Author Topic: GUI Focus Group: "Start New Game" P2: Lobby Interface  (Read 16899 times)

Offline Atepa

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Re: GUI Focus Group: "Start New Game" P2: Lobby Interface
« Reply #30 on: February 15, 2018, 07:25:02 pm »
Two reasons as far as I understand:

1. Your starting ship isn't tied to your starting planet anymore.
2. Losing starting planet isn't your game-over condition anymore (now it is losing your Ark).

So the shape of the galaxy still influences the game (chokepoints, etc), but where you specifically start is not as important.

Check. If nothing else that will help make generating games easier... I remember the pain of spamming new seeds trying to get the ship I wanted in a not horrid spot in the past, heh

Offline x4000

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Re: GUI Focus Group: "Start New Game" P2: Lobby Interface
« Reply #31 on: February 15, 2018, 09:04:29 pm »
Check. If nothing else that will help make generating games easier... I remember the pain of spamming new seeds trying to get the ship I wanted in a not horrid spot in the past, heh

Exactly.  We had some people going 10 minutes or so trying to do that.  Ack!  Sometimes I was one of them. ;)  That was a big goal in making it less of a focus here.
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Offline Elda King

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Re: GUI Focus Group: "Start New Game" P2: Lobby Interface
« Reply #32 on: February 16, 2018, 03:09:22 pm »
There is a lot here to discuss... in general, I like the mock-ups better than what the game currently has. I like that it has different sections for map/human/AI/other factions instead of tabs, and it is better separated (players separate from AI). I also like that you have the basic info in one screen and buttons to open advanced menus for each category - easy to navigate but you can just ignore it. I like the option of creating presets. I like small squares for colors instead of listing the color name.

But one thing I really dislike: as someone who only plays singleplayer, I absolutely hate when the menus for singleplayer have multiplayer specific options. Few things say "this game isn't intended to be played like this" more than having the interface cluttered by a lot of useless options because multiplayer is assumed to be default. Chat window, host options, multiple slots for human players... all of that is making the singleplayer interface busier for no purpose, and unfriendlier. For me either multiplayer has a different menu or you have a modular interface where multiplayer options only appear if the player chooses a multiplayer option.

(About using the chat window as a log in singleplayer... a text log is a pretty ugly interface most of the time. Everything you need to know should be indicated somewhere else by the options current selected, and any changes you want to revert should be done through the interface. It only really works for multiplayer chat, where you can have messages about other players' actions or server state.)

I also think that both "Other options" and "Other factions" are advanced enough that they could use a sub-screen for themselves, making the basic screen just the bare minimum. Customization is super nice, but the default should be good enough for starting out.

Another somewhat minor suggestion: in the basic screen, it could perhaps show a nice big image of the selected Ark instead of just it's name? And maybe give minor factions a representative image like the AI factions, if there is already art available that would work. It could go a long way in giving them some identity.

Offline etheric42

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Re: GUI Focus Group: "Start New Game" P2: Lobby Interface
« Reply #33 on: February 16, 2018, 05:16:27 pm »
You make a really good point.  I'm going to brainstorm a bit for revision 8.  I think that text box is still going to be useful for tracking changes in some fashion (think CRPGs where you have that log "Bert attacked Goblin for 4 damage.  Goblin is SLAIN!")  Maybe I can shrink it and fill the new space with some more art, or just increase the amount of negative space between sections?

Offline Elda King

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Re: GUI Focus Group: "Start New Game" P2: Lobby Interface
« Reply #34 on: February 17, 2018, 09:11:09 am »
Either could work. Leaving space at the borders and centralizing the menu could also work if you fill the borders with a background or something.

What kind of change would need to be tracked in singleplayer? I can only think of randomizing the map/new seeds, and that would be better solved with a button to show history or to go to previous/next.

 

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