Circle The Wagons release feedback

[Jimmy V.]

Hello all,

Circle the Wagons has just been released. Please give us feedback!

We are obviously particularly interested in bugs you may find, or any question that you may have regarding the game.

Thanks for your ongoing cooperation!

Have fun! This game is really great.

[Jimmy V.]

No one has posted here, but we are aware of a few things regarding the interface.

So let me list them. Let me know what you think is most important to change.

1) One cannot see the goals without scrolling down. It would be nice to see them at the top (top-right more likely, next to the rules link) of the screen, always visible.

2) Scoring is only done at the end. It would help to have it during the game. We decided not to show it to create a suspense at the end of the game. The suspense works, we think, but is it worth it?

3) In the "both towns" view, one cannot see the cards. Would you like to see them in a row below both towns? Would not it confuse you?

4) If you build a card, then change the view, the card goes back to the circle and you have to build it again, is that annoying?
 
5) Does double-click work fine? If it does not, please let us know what machine you are playing on.

6) If the game does not work really well on your mobile/tablet, please let us know! What machine is it?

7) The cow (for you) and the gun (for the opponent) are not always displayed at the same place. It depends on who the first player is. So if the cow is the first player it will be on the left in the "Both town" view and at the top in the scoring tables. I understand this might be confusing so we might change this so that the cow (you) is always on the left or on top.

Thanks for your input!

[Daniel G.]

I'm using my desktop browser:

1) I don't mind
2) People would probably give up sooner if they saw the point difference, I assume
3) I'd like to see the cards when I built something. It helps me to know how to place it instead of switching back and forth between the views
4) Generally fine, it even keeps the right orientation
5) Works fine
6) -
7) Cow always on top would be best

[Jeff M.]

Using Chrome on a Mac.

1) Keeping the goals always visible would be huge to me.
2) I like the drama (but see my potential timer bug note) I agree people would probably give up sooner if they saw the point difference, and I think the scoring could change dramatically if cards are placed over top each other.  Don't discourage folks from a come from behind win.
3) Yes Definitely!
4) I like that it keeps the right orientation, but find it frustrating that it goes back.
5) I agree it works
6) (have tried on my windows PC running Chrome and it's fine there too)
7) Another vote for Cow always on top would be best.  I've been really excited a couple of times to only realize the other player had the better score

[Richard C.]

1 - It'd be great to always see the goals
2 - I also like the 'surprise' element at the end of the match
3 - No real preference
4 - It's not really a problem
5 - Works fine
6 - On my iPhone 6S I've once had an issue where a card on the left of the circle wouldn't let me 'swipe' it to pick it as the swipe action was too close to the edge of the screen. This meant my iPhone kept trying to go 'back' (to the previous web page) in Safari. The only way to select the card was to zoom in a lot so I could move the card without being too close to the edge of the screen.
7 - Another vote for Cow on top please!

[Upturned T.]

Thanks for creating a really nice game! Votes for the questions are below. You covered a lot of my feedback in those questions. I didn't encounter any bugs so far (Windows 10, Chrome).

1 - It'd be nice (but not a big deal if not) to always see the goals
2 - Mild bias towards the suspense -- Thinking on this I realized I am usually aware of my special cards' score but only marginally aware of my opponent's. I can't imagine how much the game will change if I saw their score or if it will. I don't share the abandonment concern.
3 - At the moment - neutral
4 - Slightly annoying
5 - Works fine
6 - I don't play it on my phone - no feedback
7 - +1 for fixed positions for my board and score although I have now learnt to check first

Thanks again - the finish of the game is excellent!

[Soomin H.]

1) It's okay for me... I think there's nowhere else to put them

2) I think it would be great to show the scores during the game... Especially during training matches, because I have no idea if what I'm doing is good or bad and only seeing it at the end means I can only see the points on my final layout and not what I could have done differently while playing.

3) I just don't use the two towns view XD;;;

4) Not terribly, lol
 
5) On a desktop it works fine

6) N/A

7) This is super confusing for me... I'd rather always be on bottom, tbh, because my town is on the bottom of the screen (compared to my opponent who is displayed above) so I naturally look at the bottom row for my score.

Thanks so much for listening to our comments and concerns ^.^ You all rock~!

[Karin S.]

Hi,

I like this game a lot. It is quite complex for such a "small" game, to me, it actually feels more like a "big" board game rather than a card game. Also, you did a great job with the background music!

My input on your questions:
1) I do scroll up and down during the game quite a lot. Seeing the goals top-right would be great, but only if it doesn't make things too crowded or too small to decipher.
2) I definitely prefer the suspense with scoring on the end.
3) + 4) I have hardly changed the views so far, so no opinion...
5) Sometimes it takes a few attempts to make the double-click work, but I have no idea why that is! I play on a desktop browser (with a mouse).
6) I don't use a mobile or tablet.
7) Strong vote for fixed positions!! Not only for the scoring table, please also for the card layouts.

Thank you for offering this great game! 

[Jimmy V.]

Thanks to you all for the nice feedback. That's really helpful and really appreciated.

A first update has been done a few minutes ago with the following changes:

7) The cow is always displayed on the left and the gun on the right in the "Both towns" view.
In the final scoring table, the cow is always at the bottom and the gun always on top.

In "Both towns" view, the grid is not visible anymore making for a more pleasing sight.

The size of the background images has been slightly decreased to fit the screen better.

The first player and second player are now indicated next to the player meeples with a 1 and a 2. This is effective for all games.


 

[Jimmy V.]

Another update has just been made.

1) The 3 goals are now visible on the right of the screen, in a compact form (image only). Make sure you read the full goal explanation at the bottom of the screen before relying too much on the new goal icons.

[Karin S.]

Thank you, this makes it so much easier to play the game!

[Moo M.]

Thanks for the updates!

Regarding 3+4 -- I find myself clicking back and forth between the views like 20 times per turn.  Perhaps I just have a weak memory and can't keep everything in mind, but the upcoming cards form the entire strategic aspect to the game, so I feel they should absolutely be on screen all the time.  Especially when trying to place your current card, knowing what you will likely place next is particularly relevant.

Also regarding 2 -- Not having the scoring visible just makes turns take longer as I tally up the score myself to make plans if I'm trying to play well, or encourages me to play randomly if I don't want to take too long.  If the goal is to be strategic, suspense doesn't add (removes) value.  Given that there's a money challenge to playing well, it seems like competitive play is encouraged, and so having visible real-time score would make actual games faster / better.

[Jack S.]

2) I would prefer to see the scores on screen, it would save me from calculating it myself!
3) It would be great to see the cards simultaneously with both towns. It would be nice to maintain the circular arrangement in this view if possible, though.
4) Yes, this annoys me.
5) It works fine for me.
7) I would prefer it if the cow was always on top and on the left.

[Jimmy V.]

Another major update for Circle The Wagons interface:

3) In all views without the circle cards, the cards can now be seen in line at the bottom of the screen. This is experimental. It is definitely before to have them than not, but it may be a little bit confusing and not so helpful because of its awkward location. Let us know!

A warning "Are you sure?" is displayed when the player takes a remote card (probably a mistake?). The taken card is also highlighted in red in the line of cards.

The "Big" views have a slightly bigger scale.

Both towns have the same scale in "Both towns" view. It was a bug.

Correction of display in the "Both towns" view. A second click on the button led to unexpected behaviour.

The opponent move animation is longer than before. It also lets you see what card was there before.

The new goal icons on the right are a bit bigger (see previous updates).

[Jimmy V.]

Circle The Wagons was not working properly on Android Chrome browser.

We have now amended the code to correct the issues. It should now be possible to zoom in and out easily.

Please let us know if this has indeed solved the issues or if it has unexpected side effects.