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Behind the Scenes: Elvenar goes Mobile

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DeletedUser3032

Guest
On the beta forum, Marindor was talking about how this change also reflects Inno's desire to get people to do NH for the sake of NH itself, and not for the reward. So a change is implemented that rewards people for clicking 3 people at a minimum... And none of you see the problem with this? None of the devs or mods? No? My god.

And let me inform you that the point of the whole matter is not so much that you "gain" something from this change. The point is that the AW was useful and decent for investing KP's into it. You could always get a few exra resources when so needed. The point is that the AW's were changed to make them more useful. And now the devs pretty much neuter one AW for the sake of the mobile app, apparently without thinking if the changed AW is actually worth the effort of building it.

This comes across as very ad-hoc decision making, with extremely poor communication of the proces. Not to mention hardly including your player base.
You could have easily avoided half the uproar and all the drama. Yet you all keep sticking your head in the sand despite all the advice you are getting.

All the criticism you get is richly deserved.

I mentioned earlier that the mobile version should have been kept separate from the browser game. All they would have had to do is open a server for them which we cannot access via a browser. Job done. The mobile game once it supports the major parts of the game, chat etc it will be left to rot and just collect peoples money. Looking at the stats of it for ios and android it doesn't seem to be doing to well tbh. Seems like 90% of the people downloading it are those who already have accounts and are just using it to login while out and about (which isn't bringing in any more revenue. It's just wasting money developing it). If it was separate they wouldn't have to make such radical changes to the browser servers just to make the game easier to develop and workaround for mobile users.

Mobile versions are a different market and should never be merged with main games. It never goes well for either. Compromise after compromise just to get mobile versions working with the same functions of the browser version. Next we will have a totally new chat in the browser that will limit us to 10 words and all sorts of other crap but will suit mobiles. ;/ More will still come.
 
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Pauly7

Magus
Seems like 90% of the people downloading it are those who already have accounts and are just using it to login while out and about (which isn't bringing in any more revenue. It's just wasting money developing it). If it was separate they wouldn't have to make such radical changes to the browser servers just to make the game easier to develop and workaround for mobile users.

Mobile versions are a different market and should never be merged with main games. It never goes well for either. Compromise after compromise just to get mobile versions working with the same functions of the browser version.
I am very thankful for the mobile version to, as you say, use when I am out and about. It still has some issues, but I think it is a welcome addition.

I don't play many of these sorts of games - make that never, before I stumbled on Elvenar in April - but the first thing I thought when I started playing this game is "What do you mean I can't open up my city in a mobile app?" So when the app appeared they just had caught up with my expectations. As I say, I don't play many of these sorts of games, but these days I expect things that are available on my PC to also be available on my mobile.
 

DeletedUser3032

Guest
I am very thankful for the mobile version to, as you say, use when I am out and about. It still has some issues, but I think it is a welcome addition.

I don't play many of these sorts of games - make that never, before I stumbled on Elvenar in April - but the first thing I thought when I started playing this game is "What do you mean I can't open up my city in a mobile app?" So when the app appeared they just had caught up with my expectations. As I say, I don't play many of these sorts of games, but these days I expect things that are available on my PC to also be available on my mobile.

It's a great addition I must admit. It's just gonna be causing problems, because the game was originally designed around PC browsers and now they have sort of ported it to mobile using unity3d, there are compatibility issues. So changes in the game will occur to make the mobile version more usable, but how far will they go... that's the question.

As I pointed out the chat, it might work on mobile with unity3d but I doubt it. The only solutions which come to mind if they want chat at all on the mobile app is to A, change the chat in browser game to one which works on mobile also or B, link two different chat softwares together somehow. With B it's quite unlikely this would happen because of legal issues etc. I'm not sure what chat software they use now, possibly some sort of XMPP service, in which case there maybe a mobile version which can be linked to the version currently in the browser game.

But there is probably all sorts of rubbish which will kick the mobile app in to touch. Then us browser players will face game changes to allow mobile version to be developed more.

There is a shed load more users of the app who already play the game from the browser than any new users the app has attracted. There has been hardly any increase in player numbers in the EN servers ;/ So is the app attracting potentially new paying customers, not really. So ask yourself, how much time is the app taking up of all the developers involved and how much is it costing.. It should be paying for itself already, but doubtful it is. That means revenue from the mainstream browser players are footing the funds for it to be developed. If it takes a nose dive and doesn't hit profit targets very shortly after release it's a lost cause and games get binned. Which means Inno will seek to recover the lost money which was invested into the mobile app from players again. lol.
 
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Pauly7

Magus
As I pointed out the chat, it might work on mobile with unity3d but I doubt it. The only solutions which come to mind if they want chat at all on the mobile app is to A, change the chat in browser game to one which works on mobile also or B, link two different chat softwares together somehow. With B it's quite unlikely this would happen because of legal issues etc. I'm not sure what chat software they use now, possibly some sort of XMPP service, in which case there maybe a mobile version which can be linked to the version currently in the browser game.
Well for me I won't lose any sleep if they never put FS chat on the mobile. All I want is to be able to pop in, pick up my KPs and restart my productions when I am out all day and can't get to a PC... it probably already amounts to me obsessing over it too much anyway.

Leading on from that, the next most important thing for me would be for the AWs to be working on the mobile so I could dump KP there when I am out and about

As an aside it would also be nice to see quests and adventures so I could pick those up too, but that would be just a "nice to have". Fellowship Adventures did work on the mobile for three quarters of the way through the first adventure, but I guess something went wrong and they took it off.
 

DeletedUser3032

Guest
Heres one for the devs. @Shamy @Dizzy Lizzie pass this on.

It's come to my attention this mobile app is going to cost people a fortune in data costs, either by eating up peoples pay as you go credit OR going over price plans if people do not have unlimited data.

3 times now it's been required to sit here for 5+ minutes waiting for 100's of MBs of files to be downloaded. It takes 8 minutes to do NH on the app. If I add the time it's taking to download all these game files into the mix, it's gonna be 15 minutes or more. I can quite easily do NH through my browser in that time.
 

Pauly7

Magus
So yesterday things changed on the mobile again and the new change probably makes the neighbourly help take about three times as long.

For the uninitiated a big recent selling point is how fast NH is on the mobile and did involve clicking a city icon followed by clicking the culture item that popped up. It has changed now so that if you click on that city icon first two other really really tiny icons pop up - one is an icon for their fellowship and the other if for NH. You then click on that NH icon and then click on the item of choice.

Because the NH and Fellowship icons are so tiny and because another button press has been added in and another moment or two to wait for the network to catch up, all in all it took three times as long to carry out... which is quite a lot over 170 cities.

I shouldn't complain as it's still faster than the PC, but it seems to me to be a case of "over-engineering" something now and the result is slowing the process down again.
 

DeletedUser3032

Guest
I believe you couldn't visit cities before on the app. That's probably why.

One of the mods said it took 1-1.5 secs to do each city before, however that cannot be right as it took me 2.9 seconds on average to do 161 using the mobile app on my PC with a mouse. So god knows how long it takes now *SIGH*.
 

Pauly7

Magus
I believe you couldn't visit cities before on the app. That's probably why.
Well, originally you couldn't do NH on the app, then they introduced it and it was the two click process for each city I described first of all. I have to say, if I was focussed on getting through it and if there wasn't any hold up from the mobile or WiFi network (which there is more often than not), then I could get through 170 cities in a little over 4 minutes, which does work out at about 1.5 seconds per NH.

With yesterday's change it's 3 clicks per city, which whilst that doesn't sound like much difference at all it slows down the process lots. I should emphasis that when you do the first click and it brings up the two extra icons for NH or fellowship, those two icons are just TINY. Hopefully they will work on that, but even if I have it open on my Nexus tablet, which I did, I had to concentrate to make sure I hit the right one of the two. I imagine trying that on an iPhone or something would be incredibly fiddly.

Anyway... hopefully they will do something about the icon size... plus for all I know maybe it's important for some people to be able to click on a neighbouring city's fellowship on the mobile (though not for me). As it stands though, with the extra click, the extra chance of network lag and the fiddly nature of it, those same 170 cities took well over 12 minutes to complete.

I probably shouldn't lose any sleep over this... it's still only 12 minutes, haha.
 

m4rt1n

Adept
I agree the change has slowed down neighbourly help on the app significantly for me. I use an iphone 5 so you can imagine how tiny the new icons are and it can often take several attempts for my finger tip to hit the right one.

I've gone from a couple of minutes to around 15 if the wifi is behaving well, but when outdoors on 3g it can take an hour.
 

DeletedUser3032

Guest
8 mins yesterday and day before to do 161 works out 2.9 secs a visit.
 

Nymis

Alchemist
Just in case other people didn't know - you can actually tap on the bigger, actual pictures for BH/MH/Culture rather than the green titles below them....The amount of times I've been trying to jab at the green titles below them and missing so nothing gets chosen. Bigger targets are easier!

Unlike the tiny pre-visit toggle to reach that screen....*jab jab jab jab jab* oh finally I hit it...x150 odd.
 

Pauly7

Magus
Oh I think I only did hit the main picture.... why can't the icon be that size for the bit before though?... Or better still, why not get rid of it again.
 

m4rt1n

Adept
The neighbours close to the edge of my map are the trickiest with the tiny icons on my iphone 5, incomplete provinces or scouts often get hit accidentally rather than the microscopic icon to the right of the neighbour. Once you click on the neighbour, there is no reason why bigger icons cannot be used to pop up.
 

DeletedUser3048

Guest
I managed to download and enter the game successfully. My problem is, I a fine if I want to stay on my home city, but when I want to either go to the world map, or visit another person, or generally leave the home screen, the game crashes and I am thrown out completely. Anyone else having this issue please? Not really any point playing the game via the app if I get thrown off all the time.
 

m4rt1n

Adept
I thought it worth mentioning that following the app update over the weekend on iOS to add the event buildings, the Squirrel Square was missing from the update.
 

m4rt1n

Adept
Nice app update today adding Fellowship controls and chat, keep it coming inno. :)

No sign of the Squirrel Square yet though making holes in my city on iOS.

Edit: To add, the chat system on mobile is upside down, stacking making reading through chronologically a little difficult, and I now sometimes get the stacking tab bug which I never experienced before the update.
 
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DeletedUser3466

Guest
Heres one for the devs. @Shamy @Dizzy Lizzie pass this on.

It's come to my attention this mobile app is going to cost people a fortune in data costs, either by eating up peoples pay as you go credit OR going over price plans if people do not have unlimited data.

3 times now it's been required to sit here for 5+ minutes waiting for 100's of MBs of files to be downloaded. It takes 8 minutes to do NH on the app. If I add the time it's taking to download all these game files into the mix, it's gonna be 15 minutes or more. I can quite easily do NH through my browser in that time.
You either don't have many visits to make or you don't help everyone you've discovered because I found my NH are done a hell of a lot quicker on the mobile then on the pc (and I am one of those players who will lose out with the new CL changes because I help everyone and that's a lot of NH!)

The whining about the mobile game just comes across a little b****y, some players don't have the luxury of having unlimited pc access so the mobile game might be the only way they can play! And as for the issue of data - keep your play time to wifi and it's sorted.

I'm glad I have the choice to play on my mobile or my pc!
 
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Nymis

Alchemist
Yay for FS chat!!! And for FS options too! I agree with the above, the chronological chat scrolling is awkward and upside down, I got really confused trying to read a conversation last night before realising this...it would be handy if it matched like it is on browser!
Also, will the chat commands like /who be implemented? Didn’t work for me last night.
 

DeletedUser3048

Guest
I have totally given up with the mobile app. I tried to visit three people today and was thrown out each and every time. Impossible to play!
 
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