FAQ: User Interface Development

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FAQ: User Interface Development

Postby sven » Wed Apr 15, 2015 5:33 pm

This FAQ covers topics related to planned features and changes for the UIs. It's meant to complement the more general FAQ on game features, which focuses on questions related to higher-level design goals.

Please let me know if you have any further questions you think should be added to this FAQ.

Q: Will you add the ability to zoom-out to the strategic map?

A: Not soon. It's a feature I'm wary of, and while I may eventually be talked into adding it, if we implement a strategic zoom before release, I imagine it will be as a part of a final polish pass. See also my comments here.

Q: Will you give players the ability to customize their fleet formations at the start of tactical battles?

This is another feature I'm wary of. Giving the player explicit control over fleet setups would require whole new collections of rules and UIs -- and unless we're careful, the impact on overall gameplay might just be to make fleet battles more tedious and time consuming.

There's some simpler changes I'd like to try first -- like making sure that non-combat ships go in the back of the auto-formation, and escort designs go in the front/middle. That, by itself, would probably cut down on a lot of the frustration, and tweaking the auto-formation rules is far easier than designing and implementing a good fleet setup UI.

Q: Will you add a production queue for planets?

A: Yes. Not entirely sure when, but yes. Since r12911 planets have had production queues, though the UI is still missing a few bells and whistles. See this thread for more gossip about just what sorts of additional features we're considering.

Q: How do I change the weapons mounted in my planetary defense bases?

Right now, the rules for upgrading and refitting defenses are a little odd. After researching "Defense Grid", you should see 1 or more "Planetary Defense" designs in your ship design screen. Editing those designs automatically updates all your bases to use the edited spec. "Planet Defenses 1" updates all planets with exactly 1 defense improvement, "Planet Defenses 2" does the same thing for planets with exactly 2 defense improvements, etc.

Q: The frame layout for the planetary production screens / ship status screens looks off.

A: As or r12911, the planetary production panes have been upgraded, please report any layout issues you run into when using them. The ship status screens are still waiting for a similar upgrade.

Q: Why are my scouts being destroyed after I retreat from a system?

A: This is a category of interwoven bugs/design issues that we've been working on since the start of beta. The issue was worse in prior builds, for a range of reasons -- but, the main remaining problem, I think, is that we're not warning players that hitting "next turn" will result in auto-resolving any pending battles / NPC encounters. Arioch and I have ideas about how to improve this -- and said improvements are one of the few remaining high priority UI TODOs.

A: As of r13286, an "Are you Sure?" warning should pop up any time your ignore events such as pending combat or unresolved pirate encounters. Hopefully, new players will now find these situations far less confusing.

Q: Are you planning any more changes to the fleet selection/splitting system?

A: The UI for controlling fleets on the strategic map proved to be one of the most problematic features of the first two months of beta, and it's been significantly redesigned in light of all the feedback we received. I think it's working alright as is -- but, if you're a new tester, and find it hard to figure out how to split fleets or interpret the "insufficient range" warnings, please let us know. In particular, I"m curious how many people discover the 'right-click inverts the ship selection' semantic, and, of those that do, how many are AoW vets :)

Q: Will you add rally points or fleet grouping to strategic UI?

A: There are no plans to do so at present. If you think the game badly needs them, you should advocate for them in the forums :) Also, take a look at Gyrfalcon's post on 'Distrubuted Production', and Arioch and my responses to the same.

Q: Are you planning any more changes to the research screen?

A: Along with the fleet UI, navigating and interpreting the research screen was the other big UI problem we discovered in the early beta phases. The current radio-button interface replaces a much older, less-intuitive system. Our hope is that the function of all the tech screen elements is now clear, though, the jumble of art-assets we're using for things like frames and buttons are almost all temporary placeholders, and scheduled to be replaced whenever when can get around to it. We've also just added a Civ-like 'Queue Research' button, which may make exploring the tech tree simpler. We're still very much in the market for clever ideas related to simplifying or clarifying the research screen -- so if you have any feedback on how to best do that, please drop a comment on the "Suggestions" thread.

Q: Will you add an in-game tech tree visualization?

A: Maybe, but not soon. In my mind, this is a "nice to have" not a "need to have". There are some very good games in this genre which never implemented an in-game tech tree visualization (for example XCOM: Enemy Unknown). Visualizing the tree makes it more difficult to introduce dynamic elements -- like techs that become available only in response to certain in game-events. So if we do add a tree visualization, it will be as a part of a final UI polish pass.

Q: Will you change the ship design screen to allow weapons \ equipment to be filtered in some way? The current interface is confusing.

A: Yup -- it's on the list. But, a relatively low priority item, as I think the current ship design UI is usable as is -- particularly during the early / mid game.

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