Logical error in character selection screen and other problems/suggestions

[WraithGlade]

1. The way that the character selection screen visualizes character selection is not logically consistent. The flame under each portrait would seem to indicate which character is selected, but it only actually does indicate the character selection when the user has selected the character by clicking on it. In contrast, when the user clicks the arrows on the left and right to pan the character list the flame will move left or right but the character selection will not update to match it. This is logically inconsistent and feels like sloppy user interface design.

 

2. Users should not have to create forum accounts to report bugs/feedback/suggestions to you. Only a tiny minority of users of any piece of software will ever even bother to do such a thing. I barely even was willing to do it in order to report this stuff to you. For example, if a 1000 people buy a book on Amazon then only 1 of them will statistically ever bother to leave a review or send any feedback whatsoever to the author. The same applies to pretty much any software or commercial product. The slightest friction in the user interface or communication system will massively reduce the amount of feedback you recieve. This can allow blatantly obvious problems (such as item 1 above) to remain unnoticed for years or even forever. Many users and developers aren't even alert enough to become aware of these subtle yet so important flaws of user interface and any other problems or potential improvements.

 

3. The aspect ratio for each resolution should be automatically calculated for the user and displayed in the selection list for resolutions. It boggles my mind that developers almost never display it. It is extremely common for me to have to manually type in a half dozen different resolutions into a calculator in order to find resolutions that match the aspect ratio of the native screen. Software that depends on resolutions should also attempt to detect it automatically and display the detected aspect ratio to the user. Calculations indicating the amount of stretching for choosing a resolution of different aspect ratio and letterboxing vs stretching options in games would also be nice.

 

Simple things make a big difference in user experience. Never make a user do something the machine can do automatically. Never make anything logically inconsistent. Minimize any friction for bug/suggestion reporting as much as physically possible, unless you want to fly blind. I could sit here and list more things but it is not worth my time.

 

The cumulative effect of numerous kinds of subtle user interface flaws and bugs greatly effects the way any piece of software feels. Don't Starve is better than most of course, but I always notice a ton of little flaws in what many developers do.

 

Anyway, hopefully you find this info useful for improving the system a little bit.