Archive for December 2007

How often does this scenario happen to you? When you land on a Web site, it doesn’t instantly answer the most important question:

What is the Web site about?

The second question depends on the site.

• For business sites: “What does the business do?”
• For blogs: “What is the topic of the blog?”

My blog is guilty for not making its topic clear. First of all, “meryl’s notes” tells you nothing — not even the fact it’s a blog. However, after seven-plus years of blogging, I’m glad I chose that name as my blog evolved.

So I added a tagline to help clarify the blog’s topic, “Things wordy, geeky, and webby.” It’s still broad, but so is the blog. Successful blogs focus on a specific topic, but I haven’t been able to commit to that.

This site is also my business site. So the home page at www.meryl.net tries to tell visitors what I do and how I do it. Although the how could use more support.

Sites that quickly describe their purpose have one or more of the following:

• Brief statement explaining purpose. It’s easy to find and above the fold – no scrolling required to find it).
• Slogan / tagline that says it all (i.e. Digital Web Magazine is The web designer’s online magazine of choice. getAbstract is Compressed knowledge.
• About that’s easy to find such as in top menu, left menu, or bottom menu (but better to have it above the fold).

Including the slogan or description in the <TITLE> tag helps if it’s brief. Long ones turn into a long and bothersome bookmark. Not everyone edits their bookmarks/favorites.

If you have a popular or well-ranked site and everyone knows who you are, there are still plenty who don’t know who you are. It’s amazing how often a popular or well-ranked sites doesn’t make it obvious why they’re successful, what they’re about, or where to do within the site.

Be careful on how many choices or calls to action appears in the main content. Too many choices or links can scare a visitor away instead of keeping the visitor. The content on the right side of this page is too much. Haven’t found a happy medium.

Related articles

• Pitches: Lessons in what not to do
• Taglines, marketing and branding haikus
• Visions, missions, positioning, and other statements
• What text to link
• About the fold problems and content placement
• About pages

Hanako Games develops games for girls that go beyond Barbie’s, pink, dolls, and shopping. Though the games are of the fantasy genre, don’t expect to see cutesy unicorns. The company’s latest addition, Fatal Hearts, combines anime-style art with girls who take the lead as the protagonist. The result is a modern adventure where you can choose your way to one of fourteen possible endings.

15-year-old Christina and her best friend, Lucy represent the typical teen girls who like going to the mall and noticing boys. Although, this sounds like a typical girl’s game, it’s only a tiny part of the story. The mysterious part of the story enters when Christina turns in for the night and encounters a strange, yet familiar man in her dream. Those puzzling dreams continue, but they’re hardly as perplexing as Lucy’s parents’ behavior.

In the charming scenes, the anime characters face the screen making players feel a part of the game. Beware — sudden sounds easily startle players when Christina runs into scary situations such as finding a dead body in the woods and running away from people without knowing why. I’m no fan of scary movies or games, but I could handle the creepy and eerie moments.

My eight-year-old son couldn’t help be drawn in to the story. I questioned whether he should watch the game since Hanako Game gave a Teen rating to Fatal Hearts a Teen rating because of suggestive themes and fantasy violence. Since my son hates to read, I let him watch as the game contains heavy dialogue — but I talked with him throughout the game to make sure he was OK. Thankfully, he didn’t get to see any of the endings I encountered as I thought it was too much for him.

But my son proved another point — that the game can interest boys. Teen boys might be another story, but this kid is into boy stuff and screams when anything reeking of “girly” comes near him. Nonetheless, I agree with the teen rating.

Starting the game was a frustrating experience, but the biggest problem was the fact it was loaded on a computer running Windows Vista (I know…) and the developer worked with me to solve the problem. So if you check out the game, try it first — even the game’s Web site recommends testing the demo before buying.

Fatal Hearts is like reading a fantasy novel where players decide what to do and solve puzzles. The decisions can be as trivial as whether to check on Lucy or wait at home, but they affect the direction and outcome of the game.

Most of the puzzles require creative thinking such as figuring out what a word means and unlocking a diary. With 14 possible endings, the game smartly lets players speed through parts they’ve already played and skip puzzles they’ve completed.

Hanako Games also offers a game strategy guide to those who join the forums. The guide includes hints and spoilers, and best of all — information on how to skip a puzzle. One exasperating puzzle involved moving a car through a maze without the bad guys catching up. I just couldn’t get through this one because the arrow keys were backwards for me.

Once players finish an adventure games, they rarely want to play again unless it’s to get a better score or try getting through a scene they skipped. But with its various endings, players will want to play Fatal Hearts again to check out the other endings and find new puzzles.

The music is very good and the sound effects hit the right note although they occasionally made my heart jump. Since Fatal Hearts resembles an interactive book more than a game, it’s not surprising the scenes have little variation. Therefore, most of a player’s time is spent reading the dialogue and making decisions. Though simple in execution and design, Fatal Hearts easily captivates especially those who enjoy fantasy, mysteries, and Choose Your Own Adventures and You Be the Jury — stories where you decide what happens.

Download and try Fatal Hearts.

System Requirements: Windows

• Windows 2000/XP/Vista
• 64 MB+ VRAM
• DirectX 8.0 or later
• 60 MB disk space

If you’re subscribed to meryl.net articles RSS feed — thank you — beware that no new articles will appear here. We’re moving articles back over to the blog — to keep it simple. The site will receive minor design updates to reflect the change. Thank you for reading and sticking with me.

• Computer pranks
• Stamps all over a keyboard: Original! Colorful.
• 10+ Things to Do with Dry-Erase Markers: Don’t throw ‘em out even if the board is gone for good. Advisory: Don’t write on me! From your monitor.
• Online Copywriting 101: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet
• 100 Resources for When You’re on the Move [Link, Freelance Folder]
• Geek of the Day: Geek Humor

Smart marketers and bloggers watch for articles and blog entries that use their keywords so they can read the content and leave comments. It’s a great way to connect and network in the blogosphere/Internetsphere.

But they also make a mistake. No question — participating the blogosphere helps people and their businesses… when done right. If you see a blog post for a topic on which you’re an expert, what do you do?

Many often write something along the lines of “Check my article on this topic at … link,”"Sign up for a free course on this topic at … link” and so on.  Most — if not all — blogs have a URL in their comment forms. Put your URL there and provide a comment on the entry instead rather than making it about you or your business unless the entry insulted or commented on your business.

The blogosphere prefers subtle to blatant. Entering your URL to your article, tutorial, blog, web site is enough. Let your comment do the showing. Readers/bloggers will click on your URL if they like what you had to say. When someone simply points out their article or site — bloggers are less likely to click on it because it’s blatant self-promotion.

Most of you know how bloggers feel about self-promotion. Some company blogs got in trouble for writing a marketing-style blog instead of an informative one. This is just one of those unwritten rules.

I ran into a similar incident at Remarkablogger where I left a comment that made no sense. I don’t know what I was thinking when I wrote it. Essentially, I was trying to explain that I answered the question in a months old post, but thought adding trackback to the post would be “wrong” because my entry came long before the this entry. This is how I explained it:

I usually don’t like to link to my stuff in comments because I feel that it’s “wrong.” I usually rely on trackback… but since this post is from May — I don’t think it’d be right to add a trackback.

Remarkablogger’s Michael wrote a nice response:

Thanks for clearing that up, Meryl. Makes perfect sense, now. If you are adding value to the discussion, I don’t mind if you link to your own posts in comments. I applaud your higher-than-average ethics on the matter, but you are welcome to link out.

I forgot to add the trackback until now. Anyway, this is an extreme case and if given the opportunity, I would respond differently as I cringe in re-reading my old comment. Blogs succeed because they’re about providing people with honest and real content — not phony or self-promotion.

Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney, returns for this third series with five new cases where players portray Mia Fey, Wright’s mentor from a past case involving Phoenix. Those who haven’t played the first two series can start with this one without any confusion. Of course, some scenes will have more meaning to those playing the first two in the series. Whether new players will like Phoenix Wright depends on how they feel about interactive stories that require lots of reading.

Each story comes into two parts: The investigation and the trial. During the investigation, players examine scenes, interview characters, move to different locations, and present evidence to prove a point. The stories last for a long time giving players a chance to thoroughly learn a case and pick it apart during the trial to help your client.

The game grows tedious with all the dialogue, but players can’t help but want to reach the truth and get an innocent client off the hook especially since it requires thinking to take the right actions. Object at the wrong time or present the incorrect evidence, and lose points with the judge. When the “health” meter runs out, the judge proclaims your client guilty and the game ends.

The screen shakes whenever a character turns flustered, and this gets very old after a few times. It doesn’t matter if the character feels stressed, mad, aggravated or anxious — shake, shake, shake… enough, enough, enough.

Another frustration point is the constant repetition of scenes when you take the wrong step or missed one. Though you can save the game, there are times when saving won’t make a difference or can’t be sure where to save the game. However, what else can the game do or else it becomes too easy? It might help to let players decide if they want to repeat questioning, present different evidence, or replay a specific section.

On the other hand, the game saves you plenty of work as it automatically enters items into evidence once they enter the story. This doesn’t make the game easy at all as some evidence needs presenting at some point to gain more information as a court record before going to trial. A court record reveals more insight into evidence. You might come across an ID badge, but won’t understand its significance until you present it to someone who can offer more details. The game set up makes it possible for players to focus on figuring out the meaning of the evidence and piecing together the story.

When it comes trial time, every witness presents testimony and then you — as Phoenix Wright or Mia Fey — conducts cross-examinations to discover gaps and lies. During the cross-examination, the witness will repeat each line — one-by-one — to give you a chance to object, press for more information, present evidence that contradicts the witness’ statement, or let it go. A standard statement appears with each response, such as “Hold it!” when pressing or “Take that!” when presenting evidence. This also adds to the tediousness of the game. You can also use your voice in objections, but it’s not required — thankfully. A person with imperfect speech — like this writer — might struggle to be heard correctly.

Two spirit healers accompany Phoenix. One is Maya, Mia Fey’s younger sister, and the other is Pearl Fey, their cousin. Pearl easily gets on your nerves like a kid sister while Maya’s immaturity can grate at times. Nevertheless, the girls have good moments when they come shining through. This says a lot about the game’s characters and their uniqueness. It would help to have another likeable character or two — like Mia Fey — that don’t annoy players in the next edition.

Since Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations involves logical thinking and a good eye, it should attract players who prefer Nintendo’s Touch! Generation games such as Big Brain Academy, Picross DS, and Touchmaster. Like those, this one is easy to learn and use especially since a tutorial helps players get familiar with the interface.

Using sharp anime-style images and animation, the game presents everything with a first person perspective making players feel part of the action. After successfully winning all five cases, there may be little motivation to play the cases again. Thankfully, they last a long time making the game worth its value. Though Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations receives a few objections over its annoyances, it’s guilty of being entertaining, humorous, and getting players to use their brains. Those who want to be lawyers someday or watch TV shows like Perry Mason, Matlock, Boston Legal, or Law and Order will enjoy the playing the role without cracking open a law book.

The ESRB rating for this game is T (Teen) for Mild Blood, Mild Violence.

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Series

• Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney
• Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice for All
• Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations

Reporters everywhere despise it when PR people call them and ask, “Did you get my [fill in the blank]?” Fill in the blank with your distribution preference: “e-mail, fax, or other means of distribution.”

We know e-mail can get lost somewhere on the Internet highway, but that doesn’t justify calling a busy reporter or editor with such a silly question. The Washington Post [Link: Publicity Hound] pokes fun at this frustrating practice.

One of my current projects involves contacting writers and editors of the appropriate publication (a mistake many PR people make… sending it to publications that have nothing to do with their release or business — or at least, they don’t make a connection).

Based on experience as a person on both the sending and receiving end of PRs, I think what’s most effective is a note personalized to the recipient and publication that focuses on what readers could get out of a story and proposing story ideas.

Some publications accept articles from companies (IF they’re not marketing-speak) — take advantage and propose story ideas that complement the publication and avoid topics that have already appeared in the publication unless it’s reporting something new or different. Using this method, two publication responded to my e-mail and we’re working on something.

At the end of the message, let the recipient know there’s a PR WITHIN the e-mail for FYI. Don’t make the message about the PR. Writing creative PRs works — but some clients prefer sticking with traditional PRs. Focus time and energy on that personalized intro.

Nielsen addresses whether a site’s content strategy should use longer or shorter content. The best answer: As long as it needs to be. Even Nielsen’s own article is long and I jumped around to get its main points.

Many experience success with both long and short articles. I wrote two versions of a landing page for one of my clients and the shorter version is outselling the longer. Both contain bulleted points and bold headers. The longer page contains more details.

Yet, longer copy will outperform for other products and services. The best thing to do is test two copies and see which has greater success. Past article, Follow the Long Yellow Copy explores long copy.

Despite all the work that needs done — shopping, sending cards, mailing client gifts, writing the annual newsletter, decorating, cooking — December is a lovely time of the year. Casual gamers can get in the holiday spirit with the charming scenery in Holly: A Christmas Tale. Playing the game, however, puts a player in a different mood — not a good one at that.

The hidden object game and Christmas tale is simply too hard. In almost every level, I need to rely on hints. Good thing for hints because once the game points out where the object hides — I’m perplexed as to how someone can find an object completely hidden behind another object. Not even a hint of color around the front object’s edges.

In same cases, the object has parts of it barely showing. Well, is it a bear? A rabbit? A toy? Who knows? That means wasted clicks on every unidentifiable object and losing precious time.

What’s more is that some objects look nothing like what they’re supposed to be. Or a different object looks very much like an item on the list of objects to find. The scene with the animals was a nightmare. Find a swan and I click on what’s clearly a swan, but it’s not the right one.

Another nightmare for those who love the torture is the bags scene where players must find the bag that belongs to the listed country. Now, the list only shows one country at a time, so you can’t view the full list and figure out which bag might go with which country. The first one up is Austria. First thing that comes to mind about the country is music. Eventually, I give up and use a hint. When the game shows me the bag, I’m puzzled because I see no relation to its design and Austria. This happens for other countries.

I tried to access the bag game, but I keep getting stuck on the Russian doll (matryoshka dolls) level and can’t get out of it even when I find them all. After landing on that level for a fourth time, I quit.

The agony doesn’t stop there. In one level, Santa meets children who don’t speak English, so the kids make hand signs (shadowed pictures) of what they want. A nice idea, but poorly executed because there are many similarities of what the hand sign shows and objects in the scene that aren’t the right ones.

To advance to the next level, I click anywhere on the game map. When I arrive on level 23 or so, I click near the bottom of the map so I could play the next level only to find myself replaying a different level. Oh, the aggravation! I couldn’t get out of it. It’s just not clear where to click to advance because the map doesn’t clearly point the next spot. So I start clicking the lower right-hand corner for the rest of the game and that worked in ensuring I played the next level.

Not only do players search for well-hidden objects, but also compare two scenes to find the differences. At different points of the game, players will need to find 20+ objects of a similar nature ranging from flowers and Christmas tree ornaments to stars and fruits (someone has to do the holiday cooking, after all.).

I want to praise Holly: A Christmas Tale since — aside from the overly hidden items and difficulty in playing a different level — it is a charming game. It doesn’t help the game ends the way it does considering this is a seasonal game. If the developer has plans to make another — I’m all for it as long as it fixes the problems and annoyances.

Holly: A Christmas Tale has much potential thanks to its cartoon-style design and decent audio. So many hidden object games rely on photography-style design, so it’s a wonderful change to play one with a different style. The story isn’t spectacular, but it comes together nicely.

System Requirements

• Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista
• 800 MHz minimum
• 256 MB RAM
• DirectX 9.0 or later

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010 Meryl Evans