Severed World - Kickstarter Feedback!

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ID:1854202
 
May 17 2015, 8:25 pm
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/378072654/ 2140832548?token=7366c159

We're going to be posting this within a few days. I'm very excited to do so as soon as possible but I'd also like to make sure that everything is the best it can be... so if you see any awkward English or something looks off, please point it out. There will also be more images added, such as icons for the rewards and stretch goals.

Our website is also being worked on: http://www.pixel-realms.net/


Thanks in advance for any constructive criticism
May 17 2015, 10:54 pm
Everything is looking awesome so far. I especially like those animated headers for each section. It really adds character to the page. With more screenshots and other images it should look nearly perfect. There are some minor issues though.

I really don't like the UK spelling of "manoeuvres". It looks too much like French. This really bothers me. I think you should use the US spelling of "maneuvers", just so it doesn't look so weird.

Each enemy is designed to be unique in its own right... whether it's a swarm of mutated, poisonous rats or a titantic, roaming blob of slime that's attacking a nearby town. Defeating our AI will require well timed shield blocks, manoeuvres, and impressively executed attack combinations.


Something about this sounds really awkward to me. I would suggest that you revise it.

An open-ended, non-linear spell system. Once you've acquired the first spell, all others in the tree become available and you can upgrade as desired. Spells will evolve both visually and in power as improved, with up to three major upgrades!


I hope that your game is successful, because I really don't think any other BYOND game has a better chance right now.
May 18 2015, 2:43 am
Looking good, but it needs more pictures.
May 18 2015, 4:33 am
I demand BYOND Member perks!

On-Topic: Looks good really can't wait for this.
May 18 2015, 7:05 am
You guys seem very dedicated, investing $20,000 of your own money. The game also looks very promising, I'll definitely be backing this.
May 18 2015, 12:53 pm
Seems fairly solid to me. The only thing I would take issue with are some of the backer rewards. Not only do backers get exclusive weapons and armor, it looks like they're getting an entire class as well. My recommendation would be to keep the rewards strictly cosmetic.

A smaller reward tier would be nice. Maybe not have it include a copy of the game, but a thank you email or some sort of in-game credit would work.
May 19 2015, 12:13 pm (Edited on May 19 2015, 12:25 pm)
Pixel Realms wrote:
Our website is also being worked on: http://www.pixel-realms.net/

I see Bootstrap use!

Couple of concerns about the website:
  • Navigation changes into a vertical display when the viewport is resized (approval!), but it overlaps with your logo on the index. I'd recommend maybe considering collapsing it for mobile resolutions. Bootstrap should have a navigation component that places all of the links behind a "hamburger" icon and expands to show the links; this is a common design pattern that most mobile viewers will understand.
  • Consider throwing the logo into the navigation. It'll help brand the site, and it's commonly understood to be a way to easily return to the homepage.
  • I'm seeing some peculiar horizontal scrolling in viewports with widths less than 567px. It appears to coincide with when the logo is larger than the width; when I edited the element in the DOM explorer (<div class="bg_logo"></div>) to set its display to none, the issue disappeared.
  • Horizontal scrolling appears to occur again in widths 992px - 1016px (it looks like you have a breakpoint for 991px). I couldn't find the reason for it. I'm wondering if it's a box-sizing issue in your navigation, but I couldn't confirm that.
  • I'm not a fan of the stacked social media logos since it could be an accessibility concern, but I think that their large sizes do compensate. It looks like this is a result of using Bootstrap's grid and having them be smaller than the defined widths of the logos.
  • Also for the social media icons, you might want to update their container classes to col-sm-2 instead of col-md-2. The containers are expanding to full width far sooner than they reasonably should, so they're stacking vertically despite having plenty of space. My recommendation would be to actually resize social_button. I know that we're using a touch area of 60px on our apps, so 91px x 92px may be a little excessive. If you use background-size: cover on the social_button elements, the background images will scale properly.
  • The primary content container has a class of col-lg-8 while the side container (used for Archives on the blog) is col-md-4. I'd consider making the larger one col-md-8; the content fits properly and it seems odd to have the container wrap below at such large resolutions.
  • I'd consider using different sizes of your backgrounds and then applying the appropriate ones using media queries. This might be beneficial for mobile viewers, who wouldn't benefit from loading an image that is 2560px x 1440px (in the case of bg_sky). Essentially, you'll want an image of appropriate width for each of your breakpoints. Bootstrap is mobile-first (I think? Maybe I'm thinking of Foundation), so the smaller images would load first.
  • Also, in terms of performance optimization, maybe consider using sprites. Loads times aren't impacted too much due to the additional calls for each individual image, but I'm thinking that it might be a larger concern for mobile users (especially in locales where connections are not always the best).


For clarification, website was tested in IE11, Project Spartan, Chrome 42, and Firefox 38 in Windows 8.1/10 environments.

Let me know if you have any questions!
May 19 2015, 4:15 pm
Bootstrap 3 is mobile first, BS2 is desktop first.
May 19 2015, 4:17 pm
The only concern I have with the website because I wasn't doing testing like PixelScientist apparently was is that when you right click on the page in IE11 the clouds in the background stop moving, the other few animations you have on the page though keep on going like they should.

Maybe you can look into that and fix this, it's a minor issue but considering your other animations continue to play should be an easily fixable one.

EDIT: Also on the "Press Kit" page I'm getting a horizontal scrollbar when it's not needed.
May 20 2015, 12:22 pm
In response to A.T.H.K
A.T.H.K wrote:
Bootstrap 3 is mobile first, BS2 is desktop first.

Thanks for the reminder! We've used at least four different frameworks (and sometimes multiple versions of the same one!) within less than a year on a project at work, and a lot of them are starting to blur together.
May 20 2015, 10:56 pm
In response to PixelScientist
Thanks for the feedback! I'll be sure to carefully look over everything. I really want to make the website looks good on both desktop and mobile, since the game is going to be mobile anyway.
May 21 2015, 10:07 am
In response to Doohl
Doohl wrote:
Thanks for the feedback! I'll be sure to carefully look over everything. I really want to make the website looks good on both desktop and mobile, since the game is going to be mobile anyway.

Absolutely! I don't do manual testing at work, but I'm heavily involved in the UX and tend to be the person correcting a lot of the UI bugs that our manual testers file. Glad that I was able to help.

I've got myriad testing devices on hand. If I find bandwidth in the near future, I'll run the site through all of them and see if there is anything else that stands out. Let me know if that's something in which you'd be interested.

Also, approval on the mobile-first approach. A lot of people (including some people with whom I work!) are frightfully antediluvian and refuse to acknowledge that many users prefer to use their mobile devices over a desktop, much less make the effort to design an experience specifically for that market.
May 28 2015, 2:28 pm
Looks sexier than Niel Patrick Harris and Tom Felton's love child.
Jun 5 2015, 8:26 pm
In response to Kats
Kats wrote:
Looks sexier than Niel Patrick Harris and Tom Felton's love child.

Jun 6 2015, 9:43 am
Not sure if it's just me, but the background movement is very jumpy when scrolling with the mousewheel. Fine when dragging the scrollbar though.

Great work guys, and best wishes for the kickstarter!
Jun 7 2015, 8:18 am
Kickstarter failed doohl.

Do you and chance need a hug? I'm sorry the bank will charge you double what you borrowed now....

I hope you can work something out.
Jun 7 2015, 10:47 am
Well that just sounds hella condescending.

We've stated time and time again that the KS failing is not the end of the world for us (or the end of the game for that matter).
Jun 7 2015, 11:26 am (Edited on Jun 7 2015, 11:33 am)
In response to Doohl
Doohl wrote:
Well that just sounds hella condescending.

We've stated time and time again that the KS failing is not the end of the world for us (or the end of the game for that matter).

Advertising for the win?

https://www.facebook.com/groups/BYONDGames/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/227592780726252/

Also, why not indiegogo? https://learn.indiegogo.com/
Jun 7 2015, 12:27 pm
In response to Doohl
Doohl wrote:
Well that just sounds hella condescending.

We've stated time and time again that the KS failing is not the end of the world for us (or the end of the game for that matter).

I didnt mean it to.

I know it wont stop KS, but I genuinely hope the debt can be paid in a non-stressful manner.
Jun 7 2015, 12:42 pm
In response to Master rla
Master rla wrote:
[...] I'm sorry the bank will charge you double what you borrowed now....

I hope you can work something out.

Master rla wrote:
I know it wont stop KS, but I genuinely hope the debt can be paid in a non-stressful manner.

What are you talking about exactly? There's not really any debt involved—Kickstarter isn't a loan service.
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