The Future of Space Empires IV

Urendi Maleldil · #1 June 5th, 2008, 05:20 PM

SE5 has serious usability problems. Not only that, but the eye candy that makes it so hard to use looks circa 1999.

Fyron · #2 June 5th, 2008, 07:33 PM

What eye candy makes SE5 hard to use? SE4 wastes as much screen space in its report screens as SE5 does (due to poor scaling to larger resolutions). Certainly the excessive clicking and poor button panel layouts harm usability, but that's not "eye candy."

Urendi Maleldil · #3 June 5th, 2008, 09:29 PM

I'm referring to both the interface and the 3d hex-based map. Strategy 1st seriously needs to hire a usability expert.

Azselendor · #4 June 6th, 2008, 12:17 AM

Quote:

Urendi Maleldil said:
I'm referring to both the interface and the 3d hex-based map. Strategy 1st seriously needs to hire a usability expert.

*ducks in case Aaron chucks a coffee cup at Urendi*

Kana · #5 June 10th, 2008, 03:34 AM

I'm curious. What features from each of the previous Space Empires would you like to see in SE6?

Urendi Maleldil · #6 June 10th, 2008, 07:41 AM

Quote:

Kana said:
I'm curious. What features from each of the previous Space Empires would you like to see in SE6?

Appearance of SE4
Usability of SE3
Modability of SE5
Damage model of SE3
Neutrals of SE2
Research model of SE3

Ironmanbc · #7 June 10th, 2008, 08:12 AM

a self learning A.I.

Kana · #8 June 6th, 2008, 01:36 AM

Quote:

Urendi Maleldil said:
I'm referring to both the interface and the 3d hex-based map. Strategy 1st seriously needs to hire a usability expert.

Hexes good. Interface bad. Ship layout bad. Modibility good.

Fyron · #9 June 6th, 2008, 04:57 AM

Quote:

Urendi Maleldil said:
I'm referring to both the interface and the 3d hex-based map. Strategy 1st seriously needs to hire a usability expert.

What is wrong with the hex map? It provides much better geometry than a square grid, eliminating the issues with diagonal movements covering greater distances than horizontal and vertical ones.

capnq · #10 June 6th, 2008, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Fyron said:

Quote:

Urendi Maleldil said:
I'm referring to both the interface and the 3d hex-based map. Strategy 1st seriously needs to hire a usability expert.

What is wrong with the hex map? It provides much better geometry than a square grid, eliminating the issues with diagonal movements covering greater distances than horizontal and vertical ones.

The hexes aren't the problem, the 3D implementation is the problem. You constantly have to rotate the map to either find the selected object or figure out which hex you need to click to select it. Trying to get around this by switching to the 2D overhead map doesn't help, because the scale and orientation changes between views, so you've got to scroll around and search for the object again every time you switch between the two. The flags and status icons are sized such that you can either set them to be readable, or to not block other labels, but not both.