Wistar is beautiful but could use some interface upgrades

[xevizero]

Hi, dev here. I'm really sorry you have been having UX issues with the game. Do understand that most projects here on BGA are amateur projects or ultra-low budget, so some limitations definitely stem from that - for Rats I tried to give a fresh UX/UI a go but it was only my second game here and it was very complex, so I definitely didn't get it perfect.
Fixing some of these would require a lot of work which I can't really afford to do, but the feedback is really welcome anyway and I can try to implement it when possible. I will try to respond to some of your points:

- Main actions get "erased" when switching them: I definitely want to fix that, it's annoying and unnecessary
- Undo not undoing the whole turn: sadly that's how the BGA feature works, either this + the save button or I would have to implement an Undo feature from scratch, something that would be quite hard to do right now
- Visual guidance/Board visualization: you should definitely try playing with the settings, a lot of UX/UI feedback during the beta has indeed been implemented, and there is a zoom feature available to see the two boards combined as per the real board game, if you're seeing them divided you're probably playing on a small screen, just zoom out either with the browser or the built in feature, available in the settings
- Some UX complaints are actually just me following the game rules, like not being able to combine benefits from multiple sources, you should not be able to do that
- The in-game timer for real time games depends on BGA, I don't set that timer myself, I can only call a function that gives players an "X" amount of extra time that is automatically calibrated, it's possible this needs further training on their end for less played games, as far as I know I did what I should there. Weird that it hasn't updated properly.
- the mobile sidebar has an option to be always visible - I keep seeing complaints from people who don't seem to have looked into the settings for options I've already put in work for, and that's a bit frustrating on my end, and also drowns out legitimate questions and complaints, as it's only one person looking after all of this (and I'm working on and then supporting multiple games at the same time as well).

I've also received a lot of complaints about the worker movement UX but I genuinely fail to understand the grievances, I would really welcome a short video or series of screenshots from someone chiming in and describing the issue you're having and what UX experience you would find more intuitive - based on the real world testing I did with friends/family/colleagues no one was confused so this was never pointed out as a concern while development was active. I would happily go back and fix this if I understood what's wrong, it may even be bug related in some way I can't reproduce, on some browser I never tested extensively on.

All of this feedback is welcome, I would welcome even more some more detailed explanation of what is not working, possibly filed via suggestion report (so it gets a ticket tracking number etc) and with more information attached, so i can understand if some of these are possibly just glitches some of you may be facing.

[akalcic]

I don’t often have trouble with worker movement, but I have had one or two frustrating experiences with it, playing on a phone. The simplest case of moving a single worker is fine. Click origin, click destination.

Moving two workers from the same origin to the same destination is slightly more complicated, requiring three clicks instead of the four you would expect from just repeating base case twice. The implementation mirrors how you send workers out from nest, so everyone has practiced this sequence.

Moving two workers from different origins to the same destination must require four clicks- origin 1, destination, origin 2, destination. I might misclick given my small screen, but I know what I want to do and I get visual feedback after each click.

Moving two workers from the same origin to different destinations gets confusing. I don’t actually know if, after my first two clicks to send the first worker, so I need to click the origin again or just the second destination? If I guess wrong I need to undo my turn.

Technically there are more cases, e.g. moving worker from A to B and then one from B to C, but they are effectively only moving zero or one workers but with extra clicks. I hope people are not attempting these.

Finally, the visual feedback from the first click (selecting origin) is fairly minor (on my phone at least), so if you are new to the game and haven’t seen what it looks like before you might believe you haven’t successfully clicked. Extra clicks are going to lead to mistakes, so this could be the source of the problem for some.

[seth5]

Seems like a lot of folks saying the same thing, so I didn't want to repeat myself. But I wasn't sure if I saw anyone mention the helper/worker movement in particular. My sisters and I seemed to struggle with moving helpers, using the bonus actions (or otherwise).

I had a bonus to move up to 2. I would click to move one, successfully. But when I tried moving the second helper the same way, I would either A) wind up moving the first one back to where it started or B) nothing. If I tried to commit to the first move to see if it would let me then move the second helper, it progresses to the point where the game has moved on from that bonus altogether. So I tried to undo, then click and move them one at a time. I could NOT get the second one to move. The first helper would just move, then move back. I tried every combination that I could think of before I got pretty frustrated. My sisters said they had the same issue, so we decided to quit after round 1.

The other major issue I had; I picked a combination of play card/move though the house. I somehow managed to do neither before ending my turn. I was trying to do the explore first to open a door. It wouldn't let me click on anything, so I think (being distracted by answering questions) where I thought I was confirming a selection, I actually hit "end turn". I had literally done NOTHING with my turn, before ending it. Felt really bad to have a completely wasted turn. Seemed strange that the game asks you to confirm everything, yet lets you end a turn without doing a single thing. Most games will remind you that you can still take even a minor bonus that most people don't care about (which can be a tad annoying itself). Super frustrating, but chalked it up to a learning game...until we all got too frustrated with the UI and decided to bail.

I understand these are all passion projects from people who are learning. But if Asmodee wants to buy a platform and charge people money, maybe they should be supporting devs that work on projects like this. So, I'm not mad at dev here. The game looks amazing. I am sure it works well when you know the interface. But damn. I haven't played games with my siblings in months. Decided to pay for a month subscription just to play this game (which I own and love IRL), only to quit in frustration.

[chinwins]

Seems like a lot of folks saying the same thing, so I didn't want to repeat myself. But I wasn't sure if I saw anyone mention the helper/worker movement in particular. My sisters and I seemed to struggle with moving helpers, using the bonus actions (or otherwise).

I had a bonus to move up to 2. I would click to move one, successfully. But when I tried moving the second helper the same way, I would either A) wind up moving the first one back to where it started or B) nothing. If I tried to commit to the first move to see if it would let me then move the second helper, it progresses to the point where the game has moved on from that bonus altogether. So I tried to undo, then click and move them one at a time. I could NOT get the second one to move. The first helper would just move, then move back. I tried every combination that I could think of before I got pretty frustrated. My sisters said they had the same issue, so we decided to quit after round 1.

The other major issue I had; I picked a combination of play card/move though the house. I somehow managed to do neither before ending my turn. I was trying to do the explore first to open a door. It wouldn't let me click on anything, so I think (being distracted by answering questions) where I thought I was confirming a selection, I actually hit "end turn". I had literally done NOTHING with my turn, before ending it. Felt really bad to have a completely wasted turn. Seemed strange that the game asks you to confirm everything, yet lets you end a turn without doing a single thing. Most games will remind you that you can still take even a minor bonus that most people don't care about (which can be a tad annoying itself). Super frustrating, but chalked it up to a learning game...until we all got too frustrated with the UI and decided to bail.

I understand these are all passion projects from people who are learning. But if Asmodee wants to buy a platform and charge people money, maybe they should be supporting devs that work on projects like this. So, I'm not mad at dev here. The game looks amazing. I am sure it works well when you know the interface. But damn. I haven't played games with my siblings in months. Decided to pay for a month subscription just to play this game (which I own and love IRL), only to quit in frustration.

ALL THIS. Could not figure out how to move two workers from two different areas into the same area. I also gave up and did not do the action I wanted to do.

I am also on an IPAD and there needs to be a way to change the display layout. Right now, the cards are hovering over the main board; I have to scroll up and down a hundred times to do any action or even to find the ACTIONS bar (which sometimes disappears)

[Alfonsov86]

Still the same horrible interface? I came here from time to time to check if we have any update and It is possible to start playing again Wistar again.

But I'm afraid we don't. This game will remain as it is. A pity. Lost game.