Random designer feedback for BYOND Games site in Off Topic

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ID:89582
 
Jan 12 2010, 1:12 pm
Just to make sure I wasn't secretly being slipped crazy pills, I decided to grab some feedback from a design community. You see, I was going to wait until I got 20 reviews but the reviews were so negative the reviewing was locked. So out of 5 reviews, BYOND Games has a average 1 out of 5 rating with everyone calling for a complete do over. Ouch.

http://www.conceptfeedback.com/concept/2041/ web-design-for-byond-com/

One thing you would change: nearly everything

"Sorry, but this doesn`t work. There is no design at all. There are a lot of boxes which remind me of postnuke portal software standard layouts. Look at the big players like EA or Activision. Or the big games review sites." - Mark Hinse



"Unfortunately this really needs to be redone. Start over and take inspiration from other sites. www.webcreme.com is a great place to pull some ideas from. This is just far too busy, segmented and cluttered to work. Sorry for the bad news, let me know if you have any questions." - Nate Hamilton



"When I think about when I want to purchase/play a game the level of engagement from a visual perspective is a huge part of my decision making process.

This does absolutely nothing for me.

With all the crazy stuff going on in games anymore you really need to crank it up to connect with this audience.

Rethink" - Jonathan Butko



"Im guessing this is a flash games web site; a site users can play simple games in their browser.

Although you can quite easily distinguish where a game is on the page, it does need a bit more design work to make it attractive, and interest your target market (13+).

As suggested above, look at sites like EA Sports and Activision, but also have a look at Miniclip.com which is a similar site to what your trying to create (from what I can see).

Try and introduce categories to your games, and then maybe place these on a page using jquery tabs; have games within the tab relating to the tab title (category name).

Maybe on hovering over the game cover of your top games you could play a short video of the game play." - Chris Jones



"This is site really hurts my eyes, it's not teh colours strangely enough they work well together.

It's the lack of design and cool factor... Games are all designed and have a wow not an oww factor!

http://www.activision.com/index.html#home|en_AU

have a look at that, and then get some inspiration from there...

Good Luck!" - Aaron Casey


#1 Jan 12 2010, 1:27 pm
I don't know why you had to go to a web design site to come to the conclusion that BYOND's layout was terrible.
#2 Jan 12 2010, 1:29 pm
Vermolius wrote:
I don't know why you had to go to a web design site to come to the conclusion that BYOND's layout was terrible.

That was my conclusion, but it also my understanding that the staff feels otherwise.
#3 Jan 12 2010, 1:33 pm
I'm in agreement with most of those comments. There are too many boxes and nothing to focus on.
#4 Jan 12 2010, 1:40 pm
I am in sympathy with the site makers in that it's a lot of work to overhaul the site. I do, however, think it would be greatly beneficial at least for the game listings. The game listings could use some greatly improved organization.
#5 Jan 12 2010, 1:40 pm
Well, the BYOND staff are not perfect. I'm pretty sure that they've been told many many times that the site sucks a big floppy choad to little or no avail.
#6 Jan 12 2010, 1:44 pm
The visual aspect of the site is what turns a lot of people on, and keeps them there. The BYOND site is pretty boring to me visually. However, that's not why I fell in love with BYOND. It almost feels like they overhauled the site yesterday to me... How long ago -was- that?
#7 Jan 12 2010, 1:47 pm
It's not only the visual aspect, it's the design.
#8 Jan 12 2010, 1:48 pm
Vermolius wrote:
It's not only the visual aspect, it's the design.

Which really go hand in hand.

#9 Jan 12 2010, 1:49 pm
Fugsnarf wrote:
The BYOND site is pretty boring to me visually. However, that's not why I fell in love with BYOND.

To be honest most of us fell in love with BYOND when the site was a bit different. =p
#10 Jan 12 2010, 1:52 pm
Fugsnarf wrote:
Which really go hand in hand.

They do and they don't. Previously the site was much simpler and it worked. Design can be great whilst not sporting beautiful graphics.


#11 Jan 12 2010, 2:17 pm
SuperAntx wrote:
To be honest most of us fell in love with BYOND when the site was a bit different. =p

But it wasn't the site that caught my eye at all. It was the fact that I could learn to program games, something I had dreamed about for years.

#12 Jan 12 2010, 2:41 pm
I agree with everyone who commented.
#13 Jan 12 2010, 3:20 pm
I never could make any sense out of that games page. I just avoid it. :)
#14 Jan 12 2010, 3:23 pm
Foomer wrote:
I never could make any sense out of that games page. I just avoid it. :)

Which is pretty sad. Imagine however many decent games that could exist and we'd never know about it unless it was either properly advertised or someone stumbled upon it to write a review. That's just for people who've been here for a while.

I can only imagine the curiosity of a newcomer.
#15 Jan 12 2010, 3:24 pm
I love how at Yoyogames they have their "What's hot" section and their "Yoyo Legends" section. Something similar would be great for newcomers.
#16 Jan 12 2010, 4:12 pm
I've always searched for games through the guilds. Of course, that makes it hard to encounter new games that aren't listed, but I always figured that people who put real effort into a game are going to at least let somebody on the official guilds know about it.
#17 Jan 12 2010, 4:16 pm
I'd like to see the staff address this publicly.

Even if it's something like "No, we currently don't have the means" or "We just don't care right now".

This way we know the problem, and can find a way to tackle it.
#18 Jan 12 2010, 4:17 pm
Tayoko wrote:
I'd like to see the staff address this publicly.

Even if it's something like "No, we currently don't have the means" or "We just don't care right now".

This way we know the problem, and can find a way to tackle it.

No harm in bringing this to the developers forum under Community.
#19 Jan 12 2010, 4:29 pm
Hear hear.
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