..:: New GUI Design - in progress ::..

NOiZE · Post by **NOiZE** » 24 May 2006, 11:33

But all this work can't be applied yet, as there is NO CEGUI CODE IN SPRING

Post by **Tim Blokdijk** » 24 May 2006, 11:43

jouninkomiko wrote:I really like the way that looks... when I make a layout, I'm going to try and mimic that as much as possible, and hopefully someone (if not you!) will write a cegui skin for it. That looks great!!

jouninkomiko · Post by **jouninkomiko** » 24 May 2006, 16:58

There's none yet, but I'm trying to work on it. This tonsilectomy is not going as well as I had hoped, and I'm sleeping some 16 hours a day to try and get through the pain. Soon.

AF · Post by AF » 24 May 2006, 20:44

In the next batch fo shots Ice, put a pic of a version with the bars turned off, they should eb off by default. People can sue them if they're told what they doa nd how to sue them and when to sue them etc, they still have a slight few set of major flaws but they should be shown to a brand new user who is goign tog et the imrpession that the complexity he sees in the bars is a feature of your design which is everywhere.

IceXuick · Post by **IceXuick** » 24 May 2006, 23:39

AF, thats okay.

You can be assured these bars won't make it into the first versions anyway. They are of secondary (or tertiary) importance, and IF added, it will be in a later stadium.

Next GUI design version will be online later, got some rush job in between.

Check this thread out in a day or 2 for some new altered concepts of the gui

SinbadEV · Post by **SinbadEV** » 25 May 2006, 03:49

about "resource drain arrows", I suggest :

< = draining
<< = you are draining in such a way that the engine has throttled your output
> = gaining
>> = full and gaining

judging "if you're going down slowly, or headed for a major stall" would be difficult I think... maybe some kind of indication of how many turns until you fill up or bottom out at the current rate being represented by the intencity of the color of the arrow...

Egarwaen · Post by **Egarwaen** » 25 May 2006, 04:18

SinbadEV wrote:judging "if you're going down slowly, or headed for a major stall" would be difficult I think... maybe some kind of indication of how many turns until you fill up or bottom out at the current rate being represented by the intencity of the color of the arrow...

That's not really the problem, though. The problem is telling how much you're stalling by. IE, can you just tough it out, or do you need to start cancelling projects and throwing up Metal Makers?

Das Bruce · Post by **Das Bruce** » 25 May 2006, 04:25

Base it on how long your reserves will last you, under 30 seconds or some other arbitrary value and have a warning or something.

SinbadEV · Post by **SinbadEV** » 25 May 2006, 04:56

Das Bruce wrote:Base it on how long your reserves will last you, under 30 seconds or some other arbitrary value and have a warning or something.

Problem is that we have 3 things to represent:

The real drain (how much the engine is throttling you down to)
The total requested resources (maximum possible drain)
The speed at which you are approaching 0 or 100% of your storage

Das Bruce · Post by **Das Bruce** » 25 May 2006, 05:14

SinbadEV wrote:
Das Bruce wrote:Base it on how long your reserves will last you, under 30 seconds or some other arbitrary value and have a warning or something.
Problem is that we have 3 things to represent:

The real drain (how much the engine is throttling you down to)
The total requested resources (maximum possible drain)
The speed at which you are approaching 0 or 100% of your storage

Real drain - Big number, green for up red for down.
Actual input output - smaller numbers, input on top in green, output in red on bottom, next to real drain
Speed at which approaching 0 or 100% storage - Yellow=>Orange=>Red light at 0 end of resource bar, yellow for 1:30, orange for 1:00, and red for 30 till empty.

Egarwaen · Post by **Egarwaen** » 25 May 2006, 05:49

SinbadEV wrote:The real drain (how much the engine is throttling you down to)

I don't think this is relevant. The only time the engine throttles you is if you're out of reserves, and then you'll be throttled so your output equals your income. Right?

FizWizz · Post by **FizWizz** » 25 May 2006, 07:11

SinbadEV wrote:
Das Bruce wrote:Base it on how long your reserves will last you, under 30 seconds or some other arbitrary value and have a warning or something.
Problem is that we have 3 things to represent:

The real drain (how much the engine is throttling you down to)
The total requested resources (maximum possible drain)
The speed at which you are approaching 0 or 100% of your storage

what is all this silliness? In my opinion, you can tell how fast your storage is filling or draining by looking @ the resource bar. The 'real drain' is the maximum possible drain except when you are nanostalling, and at that point it will match your income. Those two features seem pretty redundant.

krogothe · Post by **krogothe** » 25 May 2006, 11:01

Just look at the friggin number that gives your net income/loss and do a 1 digit calculation against your current amount or grow a brain you little chickens

I dont think theres anything bad about the little buildpic bars, saves the mouseover to check a cost!

Egarwaen · Post by **Egarwaen** » 25 May 2006, 18:09

krogothe wrote:Just look at the friggin number that gives your net income/loss and do a 1 digit calculation against your current amount or grow a brain you little chickens

Great. I'm at 0 reserves. My net income is displayed as +55. My net loss is displayed as -55. How badly am I stalling?

AF · Post by AF » 25 May 2006, 20:24

Maybe when you select the item the semitransparent building can have a little bit next to it saying if you'll stall and how long till the stall occurs.

Egarwaen · Post by **Egarwaen** » 25 May 2006, 21:47

AF wrote:Maybe when you select the item the semitransparent building can have a little bit next to it saying if you'll stall and how long till the stall occurs.

It'd be nice, but the simplest fix, from a UI perspective, is to always say how much metal/energy you're trying to use, even if your actual use is being scaled back due to stall.

smoth · Post by **smoth** » 25 May 2006, 21:51

Egarwaen wrote:
krogothe wrote:Just look at the friggin number that gives your net income/loss and do a 1 digit calculation against your current amount or grow a brain you little chickens
Great. I'm at 0 reserves. My net income is displayed as +55. My net loss is displayed as -55. How badly am I stalling?

You might not be that bad but it really depends on the use.

All we get is usage, provide and reserves.

I do also believe we need a 3rd number:DESIRED

Showing how much we REALLY need to support the current construction.

IceXuick · Post by **IceXuick** » 30 May 2006, 01:49

i agree to the person who suggested the old TA style resource system. It showed the income and the drain (that is used, if there is metal/energy or not). The 'third' number i think could just be the difference between them, so all people that can't do math very well, can see how much it exactly is.

This being said, i have made a new version of the concept!

If everything is right, most things should speak for themselves. If there might be any questions, or suggestion/idea's, let me know.

As for all the (new or anxious) people here, this is just a concept, and is (by far) not working ingame. I designed all buttons, but you might already have guessed that they won't all show up if the selected unit doesn't have that option/setting.

the not much altered buildmenu screen:

the quite alot altered ordersmenu screen:

Pxtl · Post by **Pxtl** » 30 May 2006, 02:06

Looks very nice. Flexible, dense, and pretty - hallmarks of a good gui. A few comments, since you seem very open to them:

1) Highlight the hotkey for commands. Not all of us are hardened veterans who remember "E" for relclaim. And before someone argues - yes, you must force reclaim sometimes, like when wanting to destroy a friendly unit without causing a violent explosion.

2) Where do the unit descriptions go? Sorry if that's been answered already.

FireCrack · Post by **FireCrack** » 30 May 2006, 02:14

^Unit descritions are in tooltips IIRC...

A "desired" resource drain would be good, prehaps in bracets next to the actual resource drain?

But what' i'd realy like to see is metal and energy coming and going from donations.

And um... you need a ressurect button

Spring RTS Engine

..:: New GUI Design - in progress ::..

Mee rikey