New UI Update: Gameboard

mbaren

I'm playing on Steam.  It came available... I don't know, around 9am Pacific time?

Sekilicious

Available on iOS as well. I'm not colorblind and still found it difficult to intuitively distinguish the tile colors on my iPhone. I will see if it is better on the iPad later. Maybe I will just get used to it. 

JaGo

In general, I dislike the darker colors but I’ll get used to it. However, the dimming of the entire board when it’s the enemy’s turn causes physical discomfort. When it dims my brain and eyes freak out trying to refocus on the tile movements. Please drop this particular change.

-JaGo

SaltnPeppa

JaGo said:

In general, I dislike the darker colors but I’ll get used to it. However, the dimming of the entire board when it’s the enemy’s turn causes physical discomfort. When it dims my brain and eyes freak out trying to refocus on the tile movements. Please drop this particular change.

-JaGo

Yes I agree!  They need to consult us scientists about changes like this.   I'm sure they can call up neuroscientists and ophthalmologists about this.

BeetleGeorge

mbaren said:

Okay, now I've fought a couple of battles with it, and I have some feedback:

I don't love the change, but in terms of the shift in colors and style, I know I'll get used to it.  Not a fan of the tile physics, but since that can be turned off, great.  Leave it in or don't, doesn't bother me in the slightest.

The thing I don't like is the way the board dims on the enemy's turn.  I find this distracting, and if I'm watching what's going on it actually makes the action and predicting cascades harder to follow.  If there was a way to turn that off too, that'd be great.

I fought a few battles too before writing this. I even cross-checked and I think that on Android it is not as bad as it is on Steam. But even there I see no improvement.
Maybe I will get used to the changes somehow like I got used to some other of the recent UI changes I'm also not happy about, but the dimming of the board during the enemy moves are very bad to my old eyes having to adjust permanently to different levels of brightness. So if they don't offer a way to at least switch that off it might be that sooner or later I will have to stop playing the game, not because I want but because my eyes demand it.

justsing

The lack of contrast is especially terrible. I can barely tell when there are special tiles (strikes, attacks, protects, countdowns, charged, etc.) on the board.

ThaRoadWarrior

It's out on iOS.

The board has always dimmed on the opponenet turn - or rather the background used to go from that blue to black. I think the reduced contrast across all UI elements has contributed to the sensation that it's "dimming." They must have added transparency to the tiles so that the background going from charcoal to full black is manifesting as a dim out? I'm not sure.

I like the board itself, it does somehow feel like the tiles are bigger whether or not that's accurate. There is a general lack of contrast across everything that I at best haven't gotten used to and at worst think is a negative change. Black tiles definitely get lost against the background during the general chaos of fast play. I also really don't think the additional murkiness added to the "which powers can i fire?" bar is helping me to know which powers I can fire any more easily than before. I can't tell if that's just different or if it's worse yet.

As for the tile physics, it still feels too linear for my taste. I've been trying to find a good slow motion example of the easing, and I guess a bunch of Skee-Balls dropping in after you start the game is about as close as I can find video of. I'm not sure if the AP are "gems," "tiles," or something gummier, all of which would affect the bounce we should expect. But Skee Balls, which are just solid balls of wood, seem pretty appropriate to showcase the epected acceleration curves (this should start at :57 seconds):
https://youtu.be/dHv8wV5ELVM?t=57

Borstock

First impression actually using the new UI.... Yuck.

It is significantly more difficult to tell the difference between the tiles, the green especially. There was also an issue I found to be very unexpected... On my phone, during the 2/3/4 DDQ node, Polaris was in front and her hair blocked the other two characters. It probably won't be an issue during matches where I pick the team, but I literally couldn't see her teammates and didn't know who they were. Very annoying.

justsing

ThaRoadWarrior said:

It's out on iOS.

The board has always dimmed on the opponenet turn - or rather the background used to go from that blue to black. I think the reduced contrast across all UI elements has contributed to the sensation that it's "dimming." They must have added transparency to the tiles so that the background going from charcoal to full black is manifesting as a dim out? I'm not sure.

oh god, I forgot to mention the dimming on enemy turn. It's awful. Can we have the option to turn that off??? Better yet, can we go back to the old UI?

JaGo

ThaRoadWarrior said:

It's out on iOS.

The board has always dimmed on the opponenet turn - or rather the background used to go from that blue to black. I think the reduced contrast across all UI elements has contributed to the sensation that it's "dimming." They must have added transparency to the tiles so that the background going from charcoal to full black is manifesting as a dim out? I'm not sure.

Interesting. See, I never noticed after years of play that the background changed. I had to check an old video and look for it. In that video however, the tile luminance does not change, unlike the new version. It looks to me like an overlay is being applied that is now shadowing the tiles, not just the background.

nojjonxp

The lack of contrast and dimming on enemy turn is beyond horrible. 

LavaManLee

Trying to determine a black shield on a black tile is almost impossible.

ThaRoadWarrior

JaGo said:

ThaRoadWarrior said:

It's out on iOS.

The board has always dimmed on the opponenet turn - or rather the background used to go from that blue to black. I think the reduced contrast across all UI elements has contributed to the sensation that it's "dimming." They must have added transparency to the tiles so that the background going from charcoal to full black is manifesting as a dim out? I'm not sure.

Interesting. See, I never noticed after years of play that the background changed. I had to check an old video and look for it. In that video however, the tile luminance does not change, unlike the new version. It looks to me like an overlay is being applied that is now shadowing the tiles, not just the background.

The specific mechanism they used to get that effect I'm not sure - there are a few ways you could do it, but the net effect is that the whole gem stack is dimming out significantly. I put a piece of paper over the gem stack to isolate the upper screen, and when you don't have the overwhelming block of it happening, you can see that it isn't covering the character logos on the AP bar or pulling saturation out of the character art itself. All the tiles dim out though - you can focus on a Team Up tile to really see it happening clearly.  

DeNappa

After playing a few matches with the update, I will have to agree with the criticism that other users voiced before me. The field becoming so much darker on enemy turn is distracting somehow, and the board colors are less bright, making everything blend together more. Also, the character symbols on the tiles seem more pronounced, which make special tiles harder to notice.

pheregas

This is copy/pasted from the other thread before it got locked.

Please, I implore the devs to roll this one back.  The tiles are no longer bright and vibrant and do blend into the background.

Worst of all is the screen shadow during the AI turn.  I mean, I like to look at the board while this is happening?  Why?  Because I can plan my text move while the AI is tooling around.

Not only does the shading make it harder to plan my next move, but it is unnecessary time in between moves.  And it hurts my eyes to flicker back and forth between turns.

I then went into settings to turn this off and ITS NOT THERE.  Ugh.  Please remove and quickly.

Charged tiles are almost invisible.

I played one match with tile physics turned on.  Unchecked that box at the next immediate opportunity.  

Also, now that friendly shield tiles are grey in interior, I keep matching them thinking they are enemy.  Ugh.

REVERT REVERT REVERT TO PREVIOUS GAMESTATE.

kimo_star

repost:

Please please give us the option to change to the old board the new one is just so bad, the only thing i like about it is that the characters look more visible but that's the least thing i look at when i am in a match, almost everything on the board itself look terrible lack of contrast, the dimming on the ai turn, the colors are confusing i was trying so hard to find matches, can't see enemy special tiles especially if they are on black. Please don't ignore this like you did with the the new Stores UI.

SuperRecoome

This is terrible. As someone who is very colorblind the game is unplayable now. (for reference I play on Steam)

I literally can't play until something changes. Either a colorblind mode or an option to change back to the old UI. I spend money too.  It all looks like one color now. and the dimming is horrible and jarring.  I'll be checking the boards daily for an update on the situation but I won't be playing again until something changes.

sinnerjfl

Another completely useless UI update but this one worsens the gameplay experience which is a lot more problematic than the revamped store was. Let's see:

- the character icons on tiles are way way too in front, some of them look great, some don't (Apoc's icon looks like trash for example). It's now super distracting and 100% unneccesary, the subdued and more subtler look was better. We don't need to see these that much.

- the special (attack/strike/protects) are now difficult to see, they're way too dark and blend in.

- lack of contrast on the tiles, the whole board tends to blend in, it's harder to see matches and the colors just don't pop out as they used to. This is terrible since your whole game is based on MATCH-3 GAMEPLAY.

- the dimming during AI's turn is obnoxious, it's jarring and it happens every other turn. Considering the AI sometimes like to take very long turns and you can't even see the board anymore, this is very annoying.

- overall it's ugly, less functionnal and is causing unneeded problems.

Please go back to the old board or give us the option ASAP.

welbot

No no no no no!! WTH have you done?!!?!?! It's HORRID!!!! It feels like it's in slow motion too!!! CHANGE IT BACK@!!@!!!!

MrPlow

The new tiles don't bother me.  I've gotten used to it.  What I hate is the dimming when it's the AI's turn and it's hard to see the effect when you have enough AP to fire a power.  The bar is too thin.