The main issue I see is trying to display the data from multiple layers at once without too many clicks.
This is quite a bit of a challenge, as a novice user would have to go through the different layers at once. For us, it's less of an issue since we've played for some time, but I could see this being an issue.
So what I think there needs to be is a sort of better "Combined" layer than what is currently there that displays information from the many layers from top to bottom.
Hot posts in thread: Alpha 1a Impressions
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Hi Dimuyen.
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Oh right...borderless window.
Usually this is a window that doesn't contain the standard window border yes. It usually defaults to the resolution of the desktop. That way it looks like fullscreen but one can tab out and such without losing the game view. Some games force the window to be on top, which is a bit annoying but I expect they have some reason for doing that.- Helpful x 1
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I put some more thought into the graphics and posted a powerpoint with them.
Again, I'm not a professional art director or anything like that, so I hope it's of some use.
I did find that most of my observations were on the game creation screen.
As for the tutorial thoughts I think it would definitely help. I worry that the transition from the simple menu to the complexity of the main game view may turn off some players upon their initial viewing of it.Attached Files:
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I like the new system view as well, and if it gets more functionality (e.g. colonize button) it would be better.
My biggest concern graphically is with the overall galaxy view, and as Dimuyen mentioned it does come across as kind of unpolished feeling. I really don't know if this is close to it's final form or if you are planning other improvements or not. Here are a few specific critiques on the galaxy map:
- Fuel range, scan range, and territory are all important map overlays. They way they overlap as a series of transparent fill layers doesn't look very refined and it also gets confusing. I'd consider having at most two levels of fill overlay (e.g. a darker shade for territory and lighter area for scan coverage outside of your territory) and the third element (e.g. fuel range) as a dashed line or something. Or the territory could be one type of line (thicker solid line), scan range a solid fill, and fuel range a thinner dashed line.
- The nebula effects look grainy and muddled, and they are hard to read while not adding much spice or life to the galaxy view.
- The fleet icons (and other icons around the systems) are pretty dull and also not dynamic. What if icons scaled to the size + style of the biggest ship in the fleet? Or scaled based on the number of ships. What if when you zoom in the icon fades out and you see an actual ship model in its place. Similar criticism applies to the fleet icons on the system view - they aren't too engaging and feel like a place holder. Again, I don't know if any of this is a placeholder or not.
- I think we should be able to zoom in even more on the galaxy map so that it feels like a smoother transition between system and galaxy view. I would consider having the actual icons scale a bit depending zoom scale. right now, whether zoomed out fully or all the way in, the icons seem to occupy the same % of the screen size.
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We do plan on improving the overall polish of the UI, the colony view and we'll have cutscenes, however it would be critical to know at this stage what are the most glaring issues on graphics in your view. Everyone is invited to participate with their own suggestions, of course, and can use this thread or create a new one if you wish.
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First of all, I want to say that due to my own time constraints I'm going to mostly focus on my negatives in order to just get them out there. With that said I wanted to say that overall I really like the game. I like the exploration/astronomy mechanic and in general I think the game does have its own niche within the genre. With that said...
A NOTE ON GRAPHICS
I won't spend much time going over the graphics, as this part is pretty obvious, but suffice to say that the best I can say is that they feel like a work in progress. But graphics are like frosting on the cake and I'm sure there are plenty of other folks that can do a better critique than me on this.
USER INTERFACE
My biggest gripes are all from the User Interface.
The game's initial main menu is very simple, with a classic spinning planet view and an easy to understand and understated looking menu. The game creation menu is also easy to follow, which is great. And then you're dropped into the game's main interface and every part of the UI that's visible is filled with buttons, and readouts which I think will be overwhelming for some (and exciting to a small percent?). My initial reaction was "that looks complicated...".
I would urge exploring ways of layering the information maybe with mouse-over fade-ins and fade-outs. A relatively cheap but I think effective means might be to create a "screenshot" of the UI with callouts that explain what everything is, which can be viewed when the player holds down the "F1" key or something along those lines. Just brainstorming, there are probably better ways.
Number of clicks to action is overall too high. For example, colonizing a planet takes too many clicks. First of all I can't figure out a way of colonizing a planet when you're in system view actually looking at the planets. It seems you have to back out into the starmap (1 click) then click on the tiny icon for the fleet around the planet (2 clicks) then select the colony ship (3 clicks), select the "colonize button" (4 clicks) and then finally select the planet (5 clicks). I'd suggest adding a colonize button at the solar system view that is turned on when it's possible to colonize a planet, and is turned off and explains why you can't colonize it otherwise (no ship in system, not enough tech, etc).
I'd like the ability to turn-off confirmation dialogs. The first few play-throughs they can be useful to remind you of how the game works, but after the 100th time confirming your space culture selection it gets slightly annoying.
OPTIONS
* Borderless window setting would be nice to have on this title.
Those are some initial thoughts, I'll post more when I get the chance.- Helpful x 1