Dev Feedback - Shops & Dress-up (updated 08/06/09)

[Cube B]

Oh! Oh!

Or, if the whole background thing is too much right now, you could theme the decorations of each shop to match the theme.

Phin Phang would be nautical, with splashes of color.

Durem Depot would be industrial looking, with the occasional random street sign.

Crate and Apparel could have TV Screens all over the border.

The Ol' Fishing Hole could look like the interface was nailed together with wood.

Stuff like that.

[Ena Lucine]

Cube B

A lot (Actually, pretty much every NPC except for Ian, Devin, Natasha, Sam, Mirai, and the sponsored ones) need new Dialogue. They're still talking about the Masque...

Updated dialogue would be wonderful. I'm very tired of
hearing about the Masque... sweatdrop

But as for the new layout, I like it a lot! But maybe close up
the spaces between the icons a little bit? It feels like they are
each spread out unnecessarily.

[...love, Ena.]

[Wangst]

pirula

update: How it works is when you view an item in inventory (not arranger) there will be buttons to 'equip', 'gift' or 'sellback' the item. Does this change anything for you, since it is not on the arranger? Does it still sound like too much of a pain?

That certainly sounds easier than the current item arranger. (Though I still enjoy having the sellback in the shops.)

Could we maybe get a "sell in the marketplace" button as well...? :3

(I'd also still like a way to sell back more than one item at once!)

devilish_tenshi

ah also, during the switch could shops be reorganized? Lets go back to a time where Edmund had expensive clothes, Moria had the punk/goth/alternative clothes, Sasha the girly, Ian the cheap, etc.

Yes, please! It used to be pretty easy to guess just which shop an item would be in. Maybe we could also give Nicolae something to sell again? D:

[Cube B]

Oh, and some other things:

Giving each shop a custom site header, so it looks like our avatars are standing in the shop.

Adding some emotion to the NPCs, kind of like with Flynn. It would be useful for quests too.

[rock en rollz]

shmanceh it has one fo those things i actully wanted a while back ;P

[Praylaya]

Preview aquarium items & fish plz.

[devilish tenshi]

Cube B

Also, a search bar would be very nice.

Yes. It would be nice.

[Uerian]

Wow that looks great!

As for some of the dialogue, I have a couple suggestions on what ought to be removed or updated by now...

Agatha: No, you can't engrave our purchases anymore...
Ruby and Peyo: Unless their television's broken and the newspaper's stopped coming, I doubt Peyo's still talking about the Masque.
Moira: Given his latest attempts, the "mask dude" is not getting with Sasha.
Edmund: The Masque is long gone, buddy...
Vanessa: No, the Masque does not need a haircut now that he doesn't exist; have any of you NPCs left your shops in the past two and a half years? Also, with how many hairstyles you have, I'm surprised you don't have a degree in cosmetology.
Devin: How do you keep running out of ping-pong balls "a few weeks ago" when you said the same thing a few weeks ago? Stop holding out on those ping-pong balls you liar!
Liam: I agree, the new years ball sounded interesting. Unfortunately, I was three years late to go to it. You, on the other hand... and wait a second, I can't believe that Vlad didn't mention Ian to you at all.
Becky: Already mentioned in the front page, no need to bother with posting these.
Mirai: Okay, so Vanessa didn't show up for your grand opening. Plz to be no holdingz of grudges?

[Ungoliath]

1] Desing new logos for each shop, something more representative and simpler. Like a little Goldfish for Phing Phang, a hat for Gambino Hat Rack. Of course, only on the mini "Browse Shops" that you show.
2] I think that the interaction would work better showing the avi of the NPC instead of only the picture. And make the picture that you're using the background.
I would say that it would be cool to animate the avi, but that's too much xd
3] The items looks too separate of each other. It's clean, yes, but it feels like a lot of empty space.
4] The tags would work better as icons and in the left or right side of the shop. Up there is just...ugly.
5] The logo of each store (Not the mini-browser) could invade a little bit the space between the picture of the NPC...Which seems floating as it is now, even with the square you can feel like it's totally different from the items, I don't see a good conection if you know what I mean. They're two separate entities and feels boring because of that.

Also, I love the shop cart and the sellback cart. You could merge them wink The color suggestion is also really cool.

[Ungoliath]

TINSTAAFL

Preview aquarium items & fish plz.

Tin...that it's already on Phin Phang sweatdrop

Cube B

Oh, and some other things:

Giving each shop a custom site header, so it looks like our avatars are standing in the shop.

Adding some emotion to the NPCs, kind of like with Flynn. It would be useful for quests too.

Totally agreed with most of your ideas.

With this it's just loosing the Gaian Spirit, the dynamic air and the colorful-ness of the site.

[Praylaya]

@ Ung: Missed that. sweatdrop

[tokkitoria]

Wangst

devilish_tenshi

ah also, during the switch could shops be reorganized? Lets go back to a time where Edmund had expensive clothes, Moria had the punk/goth/alternative clothes, Sasha the girly, Ian the cheap, etc.

Yes, please! It used to be pretty easy to guess just which shop an item would be in. Maybe we could also give Nicolae something to sell again? D:

Yes yes yes yes yes. When all his stuff got redistributed to other shops I was so pissed. I also second the statement to have the shop themes back. It just doesn't make sense to have different shops when you're just going to shove stuff anywhere.

Also, if we're going to have a shopping cart, can we also have the option of previewing multiple items at a time? I'm sure someone must have suggested this, but I'm going to say it anyways.

[Yen Quest]

So it's moving to the inventory page, not the arranger (haha, how did I misread that?). Since inventory page loads within 3 seconds for me, I'm fine with the move. Good to see some questions cleared up. =D

Okay, so goldshops will have G price shown only. Then what about the GC option? Will it be shown in the description box when we click on the item icon? Ehh, I haven't met anyone who bought store commons with GC. ^^;

If you can, all that white can be transparent so we can see the background behind it, and the background could be shelves like we used to have it back then. The multiple buy/sell item should help with the "shop" feel.

[deadlyretro]

The star maker says it ain't so bad, the dream maker's gonna make you mad. . .

=O no friggan way.

B-but, the shops have been this way since I made my first account way back when. gonk

Actually the layout of the shops was what scared me away at first. I had no clue what I was doing and all I could afford was the peasant clothing, so I pretty much got off the site and didn't return until 2007. xD_

click?

[StrawberryDaifuku]

pirula

make the whole page more 'shop'-ey and immersive (like original shops), more personality, more gaia-ness, shelves, clothing racks and things like that. -- I agree, this is a really cool feature that has fallen away over the years. The challenge is that now the shops have so many items, it is not that feasible to display them in a small area, and you lose things like sorting. We are trying to think of ways to bring back more personality and sense of place to the shops, maybe you first see the shop from the outside and then walk in to where you buy stuff. I am very interested in hearing more ideas on the types of things that give a shop that special "shopping" feel...

You could put a "shelf-y" background behind the items in the scren they are now, instead of the white. It would keep the organization the same as you plan, but still add a hint of being in a "real store"... and it would add some more color~
Speaking of the "real store" feel, I think re-selling items should be kept at the shops. Or a "thrift shop" sort of NPC that talks to you when you sell from your inventory. It makes it seem more like you're actually selling it to someone.

Also, might I suggest re-thinking the Browse Shop icons on the top? Right now, when you select a shop, it seems to be like a button that has been pushed, but since the icons are so colorful the effect is lost and it all looks the same. Perhaps if the icon glows around the edges or something when you select it...?

I'm excited for this. Especially about this "plot update" you hinted at! Uwah~