Interface and usability suggestions

[AnthonyAquino]

After playing 2 seasons on android FM (a bit addicted here, heh...), I have some suggestions to improve interface and usability:

- an alternative option to switch a player position when entering the first team menu, like: select player (maybe a check box), get highlighted, choose other player, positions changed, because sometimes I'm just rolling the screen up and down and the game drag and drop players itself... like putting a FC in DC position and I get mad on this happening...

- when checking players various stats (player profiles, player positions, player contract, etc), I suggest that if you roll the screen up and down, it shows the stats of the player that is above or down the current player that is having his stats displayed, I don't know if it will get some problems between pointers and cpu usage...

- search player by preferred role (I desperately need this): deep lying forward, deep lying midfielder, winger, etc...

- in the tactics menu show the formation: you could put the average form and the morale in front of condition, like: "100%, arrow, 7.8"

(If I have more suggestions, I'll post them in this thread...)

So, developers, what you think about it?

[boboox]

I like point 3 actually.

[Footix]

because sometimes I'm just rolling the screen up and down and the game drag and drop players itself... like putting a FC in DC position and I get mad on this happening...

Agreed! Incredibly annoying.

[benjawi.]

- an alternative option to switch a player position when entering the first team menu, like: select player (maybe a check box), get highlighted, choose other player, positions changed, because sometimes I'm just rolling the screen up and down and the game drag and drop players itself... like putting a FC in DC position and I get mad on this happening...

That annoys me too. I actually started a cup final game with my striker as a defensive midfielder and vice versa because of this, took me ages to realise.

I wouldn't mind seeing players form and condition in the tactics screen together. A lot of the time when I make a sub I'm selecting condition, would be nice to have that as a standard or default.

[Alari Naylor]

We're always happy to get interface feedback from people - so thanks. I'll keep an eye on the ideas that are coming up here and will raise them when discussing how to make improvements in the future.

sometimes I'm just rolling the screen up and down and the game drag and drop players itself... like putting a FC in DC position and I get mad on this happening...

Would be interested to know what device you have this occurring on and if there are any specific actions you've noticed that lead to it, it's something we've seen a few times on certain devices but still haven't managed to track down the cause.

[ascendedmike]

- an alternative option to switch a player position when entering the first team menu, like: select player (maybe a check box), get highlighted, choose other player, positions changed, because sometimes I'm just rolling the screen up and down and the game drag and drop players itself... like putting a FC in DC position and I get mad on this happening...

This is the only real downside to an otherwise amazing game.
Only my galaxy note it's sometimes abit of a stretch to drag across the whole screen and suddenly your FC is in GK or something random, which makes no sense..

[AnthonyAquino]

@Alari Naylor
I have a Samsung Galaxy S i9000, and like you can see, other players are having the same problem.

I noticed that if you press and hold a player and move it diagonally, it will drag and drop the player, if you hold a player and move it vertically, it will roll up/down the screen. And more rarely, sometimes I touch a player, and when I touch the other player, it exchange both, like the drag and drop example.

Dunno if it is "fixable", but I'm trying help, because I like this game so much.

I cant help so much, because I'm just a mainframe Cobol programmer, lol...

[Marc Vaughan]

I'd consider 'dropping' drag and drop for player selection from the game and instead using a 'click' system - but a fair few people appear to like dragging and dropping ... opinions?

(part of the problem is simply that each android device is different both in terms of screen size, but also processor and how the operating system reports things - to the extent that the actual touch input detection can differ somewhat on accuracy etc. ... basically its an interesting challenge )

[Ceirdiff]

I really like dragging and dropping for what it's worth.

[Danmatthews22]

I would like to see more ways on making money, I love playing lower league teams and without the options of making money from end league results and cup money from each rounds that leaves us with just transfer money and I have found that near impossible as half the time you can sell your players to be able to rebuild your team.

[Ceirdiff]

I never have issues with money in the lower leagues...I was able to take an unplayable team to promotion when starting with just one player. If anything money needs to be more of a struggle.

[AnthonyAquino]

I'd consider 'dropping' drag and drop for player selection from the game and instead using a 'click' system - but a fair few people appear to like dragging and dropping ... opinions?

(part of the problem is simply that each android device is different both in terms of screen size, but also processor and how the operating system reports things - to the extent that the actual touch input detection can differ somewhat on accuracy etc. ... basically its an interesting challenge )

can you give us both options? so we can choose in the interface preferences menu and you will please everybody...
fifa soccer and pro evolution soccer use the click/highligh player method for substitution/squad change... and for years, heh... well, it was just a suggestion, I'll not bother you with this anymore... but dont forget the other suggestions in the first post please...

[enthon]

Yes Marc, I do!

Clicking is fine if you are able to get enough information on the screen (Ipad) but it might be terrible based on scrolling up and down all the time on the Iphone.

And by the way, I assume that 90+ plus players using an Apple device!

Will see!

Oliver

[tylerazevedo]

please please please combine the first team and tactics button. It's a pain to set up your team and then back out to change a players role. These interfaces are so similar that it could work.

Also, please allow us to change a players training schedule from their profile. It's annoying to look a player and realize he should be on a fitness schedule and then have to back out and go find him in a list of all your players. half the time I get distracted and mess with other players and forget the reason I even went to the training schedules in the first place!

It would also be cool if we could filter players by nationality. I know you can when you are in charge of a nation, but I'd like it when you are not in charge of a nation as well. Which I know this means a redesign of the player search screen because the left/right side option is removed when you add nationality, but that's fine

Great game!

[tylerazevedo]

One more thing, show us more about a players attributes. Right now if we filter by agility, we can find field players that have good agility, but yet we cant see a players agility unless they are a keeper. You could have 3 views for players attributes: mental, physical, technical. It would be really cool, but I understand if not possible/too much work for one year's version.

[Alari Naylor]

please please please combine the first team and tactics button. It's a pain to set up your team and then back out to change a players role. These interfaces are so similar that it could work.

A revamp of the relationship between these screens is one of the higher priority items on our to-do list, time permitting.

Also, please allow us to change a players training schedule from their profile. It's annoying to look a player and realize he should be on a fitness schedule and then have to back out and go find him in a list of all your players. half the time I get distracted and mess with other players and forget the reason I even went to the training schedules in the first place!

We've already got a request in for this, it's not one of the higher items on the list currently but we hope to take a look at some point.

It would also be cool if we could filter players by nationality. I know you can when you are in charge of a nation, but I'd like it when you are not in charge of a nation as well. Which I know this means a redesign of the player search screen because the left/right side option is removed when you add nationality, but that's fine

Great game!

This is something I'm pushing very hard for, hopefully we should be able to get it in at some point.

Good to hear you're enjoying the game!

[Alari Naylor]

One more thing, show us more about a players attributes. Right now if we filter by agility, we can find field players that have good agility, but yet we cant see a players agility unless they are a keeper. You could have 3 views for players attributes: mental, physical, technical. It would be really cool, but I understand if not possible/too much work for one year's version.

I'm not sure how easy this will be, but will look into it.

[Medion]

- an alternative option to switch a player position when entering the first team menu, like: select player (maybe a check box), get highlighted, choose other player, positions changed, because sometimes I'm just rolling the screen up and down and the game drag and drop players itself... like putting a FC in DC position and I get mad on this happening...

Is this not already still in the game and the original selection system? Tap 1st player in the list on the right if in formation view followed by 2nd player and they will swap positions.

[Archibald]

Also , if we are managing only the National team , please let us go on holiday 'until next squad selection' , currently only lets you go on holiday until the next game and your assistant manager has selected the squad

[surbitonshell]

Some relatively-simple-to-implement usability suggestions (I'm on android, dont know if iphone interface is different)... i'm not using the "FMH2013 suggestions" thread because FMH2013 is already released, so these would be FMH2014 suggestions!

(1) First Team and Tactics screen must be combined. you can view formation with average rating/value/condition etc on First Team screen, but to set team instructions and player tactical roles you have to go to the separate Tactics screen, even though they are both very similar. Basically, this would eliminate the need for a separate Tactics screen altogether.

(2) It should be possible to set player Trainng Schedule direct from the player's screen, instead of having to exit out and go to the Training screen. The Training screen could also be merged into the First Team screen, alongside the view by: contract details, personal details, scout report, etc etc. i.e it becomes just another "view" criteria. This would also eliminate the need for a separate Training screen altogether.

(3) When you scout or make an offer for a player, they currently never show up in the shortlist? The shortlist only shows players you have directly shortlisted it seems. I assume scouting or making an offer causes an "implicit" shortlisting (because you can only "shortlist delist" them from the player actions options) but they need to also appear in the shortlist, otherwise there is no way to recall who you have scouted/made an offer on.

(4) If you're competing in Blue Square South, what's going on in the English Premier League is completely irrelevant to you. IMHO, news/results should be limited to your current league and one league above (plus cups in which you're eligible to compete). This would add to the goal of making FMH a "more streamlined" experience, with less clicking to ignore irrelevant news/results. If you need to keep the feeling of a "living football world" though, there can be a "Results digest" delivered to your inbox once a month giving you the major news/results from EPL & Internationals in one easy-to-read news item.

(5) You can view average rating/value/condition on the Formation screen, but not form. Would be nice to include that too.

(6) I understand the "Pick Team" option is basically the assistant manager's pick, based on morale, condition etc, but sometimes you dont want that. So I suggest giving some options when pressing the Pick Team button: (a) choose highest value players to fit formation, (b) choose highest average rating players to fit formation, (c) choose highest form players to fit formation. [this would of course still consider a minimum condition level]. You could also have an option for players to only play in their preferred position (green only, no yellow/red). This would again help with the goal of a more "streamlined" game, as its arduous to manually select your team for every game, but you dont always want the assistant managers pick.

Hope some of these can be considered, thanks!

[WayneRooneysHaircut]

- player role and nationality search filters
- wages listed on main player screen
- all international news items on one news item rather than one by nationality
- next game option that allows you to jump to your next game
- tablets: all menu options on the left (like a menue bar) and when you click an item it populates on the right, ie you never leave the main screen. Sub menus items then populate and collapse under the menu tab you tap.

[WayneRooneysHaircut]

Also being able to save shortlists would be awesome, so that you dont have to make a new one each time you start a new save.

[Aaron Armstrong]

- next game option that allows you to jump to your next game

You can holiday to your next match.

[Marc Vaughan]

Also being able to save shortlists would be awesome, so that you dont have to make a new one each time you start a new save.

You can already do this in the game presently (iOS and Android).

[Alari Naylor]

Some relatively-simple-to-implement usability suggestions (I'm on android, dont know if iphone interface is different)... i'm not using the "FMH2013 suggestions" thread because FMH2013 is already released, so these would be FMH2014 suggestions!

Hope some of these can be considered, thanks!

Thanks for the detailed feedback, some of this is very useful!

[Jamest001]

On the club squad page, when you press the icon in the bottom right hand screen called club links, maybe there should also be a link to the league table.

[Jamest001]

Regarding the fixtures list. Sometimes I look at it to see which games i lost and which games i won. Because my teams score is on different sides of the dash (-) depending on whether the game was away or home, it is difficult to tell at a glance, without clicking theough, whether my team won or lost that game. Maybe you could put my teams score in bold; or add an extra column containing W or L, or win or loss. I'd prefer the latter.

[Jamest001]

Regarding having trouble switching a player. Initially I had trouble too. There is a nack to it. You must first drag the button to the side and then up. If you just press the button and drag up then you will just likely scroll up. I'm playing on ipad, don't know if It is different with other platforms.

[Pete Dewhirst]

Because my teams score is on different sides of the dash (-) depending on whether the game was away or home, it is difficult to tell at a glance, without clicking theough, whether my team won or lost that game.

Hi James - Your team's score is always displayed on the left hand side on your fixture list. For example, if you lose 1-0, the scoreline will always be displayed as '0-1' regardless of whether it was a home or away match.