This is less of a feature thing (some are) and more of an important fixes/changes for a successful general market release.
I recently received my Ouya and hooked it up and I noticed a couple of issues. Some of them were very big issues that I think when the general public purchase the product will take issue to:
- It should fit your monitor/tv screen right out of the box. I know you can change settings on your tv to make it fit and not cut off content, but when it hits stores like Bestbuy the average user isn't going to want to go through that trouble and then have to switch it back to use anything else hooked up to their tv. Not only should there be settings in the settings menu that work for this, but it should either be part of the setup easy to use system you have when you first set it up and it steps you through syncing the controller and logging in or just auto detect which would be even better. I know it sounds silly but this is a huge downside and will quickly make the average consumer frustrated or look down upon what could be an amazing product.
- Re-skin the settings menu. This may be something you are working on, but you basically have the android settings menu and although practical most users don't want to dig through that. Maybe you could have a link to all that if the hard core wants it, but you should really re-skin it to fit in with the beautiful design of the rest of your menus and be a lot simpler. When going into settings it looks super out of place and makes the product look less professional as well as there being enough things to confuse some. Plus anyone with an android phone will laugh at the fact you blew up/stretched the android settings menu.
- Make a native Twitch app. This one may not be possible as it may be up to Twitch and we can see from them taking forever to release an app on xbox they won't do this in a timely matter, but much like the settings the twitch app just being blown up on a 55 inch tv looks really silly. Not to mention when using it I had issues with it even loading a stream on wifi at my friends house, when my phone loaded it fine. Making it native wouldn't only make it prettier but you could change things like resolution which you can't click up to on the direct port and you can on your Android phone. I know me along with lots of others love using Twitch and would love to watch LoL competitions on this as there aren't many TV options for doing so; besides Xbox which you need to pay for live in order to use it. I think people would at least buy a $99 device to do this especially since most devices like Roku, AppleTV... don't do this and are priced the same. If you offered some of the many video streaming apps (which it looks like you will) as the others you would at least sell units for that.
- This isn't a big deal and is for sure an eventually thing, but I would love to see a browser port. Many of the current consoles (Xbox, PS3, Wii) all have browsers and since Ouya runs on android and there are several very good android browsers as well as Webkit I would love to see a controller easy to use browser brought to Ouya eventually.
- With
the recent announcement at Google I/O of Google’s game services API it
will probably be something your team will want to start looking
at/working on if there is any way to integrate it into the console more then just developers using the api. Then the age old "Do you have a friends list system"
question won't be an issue because you can simply use what Google has
done.
MusicMonkey5555
Posts: 7Member
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1 is up to game developers, they shouldn't be putting any content near the edge of the screen where it can be cut off by TV sets. All consoles act this way.
2 is the "Advanced" menu, there's a reason it's called "Advanced". It's not something most users should ever need, so I think reskinning that should be a VERY low priority.
3 isn't up to OUYA, it's up to the makers ot the Twitch app
4 there is a browser, it's in Make->Software. It's just the standard Android browser, though
5 Friends and other online stuff have been announced as a post-launch feature by OUYA. The OUYA isn't Google approved so will not be able to use Google Game Services
As far as things being cut off this is the case for several games including ones that were faved and isn't really that way for all consoles. It isn't a matter of not putting content off the screen it is overscan compensation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overscan) that is what I am referring to. Even within the advanced settings window the far right text is very close and partially cut off. It's the case in the twitch app, in Flashbot 3D and much more. This isn't something an app developer deals with it is something the actual console deals with. Same reason the Xbox fits stuff to your tv, but when you plug in a PC to your tv stuff gets cut off. Most content in most games is in the center so it isn't super noticeable but every once in a while you will get a full screen image or some menus or text that is cut off.
The setting for it in advanced doesn't seem to do anything and in order to fix it you must change a setting for your tv this isn't the case on any other console I have used.
There is an entire discussion here: http://forums.ouya.tv/discussion/118/overscan
about it, but this really isn't something developers or users should have to deal with.
I suppose the fact that most of the settings users will need to use are in the manage menus and the Android settings menu is in advanced makes it not a big deal it isn't skinned. So I guess they could hold off on that, now that I look at it more. If they ever did get a chance though they could probably do it without needed to really make that many changes and it would just give it a little more fit and finish. For instance when you are under Network and click Y it goes into it and there is no advanced. Plus I am sure there will be other cases like this. Not a big deal I really think the main game breaker for people will be the over-scan issues, and that is the main thing I wanted to bring up here.
Not saying there is never any overscan (I've seen it on the OUYA on multiple TV's), but the actual menu and UI elements are all the recommended 10% away from the screen edge, and the developer guidelines suggest that all UI elements within games should likewise be 5% to 10% away from the edges so that it is never a problem. If the active menu items are actually off screen, then that's a more serious problem
I actually really like having the stock android for the settings. No faffing around with stupid custom UI's and things being all shifted around and in hard to find places. 99% of users are not going to need to go into the settings, but having them all there in a standard, usable and familiar format is great for developers like me, or people who want to tinker
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I didn't mean to make it sound like I'm saying it sucks, it has a lot of potential. I simply wanted to point out some major issues consumers will have with it and where they should pull their focus and the money that me and many others have pledged to see this succeed. People seem to be getting very defensive about it. I understand this stuff is under development and will be very rough since this is a test, but I also understand the consumer release date is coming close and if someone goes into a store to try it or buys one and goes to use twitch app or into something else they will want to use and can't even use it because stuff is cut off it will be a major issue. If issues arise that make it unusable, seem sluggish or just an unpolished experience this will tank and the millions raised will be all for none. I want to see this succeed that is why I wanted to point out things that they need to work on.
As for your comment Ayrik "Neither of those (advanced settings and browser) have been skinned yet and cannot be criticized until the console is released." I am criticizing them now so when it's released it isn't an issue. Better now on a forum then in mass media and consumer talk making people not purchase them and the console to fail. That is why constructive criticism is good to have so it can be fixed before it really matters.
Only reason I really brought up the settings menu was because some of the things in there are sort of needed to use the console. Plus there is often some menu that pops up that just looks very out of place and you can tell is from default android so it is also sort of a general comment about that issue. If they are moved out and skinned and they keep it default much like SpoonThumb said keeping them default is kind of nice simply because they are easy to get to, cause it's something we all know. That and when I said skinning they would have to do what samsung did with the S4 where it is a mess to find stuff. Even just making the icon fit their orange theme better, making it not partially off screen and then add some more shading to it. Simple little changes visually, but not organization wise to make it fit in. It doesn't have to be drastic.
Not so good browsers on consoles has always been one of my pet hates, and this platform, especially being Android based could do much better.
Not only will an improvement make the general web surfing experience better. It will open the door for HTML5 games and so on, which would be nice to play on this console.
I haven't had much time with the console yet, but I did notice the overcan confusions/issues too, so yeah that should be addressed for sure.
The problem is that most people using the OUYA won't get that. They will expect that like any other console, it arrives fully formed and feature complete. For a small company and a cheap console and limited time, that's unreasonable, but it doesn't change the fact that people will judge on what they see, not what the console could be in a year or two's time.
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The wifi issue I sort of mentioned but good point. I also agree with what many of you are saying the UI will improve and there will be updates, but consumers will want a pretty finished non-beta product. And with the hype it got it doesn't help with that. It helps get the name out there and getting people wanting to buy it, but if they use it and say "what was all that hype about" like being let down by a movie or album you though was going to be amazing that is no good.
Yup... Sony had and still have a pretty bad PSN store interms of loading up items and starting up. But Sony is established with consumers. Alot of these issues can be taken care of via firmware updates but the closer we get to 6/25 the more I worry about it getting done by launch. Heck some early reviews (which is kinda unfair due it basically being in "beta mode" has been harsh. And in order to have Ouya 2 we need Ouya 1 to be successful. Also some in box adverstisments from select games will make it a bit easier for consumers to handle the huge mess of games in its store. Its a bit much coupled that with 8gig of space and slow download speed...its not a good combination for a system that encourages demos and lots of downloads before buying a game. I also think the price point for controllers is a bit high...50 a piece is a bit much when some of the best games currently on Ouya is local muilt player games and in my opinion a huge difference between mobile gaming android and IOS games. I would like to see 30 a controller so people can grab a couple at a time for those 2-4 player games. its either that or syncing a ps3 or xbox controller but Ouya will miss out on those important peripheral sales. I know 30 is a low number but its better then 0.
As for in-house stuff, it takes time to build a team, get it to gel, and then make a game that really shows off the power of the platform. All that can be done more efficiently by "incentivising" existing teams to make exclusives for the platform. Evidence seems to suggest that is the case with Soul Fjord and a couple of others
It's tricky to balance as well, because you may have less well known indies or teams resenting the fact they are putting their own money/risk into making a game for the OUYA, while others are being subsidized.
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Thanks! Really trying, next update...sooner than you'd think!
A first party game and associated studio costs a lot to set up and could take years to pay back on itself. Remember, OUYA is trying to make a console for tens of millions of dollars, not billions of dollars. There is an order of magnitude difference, and some things just aren't plausible at OUYA's scale.
Also on the subject of browsers, some of the guys at Firefox were working unofficially with getting it working with the OUYA, though I think it's a personal side project for some of their devs rather than any sort of official support
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