Hanabi: grand feux (new edition)

[Randal Jr]

exciting! ready to try it

[brucellosis]

“These 3 cards are green” is also exactly what most players would be saying around a physical table.

I agree, but we don't replicate every aspect of the physical game in the online space. Otherwise we would have the ability to point at cards with our virtual fingers in particular orders. We also don't want to replicate the physical game just for the sake of it, if it is harder in UI terms.

The old clue system was an elegant representation pictorially of how we give clues: eg. do I want to give the player a colour clue or a number clue? I will select the number or the colour, then click on the player's hand.

The new system is inelegant, non-pictorial, relies on written words, and actually inconsistent with the physical table - in that it requires you to pick an individual card, but then pops up options based on all the cards in their hand.

[brucellosis]

I'm guessing it's been mentioned, but the black card slot is also appearing in my existing games.

[eirbmia]

The ELO point system is messed up now--gives 0 points even when you win (also deducted a huge number when we got 29 points). Why was that changed?

[analyst9]

This new version is terrible! Why would you just switch to a new version without testing it. It is too flashy and confusing. I HATE IT AND WILL CANCEL MY MEMBERSHIP!!!

[Konofish]

First, I just want to say I appreciate this website so much and the work of the people behind it, so thank you. I am *not* the person who likes to say, "this s*cks," and I am honestly rarely, if ever, an internet troll. So the point of my negative post is constructive, I promise. And yes, I hate the new design to the point that I am unlikely to keep playing Hanabi and quite likely to cancel my Premium membership if this continues as the design into the future. As to specifics: The art may be an acquired taste, if clever, but it's less intuitive to play.
Because:[list}
a) I had a harder time knowing which was the new card and which was the chop.
b) The wordiness of the clues, while more like an in-person game, makes for a less intuitive a way to clue than before.
c) The game window needs to be bigger to accommodate chat -- no matter how large a monitor, real estate is a precious commodity. Why use more of it?
d) Reversing the order of the window card/chop card will lead to mistaken discards.
e) It is not at all obvious how to give a null clue.[/list]

I may have more to add, but for now I will just say Hanabi was the single reason I pay the premium membership. This makes playing Hanabi stressful, instead of my favorite stress relief. So I will give it a few games, but this may be the end of the road for me and premium BGA. Thank you for reading, for all your efforts, and for a generally great website and community.

[Konofish]

“These 3 cards are green” is also exactly what most players would be saying around a physical table.

I agree, but we don't replicate every aspect of the physical game in the online space. Otherwise we would have the ability to point at cards with our virtual fingers in particular orders. We also don't want to replicate the physical game just for the sake of it, if it is harder in UI terms.

The old clue system was an elegant representation pictorially of how we give clues: eg. do I want to give the player a colour clue or a number clue? I will select the number or the colour, then click on the player's hand.

The new system is inelegant, non-pictorial, relies on written words, and actually inconsistent with the physical table - in that it requires you to pick an individual card, but then pops up options based on all the cards in their hand.

This post hits the nail on the head. Well stated, all true. Agree 100%.

[yodajacobs]

This interface is beyond awful.

When the new board first came up, I saw my partner's hand at the top, a mysterious row of tall skinny rectangles across just below (that I realized later were the play piles), and my hand was off the bottom of the window as was most of the discard area. This layout would require incessant scrolling just to see necessary information with two players. (I've not looked at a multiple player layout yet, but I expect it to be even worse.) The first thing I did was go looking to see whether there were any options, and at least I found that you can restore the stacked layout that lets you see relevant information without scrolling in a two player game.
For some reason our already-existing six-suit rainbow game is showing playing piles of red, yellow, green, blue, white, purple, and black. (bug?)
Then I was looking at my partner's cards and trying to figure out whether one particular card was yellow or white.
Yes, I can read the numbers, but they are not as easy to read as the previous ones were. (obviously stylistic opinion here, minor compared to everything else.)
I was in disbelief that you described the cards as bigger and easier to read. Purely laughable.
It took me five minutes to figure out how I would give a clue at all. To characterize the new way as easier is pure fantasy. By comparison, when I started playing Hanabi with the old version, there was not a single second's confusion over what to do.

On top of all that, this page now continually provokes my browser to complain that the webpage is using significant energy and I should close it.

I have 320 games of Hanabi completed prior to this. I can't imagine enduring this interface to play that much.

[wiileewaller]

Sorry but since the update the game is just unplayable, it wasnt necessary at all to change the ui, cant play my favorite game in bga anymore, give us back the old version.

Thx

[small faerie]

Since I joined BGA in April I have played over 800 games of Hanabi and it's been one of my favourite ways to relax during the pandemic. I have also been super happy with BGA overall and promoted it strongly to loads of friends. So this is the first time I'm actually unhappy with anything but unfortunately it's a big one.

This new UI came as a complete surprise and unfortunately – to phrase it in an almost dishonestly mild way – not a good one. I can't even be bothered to list all the problems with it (most have been addressed previously too) but I will point out that I find it deeply ironic that changing the graphics because people with colour blindness had problems before managed to coincide with changes that made it very difficult for me, who has no problems at all with colour blindness, to actually tell the colours of the cards. Even more ironic is of course that that is far from the only change that makes it almost impossible to get a reasonable overview with this new UI.

I understand that some people might find this new UI "prettier" but personally, I don't care about the beauty of the graphics. I care about the beauty of the game and a well done UI, and unfortunately this is just not good. In fact, it is so bad that I don't think I will be willing to continue playing Hanabi on BGA. And since Hanabi is the only reason I chose to become a Premium member, that will of course mean that I would cancel my premium membership.

Also, saying that the new clueing system is easier for new players is very strange. When I started playing, in April, it _literally_ took me 3 seconds to identify and comprehend the clueing system. This system is completely unintuitive and extremely cumbersome. Even when I found how to do it (which I had to ask about to even find), it took me quite some time to understand what all that text was supposed to tell me. And I used to play Hanabi irl way before I started playing here just 7 months ago. And it really stressed me out to have to read through a list of 8 options trying to find the one that matches what I want to do. If you wanted to lessen the need for moving the cursor then why not just move the placement of the hint buttons?

If there were things that needed fixing with the old UI, then why not just fix those? Providing a lojal gamer base with something no one seems to have asked for and no one now seems happy with is just not a good idea, even if _you_ feel that it's better. If I were you, I'd roll back to the old version asap (or at least introduce it as an option alongside this new one) and then reevaluate this new UI based on all the comments you've received here. Because as it is the new version is failing some very basic design and principles.

Oh, and just to be clear; all my comments are in reference to the stacked version – I will not spend any time on discussing the "around the table" version more than saying that I guess it might appeal to someone who wants an option that mimics playing irl, but probably looses all the cool things about the online structure.