PART I – War Clicks before the first version of Chat
There was a time where War Clicks didn’t have an in-built chat…this were the times that most of the current players don’t even remember. So, let’s get a quick flashback into a specific version of War Clicks back in 2016 :P
IMG1 – old version (2016) – without chat & most current features :)
Looking at some old images of previous versions recalls back all the sweet memories, where we were just starting to work seriously on game development, creating a game and focusing basically just on the gameplay itself. Lots of things have changed from then on - we’ve learned tons of new stuff, raised the game to a completely new level, got in the finals of Indie game contests and on the other (development) side made so many improvements, like making the game more action-packed, adding new features, improving progression, revamping design, adding new social elements, such as the in-game chat is!
PART II - In-game chat withing Country Invasion (now known as ‘Country Headquarters’)
Back then in 2016, we decided to add a new feature to War Zone – Country Invasion. As we believed, that the function would expand over time, we programmed a simple ‘small’ addition of a basic Country Chat, so that players could communicate with each other, helping each other out with some in-game misunderstandings or just hang out with other game enthusiasts!
IMG1 – old CI with chat (2016)
The times where players could chat only inside a specific game feature can now be completely forgotten! We decided to throw the old chat in the trash and about it altogether as it was so limited, buggy and just... bad.
We were ready to build a new one from scratch!
PART III – Chat as we know TODAY
We didn’t want to limit the communication between players within a certain feature or limit with whom they can talk. – Main Goal
We’ve built the whole chat system around the sentence above. The most annoying thing in the previous version was that the players could communicate only with players from the same country, but not with others. Chat (CI feature) also opened only when a player reached a certain battle in War Zone - which means all early-game players weren’t even aware that the function exists. And let's put aside the bad interface, limited messages and buggy/disappearing messages it had...
In our opinion, as well as based on a lot of feedback we decide to change something… We wanted to create a whole new experience… a better one, unique and remembering!
Here is what we created, check the image or look inside the game and decide on your own. Did we manage to improve the user experience?
IMG3 – New CHAT – hiding inside
IMG4 – New version of CHAT – with General talks & Country Chat Rooms ;)
IMG5 - Sneak peak of what's still possible to add on War Clicks chat
Before starting to work on this task, we set some goals we’d like to follow during the feature development.
Our Goals back then:
- players can communicate with each other within the whole game - mostly from all features of War Clicks (Voting & Country Invasion are exceptions) – but via help of the TAB key shortcut, it can really be accessed from anywhere
- players could show their outfits (customized profiles) on every message sent
- give experienced players additional value – marking Top-Level players with other color than newbies (different type of color means how powerful the soldier is on the Battlefield)
- give a chance to all players of War Clicks to communicate with each other in the same Chat Room (General Chat, only English allowed)
- allow Country chat in national languages
Our current Goals with the Chat:
- players can find additional fun in the feature
- players get valuable information about specific game elements from other players willing to help around
- players share experiences with each other
- players use country chats to determine the strategy for attacking, the use of Country upgrades, Voting (Country Headquarters)
- …
Conclusion
The new in-game chat was built for a purpose that more players could communicate with each other, find an additional explanation on some features from more experienced players, have some fun and friendly banter within the country chat…
Every country would have its own Chat – as it is shown in the picture above. General chat would be held in English and could be used for general talks (all players can join General Chat Room).
We are now determined to offer a way better version of the game to all of our loyal players and the ones still coming to play in the near future!
IMG6 - War Clicks - Build the army from scratch!
