Quote:
Originally Posted by antdroid
...saw the whole windows thing and just a screen of hyperlinks and text and it really threw me off course.
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I think this would be the area to focus on. Newcomers just have no idea what to do, and have to start randomly clicking (after they figure out to click the buttons at top to open the windows in the first place).
The calendar is a start to fixing this, but I'd get rid of much of the top tool bar (new, save, load are fine there) and replace it with buttons on the right side of the calendar for:
- Offseason actions
- Adjust Roster
- Set depthchart
- Set gameplan
- Sim games
- View Statistics
- View League Information
Each of these then opens windows similar to the existing, except that I would move around a few options to fit the actions the player wants to do. Offseason actions includes ticket prices, staff hiring, and maybe the draft. But right now you spend a while figuring out where everything is, and this would streamline the process without taking power away.
The other thing I would fix (
I fully admit) is do away with the modal dialogs. Why can't I have the depth chart, roster window, and a player card all open at the same time and navigable? Maybe even statistics? Taking a UI that is based on giving the player lots of info, and only letting them look at one piece at a time, is contradictory. Heck, in this day-and-age of 1920 pixel wide screens, why do I have such a narrow roster view with buttons to change the view, instead of one wide one with all the info available?
You've already taken a step to clean up the graphics, and the game looks worlds better for it. Fixing some of these usability issues will lower the barrier to entry for the game, and give it a more "modern" UI feel without completely throwing away your approach for presenting the information.
As to the original question, my answer is simple: if you aren't happy with current sales and want more, Steam is the only real answer out there. If you aren't on Steam, you have niche availability on the PC, period. If you don't want the hassle of Steam, then you need to be happy with sales figures as they are.