Updates to the unified mana wheel, hand card changes, and other UI features

Update as of 30th January:

• Fix 7: Combat Log Expand/Collapse Button -
• Have a look at the video below to understand the change in detail. This moves the mana wheel a bit more to the left to provide players a more space-efficient Combat Log expand/collapse button.

All the changes mentioned in this blog post will be rolled out this week, so we hope you like them!

Greetings Mortal,

Do you recall, towards the end of 2022, we shared a detailed blog post outlining our vision for a unified Gods Unchained UI such that anyone could play the game on any device in preparation for the launch of the closed Mobile Alpha. We followed it up by releasing critical in-game changes to the mana wheel location, players' and opponents' hand card locations, the bug reporter, and settings displayed on-screen. 

The decision to recall these changes soon followed as we didn’t expect quite a few bugs that affected in-game performance. Moreover, we saw merit in using this opportunity to begin a two-way communication loop, where we collated community feedback and used those inputs to guide feature design. Since then, our dev team has been working on reiterating the features to improve the final UI design and in-game interactions. 

Another longer-term goal actively being worked on is to gather feedback before a release, so players are aware of potential impacts. One idea is to make things playable in PTR (or another test realm) before rollout. Stay tuned for more on this front as we work on the technical feasibility of this possibility. The other significant driver for our UI feature rollouts is player customizability. We’d like players to benefit from personalization and modify their in-game experience as much as possible.

That said, we’re stoked to announce a few changes you can expect in the following weeks. Please note this is not an extensive list, and we may add or remove a few features depending on their progress. Use it as a guideline to give priority and estimate the most significant features being worked on. We’ll share exact timelines by early-mid next week.

Here is a list of upcoming (not all-inclusive) feature releases:

• Fix 1: Ability to use Empowered Keyword when it’s in the last position in players’ hand.
• Once the new UI was published for the mana wheel and player card hands, most players couldn’t use the right-most card in their hand if it had the keyword ‘Empower’. With the upcoming fix, all players can toggle all cards in their hand, even the last one, i.e., the one in the 9th position, especially if it has the keyword Empower. The issue was caused by a blocking collider and is completely fixed!

• Fix 2: Option to change players’ hand cards position in settings.
• We heard your feedback loud and clear on the position of the players’ and opponents’ hand cards and, as such, decided it was best for you to be the master of your own destiny. Therefore, with the upcoming release, you can choose the position of your hand cards to show up in the center or on the right. All you need to do is customize your settings to select the option you’re most comfortable playing with. For desktop, the default is center, while for mobile, it’s right. As mentioned previously, this too shall undergo revisions basis your feedback in the future.

• Fix 3: Correctly position the mana pip hit area for all players
• It was noticed that in a match, if a player tried to click on the last mana pip, the hitbox would incorrectly deviate to the right. As a result, players couldn’t use mana on certain turns. We also saw in Tutorial Mission 3 of the tutorial that the highlighted circle would deviate from the mana pip at the' not enough mana' step. Now, the hit area for all mana pips has been fixed! - Players can easily click on any of the 3 mana pips to activate them.

• Fix 4: Correctly display players’ names, even if they are very long.
• As you can see in the image above, if a player had a long name, i.e., if it were over 15 characters, the name bar wouldn’t cover the name and cut it off. The solution we’ve come up with will look as follows!

• Fix 5: Tutorial Mission 1, where the opponent’s mana wheel was highlighted instead of a player’s.
• Most new players by affected by this bug while learning the ropes of the game in Tutorial Mission 1. We saw the mana wheel of the opponent was highlighted instead of the player’s on the player’s 2nd turn. The issue is rectified in Tutorial Mission 1 to correctly highlight a player’s mana wheel instead of the opponent’s.

• Fix 6: Small ‘bag of tricks’ shows up from both players’ perspectives in a match.
• We received multiple complaints that in a game, if one wanted to use the small bag of tricks from the mana pip, it wouldn’t show up for either of the players sometimes. The issue is resolved; the small bag of tricks will always appear for both players in all matches.

These are a summary of the fixes you can expect around the upcoming UI changes. Stay tuned for when they’ll be formally announced on all our channels mid-late next week. 

Once again, we’d like to emphasize that your inputs and concerns will continue to be the fundamental driving forces behind all the changes we make to give you the best gaming experience, irrespective of the device you’re playing on. We’re encouraging two-way communication as we’ll be reiterating and coming up with innovative solutions basis your feedback. So please keep sharing your valuable suggestions in Discord or on Twitter; our team is looking at each response!