TripleA Design
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Well, I've already said it in other places, but (just for the record) I'll just write in here too that I suggest splitting Multiplayer and Play locally into three categories,
the first one for online play (lobby and direct connection), called Play Online,
the second one for play-by-forum and play-by-email, called Play by Message (or Correspondence),
and the third one for offline play (solo/hotseat and against the AI), called Play Offline.
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@xxxeddiexxx Yes, this one:
https://private-user-images.githubusercontent.com/293502951/608278175-a2687204-4332-4b8e-aeb4-7d96bf444774.png?jwt=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpc3MiOiJnaXRodWIuY29tIiwiYXVkIjoicmF3LmdpdGh1YnVzZXJjb250ZW50LmNvbSIsImtleSI6ImtleTUiLCJleHAiOjE3OTQzMDQ3NDYsIm5iZiI6MTc5NDMwNDQ0NiwicGF0aCI6Ii8yOTM1MDI5NTEvNjA4Mjc4MTc1LWEyNjg3MjA0LTQzMzItNGI4ZS1hZWI0LTdkOTZiZjQ0NDc3NC5wbmc_WC1BbXotQWxnb3JpdGhtPUFXUzQtSE1BQy1TSEEyNTYmWC1BbXotQ3JlZGVudGlhbD1BS0lBVkNPRFlMU0E1M1BRSzRaQSUyRjIwMjYxMTEwJTJGdXMtZWFzdC0xJTJGczMlMkZhd3M0X3JlcXVlc3QmWC1BbXotRGF0ZT0yMDI2MTExMFQwOTU0MDZaJlgtQW16LUV4cGlyZXM9MzAwJlgtQW16LVNpZ25hdHVyZT1mMmE5YzM0NTM4YzVhYmViMzUyZTA4MWM5ZTg3YWFiNDRkYmQ2ZTQyODYyZDc1ZGRhNGMzZThiODllNDZhYTBhJlgtQW16LVNpZ25lZEhlYWRlcnM9aG9zdCZyZXNwb25zZS1jb250ZW50LXR5cGU9aW1hZ2UlMkZwbmcifQ.i9DbZd89AFcormeYPylDqCoKT0C-0i_26IET6YRSZe4(though I would personally prefer to remove the aircraft from the logo)
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Also I think that the potato masher tucked in the boot was cool. I would have kept it.
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Thanks for the feedback!
I think there are two questions here: how accurately the menu describes TripleAâs features, and how easily a player understands what to do next. Both matter, but a technically accurate distinction isnât always a useful starting point for someone unfamiliar with the game.
Experienced players already know what each option means. A new player brings expectations from other games and looks for familiar patterns: âstart a game,â âcontinue a game,â âplay against the computer,â or âplay with friends.â They shouldnât need to understand TripleAâs terminology or connection methods before they can get started. Our job is to translate the available features into language and steps that make sense to them.
@ubernaut Thatâs why âSelect gameâ doesnât need to be a separate action on the opening screen. It can appear after choosing âPlay locallyâ: first you decide what you want to do, then you choose a map and configure the game. Map selection would also appear where needed in multiplayer setup. âLoad gameâ remains a separate entry because continuing a saved game is a different intention.
Youâre also right that local play can include multiplayer. Thatâs a reason to refine the labels and descriptions so players understand where to go. The underlying technical distinctions should help us build a clear interface, but players shouldnât have to learn those distinctions to use it.
Similarly, putting multiplayer modes together in a submenu doesnât mean treating them as less important. Lobby, direct connection, forum, and email play could all have equal visibility within that screen, with short explanations. A prominent multiplayer entry gives players a starting point; the next screen helps them choose the method.
An additional click is worth discussing, especially for frequent actions. But we should consider the effort of understanding the screen as well as the number of clicks. A clearly signposted two-step process can be easier than a single screen full of choices whose differences you donât yet understand.
On TripleA being primarily a multiplayer game: we currently have around 700 players per day, and the majority donât participate in any form of multiplayer. We should support how those people already play while making multiplayer easy to discover and access.
The forum posts and news are intended to encourage community engagement. Players who donât currently visit a forum might discover a discussion, map, or update that gets them more involved. Those panels donât have to focus exclusively on the developer forum, and their prominence can be adjusted. They sit below the main actions so they can support the experience without getting in the way of starting a game.
@Cernel Your three-category suggestion is worth exploring with the same question in mind: would someone unfamiliar with TripleA understand immediately which option fits what they want to do?
I want to preserve the capabilities and respect the habits experienced players have developed. At the same time, we should make the first experience understandable without requiring that existing knowledge. Keeping the screen readable and introducing choices when they become relevant is the aim of this proposal.
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One thing I should add: Iâve also tested this with people who had never played TripleA before and had no familiarity with its interface.
That perspective matters because we already know what the buttons mean and how the different features fit together. Someone opening the game for the first time doesnât have that knowledge. They look for familiar wording and patterns that help them figure out where to start.
This is why Iâm putting so much emphasis on understandable choices and context. A label can be technically accurate and still leave someone wondering which button they should press. We need to translate TripleAâs features into language people can connect to what they want to do.
That testing doesnât make this proposal the final answer, but Iâd like us to assess it from a newcomerâs perspective as well as our own experience.
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On TripleA being primarily a multiplayer game: we currently have around 700 players per day, and the majority donât participate in any form of multiplayer. We should support how those people already play while making multiplayer easy to discover and access.
Totally disagree, TripleA has way more solo players; they are even more silent than the PvP players. Yes TripleA is best when PvP, but most (51%+) players want to strategize in their own time at their own pace.
As a side note, I joined r/AxisAllies 6 months ago, to promote TripleA, they had 4700 readers, now they have 3800.
We need more newcomers, so keep going @xxXEddieXxxThe forums are busy, not as busy as in their hayday 2010s, but still busy, discussions on
User interface
TripleA AI
TripleA releases a plenty
Map making with the aid of AI
New mapsIf only more players would engage?
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I think weâre actually agreeing here: my point was that most players play solo, and we should include their perspective in this discussion too.
We could even add a small notice to the current UI, something like: âWeâre discussing a new interface for TripleA. Help shape it by sharing your thoughts!â with a link to this thread.
That could help us reach solo players who donât normally visit the forums and whose opinions we might otherwise never hear. Making the discussion readable without logging in, if it isnât already, would also make it easier for them to take a look.
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@xxXEddieXxx
Yes our intent is the sameOn the new front end, a variant on the message is one or both of these links.
https://forums.triplea-game.org/recent
and
https://forums.triplea-game.orgI prefer the top one recent as it is dynamic where as the other one is static Categories. unless you click on a Category
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the majority donât participate in any form of multiplayer
what do you base this claim on?
i do not believe introducing an extra click makes sense actually. we can argue if the terms used could be improved but im not personally seeing how the ux is actually improved with these changes.
i also agree that there could be more ability to connect to the community aspect of the game but i think that should be tied to the game mode since folks typically will be playing one type of mode most of the time.
at any rate, the single/multi/ai player assignment happens in the team assignment screen so presenting an incorrect multi/single player âchoiceâ on the screen before that is contradictory.
"You should never have told me horses sleep standing up, it gave me a mental block." - Mister Ed
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@xxXEddieXxx If I understand it correctly, the top-right screen shows the map preview on a random map in the repository which the user has not downloaded yet (if I'm not misunderstanding and have not missed some explanation which you wrote about this).
Maybe for the first time opening TripleA that would be OK, but it will start becoming bothersome soon having most space occupied by something random the average not-new user will almost certainly not care to take a look at.
Just show the map of the currently/latest selected game. In case TripleA has been just opened, that would be the map of the game which was selected the last time TripleA was closed.
The first time for which TripleA is opened, or anyway when there is not a preselected map, I would rather suggest having on main screen the most downloaded map of the day, meaning the map in the repository that in the last 24 hours got more downloads (better net of deletions if feasible) except in case a new map was added to the repository in the last 24 hours, in which case that would be shown as the new map of the day (if more than one, the latest). At least that would give the user some information about what's being played or added recently instead of being a random map in the repository. (However, I've no idea if this is feasible, so just go with a random map if not: it's just for when the user did not select a game yet.)
Actually, maybe better showing the Tutorial (as a map to download) the first time TripleA is opened. However, I don't know if that is up to date: I've not tested it in years.
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@TheDog
I appreciate you promoting TripleA on the subreddit! I have been thinking that a great TripleA explainer post on r/AxisAllies would go a long way towards getting more players to start using TripleA. I moderate the community and I've seen numerous people who struggle to get TripleA up and running as well as a huge group of people who play A&A on the board and have never heard of TripleA. Ideally this explainer post would include how to instructions on installing the game, downloading maps, basic controls, and advanced tips (I have been playing on TripleA for about 15 years and I only just learned recently that you can hover over a territory and press ctrl + A and it will add the territory's units to the attacking side of the calculator). I suspect there are other tricks and tribal knowledge that I still don't know. Perhaps a text post as well as a video would be the best way to reach people.
Any improvement to the interface would certainly be a huge help to these folks who haven't seen the light of TripleA in their lives yet.
We have 10.9k members (people subscribed to the sub). The displayed number of 'readers' fluctuates as it is a monthly average of subreddit visits. I expect the number to rise during the (Northern Hemisphere) winter as people will hopefully spend more time inside gaming. -
@pgsquig said:
We have 10.9k members (people subscribed to the sub). The displayed number of 'readers' fluctuates as it is a monthly average of subreddit visits. I expect the number to rise during the (Northern Hemisphere) winter as people will hopefully spend more time inside gaming.Phew that is good news.
Im glad I did not understand the stats. 
I am not your man to do what you suggest. My natural style is terse and some may interpret it as rude. So I pass the ball on this one.
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What do you base this claim on?
Well we know how many people open the Game every day and that number is way higher then i see people in the Forum or in any Multiplayer lobbies.
But thatâs also why I want to bring this discussion into the current UI. Weâre discussing what players need while only hearing from the people who already participate here.
I think that should be tied to the game mode since folks typically will be playing one type of mode most of the time.
This is exactly one of the things Iâd like to address. If everyone only sees their usual community, they keep seeing the same discussions and miss whatâs happening elsewhere. New players also need an easy way to discover those communities in the first place.
Showing some shared news and discussions gives people a chance to find something they wouldnât otherwise see. Mode-specific content can still exist, but I donât see why everything should be separated by game mode.
The single/multi/AI player assignment happens in the team assignment screen, so presenting an incorrect multi/single player âchoiceâ on the screen before that is contradictory.
Thatâs how the current interface works, but it isnât a reason why it has to stay that way. The team assignment screen is a design decision too.
Why should every setup flow look the same? Depending on how you want to play, some information is relevant and some isnât. Choosing that earlier gives us an opportunity to tailor the following steps instead of presenting the same setup to everyone.
We also canât reliably tell how people are playing just from their human/AI assignments. Two people might play Axis together on one computer against the AI. To them, theyâre playing together. They donât care which technical category that fits into; they want to know where to click to set it up.
The labels âMultiplayerâ and âPlay locallyâ do overlap, and we should improve them. But that doesnât invalidate the idea of asking people how they want to play before showing them the relevant settings.
And about the extra click: fewer clicks donât automatically mean better UX. If someone has to stop and work out what several buttons mean and how they relate to each other, thatâs effort too. Weâre used to the current screen, so we donât have to think about those things anymore. New players do. Thatâs why I tested with people who had never played TripleA.
Iâd be interested in whether you see any pain points in the current design yourself. Which parts work well for you, and what would actually become harder with this approach? That would help me understand what needs to stay easy to reach.
This is a really good idea! I think itâs a better approach, and we should definitely look into it.
The map preview is only intended to be visible in the largest layout. If you prefer a smaller window, it disappears. Iâm also open to a setting that disables it completely.
In general, I like giving people ways to tailor their experience. I know people who struggle with animations or bright colors, so being able to turn those off or adjust them would help too.
I would love that. Part of the proposal is making the game and its controls easier to understand.
I talked to some of the other devs, and this was definitely one of the points we discussed. Even having a visible settings page for key bindings would help people discover that those shortcuts exist, as well as letting them change them.
One of the highest wins in my opinion would be a better how to section here some sneakpeak i would propose(just a scrabble not finished by any means):
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Well we know how many people open the Game every day
how do u know that? and even if u do wen i am playing the game i might open it dozens of times per day and im just one person
isnât a reason why it has to stay that way.
without completely reworking the ux yes i dont see any problem or room for improvement on the player alignment screen in terms of ux
Why should every setup flow look the same?
not actually saying that. ux and ui are related subjects but they are not the same
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how do u know that? and even if u do wen i am playing the game i might open it dozens of times per day and im just one person»
As far as I know, we only count unique devices, so it doesnât matter how often you open the game.
without completely reworking the ux yes i dont see any problem or room for improvement on the player alignment screen in terms of ux»
Thereâs plenty of room for improvement on the player alignment screen and I will share those soon. In terms of main menu.
What would you improve to address the feedback we got on Reddit, as @pgsquig mentioned? I can confirm that feedback too, because Iâve seen the same issues myself and my testers told me the same.
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we only count unique devices,
where are you getting these numbers? and again if i am playing against another person i will plan my turn out locally but the âgameâ is still a multiplayer game. i think most people play this way. i would need to see some kind of proof of this claim that the majority of games played are local human versus ai as i do not believe that is the case.
ubernaut said:
player alignment screen
assuming you mean player assignment here, but yeah im saying maybe we can improve the look of these screens but the logic and ux itself seems pretty solid as is. at any rate if the top home screen logic is incorrect as it is currently in your proposal any subscreens would be invalid to begin with
@lafayette @panther either of u care to chime in here?
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we only count unique devices,
where are you getting these numbers? and again if i am playing against another person i will plan my turn out locally but the âgameâ is still a multiplayer game. i think most people play this way. i would need to see some kind of proof of this claim that the majority of games played are local human versus ai as i do not believe that is the case.
You mean Play-by-Forum/Email or hot-seat? I think (not sure) he/she has the former under the Multiplayer main selection (not the Play locally one).
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Actually, maybe better showing the Tutorial (as a map to download) the first time TripleA is opened. However, I don't know if that is up to date: I've not tested it in years.
If the tutorial is working and up to date, I definitely think that should be offered as the first map to download for anyone who opens TripleA for the first time. @zjelcop did put some serious effort into making it. I'm going to play it a bit right now to see if this is the case.
Pact of Steel can be a good map offered for download after the Tutorial for new users.
EDIT: Nevermind, I've tested the Tutorial, and it is outdated. It refers to the Notes being in the right tab and 3 out of 5 tabs shown there (them all except "Action" and "Territory") are different or differently named. Unless someone is going to update the Tutorial soon, forget about my proposal to have it as the first suggested download, I guess. However, I played it a bit, and the rest seems OK for what little I've tried.
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@Cernel i believe if we wer to bury the various network game options under a group button the correct terminology would be network or online game vs local game, not multiplayer vs local
his current layout would seem to have room for those additional buttons so i would argue no reason to bury them in the first place
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@Cernel i believe if we wer to bury the various network game options under a group button the correct terminology would be network or online game vs local game, not multiplayer vs local
his current layout would seem to have room for those additional buttons so i would argue no reason to bury them in the first place
I assume under the understanding that Play-by-Email and Play-by-Forum are local game (not network / online game)?
Anyway, my suggestion remains having the trichotomy Play Online, Play by Message and Play Offline.
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