Feedback on new UI

[jaredmorgs]

"Where are the fine grained sound controls? I do not want menu music, but I would like to not have to enable sound every game, and then disable it at the end of every game."

This! I like to play for a little bit before bed, but the game overides my master tablet volume, so every time I start it I get bombarded by that ****ty AM radio version of pinball wizard until I can turn the volume down again.

Such a brilliantly nuanced software package, but with all these insane little glitches/omissions that defy the logic filter of anyone who has used a computer in the last 2 decades.

How do you eliminate the ability to turn off the menu music? I mean it WAS there, so we know the coding exists, so why on earth would they remove it? Despite all the other bugs and hitches people are finding, this would still be my first question if I had access to a board meeting, because it defies all logic from the consumer standpoint:

Why did you take away the "turn off menu music" option, and who's idea was it?

https://jaredmorgs.gitbooks.io/pinb...r/content/sound/adjustable_sliders_audio.html

 

[MontanaFrank]

How the new UI was rolled out is discouraging to me. I was a Steam beta UI tester and posted items for change that were important to me. A week and 1/2 ago I was able to scroll through the list of tables on my mouse, now it's not available. Above you will find my post agreeing with those who have the same concern. After the new UI went public, my interest in playing my favorite pinball simulation program by 80%.

I've bought 5 seasons of TPA/PBA and decided not to do a Season Pass for season 6 because of the new UI. I've been loyal to TPA/PBA till this season. I open the new UI and look at all those icons and am immediately discouraged. I've been disabled for 25 years and my mind balks from seeing so many icons.

My thought that FarSight has harried, but competent programmers who could write code that would allow those who've purchased at least 4 season to sort tables into sub-groups/folders or at least by seasons alone without icons from other seasons.

 

[jaredmorgs]

How the new UI was rolled out is discouraging to me. I was a Steam beta UI tester and posted items for change that were important to me. A week and 1/2 ago I was able to scroll through the list of tables on my mouse, now it's not available. Above you will find my post agreeing with those who have the same concern. After the new UI went public, my interest in playing my favorite pinball simulation program by 80%.

I've bought 5 seasons of TPA/PBA and decided not to do a Season Pass for season 6 because of the new UI. I've been loyal to TPA/PBA till this season. I open the new UI and look at all those icons and am immediately discouraged. I've been disabled for 25 years and my mind balks from seeing so many icons.

My thought that FarSight has harried, but competent programmers who could write code that would allow those who've purchased at least 4 season to sort tables into sub-groups/folders or at least by seasons alone without icons from other seasons.

Section 508 is surely a consideration for all software, games included.

How do you find Zen in comparison, Frank? Does it cause you similar issues from an accessibility perspective?

 

[MontanaFrank]

Section 508 is surely a consideration for all software, games included.

How do you find Zen in comparison, Frank? Does it cause you similar issues from an accessibility perspective?

No it does not Jared, Zen's menu is easier because of the low number of tables I own. Also, there are so many fewer icons. I can also read the icons 75% better. The orb with the table name in a square with unused space is bothersome to me in the new UI of TPA/PBA

I really liked the old UI. I got the tables I owned in one place and not the ones I have not purchased. I was happy to be able to scroll the reel on my mouse. I could spin the mouse wheel quickly up or down and quickly find the table I wanted to play faster than the new UI. Also, I was able to process the vision of a table's trans-lite a whole lot easier than the menu in the new UI. It's hard for me to read an orb within an empty square. This is just my opinion, Jared.

 

[Sean]

I'm not afraid of change, but yeah, giant icons and still having to scroll through lists of tables along with sorting options that don't minimise this - not a big win. I like the overall presentation, but I don't think there was enough thought put into how this UI would work in practice.

Being able to do a manual sort that is remembered or creating folders or custom sort lists would be great. If that's too much effort then who not something like the Zaccaria Pinball app where you have more than forty tables to select from on a single screen? I have an iPad Air 2 and only get three rows of three table icons? And honestly, per table camera settings should have been in there years ago.

 

[bigfatbass]

All that link you posted tells me about the title music issue is that they completely bolloxed a simple setting by insisting on giving it individual volume sliders, and when they realized that was causing other issues, they just tanked the whole thing instead of fixing it. I don't think I'm the only one that sees that as an insane course of action. Find me another game on any platform anywhere that does not allow you to turn off title/background music.

 

[jaredmorgs]

All that link you posted tells me about the title music issue is that they completely bolloxed a simple setting by insisting on giving it individual volume sliders, and when they realized that was causing other issues, they just tanked the whole thing instead of fixing it. I don't think I'm the only one that sees that as an insane course of action. Find me another game on any platform anywhere that does not allow you to turn off title/background music.

That's why I document things like this: so folks can understand why and not speculate.

I do this Pro Bono, as a community service.

 

[Naildriver74]

That's why I document things like this: so folks can understand why and not speculate.

I do this Pro Bono, as a community service.

Next time your in Kentucky I'll buy your lunch.

 

[jaredmorgs]

Next time your in Kentucky I'll buy your lunch.

Deal!

 

[MadScience2006]

Even though I'm not on Android with TPA, I come to the Android section since many of the current UI issues apply to both platforms.

*Thank you, Jared* for your presence here in the forums and for fielding all of our gripes and moans. It means a lot (to me at least) to have someone here doing that. It is MUCH appreciated!

 

[Shardz]

I coded my own game from scratch in Unity, and have been working on it for about 3 years now in my spare time. As I don't know C#, I opted to learn UnityScript (JavaScript variant). The first thing I did in creating my options page (that is accessible before and during a game) was implement separate volume sliders for Music and Sounds. Sliding them all the way to zero turns off play completely, and I also provided toggles for good measure. I also put in a music track selector that included random shuffling of songs.

This coming from a complete newbie who knew nothing of code prior to the project. I threw all this together in a couple hours in JavaScript! I now have over 5k lines of code I wrote, and every function works great. It's an Android app and I took the liberty in providing a screenshot of these simple options below.

Come on, guys!

 

[bigfatbass]

This is what I am saying.