Topic

[client testing comments- test over!] TS... Wat R U Doin... TS.... Stahp!

So, you are testing a way to give people with slow computers a easier way to render the game in the browser by making the area smaller, right?

Well, NO PLEASE, what am I going to do with the three inches of space left and right of my screen? I like my Glitch full sized please, this is not a good idea, you can do better, it looks baaaaaaaad.

If this is the best solution, then you NEED to give us the option to have it either way we want it, small, large, low res, high res. Maybe autodetect? Dunno, whatever but this.

Stahp!

Thanks! 

:D

----

Staff edit: title edited so it's a little clearer what the topic is about- kevbob :)

Posted 64 days ago by Mikah Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • Yeaah! My game was running fine when it was bigger, honest!!! :( It's so tiny now...
    Posted 64 days ago by Cefeida Subscriber! | Permalink
  • must admit i was quite taken aback after logging in today.  I really really don't like having all this extra blank space around the edges of my screen or having a smaller game window...
    Posted 64 days ago by Arietty Subscriber! | Permalink
  • You can gain a little bit of real-estate back if you click on the arrow to the right of world window, for now.

    But yea I don't like the smaller screen either I play on a nice 52" tv so while i was occasionally being asked to reduce my window size before that was better than not having the canvas filled. I never really ran into any slowdowns before either, and now it feels a little bit clunky with all of my piggies and chickies on my home street.
    Posted 64 days ago by Wo0tus Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Okay, I think I have the test size at the moment. It looks a little smaller, but I'm on a lower resolution so maybe I don't notice it as much.
    It's running faster, I can see that, but it's also harder on my silly eyes (I have silly eyes) and chat feels cramped which is unpleasant.
    Posted 64 days ago by Lyn Frog, Esq Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Do
    Not
    Want
    Posted 64 days ago by Captain Daisy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • It's like playing the game on a postage stamp. Tiny little window surrounded by huge gray space. Make it stop.
    Posted 64 days ago by Mrs Hall Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I am exceedingly disappointed with not only the change, as I am finding far more errors than previously... but also with the 'forced' testing. In theory it's a 50% chance of getting the small screen, but it often takes several (3-5) reloads to get the normal screen back. The forced testing is a departure from previous testing where we've been given a link to an alternate portal to enter the world. That worked nicely and the new version became the standard, so can we please be given an option on this because the 'small screen' is causing problems.
    Posted 64 days ago by Wandering Confusion Subscriber! | Permalink
  • As someone who suffers from severe migraines one of the things that is hardest about this change is that it causes needless strain on my eyes. There are few activities that I can take part in that distract me from my headaches and Glitch was one of them. Unfortunately this eye strain not only makes playing Glitch with a migraine too painful but also proved to trigger one today.

    I sincerely hope that if this change is permanent it is only as an option for people who are troubled by a slowly running game.

    It would also be helpful to know when this test will be over for those of us who are made ill by it. Having to reload numerous times to get back to what appears to be a still slightly smaller than normal game window is very frustrating and is hard on the eyes as well.

    Thanks for listening TS :)

    Edited to add that the "normal" game window is indeed smaller according to the image size difference in two screen shots in PS, at least for me. Will we ever have access to the old window size?
    Posted 64 days ago by Dandilion Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm puzzled. When loading the game I have had the smaller screen 3 or 4 times now, with the big red warning box. But once in the game, I can see no difference at all. The game window is not smaller, there is no grey (or indeed any other colour) space
    Posted 64 days ago by IrenicRhonda Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Apparently there's a 50/50 shot that you'll end up with the small test screen instead of the regular one.  Many players didn't notice any difference last night when I asked in Global, but my game window was miniscule, and so annoying that I stopped playing.  I just reloaded and got the regular window back.
    Posted 64 days ago by glum pudding Subscriber! | Permalink
  • + faster
    – i cant open map and game window at the same time
    – chat area is reduced in height
    – the game window is significant smaller, looks funny on a 2.560 x 1.600 px screen
    – clicking somewhere in the window isnt activating the game, must click into the game area
    = pls. make it scalable. ty
    Posted 64 days ago by NoYesNo Subscriber! | Permalink
  • – clicking somewhere in the window isnt activating the game, must click into the game area

    This one was the most annoying to me.  I'm used to clicking just outside the chat boxes to regain focus on the game.  I did that with the tester version, hit enter, and ended up reloading my page instead!  Please make sure this is working right if/when you roll this out?
    Posted 63 days ago by Kadi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like, no I LOVED the faster speed I had while playing, but the size was annoying. I felt really cramped, and it negatively effected my gameplay.
    Posted 63 days ago by Lily Linguistic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I know TS has been breaking their collective backs searching for solutions to speed problems, has been a loooong year of tests and experiments and I don´t want to be negative about the testing, I´m just speaking my mind.
    Posted 63 days ago by Mikah Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Glad to see that the game appears to be back to normal size again.  I felt like I was playing on a first generation Macintosh.
    Posted 63 days ago by E D D I E Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Oh man - okay - I have a small laptop that is about 6 years old - that screen would probably work great for it - but my tower... It's hard enough to decorate when I cant see the whole room.

    PLEASE make it optional or detectable or something - because OMG HATE this!
    Posted 63 days ago by Mackena Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Unlike, a lot.  And for some reason, my chat boxes have shrunk up so that they are not going down beside the bags.  I can only read one senetence per chat box (ie. local chat sees one line, global chat sees one line)

    I give up, I have reloaded about 10 times, I just get the tiny tiny screen. I guess I will go play WoW.
    Posted 63 days ago by Innie✿, Obviously Subscriber! | Permalink
  • forced testing? 

    bahahahahahahaha.  It's called beta.  You're a volunteer. 
    Posted 63 days ago by Red Sauce Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I agree. I logged in last night and played for 5 minutes. The small screen is very irritating. I had to stop playing because I was getting very frustrated. Please revert the change!
    Posted 63 days ago by ☠ lala512 ☠ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I hate the shrunk viewport also, but I did find shrinking the chat tabs gave me more room on the viewport (the chat area itself stays a fixed size)

    I found exiting back to glitch.com (*not* just a direct refresh) I got a regular sized viewport again.
    Posted 63 days ago by Sturminator 5 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • On my 15" MBP both the game window and the shortened chat panels are unusably small for me to use with any kind of comfort. I'll try again later but won't be playing if I get the testing version.
    Posted 63 days ago by Wrong Way Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I play on a laptop with a widescreen monitor (which also means reduced vertical area).  This change made glitch pretty much unplayable for me.  My chat windows only had 3-4 lines of text and when participating in at least one chatty group, that's just not enough.
    Posted 63 days ago by spacekadt Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Would rather have the larger screen size back (even if the game runs slower) than this smaller playing area. Most of the time when that red warning came up telling me the game was running slowly because of my large screen size, I didn't feel like it was slow anyway. 
    Posted 63 days ago by Lynnt Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I have not noticed any change with the smaller screen size  except; when it is small I have to put on my glasses. Don't really care for it. Very thoughtful of you people at Tiny Speck for trying. I  think that the option to have it in some way ( as Mikah mentioned) is a great suggestion.
    Posted 63 days ago by CrazedOne Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I fall squarely in the "can hardly tell the difference" category.  I'm thinkin' to myself maybe, just maybe, different glitchen are getting wildly different results out of this test.

    Here's what the normal screen size looks like to me in a maximized browser window:
    i.imgur.com/YviBa.png

    And here's the new small screen size:  (warning, snarky comment)
    i.imgur.com/GwDPR.png

    Tried this in both Chrome and Firefox; results were identical.  So what am I missing, fellow players?  Is your small screen size so much smaller than mine?  Or is (was) your normal screen resizing to fill the entire browser window (mine never did)?
    Posted 63 days ago by Alopecurus Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I play on a 15" laptop and on huge monitors depending on where I'm playing. I also have bad eyes. I've now seen the new tiny fast screen on both my 15" laptop (the smallest screen I can use easily) and on my giant monitors at work, with the same result on both extremes. Many details of the game are now too small for me to bring them into focus without peering closely and carefully at the screen. It is much harder to tell exactly where I'm clicking, and the new faster moving targets are too small and too fast for me to catch more often than not. Background and foreground details blur into each other, negating my ability to relax and appreciate the artwork. I can no longer visually distinguish some of the music blocks without hovering over to see the text block. I can't tell what picture is on the potion bottle when I stand in front of a pile of stuff and use enter to see what all is in the pile. Same thing for a screen full of inventory during donation. And the words that get displayed when you hover over each picture are now too small for me to read without sticking my face in the screen. (That may have been true before, because I went by picture for identification instead of trying to read the words.)

    I know my eyes are really bad, and I have many tricks for working around them. The point I want to make here is that this new smaller screen size negates quite a few of my tricks, making Glitch a source of eyestrain at best, and unplayable for me at worst. It also negates my ability to enjoy the beautiful art. Yes, that's just an aesthetic, but it's one that brings me back over and over as a way to unwind from a long day of stressful work. As an enthusiastic beta tester, I want to make sure the TS staff thinks about those of us with less than perfect vision. It doesn't matter to me how quickly the screen loads and how fast the game runs if it's too small for me to SEE it!
    Posted 63 days ago by Frogger The Mad Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I found something. if I click the enter world button AND I'm in the "general forum" list... the small version is used. if I then refresh (F5) the full screen is used (I'm on 27" monitor).
    in any other page (not the general forum) other forum. using the enter world button opens the full version.

    HTH
    Posted 63 days ago by UXRoot Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Hey all, sorry for the annoyance! Some tests we cannot do on an opt in basis, because we have to collect large amounts of data to get significant results. (The best thing you can do to change this is to invite all your friends to play, so we have more people playing and can run tests on a smaller percentage of the user base ;)

    FYI I've released a change that only limits the size of the game for people with windows larger than 1400px width and/or 1000px height. This probably will not help any of you unhappy with the change, because you all probably have large windows and so will still half the time get the limited size game, but it will make our data better.

    We're trying to get raw data on just how much slower the game runs when we fill the whole screen with the game, so we can decide how important it is to pursue this as a performance optimization. Whatever we do, we'll almost certainly allow you to opt out of the reduced size. In fact.... You can use this url now http://www.glitch.com/game/?limit_size=1 to opt out. But it would be helpful to us if you did not :)
    Posted 63 days ago by eric Subscriber! | Permalink
  • UXRoot, the chance is 50/50 you will get the small size (if your windows is larger than 1400px width and/or 1000px height and not using the url I just posted above). It has nothing to do with where you launch the client from.
    Posted 63 days ago by eric Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @eric: Isn't it easier to make some kind of small Java applet what detects the hardware?
    I do not have any Java programming skills (yet...), but I do know that some companies use those applets (like HP or Intel)
    Posted 63 days ago by Rutger Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Frogger The Mad, you'll have to post screenshots of what you are talking about. Nothing in the game should be smaller than what it was before. We've simply reduced the size the game window can expand to. Items in your pack might be smaller if you have manually made your browser window vary narrow, but that is up to you.
    Posted 63 days ago by eric Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Rutger, I do not understand what you are asking. Detect what hardware, for what purpose?
    Posted 63 days ago by eric Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Does all this have anything to do with the fact that my game isn't loading now? All I'm getting is a plain screen where the loading page use to be...
    Posted 63 days ago by Ivanna Mantodew Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Ivanna Mantodew, you might try clearing your browser cache and trying again. But no, none of the changes should cause that.
    Posted 63 days ago by eric Subscriber! | Permalink
  • eric wrote: Rutger, I do not understand what you are asking. Detect what hardware, for what purpose?

    Well.. like these tests where we play Glitch in even a smaller space than normal :)
    My screen resolution is 1920x1080 and I already had a lot of free space, (correct me if I'm wrong) so it kinda seems unnecessary in my opinion...

    And I have never had any GPU lag whatsoever (because of my hardware) and I still get a "Try running Glitch in a smaller screen" warning
    Posted 63 days ago by Rutger Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @ eric, cleared cache and reloaded browser but didn't help. When it goes to the game load page it's not even thinking anymore...browser icon not turning or anything. Weird. Never had this problem before.
    Posted 63 days ago by Ivanna Mantodew Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @ eric, just noticed that Amythien is having the same problem...
    Posted 63 days ago by Ivanna Mantodew Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Ivanna- Check out the information at the top if this forum topic, 2nd paragraph, with suggestions when you have problems loading the game. There's also a self-help test to look for possible problems, if after going through the first FAQ link you still have a problem, do the test and then submit the results from there.
    Posted 63 days ago by kevbob Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thank you for the opt-out link. I also hated the screen shrinkage.
    Posted 63 days ago by J-Cubed Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Can't get in the game either...

    I've tried:
    -Cleaning cache files (in Firefox v16 and Chrome v22)
    -Restarting browser (in Firefox v16 and Chrome v22)
    -Switching between different flash versions (build-in Flash Player & Adobe Flash player v11.4.x)
    -Deactivating anti-virus program (GDATA TotalProtection 2013)
    -Deactivating firewall (GDATA TotalProtection 2013)

    None of the above worked for me :/
    (Did a self-test, with no errors)

    Edit: game keeps getting stuck on the "loading engine..." part
    Edit2: I'll try again tomorrow, because it's getting late
    Posted 63 days ago by Rutger Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @ kevbob- thanks for link you posted @Ivanna, I'm on the same computer and am unable to open game, did all the 'try this..' but no luck so I ran your test and submitted the results...
    thx for your help
    Posted 63 days ago by Sir Mixalatte Subscriber! | Permalink
  • (same as Rutger)
    Posted 63 days ago by Sir Mixalatte Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I can't get on either. I'm going to try on my laptop, but that usually lags itself to death anyway. My PC is completely fine, though, and I've taken the self-help test with no faults. I hope someone can fix this soon :(

    Edit: Doesn't work on my laptop either. Sadness D':
    Posted 63 days ago by Incendas Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Those of you having trouble loading the game, can you try again?
    Posted 63 days ago by eric Subscriber! | Permalink
  • about getting the "small window" when it shouldn't, I just saw the javascript code... and you are using window.innerWidth that only works when the DOM is loaded. maybe adding a setTimeout(..., 0) and then calling it will solve the problem.
    the other thing I saw is that the div container has a height:100% but not a width:100% this could be the problem in IE (but this could be something todo with the "device-width" value that I really don't know exactly how it works).

    I refreshed 20 times, and some times it thinks is small, some times it doesn't... it must be because some times it finish to load the DOM... (maybe)
    Posted 63 days ago by UXRoot Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @eric   Thanks so much for the link back to the normal game window. It is very kind of you to provide it. My eyes and head are both very grateful!

    I am more than happy to live with any lag using this may cause me to still be able to play Glitch:)
    Posted 63 days ago by Dandilion Subscriber! | Permalink
  • UXRoot: "you are using window.innerWidth that only works when the DOM is loaded"

    That is not my understanding. Do you have a cite on that?

    "I refreshed 20 times, and some times it thinks is small, some times it doesn't."

    That is expected. Well, it's not that it thinks it is small, it is that 50% of the time players loading the game with windows larger than 1400px width and/or 1000px height will get the normal full size client, and 50% of the time they will get the limited size client (there was a bug earlier, now fixed, that made it so that you only qualified for getting the smaller client if the browser was tall, but not if too wide). So yeah, every time you refresh the 50/50 die is rolled again, and you might get the normal client or get the limited size client (again, only if your window is large).
    Posted 63 days ago by eric Subscriber! | Permalink
  • ohh... ok.
    I saw a message in the Mozilla forums... (I'm looking for it... but it was a long time ago, it said that for Firefox/chrome you shouldn't expect it to be always ready).
    I just take a look at what GoogleWebToolkit is doing internally to get the browser width I'm using that on GlitchRemote... but it does so many different things for each browser. I think it gets the document.clientWidth. if not possible, then the body.width

    I remember having too many problems to position the background of GlitchRemote, I solved it at that time with the settimeout thing. but because GWT does different things for each browser, I'm not sure of "one" solution :(
    Posted 63 days ago by UXRoot Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I got a little extra room by closing the Friends/Groups List.  With that open the window just seemed too small.  I did not like the small size much but could live with it.  Also, the Friends/groups list could be trimmed a little as it seemed to have a good bit of blank space on the right side.  It did not help me with lag.  I wear glasses and found that the light gray "Frame" gave me some glare.  If you go with this smaller screen I hope that you change the borders to a darker color.  Good Luck with the Test!
    Posted 63 days ago by Brib Annie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Nothing bad happens to me...Pretty strange ¿don't you? :P.
    Posted 63 days ago by Arthur13 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • An observation: smaller game window affects how much you can capture in a snapshot. If you're setting up a scene for a snap, this can be problematic.
    Posted 63 days ago by Voluptua Sneezelips Subscriber! | Permalink
  • How about a faint border drawn around the maximum usable area of the game so that we can resize our browser window to just hide (or just show) that border to get the maximum useful real estate with the smallest window size?

    For me (Safari/Mac) this appears to be something close to 1256x884 (on a normal monitor). Here's a screenshot of the window "just the right size".
    Posted 62 days ago by Janitch Subscriber! | Permalink
  • This test is now over! Thanks everyone, for your patience. It's all back to normal now.
    Posted 62 days ago by eric Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thanks eric!
    Posted 61 days ago by Brib Annie Subscriber! | Permalink