Hello again.
For those of you who don't remember, I was the guy that brought you this
little slice of flash awhile back.
Problem is, I've finished a very big project that I'd like some feedback on... but it's not quite
art insomuch as it is a very, very stylized utility. It's a fantasy name generator called
TheForge.
So, while you could (and by all means can) critique the visuals, I'm also exceedingly interested on how you feel the program works. Is it intuitive? Are there features not implemented that you would like to see? What's working? What fo' sho' ain't?
In essence, please critique it as you would a function-centric website... hell, just critique it like it's a utility, cuz that's what it is.
Here are some screen shots.
Click on any screenshot to access the site. Once at the site, click the ENTER button. (it uses old republic javascript technology to power its awesome LINUX, that's why there's two steps).
Again, as per usual, any feedback is greatly appreciated and considered at great length. Thank you so much for your time and your consideration.
--Wingy
p.s. My Google ads are haywire. Don't bother critiquing that :roll:
Posts
The name generator is nice enough, though the 4 different ones is kind of confusing to look at. Since I'm like "I just need a name.." but I guess I can understand being able to randomize 4 at once. The spacebar-bit to create them all at once wasn't too intuitive for me. I thought maybe a clue of that hovering over the middle transparent for a bit would've helped me realize it was there. It doesn't stand out.
Overall it seems to work rather well, so I like that much of it. Critiquing web sites isn't my forte, so to speak, but I know what I like. It's simple and it's practical in its use, which is damn good.
And honestly I'm not impressed by the names. It seems to just stick two randomly selected nothings together for no purpouse whatsoever. Demon Land? Bronze Slayer? Willow Pool? Doesn't make any sense, and I can't see it being useful with that kind of matching, when there are so many other FNG's out there that have a rhyme and reason to their matchings and makings.
But, the site did work. I don't think I ran by any errors or anything like that.
I'm not really crazy about what's generated in most cases; it seems a little bland, but maybe that was something you're working on. In any case, the tool is great, and aesthetically-speaking, lovely.
It looks nice, it works nice. I like how you can lock names you like and keep generating others... but it seems a bit random... like I said... "Night Dawn"??
EDIT: I also liked the name "Rust House" O_o
EDIT AGAIN:
I went back and looked through it again, and I thought I'd mention a few things.
I like the spell name generator, because of the ability to choose themes. That, in my opinion, automatically makes it more appealing. I think if you did that with the fantasy name generator it would be alot cooler.
Anyways, seeing as how the buttons take a bit of figuring out I don't really see a reason for the Context Sensitive help being a toggle.
The Third button gave me a pause with it's three different states. Could use a written text for "Always / Random / Off". There seems to be plenty of room for it on the bottom row, too. The selected Theme could use text as well.
Forges could be "Back" or "Return to Forges" or something like that. I'm also thinking it should be bottom-right because that's when reading that's where you look last.
The buttons on top and bottom (TheSpellForge and Spacebar) are way too non-obvious. Took me a while to realize Spacebar is clickable and only now I realized TheSpellForge doubles as a back to Forges button.
The Write-in-text doesn't allow for long enough strings. Also it'd be nice if the textbox was selected as soon as you click on one of the words so you can immediately type without having to click the box. Especially seeing as how you can't do anything else while the textbox is visible. I'm also sometimes getting "undefined" when hitting enter straight away but I couldn't make that happen every time.
Also noticed couple of teeny tiny typos:
"Permanant" should be "Permanent"
"Sacrafice" -> "Sacrifice"
"Kobald" -> "Kobold" ?
In general: Good stuff
The design is solid, but has a lot of empty space, though I did like how the background color changed at every screen. Hella Cool dude.
I dare you to make less sense.
I also only have the top line of options
:?
I noticed a few spelling errors (porcelain was one that comes to mind), but aside from that, I really like this.
Tell that to Joseph Conrad olololol
I've got nothing real to say. =[