Tweeter Bird

[ali.usman]

Guys,

Are we going to have an option to get rid of that HUGE BLUE Tweeter bird on the top the screen. I know it displays notifications but can we hide it when there is no new notification?

Its annoyingly blocking the view.

Cheers

 

[Greygor69]

I suspect it's Twitter so your citizens can tweet you with info


F**k them, they can write a letter, I dislike Twitter, I hate the blue bird of Shitiness.

I was aiming for humour here, apologies for my abject failure.

It was funnier in my head with a Larry David tone of voice.


It's true I'm not keen on the bird being slap bang in the middle of the top of the screen, but it's no biggy.

 

[ma2412]

Again: what is the purpose of this bird (within the game of course)?
Anyone knows this?

 

[medopu]

Again: what is the purpose of this bird (within the game of course)?
Anyone knows this?

basically the same as notification tab in SC4. For example, when you decide to build a wind turbine, chirper forwards a tweet from one of your citizents like

YAY, finally some electricity, and it's green! Thanks mayor [mayor_name] #GOgreen #Electricity #WindIsCool

 

[ma2412]

Thank you. so its a notification thing in a twitter style.

 

[ali.usman]

Thank you. so its a notification thing in a twitter style.

Yeah but unlike simcity it just stays on your screen and ever dies

 

[Leermeister]

Thank you. so its a notification thing in a twitter style.

Yeah, luckily its not HUGE.

#birdsnothuge
#unimportant

 

[Alfryd]

Yeah, luckily its not HUGE.

#birdsnothuge
#unimportant

I'm curious what people will make of this in 10 years' time, when twitter has gone the way of geocities, altavista and bebo.

Gods, I feel old.

 

[medopu]

I'm curious what people will make of this in 10 years' time, when twitter has gone the way of geocities, altavista and bebo.

Gods, I feel old.

Hopefully there'll be a C:SL 4 by that time with all new social media

 

[Leermeister]

I'm curious what people will make of this in 10 years' time, when twitter has gone the way of geocities, altavista and bebo.

Gods, I feel old.

They will probably say oh cites skylines1 was back when twitter was big.

As you have not forgotten geocities I'm sure people will not have forgotten what twitter was

 

[ma2412]

i dont like twitter, fb, etc. but i have to arrange with it in the game then. gladly its not a real twitter thing

 

[grandad1982]

I would really like to be able to get rid of it or make it much smaller and placed elsewhere on the screen.

 

[ma2412]

... but if everything else is fine in this game, i could live with this supid bird.
i mean, if this will be the only problem in the game: great!

 

[kosh22]

Its a feature, its there to stay. LIke it or lump it.

 

[redjericho3]

It shouldn't be too hard to make a mod that moves the bird to the right corner, though it will be difficult making it interact nicely with everything that naturally appears in that corner. I might even do it myself if it really bothers me that much.

 

[FourWinds]

There will not be an option to turn it off I'm afraid.

I was one that paid extra for the 'deluxe' edition of SimCity 2013. The constant and insistent nagging of Dr Vu provoked me to get up from my chair and phone EA's customer service department in the US (from England) and request that they turn it off for me; this meant that they turned off the deluxe 'features' so I could play the game without raging all the time - EA's customer service is excellent by the way.

So why am I posting? I'm worried; I don't mind the bird, it's cute, but if there is no way to turn off any repetitive information that it might provide, then that is going to upset me; it's going to upset me a lot. It remains to be seen if other game mechanisms allow me to turn off any constant chirping from residents in my city... but if there is no other control of this kind of annoyance, then there does NEED to be a kill switch here.

 

[Hannodb]

wow, now i know why you suck in marketting and by the way where did you get the idea of that bird being an advertisement symbol? None of the trailer shows that bird and it has not been displayed in any add (not so far) .

Removing logo really? that bird is no way a logo nor a part of advertisement campaign.

Ofcause not. It can only become one after people have played with the game. Using it as a game mascot now would not have much impact.

 

[FabbiS]

Why would you want to get rid of the cutest little Chirper-bird :sad:

I will spare breadcrumbs for tweeter bird :rofl:

 

[medopu]

I was one that paid extra for the 'deluxe' edition of SimCity 2013. The constant and insistent nagging of Dr Vu provoked me to get up from my chair and phone EA's customer service department in the US (from England) and request that they turn it off for me; this meant that they turned off the deluxe 'features' so I could play the game without raging all the time - EA's customer service is excellent by the way.

So why am I posting? I'm worried; I don't mind the bird, it's cute, but if there is no way to turn off any repetitive information that it might provide, then that is going to upset me; it's going to upset me a lot. It remains to be seen if other game mechanisms allow me to turn off any constant chirping from residents in my city... but if there is no other control of this kind of annoyance, then there does NEED to be a kill switch here.

lol, so knowning that, playing simcity 4 must be like a recreation for hell to you right?

 

[FlyingBacon]

It's not that big, it's not that intrusive, it certainly is not distractive, and if you really need to see what's behind it, just move a little.

Yes. Yes it is. It is big as a design element. Elements take up more than just its own pixels; it also takes up the space around it, especially if the element changes shape all the time. It takes up significant space at the top of the screen. It's in the middle, so yes, it is intrusive. Elements that are places in the middle are intrusive. That's why they are placed in the middle. (Look at the CitiesXL notifications for a more extreme example of this.) "Just moving a little" is a solution for a problem that should not exist in the first place and even is a problem itself. You don't want to interrupt the workflow of the player because they have to move the screen a few cms so they can see behind an unhidable element.

The placement of the notification icon is extremely poor design.

 

[Inge Jones]

I am afraid the first thing I noticed when the first video came out was that blue bird and I found myself moving my own head in a vain attempt to see round it. It is even more noticeable when the camera is moving than it is in still pictures and I predict that I will find the irritation at the greatest of all when I am trying to do some intricate layout and think exactly where everything should go, and have the screen zoomed in to closely fit the area I am trying to design the layout for. It will be right there in a space I am trying to map out in my mind. When you're trying to design something you have so much to hold in your brain before beginning, any extra subconcious mental work trying to ignore an obstruction is unwelcome.