Blog - This GUI is getting sticky

[red]

more game emersion (removing as many popups as possible compared to the SR2010 design - will keep the map visible during gameplay)

What does this mean, Legend? No more research pop-ups? Is it more panels now? I thought they were okay myself.

[Draken]

offer more control, filtering, sorting

That is good news!!!

Not long from now we’ll be able to start play testing.

and that one is even better!!!

BTW, don't forget to "update" the funcionality of "rename units", allowing moving the cursor to any part of the nae and edit that part... Select, copy and paste.... Yes, George, the word processor request all over again

[Legend]

BTW, don't forget to "update" the functionality of "rename units", allowing moving the cursor to any part of the name and edit that part... Select, copy and paste.... Yes, George, the word processor request all over again

you should have started a new thread for this comment... feel free to do so.

Red... following the current design we will still have a few popups but there should be fewer of them to POP UP over the map. One reason for leaning in this direction was to maintain the ability to see the map more often.

Another is to reduce the duplication in the game.
Example: Currently in SR2010 you can do things many ways. You can build units from a popup and from the lowered area in 3 places. That is 4 ways to build units. Other places of duplication are being removed also.

The new design - or at least the current direction we are taking - has many improvements over SR2010 GUI design. Over time we'll explain a few more and one day, we'll even have a few concept screen shots to show on the forums.

PS - I think it's safe to say that the Diplomacy Popup must remain a popup. There is too much to trade to squish it to a "lower GUI" and this is consistent with many other games similar to ours... like CIV IV, Gal Civ 2, Medieval 2...

[red]

Oh okay. Screenshots would be good, when that time comes.

[Feltan]

Best of luck on this effort.

I actually thought the GUI on 2010 was pretty good with one exception: font size. I thought it was organized reasonably well; however, I'm not 18 anymore and I find myself canting my head at odd angles so my bifocals can help me read the 3 point font on some of the screens.

Regards,
Feltan

[Legend]

Font size will be improved. For Feltan, we'll have a build in magnifying tool to hold over font size 3 sections... haha.. just kidding.

You will see a large improvement with fonts.

[Draken]

Are widescreens and/or multimonitors going to be supported?

[Legend]

"Supported" - you may need to expand on this a bit.

Currently SR2010 can handle any resolution. I've even read threads about uses setting the resolutions in such a way that they displayed across 2 monitors.

Do you have a couple of details?

[Draken]

"Supported" - you may need to expand on this a bit.

Currently SR2010 can handle any resolution. I've even read threads about uses setting the resolutions in such a way that they displayed across 2 monitors.

Do you have a couple of details?

I currently using a widescreen and have used 2 monitors (with the trick of changing the resolution...)

I meant supported, without having to use "tricks" like modifiying registry keys... And without the graphics and font showing distortion due to different aspect radios....

[Legend]

As it stands our decision is to match our GUI pixel by pixel.

I'm not really sure how this will affect aspect ratios. I think it shouldn't matter too much. It looks like we'll be able to allow SR2020 to also run in windowed mode with resizing down to 1024 x 768. You could then set your window's desktop resolution to use multi monitors and then stretch the game. There may even be a way to detect your screen resolution and give it as an option in the video options.

Something we did for 2010 is when a new and common screen resolution came known to us - such as my desktop resolution - we added it to the list in the video options. So all along we've supported ANY resolution with 2010 and have continued to make it easier to use as we released updates. Does this help knowing?

[Draken]

It looks like we'll be able to allow SR2020 to also run in windowed mode

Sweet! Playing while working

I'm not too worry about the distortion on SR2010, it doesn't really affect anything... But if you are going to improve the graphics, you might as well consider the aspect ratio issue to keep the graphic quality... Don't know if it is a valid concern on SR2020, but if you look at Armed Assault, they not only allow to change the resolution but also the aspect ratio and it does make a difference on widescreens!

[Feltan]

One more thing.....

The sliders.

Especially in the production and diplomatic screens -- trying to get an exact amount or percentage is unnecessarily difficult. I fiddle with these numbers all the time, and it would be nice if the interface regarding this was a bit more elegant.

Regards,
Feltan

[Balthagor]

One more thing.....

The sliders.

Especially in the production and diplomatic screens -- trying to get an exact amount or percentage is unnecessarily difficult. I fiddle with these numbers all the time, and it would be nice if the interface regarding this was a bit more elegant.

Regards,
Feltan

Are you holding <Alt> while using the mouse slider?

[Feltan]

Oh.....well, that makes things a bit more simple.

Regards,
Feltan

[Legend]

to add a bit to the last post or 2...

ALT while scrolling slows down the action
SHIFT while scrolling speeds it up.

This works over sliders and for map scrolling.
I wish it worked this way in windows.