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IDProjectCategoryLast Update
0022110AI War 2GUINov 6, 2019 1:13 pm
ReporterAsteroid Assigned To 
Severityfeature 
Status newResolutionopen 
Product Version1.005 Answering Your Top Requests 
Summary0022110: Tooltip revamp + improved C-click view
Description(The C-click/"encyclopedia" part of this would also serve as a good framework for the planned "lore pass".)

I've been advocating for a while that the base tooltip be almost text-less, with only:
- Unit name and Mark
- Base stats such as health, shields and DPS next to an icon (no stat name, only icon + amount). I'd include cloaking points as a base stat.
- Possibly just the name of each weapon (ideally, an icon but the game doesn't have those) or key ability.
- Possibly a one-line description of functionality.
- Plenty of empty space to separate all these elements and make them easy to scan visually during the heat of the action. Refer to how mainstream RTSs or other strategy games present unit stats to design this particular view.

We could still have other tooltip modes, but they should stick to showing minimal reminders of the full info they represent, not try to deliver encyclopedic knowledge. The cycling could still be through per-mode shortcut keys like now, but for simplicity we could also cycle between different displays with a single key or on-screen buttons.

Of course there's only so much information that makes sense to display in a tooltip. When it gets beyond what you can read without pausing the game it should be offloaded to a dedicated view. So most detailed information would be reserved to an improved "C-click" (or less esoteric shortcut + button) view, where you can actually hover over stats, weapons and other things to get improved descriptions, and click on things such as ship names in the R-view to navigate to their full information or lore. Think browser hyperlink or the Civilopedia in Civ IV.

This is all technically possible thanks to TextMeshPro supporting hyperlinking and text-hovering functionality. I estimate it would take a few weeks of work to implement, with some work reusable for the lore pass.

Benefits include:
- Game much more accessible and less intimidating to newbies
- Key info visible at a glance for veterans
- Much easier to get to the detailed info you actually need to to hyperlinking system

Also posted here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/573410/discussions/0/1637549649095498297/#c1637549649095793733
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Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
Nov 6, 2019 1:13 pm Asteroid New Issue