New private messaging system
Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 9:52 pm
The problem with messaging in LT (longturn) style multiplayer games is that many players simply DON'T pay attention to the chat window. This happens both to newbies and to veteran players. Not knowing what's happening in the chat is a great disadvantage and also an issue for administrator cause is difficoult to have people read important messages.
The goal is to make players aware if there are private/ally/important messages in the chat without having to open the windows.
This could be achieved simply by adding a number between brackets next to "chat" in the window tab. This number is the number of unread private/ally/important messages. If number is >0 the tab text itself should be in bold or in red. So if you see chat(3) you will know there are 3 unread messages. Also, a sound should be heard when a new message is incoming.
Important message: there's no category I know about this. However, I strongly suggest to introduce a new category for important message, such as "admin messages". These would be pop-up by default, and the pop-up can be turned off manually in the message options.
Also, an automated backup of messages (client side) should be implemented. To save space, only chat-window-enabled messages should be saved.
The goal is to make players aware if there are private/ally/important messages in the chat without having to open the windows.
This could be achieved simply by adding a number between brackets next to "chat" in the window tab. This number is the number of unread private/ally/important messages. If number is >0 the tab text itself should be in bold or in red. So if you see chat(3) you will know there are 3 unread messages. Also, a sound should be heard when a new message is incoming.
Important message: there's no category I know about this. However, I strongly suggest to introduce a new category for important message, such as "admin messages". These would be pop-up by default, and the pop-up can be turned off manually in the message options.
Also, an automated backup of messages (client side) should be implemented. To save space, only chat-window-enabled messages should be saved.