GUI plan and tasks

[Licho]

Yeah it already is in the tooltip, just not player colored so its hard to notice :)

[CarRepairer]

Maybe the controlling player's name should just be in the vanilla tooltip?

I mean, I've always thought it's silly that there are no player-names on ~points. Not everybody can perfectly remember which shade is which player.

IceUI thought of that long ago. It's the "special tooltip for units" setting. It also shows a nice healthbar. But it lacks some other data like unit cost. Anyway that was part of my inspiration to have this knowledge, but even closer to my mouse.

We're replacing the vanilla tooltip entirely. This cursor one is the new tooltip. If the issue arises there are things you want to see on a permanent basis on a section of your screen, this new tooltip will just be placed there somehow.

[Licho]

Just some preview of current work:

http://licho.eu/marking_menu.wmv

[Agon]

Wow that is really cool. And probably a fast way to make buildings.
Could you add this to unit factories, too?
(Like you start tracking your mouse from a factory and select the units.)

[Licho]

Yeah though there are some problems with factories because factory use is different. You often want to queue multiple units. So im considering solutions now.

[JohannesH]

Its still slower than keybinds.

[Licho]

Of course but key binds must be memorized and you cannot just give huge table of them to newbies.

This uses muscle memory and according to research is much easier to learn and use subconsciously.

[CarRepairer]

Just some preview of current work:

http://licho.eu/marking_menu.wmv

Really cool. I wish the video was slower I had to watch it several times to see what's going on. That would be a great way to relieve some screen space for those who wish it.

[Licho]

More advanced version now, working on it with sirmaverick.
http://licho.eu/marking_menu2.wmv

I show how it works slowly and then displaying how you can select correct item in a hurry no matter how big "shape" you make.

Im now convinced that this can be default buildmenu, buildbar and even contain some of commandmenu items.

[Wisse]

Now this is amazing! It looks rly cool and it seems to work nicely too.

How do you call up this menu? You probably won't be able to replace old build menu with this tho. Atleast not for new players.

[V1ntage]

wow! This is absolutely amazing Licho :) Fantastic work!

[MidKnight]

More advanced version now, working on it with sirmaverick.
http://licho.eu/marking_menu2.wmv

I show how it works slowly and then displaying how you can select correct item in a hurry no matter how big "shape" you make.

Im now convinced that this can be default buildmenu, buildbar and even contain some of commandmenu items.

Very neat, quick and effective, but how noob-friendly is it? And how much will it impress a noob? Just pointing out some possible weaknesses.

[Licho]

Very and very!

Its neatly categorized and it does not take much space.

[CarRepairer]

pressing esc brings the little menu thingie, which is good. usually. except when i have a command active, then it's pretty bad, because by pressing esc i want to cancel it and not enter the menu.

Fixed.

[luckywaldo7]

I played with this for all of about 10 seconds before it felt completely natural to me. And indeed I was mightily impressed.

You can select anything to build in even less the time it take to move the mouse toward the spring default menu.

Very excellent work.

[Licho]

Buildbar now modified to work as imagined. I will also probably try to add factory support for marking menu, though with buildbar its not needed.

[luckywaldo7]

One reason I don't usually use the buildbar is because I can't toggle repeat easily.
(edit: /slapself im stupid, that functionality was already there for ages, the problem was that I could never tell if the repeat was on or off.)


Oh, also opens when factory is selected. Probably the biggest improvement. That will definitely help me get used to it.

[Wisse]

I've tested your new stuff and here's my opinion if you're willing to consider it:

Wtf is with resources bars. I couldn't get them at all. I like the storage part with that square filling up, but everything else is just confusing to no end.
There are many things that you want to show that come as a short burst (like reclaiming). Players probably manually ordered stuff that gave them burst of anything you have there (I don't rly know what you show on those bars anyway) so they know what to expect and don't need resources bar to show them what they just did.
All you need in my opinion is bars that show metal produced (mex+mm) and energy produced. Then you need to implement some kind of overdrive indicator just so players know what's eating their E away.


I love your new gestured build menu. I have no complains about it's mechanics, how to chose new branch and how to go back from it. I like that you used center of branch for 1 structure already.
There are 2 things I hate tho. First one is rather tricky to solve. I hate that sometimes when I want to move my commander or any conunit I accidentally call up build menu which overrides move command. Longer delay for build menu is not an option. You could make build menu only come out when you click in con's buildrange (or slightly larger circle). If you make a move you could call build menu out only in same range around last waypoint. This would eliminate my problem, but possibly cause new ones to others. It's worth trying tho imho.
2nd thing I hate is floating tooltip. It blocks view to some of build menu's items. Make tooltip fixed at bottom as it is in OTA (god forbid I mention BA) or make it float centered above build menu (or something similar).


There's factory menu left. I absolutely hate that. I hate it in BA I hate it everywhere. My camera is usually centered over factory, so this crap blocks my view over (near) it, rendering factory waypoint selecting fing pain in the ass.
There are few possible fixes for that. First is to move units back to old menu. Another one is to stack units in few rows or maybe even put this menu in small block behind factory. Menu should always be drawn away from factory exit. This would still cause problems when zoomed in completely. So my vote goes to old menu for this.

I hope that someone will take time and read this -.-

[Licho]

Regarding gesture menu - i can increase delay. It activates as soon as you move, so delay can be even minutes, because if you hold right and move it instant activates anyway.

Regarding factories - im not sure whats best here, we could also render options around factory (similar to current gesture menu).

Resbars - not final.

[Wisse]

Oh, that's why it kept popping up when not needed. When I was setting waypoints on the edge of the screen I kept moving too much and opening up menu.

You'll have to figure factories somehow. But for the sake of consistency units should be rendered somewhere near/around factory. You're still left with that side menu for when ur not over factory anyway.

Resbars - burn them. You need to rethink them from scratch, this concept is complete fail (as others also pointed out). Keep them as simple as default ones or make them even simpler.