(OBS: This is a cross post from Showdown Forum. I dont normally use smogon forums so please respond to the showdown post one, if possible. Original thread here: http://pokemonshowdown.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1600)
First of all, I'd like to apologize for not posting this thread directly under the suggestion one, but as you shall see, the contents of this one is rather big and I thought it might deserve a thread on its own. If I was mistaken, please let me know and I will promptly delete it or annex it onto the suggestion thread.
As for the reason for this post, a couple months ago I had some ideas as to how Showdown could be improved based on my own experiences. Those ideas ranged from new design to improvement of battle interfaces and data access. I talked to Zarel about it and came up with a few mock-ups showing what i wanted to accomplish. Those mock-ups can be seen here: http://imgur.com/a/6iUGr. This album hasn't been made public until now, only a few people have seen it so far and gave me suggestions on how to improve it before I made a working version of it.
After a couple months working on it, using the client version available on GitHub, I was able to create a Proof of Concept server, using this client to connect to the main server, where I was able to test-drive those ideas. Now that it's finally ready (or mostly, at least) I think it's time to open it for public access. The general idea is to gather feedback, troubleshoot some bugs and gather ideas on what can be improved further and how. Just remember its not what the final product should look like, just the general idea.
The Proof of Concept server can be accessed here:
http://mightyshowdown.net78.net/
The files used are public and can be downloaded here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/s1r7k4ue51f4r45/Client.rar
JUST REMEMBER: The client is currently hosted on a free web server, which means that the connection can get sluggish at times. Also, I'm not sure how well it will handle a possible increased traffic. I'm also accepting suggestions as how to this can be improved as well, for now, until Zarel decides something (or not).
Another heads up: Since it's based on the test client available on github, some functions related to logging and user-switching are limited and requires some manual work.
Now, I'd like to discuss the ideas I had as to how Showdown can be improved:
1. Design
Easily the most noticeable change. Even though the current design is rather good, I find it a bit bland and doesnt really give us the feel that the actual game gives us. When I came up with this new design, I based myself entirely on the interface used on B2W2, which is IMO the best interface ever used in a pokemon game. I tried to get as close as possible to the actual interfaced used on those games, as if when you were playing showdown, you'd feel as if you were playing one of the official games, except the spamming and name calling in the lobby or battle chat.
The plan is to also develop a light version of the current theme, so you can choose the between dark/light | black2/white2 interface, but its totally low priority right now.
OBS:The current design is not 100% finished and still presents some known bugs. I decided to only finish what was crucial to usage and gameplay, some minor details are still to be finished. Also, I'm not entirely satisfied with some aspects of this design, so feel free to give me your suggestions.
2. Battle Interface
Another big idea for improvement was a better display of data for the pokemon in battle, not only for both active pokemon, but also for your benched ones. This includes the basic current poke data (name, typing, level, health and status), small description for held item and ability (for all pokes), attack/moves data (for benched pokes), and even a small description of all possible abilities for the defending/opponent active poke. This, coupled with base stats, allows for better planning and better strategy.
3. Extra Data Access
First, some data: As of August 2013, about 50% of all battles played on Showdown (or 1.5 MILLION BATTLES) were Random Battles. This means that, monthly, 1.5 million battles are being played with different teams of random pokes with random attacks and random items. This, coupled with the fact that, beginning on October 12th, we'll see a great influx of new pokes, new moves, new abilities and new items, means that when playing random battles you'll often find yourself using a pokemon with a typing you've never really used before, which base stats you know nothing about, holding an item you have no idea what exactly it does, and crazy attacks and abilities you've never really heard before, cause after all, that's the fun of playing RandBats.
To improve this situation, some new interface elements were implemented. First of all, all the data that could be accessed via the /data command can now be seen hovering your cursor on the pokemon or move. This simplifies the access to data that is available to you either way, giving you info to moves/abilities/items you didnt know beforehand. Also, expanding on the point made earlier, having access to each pokes base stats, principally for new pokes and some not often used ones, allows for better strategy and planning. Also, with the first addition of a new type after almost 13 years, the type chart matchups is bound to get a bit more confusing. This, coupled with the new possible crazy type combos on pokes and some not frequently seen ones, asks for a quick lookup table on type effectiveness so we dont have to know all of the matchup table by heart.
Let the discussion start!
First of all, I'd like to apologize for not posting this thread directly under the suggestion one, but as you shall see, the contents of this one is rather big and I thought it might deserve a thread on its own. If I was mistaken, please let me know and I will promptly delete it or annex it onto the suggestion thread.
As for the reason for this post, a couple months ago I had some ideas as to how Showdown could be improved based on my own experiences. Those ideas ranged from new design to improvement of battle interfaces and data access. I talked to Zarel about it and came up with a few mock-ups showing what i wanted to accomplish. Those mock-ups can be seen here: http://imgur.com/a/6iUGr. This album hasn't been made public until now, only a few people have seen it so far and gave me suggestions on how to improve it before I made a working version of it.
After a couple months working on it, using the client version available on GitHub, I was able to create a Proof of Concept server, using this client to connect to the main server, where I was able to test-drive those ideas. Now that it's finally ready (or mostly, at least) I think it's time to open it for public access. The general idea is to gather feedback, troubleshoot some bugs and gather ideas on what can be improved further and how. Just remember its not what the final product should look like, just the general idea.
The Proof of Concept server can be accessed here:
http://mightyshowdown.net78.net/
The files used are public and can be downloaded here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/s1r7k4ue51f4r45/Client.rar
JUST REMEMBER: The client is currently hosted on a free web server, which means that the connection can get sluggish at times. Also, I'm not sure how well it will handle a possible increased traffic. I'm also accepting suggestions as how to this can be improved as well, for now, until Zarel decides something (or not).
Another heads up: Since it's based on the test client available on github, some functions related to logging and user-switching are limited and requires some manual work.
Now, I'd like to discuss the ideas I had as to how Showdown can be improved:
1. Design
Easily the most noticeable change. Even though the current design is rather good, I find it a bit bland and doesnt really give us the feel that the actual game gives us. When I came up with this new design, I based myself entirely on the interface used on B2W2, which is IMO the best interface ever used in a pokemon game. I tried to get as close as possible to the actual interfaced used on those games, as if when you were playing showdown, you'd feel as if you were playing one of the official games, except the spamming and name calling in the lobby or battle chat.
The plan is to also develop a light version of the current theme, so you can choose the between dark/light | black2/white2 interface, but its totally low priority right now.
OBS:The current design is not 100% finished and still presents some known bugs. I decided to only finish what was crucial to usage and gameplay, some minor details are still to be finished. Also, I'm not entirely satisfied with some aspects of this design, so feel free to give me your suggestions.
2. Battle Interface
Another big idea for improvement was a better display of data for the pokemon in battle, not only for both active pokemon, but also for your benched ones. This includes the basic current poke data (name, typing, level, health and status), small description for held item and ability (for all pokes), attack/moves data (for benched pokes), and even a small description of all possible abilities for the defending/opponent active poke. This, coupled with base stats, allows for better planning and better strategy.
3. Extra Data Access
First, some data: As of August 2013, about 50% of all battles played on Showdown (or 1.5 MILLION BATTLES) were Random Battles. This means that, monthly, 1.5 million battles are being played with different teams of random pokes with random attacks and random items. This, coupled with the fact that, beginning on October 12th, we'll see a great influx of new pokes, new moves, new abilities and new items, means that when playing random battles you'll often find yourself using a pokemon with a typing you've never really used before, which base stats you know nothing about, holding an item you have no idea what exactly it does, and crazy attacks and abilities you've never really heard before, cause after all, that's the fun of playing RandBats.
To improve this situation, some new interface elements were implemented. First of all, all the data that could be accessed via the /data command can now be seen hovering your cursor on the pokemon or move. This simplifies the access to data that is available to you either way, giving you info to moves/abilities/items you didnt know beforehand. Also, expanding on the point made earlier, having access to each pokes base stats, principally for new pokes and some not often used ones, allows for better strategy and planning. Also, with the first addition of a new type after almost 13 years, the type chart matchups is bound to get a bit more confusing. This, coupled with the new possible crazy type combos on pokes and some not frequently seen ones, asks for a quick lookup table on type effectiveness so we dont have to know all of the matchup table by heart.
Let the discussion start!
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