List of improvements (mostly UI)

[EldRoos]

Just found out that this game is updated since 4.02 - Yeaha! Very nice. Played the old one alot up to yesterday.

Here is a list on how to make the game even better. Should any of these changes not be made? Don't you understand what I mean on some thing? Other changes that would be nice to have? I'll update the list as you reply and I get new ideas. Are there any discussion board about Androminion? I am a developer myself and will probably add a few of these ideas of you guys like them.

Main:

• Improve the Androminion logo (less pixelated) [2016-09 Made a few suggestions - EldRoos].
• Use some background image on start page.
• Better AI names and differentiate them more #128.
• Option to play same settings again after game is over #264.

Game UI:

• -- Show extended rules for all cards - including official extra info. [2016-10-02 Added wiki link instead #255 - EldRoos]
• Be able to scroll card mat.
• Be able to drag change the line of the card mat size.
• Be able to scroll text on cards.
• Be able to drag change the line between active cards and card option/player list.
• Show line between active cards and card option/player list.
• Show card choices in log [schoeggu].
• See duration cards for those that are not playing #219.
• Improve coin play order #317.

Info:

• More info about the contributors - nicks/names and what they contributed [unfortunately few knows who has done what].
• More descriptive change log - bug fixes.
• Link to all official PDF rules.
• Link to all supported Dominion card apps (like Dominion Shuffle).
• Link to FAQs.
• Link to Dominion on Boardgamegeek.
• Link to Rio de Grange games.
• Link to good dominion strategy sites.
• Info how to buy the real games, or the official digital game.
• -- Description of what all the settings do [2016-10-02 Added better descriptions where it was needed- EldRoos].
• Update build instructions #290.

UI Settings:

• -- Option to change text size (and not only use android text size setting). [2016-10-02 Added smaller cards - EldRoos]
• -- Option to choose size of images - now they are tiny on high res - small/medium/large/auto. [2016-10-02 Added auto scale to around half screen - might add more options ]
• -- Option to also show text description even if you have an image #265. [2016-10-02 Added option- EldRoos]
• Option to change size of your hand/played cards.
• -- Option to choose size of the card option buttons/player list. [2016-10-02 Added smaller cards - EldRoos]
• Option to have colored text in history - so you fast see what each player buys/trash.
• Option to switch showing history (from top drop-down options) - or go to another window seeing only the log).
• More themes - more options or be able to choose your own colors.
• -- Option for "User Interface style" condensed. Like "Descriptive" but a bit smaller (shorter text & no line breaks) [2016-10-02].
• -- Option for having card count on same row as name (less space) [Not enough space].
• Option to show card counts more visual #364.
• Option to show card images as semitransparent backgrounds.
• Option for less animations - good to have on slower devices.
• Option to download all images right away (can be stopped).
• -- Option to turn of images even if you have them on the device). [2016-10-02 Fixed - EldRoos]
• The dragged line positions are also shown in settings.

Game settings:

• Improve equal start option #264.
• Option for unique AI:s #267.
• Be able to choose which events to use #338.
• Amount of supply cards stacks (default 10). [Can be achieved using Jack-o-all-Dominion]
• Amount of cards in each stack (max 10/12).
• If each player can veto out one supply stack each (and start with than many extra stacks).
• Amount of stacks that needs to be emptied to stop playing (default 3).
• Change cost of some too good card/too bad.
• Alternative rules on some cards (that are popular to change).
• Ban list of cards. [Can be achieved using Jack-o-all-Dominion]

Achievements:

• Played at least 1000 times in total.
• Won at least 1000 times in total.
• Lost at least 1000 times in total.
• Attack more than total 5000 times.
• React more than total 1000 times.
• Attack more than 200 times in a single game.
• React more than 50 times in a single game.
• Have more than 40 total coins in a turn.
• Have more than 15 actions in a turn.
• Have more than 15 buys in a turn.
• Buy more than 10 cards in a turn.
• Attack more than 10 times in a turn.
• And more.

Achievements:

• Add more...

Features:

• Save game for later.
• Save different setting setups.

Bugs:

• Showing can not find internet connection when starting a single player game (even if you have connection). Sometimes you have to restart game 5 times to get it to work.
• Lock 2 more screens #268.

[EldRoos]

As no one replies I have to ask again. Is there some other place that you could discuss about Androminion or is this "Issues" the best one?

[dominionator]

As far as general discussion, github issues should be fine for general discussion, especially if it's centered around a feature or aspect of the app.

That's a lot of suggestions. It'll take a bit for me to think about the merits of each one. Generally for ideas that have merit, you would open a new issue for each one for discussion and linking any appropriate pull requests.

[EldRoos]

Yes I will start a new issue for each of the things I will start to try to improve. Some of them are replications from older issues I noticed afterwards as I looked back.

[ayao44]

I could go for resizing the cards, and adding colored fonts to the game log.

Speaking of game log, To add another feature.. searching by text for the game log

[dominionator]

Some of these seem like they would be better suited to a rewrite than being adapted to the current app. Nonetheless, thanks for your input. My comments in italics.

Main:

• Improve the Androminion logo (less pixelated).
  • Good idea, though we should consider if the logo should be redesigned to avoid using parts of fonts used in trademarks.
• Use some background image on start page.
  • One of the goals I'd like to have is to keep the app small and thus avoid images where possible. Maybe other enhancements to the layout/Design of the start screen?

Game UI:

• Show extended rules for all cards - including official extra info.
  • If you're referring to the FAQs in the game manuals, these shouldn't be necessary since the game knows how to play them. Most of the rule book FAQs just repeat the same rules again for each card.
• Be able to scroll card mat
  • Sounds nice assuming the below is implemented and there is some smart logic around initial sizing to avoid having to scroll when necessary
• Be able to drag change the line of the card mat size.
  • This might be a nice improvement, except for the additional space it would take for a finger-targetable divider. Other issue would be showning the user that there is more stuff that's not visible in some meaningful way. Do you have a particular widget or style in mind?
• Be able to scroll text on cards.
  • Seems to be fine - question is about sizing. The current implementation is using the default dialog and I've never seen the text need to scroll. Have you found this to be the case on some device?
• Be able to drag change the line between active cards and card option/player list.
  • Same as above
• Show line between active cards and card option/player list.
  • Question here of design clarity. Might work, but might get in the way if too thick.

Info:

• More info about the contributors - nicks/names and what they contributed.
  • I have no historical info about who did what and would rather not change it into a list of such.
• More descriptive change log - bug fixes.
  • I think this is better served elsewhere (e.g. release notes on release page) since we're doing manual updates
• Link to all official PDF rules
  • Not sure we should link to official rules directly - maybe to the product pages
• Link to all supported Dominion card apps (like Dominion Shuffle)
  • Might not be a bad idea if done in a way that shows the apps are not affiliated with this app. How many do you know of aside from Dominion Shuffle and Jack of All Dominion. -Link to FAQs.
  • I assume you mean the card pages on w.ds. This is debatable for two reasons: 1) Info there is only in English. 2) This app is not affiliated with w.ds. I wouldn't want to give the impression that it was.
• Link to Dominion on Boardgamegeek.
  • Seems like if we had some section that linked to various dominion resources this could go there, but this app isn't trying to be a hub for information on dominion
• Link to Rio de Grange games (I think you mean Rio Grande Games)
  • same as above
• Link to good dominion strategy sites
  • same as above
• Info how to buy the real games, or the official digital game
  • same as above Description of what all the settings do.
  • We probably should just clean up the settings at some point so we can have clearer descriptions

UI Settings:

• Option to change text size (and not only use android text size setting)
  • This would require a bit of finagling but might be ok in the end. Do you find the text hard to read and if so, on what device?
• Option to choose size of images - now they are tiny on high res - small/medium/large/auto.
  • This is a bug at the moment - they really should be scaled to fit the size of the screen horizontally. Events and Landmarks are still an issue, though, once we get images for those.
• Option to also show text description even if you have an image.
  • Very much agreed. Practially essential for foreign languages if they want to show images since images are in English
• Option to change size of your hand/played cards.
  • Not sure what you mean here exactly (change size in what way...?)
• Option to choose size of the card option buttons/player list.
  • Same as above
• Option to have colored text in history - so you fast see what each one buys/trash.
  • Would be nice - the logging needs a bit of an overhaul anyway
• Option to only show history from top dropdown.
  • I assume you mean an option to hide/show the game log? If so, then yes, I agree. Currently you can hide/show it in game only if you have a Search physical button on your device
• More themes - more options or be able to choose your own colors.
  • Less concerned with this, but it would be interesting
• Option for "User Interface style" condensed. Like "Descriptive" but a bit smaller (shorter text & no line breaks).
  • I'd have to see what devices this could possibly work on. Any devices you had in mind?
• Option for having card count on same row as name (less space).
  • We'd have to account for where the card pile tokens go without covering up everything, but maybe
• Option to show card images as semitransparent backgrounds.
  • Not a fan of this one - I don't think there's enough screen real estate for it
• Option for less animations - good to have on slower devices.
  • Would be nice to disable the card reveal/discard animations. There usually aren't that many gains in a turn.
• Option to download all images right away (can be stoped).
  • not sure I like this one unless it is very throttled - currently the images are are loaded from the Dominion Visual Spoilers site - we can't overload it
• Option to turn of images even if you have them on the device).
  • Agreed
• The draged line positions are also shown in settings.
  • I don't think these need a textual setting since they are visual in nature, maybe just a way to reset them to default in the settings or something would be sufficient if they exist. A visual setting editor seems too out of character and fiddly

Game settings:

• Amount of supply cards stacks (default 10).
  • This breaks the rules, technically. The randomizer is designed to make valid Kingdoms. Technically if you can generate an invalid Kingdom from another randomizer app, the game will support it. If we wanted this option, it would have to be in a place for settings that break the games rules and be with an option to reset them to defaults.
• Amount of cards in each stack (max 10/12).
  • Same as above for breaking game rules. This gets weird for card piles that have different numbers in them (e.g. rats, port, curses, ruins, VP kindgom piles, split piles - especially Castles) If you have a good idea around this it might be interesting.
• If each player can veto out one supply stack each (and start with than many extra stacks).
  • This only makes sense in true multiplayer. So I am in no way worried about this yet.
• Amount of stacks that needs to be emptied to stop playing (default 3).
  • Same as above for breaking game rules. Also, default for 5-6 players is 4.
• Change cost of some too good card/too bad.
  • I don't think this is a good idea, given that the cards are specifically balanced around their prices. Raising/Lowering the price isn't going to fix a card without adding/removing abilities. This is especially true across the 4/5 cost gap.
• Alternative rules on some cards (that are popular to change).
  • Also not a good idea. I've never heard of rules that are popular to change anyway per card. Eventually it would be nice to have the ability to make/import custom cards. I think this would fit well there but would require a rewrite of the game engine.
• Ban list of cards
  • This starts to get really specific on the demands of the in-game randomizer. I think until we can write a separate randomizer screen this doesn't make sense to do. I'm going to leave it to other randomizer apps for the time being.

Achievements: (In general I'm less worried about the Achievements and more on their impact in the code as currently written, though I'd rather have them reasonable)

• Played at least 1000 times in total.
  • IMO, this isn't an achievement, it's a statistic and is way too high
• Won at least 1000 times in total.
  • See above
• Lost at least 1000 times in total.
  • See above
• Attack more than total 5000 times.
  • See above
• React more than total 1000 times.
  • See above
• Attack more than 200 times in a single game.
  • See above
• React more than 50 times in a single game.
  • See above
• Have more than 40 total coins in a turn.
  • This isn't too bad of an achievement, though is far easier in Prosperity or Fortune games
• Have more than 15 actions in a turn.
  • Also not too bad. Double or triple Champion - done
• Have more than 15 buys in a turn.
  • Maybe
• Buy more than 10 cards in a turn.
  • Maybe
• Attack more than 10 times in a turn.
  • Not sure if this is a good idea or not
• And more.
• And more statistics.

Features:

• Save game for later.
  • The way the game is implemented, this is actually quite difficult to do. I clean re-architecting of the game engine would probably help, but it's far down the list of priorities.
• Save different setting setups
  • Maybe, but does seem a bit complex in behavior. I'd rather see Kingdom saving before this. Bugs:
• Showing can not find internet connection when starting a single player game (even if you have connection). Sometimes you have to restart game 5 times to get it to work.
  • This tends to happen more on slower phones and is an artifact of the way the game engine (vdom) is implemented. Probably hard to fix without a rewrite of vdom.

[EldRoos]

Many of my suggestions is to fix issues that I have on my fast Nexus 6p. Even though it has one of the best screens with 1440p, I still can't have the card descriptions on (and I do use the smallest font size in android settings that I can). Android DPI settings are to low on this device. Though I have heard that the new Android 7 you can change the dpi settings. But there should not be a need for updating android just for this game - and many devices won't get the update even.

But on my older Nexus 7 (2nd edition) with only 1080p I can have (most of the time) the card descriptions on. Though the animations on this one are slow and flickery - strange as it should be able to handle this simple graphics.

Anyway, I said these things as options - so people that don't like them can be without them. I will start coding some of these myself.

Edit: Also I don't think it will help to not use android/dominion font as the app copy everything else. Thank you for your input.

[EldRoos]

Good input that changing the UI in game would make it take up more space - so add a edit mode would fix that :).

[schoeggu]

@ayao44 also some things are not displayed in the game log. Most of the choices from cards aren't logged. For example pawn, you see in the log if the player drew a card, but for the other options there is no log. It could say something like:

You: Playing Pawn
You: Chose +Card
You: Chose +Buy
(Alternative: You: Chose +Card and +Buy)
You: Card added to hand
Played Pawn

[EldRoos]

Updated my list with things I now have fixed, and added more suggestions from other threads here (and linking them).

List is mostly for me, so I can see what I want to add at the moment.

[EldRoos]

Yes finally I can play with descriptions on my nexus 6p. I made a new Card Style - Like descriptive but everything smaller :).

Good to use on new highres phones with high dpi (new Android 7.0 did not change the real dpi settings - Nexus 6p still have 3.5 (everything zoomed in 3.5 times).

Comitted here: https://github.com/EldRoos/androminion/tree/Empires

[EldRoos]

Started using Jack of All Dominion. With it you can same card setups, and choose to use more or less cards than a normal setup. Cool :)

[dominionator]

It's a very nice app. The only qualms I have are you can't add an individual card to the Results unless you have the corresponding set selected in your Set Selection and that you can't add individual Landmarks or Events to your Results.

[EldRoos]

Yea you have too lock the cards you want and randomize until you get the event you want.

Edit: Dominion Shuffle was updated with 2nd editions today. Will check it out. Jack of all Dominion still haven't the new promos and editions.

Edit2: Shuffle works ok :).

[EldRoos]

Have now been in contact with the Jack of all Dominion developer. He had missed the 2nd edition news. He will now add those. He have already added the new promo cards (but not released yet) Also forwarded your feature request to manually be able to add an event/landmark to a setup.

[dominionator]

Sounds great. That'll be good for for the app if those features get in there.

[EldRoos]

Jack is now updated.

version 1.1.12 change log

• refreshed look to be more material
• added 2nd edition for Dominion and Intrigue
• updated card description to match versions from 2nd editions
• updated to start with Dominion (2nd Edition) and First Game (2nd Ed.)
• added sauna/Avanto Promo card
• added new actions to card screen (Blacklist toggle, Star toggle, Add/Remove Card)
• changed results to Kingdom
• Settings link in nav drawer
• increased minSDK from 8 to 9

[dominionator]

Looks like a good update. Still doesn't have the feature of manually adding Events/Landmarks, but the new cards work great.