PROLOGUE
I’ve only been playing TFW for about 10 days, but I’ve played a lot in that short period of time. I’ve been playing online TCG’s for over 10 years, so even though I’ve new to TFW, I’m no stranger to TCG’s. IMHO, this game is much better than any other MMOTCG out there, including MTG. Not many TCG’s have implemented a world map, which adds a lot more depth and strategy to the game.
I’ve played a lot of MMOTCG’s, and the one glaring thing that sticks out with this game is that there is a huge learning curve for noobs. Since the biggest issue right now (and only major one that I see) is a small player base. I know this isn’t news to anyone, but I really think you’re probably losing some potential players due to this.
Anyway, I just wanted to give a fresh perspective from a relative noob (relative in the sense that I’m new to FTW, but not online TCG’s). I realize some of these observations and suggestions have been made in the past, but I haven’t seen a lot of them brought up recently, so here goes.
GAME WINDOW UI
The current UI has a lot of wasted blank space, yet the panels that are fixed often overlap the map unless you make small. As a new player, it was a turnoff to have to play with a small map in order to see the entire board. I prefer to run the Large or Dynamic Interfaces. On my computer, there isn’t a difference between the two. The following solutions are referring to the Larger Interfaces.
Two Possible Solutions:
1) Rearrange Game UI
Move the card icon in the lower right to the blank space in the upper left. Move the chat to the left side just below the card icon. This would be ideal for the square shaped maps that we commonly play on, but would be less desirable for the wide maps (ie - 7x15) that people sometimes make for their campaigns which fit the current interface nicely. Although my guess is that people are making 7x15 maps to fit the current UI configuration. Since the most common map size is 13x12, then this is what the interface should default to.
I’ve actually taken screenshots of the current UI and in order to run a 13x12 game with minimal overlapping, the actual map is roughly 680x490 when running at 1440x900 resolution. The map only makes up 25% of the screen. When I moved everything around as I mentioned above, the map was roughly 950x685, which is twice as big with absolutely no overlapping.
Here’s the image I’m referring to…
2) Make Another Configuration
Keep the current configurations (Small, Large, Dynamic) and add another one that I just described. This is probably the route to go. Make the 13x12 interface the default as well.
