Issues With: The User Interface (UI)

lch · #1 June 16th, 2008, 12:18 PM

Bump because I think that this thread is important. I've listed UI issued before, too. I think that the UI usability and the AI are the biggest factors for an evaluation of the game by a player, so issues about the UI should definitely be considered as important to fix.

If it wasn't listed before, some things I remember from the back of my head:
- in-game load/save editor of pretenders you've created before
- being able to cancel/backtrack from anywhere in the main menu UI, as far as I remember that's not always the case when you create a game, if it prompts you for a game name

Ming · #2 June 18th, 2008, 07:25 AM

My most desired UI changes:

1. Have province info show both resources left for the turn (in addition to the resource provided per turn currently shown), including in the Nation Overview. [Currently I need to click on the Recruit button to check if I have already done my recruiting for the time. By late game with more than 20 recruiting centres it is easy to miss some and time consuming to double check.]

2. The End Turn button should be placed well away from the other buttons. I have prematurely ended my turn in SP several times when I meant to click on the Options button (usually to save the turn when it is a very complex and critical - and interesting - turn and cannot be finished in one sitting). [This can be very devastating as I tend not to copy the saved turns to another folder - to prevent the temptation to "cheat" in SP and load from a previous turn when something nasty happens.]

3. Replace the Magic button with the National Overview button. The Magic button is identical to the Lab button anyway while National Overview is essential to me in late game and saves me much time in completing the turn. The font size of the National Overview table should be smaller as currently some info got cut out (eg. the number of turns remaining for completing a castle with a long name) due to lack of space. The Map filter button should be placed under options as it is not often used (by me at least).

The above changes, if implemented, will save the time I need to complete a game by at least 15% and probably do the same for other players too (pure guesswork). However, I am no programmer and have no idea how much work would be needed to implement.

thejeff · #3 June 18th, 2008, 09:08 AM

3) It took me a minute to figure out what you were talking about with the Magic and National overview buttons. As far as I'm concerned the National overview button is F1. I never use the mouse to get there.

2) Despite having an extra button to push, I much preferred the Dom2 version where "End Turn" took you to the host screen like it does when playing multiple nations. Especially since "e" does the same thing.

1) Not a criticism, but that probably means you're recruiting too many troops and not enough mages. Even in late game, I'll rarely be able to use up resources in more than 2-3 provinces. The capital if I'm still using capital only troops and one or two castles near the front. The bulk of the money goes into mages. So showing resources left wouldn't really help, what I want to know is where I haven't yet recruited mages.
And I know I'm done when there's no money left

Ming · #4 June 18th, 2008, 10:46 AM

Thanks for your comments.

On 1) it is probably because you are thinking MP and I am playing SP. When ganged up by AI's in the late game I need to recruit locally (mages too) at or near the choke points to replace losses as it takes too long to get the troops from my main recruiting centres to all the frontlines. I guess in MP when one is fighting so many players at the same time one might as well give up!

Zeldor · #5 June 18th, 2008, 10:54 AM

The colour of that recruit button switches from grey to gold when you have recruited unist in that province.

fungalreason · #6 June 18th, 2008, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Ming said:
My most desired UI changes:

2. The End Turn button should be placed well away from the other buttons. I have prematurely ended my turn in SP several times when I meant to click on the Options button (usually to save the turn when it is a very complex and critical - and interesting - turn and cannot be finished in one sitting). [This can be very devastating as I tend not to copy the saved turns to another folder - to prevent the temptation to "cheat" in SP and load from a previous turn when something nasty happens.]

I'd also like something like this, but for the hotkey version as well. End turn is right next to "r"ecruit, and "R"esearch. I use the others so often that it's easy to accidentally hit "e" instead and end the turn prematurely. It can be devastating in single player (or in mp if you happen to be playing while connected and are the last person to submit a turn). I think a confirmation box, or an option to show one would fix the issue for both situations.

Ming · #7 June 18th, 2008, 01:18 PM

Zeldor,

Thanks. That is useful to know. Still, it would be mice to see it in the Nations Overview table instead of having to go from province to province to check it.

Another nice touch would be to have the Nations Overview screen remember where you were at when you last left it instead of having to scroll from the top every time.

AreaOfEffect · #8 June 22nd, 2008, 04:33 PM

In regards to accidentally ending your turn in a single player game my solution was always to just close the program. This is made easier by keeping the game in window mode rather then full screen. The game will save all of your moves as the first part of turning and so when you return to the game you can pick up where you left off, as if you never pressed 'e' or hit the end turn button.

I have no work-a-round for being the last submitter in a multi-player game.

HoneyBadger · #9 June 22nd, 2008, 08:46 PM

If more programs in general would provide for simple human error, we'd live in a far better world.

I encounter this exact same curcumstance at work every day: You spend 15 minutes filling out information for a form, and to complete it you have to click on a button that's less than half a centimeter from another button that cancels everything out.

lch · #10 June 22nd, 2008, 11:33 PM

One thing that would really, really help in the ingame Map Editor:
Map +/- to hop to the next/previous province number.

Or any other type of key combinations, like >/< or ,/.

Since editing a map or starting it from scratch involves looking at all the provinces, you have to hit the # key all the time for every single province right now, to make sure that you didn't miss any. New hotkeys would help a lot here.