Life outside of Hexcell intruded this week so it has not advanced as much as I would have liked. In one sense that is good as it gives me a chance to mull over improvements to the site. I am pretty happy with the way Blue Max is working mechanically, the next step is to improve the player interactions and feedback.

One change you may have noticed is the leader board on the home page and in the game lists. Currently this shows the top scores by single planes in a finished game.

There is a basic profile page for users. This can be accessed through the linked names of users in the game lists. The data on the profile page is pretty basic for the moment.

Finally you may have noticed on the My Friends page some stats about players and games.

All of the above is the start of publicising players, their activities and achievements. Highlighting user activity should allow other users to find active opponents. I also want players to have a sense of achievement, how they compare to other users and how they have improved over time. I know there are plenty of you that fanatical about tracking game plays, but even if you are not I find that competition in rankings and the like adds a lot to the enjoyment of a game.

This is all just the start, and a pretty rough start at that. I want to expand all these features so there are more standings, stats and achievements. If you have any ideas about the kind of things you want to see please make a comment on the blog or through the contact form.

Thanks again to everyone who has contacted me. I have received a lot of encouragement, feedback and ideas.