androshalforc

Join Date 03/2007

+62

mini map & multi screen support

i diddent really like the mini map in gc2 i found it too small to be usefull unless you were playing a small map

one thing that i think would be nice would be the ability to adjust the amount of screen space the mini map takes up( i know in gcII you could minimize it)

what i was hoping was something like adjusting it to 50/50 and having it work like the fully zoomed out wire frame that is currently on gcII and possibly have good multiscreen support so that if you have dual monitors. you could have the minimap show up on your second monitor

EVE did this somewhat well allowing you to launch in windowed mode and then offset your camera this in a sense gave you a full screen on your main monitor and excess space on your second to put up chat logs / information logs and such.

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I think it would be pretty nice to have integrated support for multiple displays not unlike the way Supreme Commander supported it, however, I think it could be even more fleshed out.

If the UI consists of components that are configurable and mobile, almost like widgets, for example, you could have: main galactic map on display one; enhanced minimap, multiple timeline graphs, and diplomatic relations/treaties chart on display two; potentially extensible to more than two displays. Maybe even allow saving of layouts so that you can build layout sets that are more or less relevant at different stages of a game and switch between them easily.

Some really nice stuff could be done in this area.

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I would like to see multi-monitor support too, particularly with draggable windows.

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+1 for multiple displays

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A dollar says they're making it touch-screen based, too.

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Lucky_Jack

Join Date 01/2002

+62

Quoting chuck1es,

reply 4

A dollar says they're making it touch-screen based, too.

Only for Windows 8. but I wouldn't be surprised. I hear that the mechanics for touch screen are rather minor in the overall scheme of programming.

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Seilore

Join Date 10/2006

+154

Quoting chuck1es,

reply 4

A dollar says they're making it touch-screen based, too.

I don't want windows 8 or 8.1, please no,

while you're at it make it for a tablet too :@ don't dumb down the game for that.

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Lucky_Jack

Join Date 01/2002

+62

Quoting Seilore,

reply 6

I don't want windows 8 or 8.1, please no,

Not to worry. It can be done so that it doesn't matter, as shown by Civ V.

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Tridus

Join Date 03/2008

+110

Quoting Lucky Jack,

reply 5

Quoting chuck1es, reply 4
A dollar says they're making it touch-screen based, too.

Only for Windows 8. but I wouldn't be surprised. I hear that the mechanics for touch screen are rather minor in the overall scheme of programming.

and pretty huge in terms of UI design. It's really easy to make a UI that's bad at touch, or good at touch and bad with a mouse. Conveying a lot of information while making both interface types easy to use is hard.

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So long as they don't do what Microsoft did with Windows 8 - make desktop software gesture-based.

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Hawawaa

Join Date 09/2006

+33

I just got my first dual monitor setup going and I love it! I WANT IT!

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Why all the hate for Windows 8? (If the glove don't fit...)

Microsoft obviously got the jump on touch-based 'puters and the Tiles o' Doom (they're awesome, by the by) can easily be switched off to a more familiar, oldie-moldy-fogie-I-don't-like-change-get-off-my-lawn UI.

I actually spent time on how a touch-based UI for GalCiv3 would be like and I started drooling. Couldn't they create two seperate UI options? Ya know, since we all apparently don't mind adding to Stardock's work load.

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Honestly after playing a few huge galaxies GC2, its interface left me with a bitter taste in my mouth. I instantly saw things that could be done with 1 or 2 clicks less. Things like fleet grouping, and being unable to see what what building is under construction on a planet without entering the planet building screen rly annoy me. I would much rather have a small icon above the planet displaying ship and building under construction with time until completion next to them, and maybe a hotkey to hide and display said icons or maybe show when hovering cursor over a planet.

Also game does not cope well with adjusting to high resolutions, since i played at 1920 x watever, descriptions and numbers were moved accros the screen away from one another.

I hope all this things will be addressed in gc3 including a more advanced minimap.

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Simply clicking on a planet would allow one to see what ships were being built and their time frames.

I never had problems with not knowing what was being built while playing the largest maps. Most the planets were fairly generic, I would place everything (usually) as soon as I colonized a planet. The special projects and wonders I placed personally so knew where they were and their times of completion.

If I ever got lost I simply used the planet list which describes everything in an easy-to-use interface.

Eventually I would be completely expanded out with the map (the "Strategic View) and would have to zoom in on particular planets just to see whatever symbols are on 'em. Would take less time to just click and see the planet itself.

I could see, maybe, a hover icon that could pop up after a few seconds. But, to my mind, that would just be the same thing as clickin' and would even take more time.

'Less I'm completely misunderstanding something.

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Oh, and I don't mean to be arguentative (just realized my post could be taken that way). I mean it as showing other options/tryin' to be helpful, etc.

I only mean to start arguments in the Tactical thread.

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@Frogboy and Friends -

Actually, how difficult would all that stuff be to do? Not that you should or have to do it. I'm just curious 'bout the time, effort, etc. that ya'll have to sink into such things to make 'em work and look good.

Like, say, mini-menus that could pop up when a curser is over a planet. Have a slider for time-frame and maybe even for the amount of information presented. Like a simple menue versus an advanced one.

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Quoting chuck1es,

reply 13

Simply clicking on a planet would allow one to see what ships were being built and their time frames.

I never had problems with not knowing what was being built while playing the largest maps. Most the planets were fairly generic, I would place everything (usually) as soon as I colonized a planet. The special projects and wonders I placed personally so knew where they were and their times of completion.

If I ever got lost I simply used the planet list which describes everything in an easy-to-use interface.

Eventually I would be completely expanded out with the map (the "Strategic View) and would have to zoom in on particular planets just to see whatever symbols are on 'em. Would take less time to just click and see the planet itself.

I could see, maybe, a hover icon that could pop up after a few seconds. But, to my mind, that would just be the same thing as clickin' and would even take more time.

'Less I'm completely misunderstanding something.

I never said i couldn't see what ship was being built, you are just unable to see the building under construction without entering some other screen. I don't build everything ride away on every planet and i have a compulsive disorder with this sort of thing where i need to check stuff every turn.

Planet list is great but and i used it extensively as well, but there is an interface problem with it as well. I want and need 3 things: planet location what it does and what it has, planet list gives me no idea where the planet is without me doing something. The way i want planet list is to have a minimap that would indicate where the currently selected planet is at along with everything it displays now.

Basically i want all the vital information readily available with as least actions as possible. That's why i want hotkey that would toggle toolbars with this information above planets on the big map overview, when i am done with planet macro management i would like to toggle toolbars off so they obstruct the view while i am managing the fleet movement.

For ppl like me i would like them to make toolbars as detailed as possible with lots of data, and in the options anyone should be able to toggle on or off as much of it as they see fit so everyone is happy.

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Lucky_Jack

Join Date 01/2002

+62

Quoting Xsifilad,

reply 16

I want and need 3 things: planet location what it does and what it has, planet list gives me no idea where the planet is without me doing something

So, like in GC2, clicking on a planet in the planet list taking you to the location of the planet is too much effort? And the ability to sort the planet list by sector isn't close enough? And the big "X" in the top right of the planet list window that closes the planet list window isn't just as good as a toggle that removes the planet list from view?

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Quoting Lucky Jack,

reply 17

So, like in GC2, clicking on a planet in the planet list taking you to the location of the planet is too much effort?

If by that you mean clicking on the colony list taking me to the colony screen then closing the colony screen to see where it is then clicking on the colony to see if i want to do something with it once i have received the missing information that was not present at the colony list and if i decide not to do anything i am going back to the colony list to do the same thing with the next planet, then yes its too much effort when i have 100+ colonies.

Aldso there i see no option in colony list to list them by sectors and even if there was, a visual representation is still better. If not a minimap in colony list then making colony list smaller so i could both see the map and the colony list at the same time half and half the screen would also be acceptable, or if dual monitors are pressent just having colony list on the secondary would be great too.

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Lucky_Jack

Join Date 01/2002

+62

Quoting Xsifilad,

reply 18

Quoting Lucky Jack, reply 17
So, like in GC2, clicking on a planet in the planet list taking you to the location of the planet is too much effort?

If by that you mean clicking on the colony list taking me to the colony screen then closing the colony screen to see where it is then clicking on the colony to see if i want to do something with it once i have received the missing information that was not present at the colony list and if i decide not to do anything i am going back to the colony list to do the same thing with the next planet, then yes its too much effort when i have 100+ colonies.

Aldso there i see no option in colony list to list them by sectors and even if there was, a visual representation is still better. If not a minimap in colony list then making colony list smaller so i could both see the map and the colony list at the same time half and half the screen would also be acceptable, or if dual monitors are pressent just having colony list on the secondary would be great too.

Are we both talking about Galactic Civilizations 2????? Or perhaps you are talking about the colony list in the colony management screen (F6)?

The planet list, accessed by the F2 key, brings up a list of all your planets, all unowned planets, all "Foreign" planets, or "All" planets. It has 18 sort options. In my game's configuration (1440X900 - windowed) the planet list takes only just 1/5 of the screen horizontally with the main map taking the rest. Clicking on a planet in the planet list shifts the main map so that the planet is visible on the main map, if it is not already, and highlights the planet.

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Lucky_Jack

Join Date 01/2002

+62

On the other hand, I would like to see the function keys to be toggles, not to just bring up its window.

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Honestly, I'd be surprised if there wasn't a pop-up or some such for planet information, like the sort ya want, in GalCiv3. If not we can beg for it.

Maybe a right-click on the planet to pull up it's menu or whatever.

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Quoting chuck1es,

reply 21

Honestly, I'd be surprised if there wasn't a pop-up or some such for planet information, like the sort ya want, in GalCiv3. If not we can beg for it.

Maybe a right-click on the planet to pull up it's menu or whatever.

Yes yes that's the sort of thing i was shooting for.

And to Jack; I was talking about colony list, i would like colony list to be half a screen or be moved to a secondary screen, or include a minimap to indicate planet location.

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Paul Boyer touched on the UI in an interview a little while back:

Quoting Paul Boyer,

One of the biggest challenges of mastering Galactic Civilizations II was the user interface; it was done before rich tooltips were popularized. In Galactic Civilizations III we will be able to give players much more feedback without overwhelming them with crazy, complicated scenes.

Sounds like they're on it.

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Lucky_Jack

Join Date 01/2002

+62

Quoting Xsifilad,

reply 22

And to Jack; I was talking about colony list, i would like colony list to be half a screen or be moved to a secondary screen, or include a minimap to indicate planet location.

Ah. Big difference. Maybe it could be done with the resolution you are using, but it might be rather poor on smaller resolutions.

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Quoting The_Last_Walker,

reply 23

Paul Boyer touched on the UI in an interview a little while back:

Paul Boyer
One of the biggest challenges of mastering Galactic Civilizations II was the user interface; it was done before rich tooltips were popularized. In Galactic Civilizations III we will be able to give players much more feedback without overwhelming them with crazy, complicated scenes.

Sounds like they're on it.

Ahh man that's a load of my shoulders that's for sho'!

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