View Issue Details
| ID | Project | Category | Date Submitted | Last Update | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0006543 | Valley 1 | Suggestion - UI Ideas | Mar 8, 2012 5:04 pm | Apr 14, 2012 10:22 pm | |
| Reporter | Bluddy | Assigned To | Chris_McElligottPark | ||
| Status | resolved | Resolution | fixed | ||
| Product Version | 0.904 | ||||
| Fixed in Version | 0.927 | ||||
| Summary | 0006543: Show map info without right clicks | ||||
| Description | Right clicking on the map seems like it's... unnecessary. You can move virtually anywhere you want anyway, so why not just show tile/mission info in another window in the UI? It feels like there are two ways to explore the map (walking and with the mouse), which is redundant, while at the same time each method can only give you some of the info you want. I especially don't like right clicking because I'm using the keyboard exclusively, but I just don't see the need for it. It seems to me like you could either get all info by moving around the map, or you could just do everything with the mouse by clicking on your destination and moving there automatically (which is easier to imagine now that movement is continuous rather than discrete). I prefer full keyboard navigation of course, since that's more coherent with the rest of the game. The only thing this wouldn't work for is that you couldn't examine tiles that are across the ocean which your character can't reach. But perhaps that's a good thing? That makes those areas you can't reach mysterious. | ||||
| Tags | No tags attached. | ||||
| Internal Weight | New | ||||
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As an option, this is something we could consider later. But you'd still need to mouseover those windows to get the tooltips. This is a keyboard + mouse game, and it's literally impossible to play with just a keyboard -- always will be, I'm afraid. The list of problems we had with keyboard-only play (for menus, sorting inventory, etc) was as long as my arm. The other assumption you're making with this about a window that pops up as you walk around is that this would be something that would actually not obscure an unpleasant amount of your screen. I play at a very large resolution and I suspect you do also, but for the smaller resolutions that are common for many players that would cover 1/4 or more of their screen. |
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I play in windowed mode, in 1024x768 resolution. It just seems to me like the UI for the map could be more efficient, and less convoluted in the sense that you need a right click and sometimes a mouseover to get info. Currently, the box at the bottom is quite wasteful. It gives you the name of the location and the coordinates, which is fine, but then there's a line about pressing use to enter the tile, which is unnecessary -- players will pick up on that pretty fast, it doesn't need to stay for the rest of the game. Then there's a long line saying the Civ level, enemies, allies, and mission Tier. It's wordy -- unnecessarily so. Civ level: number Default Enemy Tier: number should be enough. This window can be used instead to show the picture of the area (which you currently get by right clicking). The description can either be squeezed in there or could come from mousing over the picture, which would always be there. When you enter a tile with a mission, the same window could expand to show info about the mission. In other words, I'm not really arguing to make it a pure keyboard game. I'm perfectly happy with the mouse occupying some roles. I'm just looking to improve the flow of the interface. Constantly having to right click an area to get info about it or about the mission when you're moving through the map anyway seems unnecessary and too much UI work. Also many people will miss the cool descriptions of areas because right clicking everywhere is tedious. |
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Hmm, you raise some good points, but my brain is fried at the moment. I will have to think on this some. The idea of having some of that streamlined, and not having to right-click for information, is attractive. On the other hand, some of that "press E to enter" type stuff is absolutely needed not just for new players, but also for players returning after a long absence... like press. There's a lot of people who think they know how to play the game (from the early beta days), but in reality don't know squat about the way things work now. That's tricky. |
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A help or '?' button somewhere on the screen could do the job of explaining the basics. In fact, it's probably a good idea to include a small '?' button on every screen. |
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Thanks! Turns out this works _really_ well, even on 800x600, which is what I've been testing this on. On higher resolutions it's even better. * Previously, there were two interfaces telling you about regions. The first was when you walked into a region and would show in the lower left corner of the screen. It was semi-informative. The second was when you right-clicked any region on the screen. It was very informative, but not everybody even thought to find it. ** These two interfaces have now been combined and show in the lower left corner when you walk over regions; there is no way to right-click regions and examine them from a distance anymore (which kind of defeated the purpose and the sense of real travel when walking around, anyhow). ** Several bits of the text here have been made more informative and more compact, as well. For instance, when you are in a sailing ship it no longer erroneously tells you that you can enter ocean tiles directly; it tells you you have to go to a port on any continent in order to get out of the ship. |
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Looks great. The only thing I'd suggest now is putting the standard area image, guardian powers button, and tier/CP explanation on the bottom, and any extra info (if available) on top. This would prevent the button and image popping up and down as you move around the map. |
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Gah, I should have thought of that. ;) * The region details window in the lower left corner of the world map has now been vertically reoriented so that the big region image and standard text that is always there is now the bottom-most item. Any extra details about missions, settlements, overlords, etc, are now shown above that rather than below. That prevents the image and standard text from popping up and down as you move between regions that do and don't have secondary information to show. Nice. :) |
| Date Modified | Username | Field | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 8, 2012 5:04 pm | Bluddy | New Issue | |
| Mar 8, 2012 5:07 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0020606 | |
| Mar 8, 2012 5:07 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Assigned To | => Chris_McElligottPark |
| Mar 8, 2012 5:07 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Status | new => considering |
| Mar 8, 2012 7:51 pm | Bluddy | Note Added: 0020607 | |
| Mar 8, 2012 7:52 pm | Bluddy | Note Edited: 0020607 | |
| Mar 8, 2012 7:57 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0020609 | |
| Mar 8, 2012 8:22 pm | Bluddy | Note Added: 0020614 | |
| Apr 13, 2012 12:14 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Internal Weight | => New |
| Apr 13, 2012 12:14 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0021996 | |
| Apr 13, 2012 12:14 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Status | considering => resolved |
| Apr 13, 2012 12:14 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Fixed in Version | => 0.927 |
| Apr 13, 2012 12:14 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Resolution | open => fixed |
| Apr 14, 2012 9:09 pm | Bluddy | Note Added: 0022035 | |
| Apr 14, 2012 10:22 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0022038 |
