Posted by hypnotoad on 10/12/2015 5:01:00 PM (view original):
Would love to hear feedback from those who have play tested the new mobile format.

It's the exact same game with changes made to improve display/functionality on phones and tablets. Most of the changes are great and make managing teams without using a computer much easier; some will need tinkering. I have a phone with a small display and had some difficulty in a few screens, but nothing major. An effort to make the game more appealing to people who use tabiets/phones insetad of desktops/laptops is a great addition. My guess is that will be more effective in filling worlds with new owners than any advertising will be. That they're doing both is a great sign that someone actually gives a crap.

Posted by hypnotoad on 10/12/2015 5:01:00 PM (view original):
Would love to hear feedback from those who have play tested the new mobile format.

I'm one of the testers.  No new logos, no new stadiums, it's around 98% "look and feel" redesign of every page within HBD.  It's also much more mobile friendly than the current site.

A couple of very minor new features have been included.  Among those are:

1) "Drag and drop" for making lineup changes.

2)  On the lineup screen, in addition to the current option of "Show recs" (now called "Optimize") in which SIMMY will both pick the players and set the batting order, you can now pick your own players for the starting lineup and let SIMMY "optimize" the batting order.

3)  On the "Pitching staff" page, you can optionally also display target pitch count, max pitch count, and inning available.

4)  On the "World Office" page, there is a display counter for the number of new messages in both the Inbox and  World Chat pages since you last went to the either one.

5)  On the "Management Console" page, in the "Franchise Recommendations" section, you can now set recommendations for "All levels" or "Minor Leagues Only" with a single click in addition to setting the recs for individual levels.

There's probably others that I haven't even noticed.  Certainly nothing huge or significant other than a completely fresh and new "look and feel" for the game.

Drag and drop lineups! Thank god.

Thanks for the insight guys. These sound good; going mobile makes sense. I hope it still works as cleanly on desktop as it always has. Sometimes these kind of redesigns end up favoring one platform or another.

I did a lot of my test team management on desktop. No issues.

I assume the advertising will cause an influx of new players. This means that those of us who've been around awhile should probably get ready to do some big-time mentoring if we want most of them to stick around and become talented HBD players. Otherwise we might end up with a lot of one-and-done players who'll leave all or worlds with a ton of new openings in about 3 months. Or worse, a new generation of tankers who think they need to spend their first 5 HBD seasons losing 120 games.

I realize that last post sounds pessimistic; it wasn't meant to be. I'm excited about the news. I just think it will take some work by the game's veterans to get the full benefits.

I've said I don't think advertising is going to bring in a whole new group of owners.  In this day and age, anybody who wants to play this game should be able to find it.   But, if it does, they really need to look into my idea of "Introductory worlds".    Setting n00bs loose in a bunch of these long-standing unfilled worlds is a n00b nightmare. 

I tend to agree that advertising will not bring in many new players. I do believe that some will come at least to have a look. Some who look will be expecting some sort of gambling site. I don't think the average fandueler will be interested. That said, if I'm wrong then Mike's idea of an introductory world with a price break would be a plus.

Will the mobile functionality involve an actual app for iphone and/or android? Or does it just work better on mobile? Having an app in a store might attract more and different eyeballs.

There's no app.  The site just works better on mobile now.

I agree that an app might be a good idea, and could be a natural next step.

Yeah not complaining, that's a whole different ball game.

Improved mobile functionality -- and what tecwrg has described sounds like improved functionality for all users -- is probably bigger than any of us long-timers realize.

HBD's interface is really outdated, and I would imagine that turns off a lot of newer users. It's pretty clunky, but we're just used to it. New owners can't even make multiple roster moves at once, for goodness' sake.

That was a horrible idea from Day 1.  I understood it, you don't want some n00b releasing 15 players at once by accident, but it made roster moves "not fun".

so the front page has changed, but nothing has changed, seemingly once I enter my world/team page.  Are they in the middle of the transition, or do I have to be on a mobile device to see the differences?