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

[The Epic Squish]

I like it!
It would also be nice if the NPC's were updated as well though..... 3nodding

[Winglight]

It looks good ^_^

[Wangst]

Holly

I like how you can see more items!

One thing I don't like is how it's looking less & less like like a shop ^^;; Back in the day it used to look like everything was really on a shelf. That's what made it cool, imo

I really miss the old shop backgrounds. Maybe not as efficient (especially on dial-up), but they looked so much nicer than a page with a ton of empty white space.

PLEASE don't remove the in-store sellback! The arranger takes *forever* to load, and usually freezes my browser. (Sellback does need fixing though - right now it reloads the entire page every time you click a tab, or decide to sell an item. The option to sell multiple items would also be very much loved!)

Honestly, it doesn't seem like much of an improvement. Seeing more items is nice and all, but I'd rather see improvements to the previews, sellback, and organization. ):

[Valentine]

Holly

One thing I don't like is how it's looking less & less like like a shop ^^;; Back in the day it used to look like everything was really on a shelf. That's what made it cool, imo

Agreed. It actually seemed more like a "virtual shopping experience" instead of bland item acquisition. Each shop had a different theme and feel, a little more personality and charm. With every change made to the layout, it seems like those personalities have been chopped down, bit by bit. Why bother with multiple shops at all when they all look practically the same? Might as well merge all the shops together into one massive catalog and work out a better organization scheme. At least then everything would be in one place and the layout design might actually make sense.

Looking at the preview again, I'm surprised they even bothered to keep that little bit of background behind Mirai and didn't just paste her over some white. Everything else is blank and sterile now, why not the NPCs, too? sweatdrop

I was okay with the overall Gaia layout changes. I was even okay with the changes to the Avatar page, because there's a lot going on and something generic would fit better than trying to design it into something personalized for every single user. But with the shops? Where'd all the charm go? The individuality? Just as we start to get more of Gaia's humor and anime-styled artwork in the splash pages, we lose it elsewhere. It's kind of disappointing how many of the neat little touches that kept me on Gaia so long have been slowly fading away.

Blah. emo

[diet otaku]

things i like:
-it matches the rest of the layout
-the prices are right under the items, and the currency is clear (cash vs gold)
-more items per page

things i don't like:
-the space between each icon. i can't tell if the icons themselves are actually bigger, but each item seems to be spaced a lot further apart than they are currently. if they were closer together, you could fit even more items on one page

and if we're going to be selling items back straight from our invos, PLEASE give us the option to sell more than one item at once! crying

[Cyrus Darkstar]

The increased size is nice but way too much space is wasted between items and the icons are so small they seem lost.

Plus the lack of sellback = Instant Fail. I don't want to have to load my huge inventory THEN arrange it just to sell back the pidly gold items found in Daily Chance.

Instead of fixing what isn't broken, spend some time updating the NPCs and adding more gold items to the stores. Put some character back in the shops instead of continuing to take it away! Show off the NPCs in all their glory, put the artists to work on full page colourful stores with detailed display cases and clothing racks. The people of Gaia want style, not sterilization!

[scullylam]

Valentine

Holly

One thing I don't like is how it's looking less & less like like a shop ^^;; Back in the day it used to look like everything was really on a shelf. That's what made it cool, imo

Agreed. It actually seemed more like a "virtual shopping experience" instead of bland item acquisition. Each shop had a different theme and feel, a little more personality and charm. With every change made to the layout, it seems like those personalities have been chopped down, bit by bit. Why bother with multiple shops at all when they all look practically the same? Might as well merge all the shops together into one massive catalog and work out a better organization scheme. At least then everything would be in one place and the layout design might actually make sense.

Looking at the preview again, I'm surprised they even bothered to keep that little bit of background behind Mirai and didn't just paste her over some white. Everything else is blank and sterile now, why not the NPCs, too? sweatdrop

I was okay with the overall Gaia layout changes. I was even okay with the changes to the Avatar page, because there's a lot going on and something generic would fit better than trying to design it into something personalized for every single user. But with the shops? Where'd all the charm go? The individuality? Just as we start to get more of Gaia's humor and anime-styled artwork in the splash pages, we lose it elsewhere. It's kind of disappointing how many of the neat little touches that kept me on Gaia so long have been slowly fading away.

Blah. emo

what if the background behind the npc is the background of the entire browser window. like it is more toned down so the items window square pops out. so the whole page looks like that store just what is being sold is in a nice square like the layout shown in the first post.

(hope that makes sense sweatdrop )

i really do like the item spacing in the shop's selling area. the shop's logo does need to be a little bit bigger because it looks too small to read. i also agree the npc characters need updating with their comments (if needed) and fix ian's hair. the edges of his hair look awkward ever since it was changed. xd personally, i like the layout you have created in the first post. the white space is fine to me.

[Amon Larethian]

nice, I really like that the window is bigger and shows more items at a time, and I like that it's expanded. As it is now everything is cluttered and disorganized.

I would rather the sellback stay in the shops though. I always use the shop sell-back because using the inventory arranger just doesn't work. The arranger is too unreliable and likes to glitch far too often for it to be a viable alternative. I would not remove the sell back from the stores until the arranger is redone/fixed.

And again, same concern I have had for a while, is it really necessary to make everything white? You can do a clean, modern look without removing all color.

[iabiel]

I like how the window is bigger and that it displays more items... But it just feels like it's more remote, not like a real shop. I loved the shelves in the old shops, why were they torn down?

Also, I am quite curious of why the sell back feature is not there... It would be nice if it were left there sweatdrop

One more thing, where is all the color? Everything is looking quite drained xd

Ok I lied, I thought of another thing that has been bugging me... Things are kinda disorganized to me sweatdrop

EDIT: Oh, and shops are kinda disorganized to me sweatdrop I cannot tell you how many stores I had to go to in order to find an item xd I have had to go to the marketplace and do a search on it to find out which store it was in.

[Oceanrabbits]

I love the look! It seems like it would be easier to navigate and find the things you want. 3nodding I like it!

[devilish tenshi]

Well it matches out inventory.
Personally I hate it. It is so colorless.
What about putting "shelve backgrounds" where the items are being sold instead of the white? It would add color and you could still keep the same amount of items showing for sale.

[Andromeda Phoenix]

pirula

the "sell items" feature will move to your inventory (there will be a link to help you transition!) this frees up more space to display the shop items.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?

I think I can work with that, we'll have to see. Thanks for clearing that up.

pirula

- faster, more efficient shortcuts from shop to shop (don't have to scroll the shop nav bar click by click)

Is that necessary? The shop drop down menu is about as efficient for a shortcut as it gets.

I'm loving the different preview options that've been requested. Many times I have to go change my avi 'cause I can't see what I'm trying on due to it layering underneath something I'm wearing.

I won't go through the entire list, as you'd see nothing but "agreed". Right now, the only problem I have is the color. There's a lot of empty white space there. It wouldn't hurt to fill it with something transparent and colorful. The empty space makes it look like all that was done was the items were spread out.

[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.

[edit] Also add a way to preview clothing NAKED or with clothes in shops. For an example look at tattoos. Copy/Paste some code maybe?

[devilish tenshi]

diet otaku

things i don't like:
-the space between each icon. i can't tell if the icons themselves are actually bigger, but each item seems to be spaced a lot further apart than they are currently. if they were closer together, you could fit even more items on one page

Thats probably another reason I hate it atm. I'd rather see them closer.

If things are closer together you may even get another 2-4 items per page! nvm. after looking at the image again you probably couldn't fit more.

[Cube B]

Being able to have a background with the items as an overlay would be nice. Then for things like quests you could minimize the items and just see the shop keeper and the background.

Also, a search bar would be very nice.


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...