Globalization is on the initial progress >
During this week's development, we spent time improving the demo version and improving usability.
I plan to spend some time adding content again.
We always listen to your opinions, and they make Ratropolis to a better game.
Thank you for your interest and feedback!
Squeak~V
Tumblbug(Donation): https://tumblbug.com/ratropolis
Homepage(Download Demo): https://ratropolis.imweb.me/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CasselGames/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CasselGames