UI

[jaworeq]

So based on today's video, I just wanna say how much I don't like the UI, especially for the Colonial Space equivalent. It's a step backwards from CW3 solution, where you can put a tag or author's name and see the last 16 maps at once. Here you can see 1 and partially 2 other (not counting the compressed edge ones).

Also the main menu, story mission selection screen on this ring...It's not a touchscreen to slide things over, it's PC with a precise pointing device, we can handle more than one thing on the screen at a time. If there was a choice, I'd prefer a list of all the options available as text over current solution. In the end, UI should just help me to get into game ASAP, not have me spinning the wheel ;)

[Fireball14]

To virgilw:
Do you use NGUI for those 3d panels? If you do, I can give you few pointers how to make them a bit better looking.

Also the main menu, story mission selection screen on this ring...It's not a touchscreen to slide things over, it's PC with a precise pointing device, we can handle more than one thing on the screen at a time. If there was a choice, I'd prefer a list of all the options available as text over current solution. In the end, UI should just help me to get into game ASAP, not have me spinning the wheel ;)

I think this game going to be on mobile platform eventely, so it's a good idea to plan ahead.

[knucracker]

I don't use NGUI... that the new unity gui with a perspective camera and a bunch of junk to keep the panels sorted properly.

As for the old cw3 grid vs the spinner...
The biggest complaint I get about the cw3 grid  is actually the opposite complaint.  Too much, too small.  Most people write me asking for a way to scroll threw the maps with bigger images of each.  They care mostly about the thumbnail images, the author, and the average time (and maybe rating).

All that said, the old grid view is actually in Particle Fleet.  I developed it (ported it) first.  So, I could I suppose have a toggle between the two views.  It would take a bit of work since the old grid view uses a different '2d' camera, but I can probably do it if it becomes an issue for people.

As for the other sections (like story, inception, etc),  the carousel is quicker than the CW3 equivalent of flying a ship around star systems.  The carousel remembers where you left it, so you come back to the same rotation as previously.  This is also true on the main menu.  And for the main menu... yeah, in the end a list of options in a table is teh quickest.  I used to have something close to that, with the editor on a sub tab.  But that looked worst and having the editors hidden away took more time to access and click confusion.  The current carousel on the main menu keeps its position when you return to it, and really is fairly brief and obvious once you play with it a few times.

Anyway, the only significantly superior main menu organization I've tried is a straight list of everything (one click to go anywhere).  But that's also lowest on the visual appeal scale.

[peter]

I like what I see at the moment, and will only make judgement after I have played it for several days straight.

From the previous games I have  trusted Mr. virgilw to do what will feel right for the game at each stage of development, and beyond.

Maybe after playing the game for a while there will be things that niggle me a bit, but not going to complain till that happens.

Whatever you do virgilw you do pretty damn good, so keep at it, I await spending my cash again with great anticipation.

[Fireball14]

I don't use NGUI... that the new unity gui with a perspective camera and a bunch of junk to keep the panels sorted properly.

I don't use that new UI too much. But here is few ideas:
1) Make it so selected panel scales up about 10-15% when rotation stops, or / and maybe on mouse hover on unselected panels.
2) Good idea would be to make selection outline on center panel.
3) Don't know if new ui can do it, but it would be good to add soft alpha cutoff on edges of first and last infinite panels.
4) Radial panels really need some kind of object to hold them. Maybe radial space station? Right now they feel kinda empty.

All that said, the old grid view is actually in Particle Fleet.  I developed it (ported it) first.  So, I could I suppose have a toggle between the two views.  It would take a bit of work since the old grid view uses a different '2d' camera, but I can probably do it if it becomes an issue for people.

Pls do make a toggle. This new UI feels a little bit clunky for mouse control and is more sutted for VR/Mobile platforms.

[mzimmer74]

I like the look of the new UI but there is one thing I'm not as certain about and that's the Simulacrum type maps going into the exchange.  I find the user created maps to be much more interesting and rarely go into the DMD area in CW3. 

I think it'd be nice if there were a way to filter out which type of map it is.  I didn't see anything on the filter system to allow that directly.  I would envision it being something like two checkboxes - one for show Simulacrum maps and one for show Mission Editor maps.

Just my 2 cents.

[knucracker]

Those filters are coming. I also make the background color of the panels different for the sim and the hand crafted maps.

The typical cw3 dmd map post rate is 1 to 5 per day. When the game is new that might spike to 20 or more but will settle down. So even without them filtered out the sim maps won't be too much in the way even if you never want to play one.  But in any case the filter will be nice.

[GoodMorning]

My first instinct on seeing a carousel when using a mouse is to try to use the scroll wheel. Is this an acceptable compromise to other precision-pointer-users?

[jaworeq]

The biggest complaint I get about the cw3 grid  is actually the opposite complaint.  Too much, too small.  Most people write me asking for a way to scroll threw the maps with bigger images of each.  They care mostly about the thumbnail images, the author, and the average time (and maybe rating).

All that said, the old grid view is actually in Particle Fleet.  I developed it (ported it) first.  So, I could I suppose have a toggle between the two views.  It would take a bit of work since the old grid view uses a different '2d' camera, but I can probably do it if it becomes an issue for people.

I saw a few complaints, but I thought they were related to wasted space during the game (bottom bar). I understand that bigger thumbnails are more informative, but with current size - you could still fit 8 of them. And how about an option where you start with grid, click on particular map (the details button) and then just have option to scroll from there (next/previous/jump20 maps).
Or just bigger thumbnail on mousehover.

As for the other sections (like story, inception, etc),  the carousel is quicker than the CW3 equivalent of flying a ship around star systems.  The carousel remembers where you left it, so you come back to the same rotation as previously.  This is also true on the main menu.  And for the main menu... yeah, in the end a list of options in a table is teh quickest.  I used to have something close to that, with the editor on a sub tab.  But that looked worst and having the editors hidden away took more time to access and click confusion.  The current carousel on the main menu keeps its position when you return to it, and really is fairly brief and obvious once you play with it a few times.

Oh, I'm not proposing flying ship at all ;) I suppose ring is good for story missions, it shows the sequence and such (just please make it react to mouse scroll as well).
But main menu just doesn't look right with 1 option at a time. Let's compromise, how about 3 fully visible options (angle close to 90 degrees towards the camera) and then other options on odd angle.

I understand I might be annoying, but games these days just don't do it (not even pixel games with low res). And watching various reviews here and there, I just fear how bad it will be received.

BTW - the UI scaling in options - is it about main menus, or just ingame UI?

[GoodMorning]

There's an issue with CW3 on screens with high-res, small pixels, where the UI is unreadably small. The map doesn't suffer from it, but the UI overlay does, seemingly to be fixed in pixel width. I would hope that scaling could allow for double+ size in PF.

[knucracker]

UI Scaling changes all UI elements on the menus and the menu and info boxes within the game.  The actual game play field is not affected, but it already has a wide zoom range.  So, if you are on a 4k monitor that has a small physical size (which would be anything under 40") you can crank the UI zoom and life is good again.

[knucracker]

Here's a quick view of the Exchange carousel packed and stretched about as far as the current model would allow.  This is taken at at 1920x1080 resolution and a UI scale of 1.
Things that affect the number of maps you can see at once are the horizontal resolution and the UI scale.

As for the carousel and how it moves...
There are two current ways (I'll add mouse wheel support after I type this message).
1: Move it manually with the mouse (can click and drag, or flick and it has some angular momentum that keeps it spinning for a bit).
2: Click the right and left rotation buttons.

It's item 2 I'll expand on as I probably didn't make clear how that works.  Those buttons don't do the same thing as just applying a little bit of spin to the carousel.  Instead they advance to the next/previous slot.  They also remember the number you are advancing to if you click quickly.  So if you click three times, the carousel moves 3 slots.  It always tweens in 0.6 seconds to where it is moving.  I'll probably also add a 'snap' option that removes the tween and just instantly snaps. You can cover a fairly wide range of maps quickly.  In fact, for a 'long' time I didn't even have angular momentum and the ability to drag the carousel panel... I only had those buttons.  They are so convenient, quick, and precise I tend to use them.  When I add mouse wheel support here in a bit, I'll make the wheel work the same as clicking those buttons (I hope).

[Nebulous]

Maybe you should add a little bar on the bottom that gives the description, and a few more things.

[Qwerty Quazo]

How about having two smaller rings at the same time?

[jaworeq]

I was thinking about double ring option as well, since there's enough space for 2 thumbnails there, but the packed version looks decent, with view on ~5 maps.