Some interface thoughts from a new player.

[keith.lamothe]

Ok, I like the halo idea, or something like that.

I'm very poor at art, though, and frankly I'm really short on time (trying to concentrate what AIW time I have on actual coding), so if someone who feels inclined could take the icon I'm attaching to this post (it's the game's RuntimeData\Images\GalaxyView\WormholeActive\Icon.png file) and make it something that works well in-game (to test it, just put your version in the place mentioned above) and post it back to this thread.  If we find something that makes folks happier than what we have now, we'll use it

And yea, the wormhole label could use an indicator too, I'll make a note.

[Wanderer]

I'm assuming transparancies aren't an issue for your graphics engine?  To do a halo well you'd need a 'gap' between the inner and outer components.

Nevermind, answered my own question, it's fine.

[keith.lamothe]

Right, the image is a png, which supports transparency.  The alpha blending (or simply nothing, if it's completely transparent) works fine in game.

[keith.lamothe]

FYI, cross-posting from the 5.028 release notes (hopefully that release will get out Monday) :

* On planet view, the game now draws two circles representing the key zones of the planet's "gravity well".  These will generally only be seen when zoomed very far out.  The inner circle (60000 range from planet center) represents the bounds of the area within which stationary structures may be built and transports may unload.  The outer circle (80000 range from planet center) represents the boundary beyond which ship engines are unable to maintain a useful velocity.
** The underlying rules have been there for over a year, but seeing the ranges involved the minimap.
** To go with this, added new toggle: Disable Planet Area Display, which disables this new drawing behavior.  If there's a bunch of complaints this toggle may be changed to default to "on", but we'll see

* Now for wave alerts that list the actual ship type being sent at you: moving your mouse cursor over a wave alert will bring up that ship's data, similar to mousing-over a ship of that type.

[Wanderer]

I apparently did something poorly.  Does the game need it to be 32 x 32?  Can't expand to 48x48?  I can see the 'close up' yellow but I can't see the distant one I modified.

Edit:
Heh, it actually flashes at me: No standard image size 48!

LOL.  Alright, so what ARE standard image sizes?

[keith.lamothe]

Can it please be 32x32?   If it really needs to be bigger, it needs to be a power-of-two sidelength, so 64x64.  Also, I think AIW only supports square images right now, though AVWW can support rectangular (but both dimensions have to be power-of-two).

[keith.lamothe]

Oh, and thanks very much for the attempt

[Wanderer]

Can it please be 32x32?   If it really needs to be bigger, it needs to be a power-of-two sidelength, so 64x64.  Also, I think AIW only supports square images right now, though AVWW can support rectangular (but both dimensions have to be power-of-two).

Not and keep the image visibile as a wormhole.  I could cut down the original image by half to 16x16, but it looked... well, miniscule.  64 it is.  That will actually give me a little extra to work with.

If I can get it to work at 64 it can always be shrank.

[Wanderer]

Okay, not my best work but it's a starting point.  I haven't messed with Gimp in a bit so I'm arguing with the smudge tool for the 'bright twists' I wanted.

Attached find the icon I created and what it looks like in game.  If this is what y'all were thinking of, let me know and I'll make it pretty.  Well, prettier.  My profession is not art.

[clone]

'm very poor at art, though, and frankly I'm really short on time (trying to concentrate what AIW time I have on actual coding)

Please don't burn yourself out, I'm not concerned about quick-fixes and stuff.  I know you take this feedback seriously and you'll get to it when you have some time again.  I just want to help in what small way I can to make the game the best it can be.  Unfortunately my forte seems to be bitching.

[Wanderer]

'm very poor at art, though, and frankly I'm really short on time (trying to concentrate what AIW time I have on actual coding)

Please don't burn yourself out, I'm not concerned about quick-fixes and stuff.  I know you take this feedback seriously and you'll get to it when you have some time again.  I just want to help in what small way I can to make the game the best it can be.  Unfortunately my forte seems to be bitching.

I'll second that, but luckily he likes us.  

Edit: UI does need a bit of an overhaul, I had the same opinion when I first started.  I'm just too close to the forest to see the trees anymore.  I've basically gotten so used to it I can't see it as faults because I don't even look at it that way anymore. 

[doctorfrog]

I'd prefer something a bit more artificial looking, like our targeting scanners or whatnot were focused on the wormhole:



The trouble with this is that it doesn't seem to rotate properly.

Also, if a minimap showing everything would be a performance issue, what about a selective minimap? All non-turret static structures could show on the minimap: stations, power stations, special assets, etc. They could blink when attacked, and the wormholes would also blink or have a ((o)) glyph indicating incoming attack. No need to render every last ship on such a tiny window.

I've lost my share of (glass) Ion Cannons because I was focused on another area of the battlefield, this would help me out a bit.

[clone]

Damn, I was hoping that animated png was supported, but I tried to replace the icon in the game files and it turned out static in-game.  I really think that a little bit of movement is what this needs.  It immediately catches the eye but doesn't add any clutter.



I have the animated png file if there's some way it could work.  I spent longer than I'd care to admit getting that to loop correctly.

The other problem is that if you zoom out the wormhole is drawn below everything else.  An option should be added to draw it on top of everything but the wormhole name.  In this screenshot the wormholes are completely hidden.

[TechSY730]

Damn, I was hoping that animated png was supported, but I tried to replace the icon in the game files and it turned out static in-game.  I really think that a little bit of movement is what this needs.  It immediately catches the eye but doesn't add any clutter.



I have the animated png file if there's some way it could work.  I spent longer than I'd care to admit getting that to loop correctly.

Not sure if Unity can handle it. You would have to ask the devs.
Currently, animations are handled by having each frame as a separate file. Awkward, yes, but it does work around the relatively obscure MNG format (the extension to the PNG standard that allows for animation)

The other problem is that if you zoom out the wormhole is drawn below everything else.  An option should be added to draw it on top of everything but the wormhole name.  In this screenshot the wormholes are completely hidden.

I'm pretty sure there is an option for this, because I have it on in my games.
Not sure why it isn't on by default.

[Coppermantis]

Doctorfrog's redraw is my personal favorite, it was what I was going to attempt until I saw it had already been done.