Online Game Management

2 replies [Last post]
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Joined: 03/30/2010

Letting us choose a new dictionary was a great move. Somehow, 'PHMB' was a word.

But theres still some things that could be done to improve online game play.

1) Delete completed games and in progress games. When I first bought the paid version I used the 'add random player' function and played through it. That was months ago and those people still have not finished the game, which annoyingly leaves it right at the top of 'my games' with no way to clear it.

2) Sort the games by the latest one played. When I click 'my games', the game #s have no apparent rhyme or reason. Even the completed games go something to the effect of (in order) #4184, #3827, #4258, #3892....and so on. I can't make sense of it.

3) When I click 'my games', I'd like something of an indicator to show completed games I've won vs lost. I play Wixel all the time with my girl, and she's awesome and consistently beats me. She sent me a text saying that I'd won a game against her and after about 10 minutes of going through the completed games I still couldn't find it, so I gave up. If they were sorted by latest completed game with a W/L indicator, that wouldn't happen.

4) Indicators on 'my games' about the game type (4x4, 5x5, 3m, 5m, open, progressive, etc) the game actually was

5) All time W/L against each player we play

6) 'Favorite friends/players' list. I have to search my girls username each time I want to play against her. Would like to just be able to open a game with her and skip that step

Thats all I can think of for now. Adding these changes in will really add a ton of value for those of us that love this game and play it all the time! I really love this game!

Anyone who wants to play me, search 'cabbie'

Robert Green's picture
Offline
Joined: 09/16/2009
Excellent suggestions!

Excellent suggestions!

First of all, let me explain that we use a lossy compression algorithm to squeeze all of those words into a package suitable for a phone. This means that about 1 in 10,000 words will be gibberish. We're looking into ways to improve the accuracy. It does affect everyone the same though so you're on an equal playing field as far as statistics go.

Enhancing the online game play environment is one of the next things we will be doing to Wixel. We hope that v1.3 makes for much smoother and more compelling online play. Besides the obvious game management needed, I plan to add notifications (just like when you get a text message) when someone challenges you to a game online.

There's one other thing players should know about online play - You currently can only find or challenge people who are using the same dictionary as you. This is because players of the standard dict probably don't want to play someone with a pro dict and vice versa. Currently it acts as if the other player doesn't exist but we will be enhancing that to recognize the user but explain that they aren't using the same word list as you.

To change your word list online, just edit your online profile.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Offline
Joined: 03/30/2010
awesome! I love a responsive

awesome! I love a responsive developer. I had no doubt that ya'll would be addressing the game management at some point but everytime I open a game I always think "man if it would just be like this" so I had to make this post out of some sort of catharsis. =) And a notification for when someone challenges is a GREAT idea.

Thats totally understandable about only finding people with the same dictionary, I wouldnt want to find people who were using a different one.

All the best,
cabbie