Interface Problems: Suggestions/Workthroughs

I came from a long line of RTS games including Starcraft 2 where I really honed my mechanical skills. While I don't want this game to turn into Starcraft, I do want the UI and controls to react as smoothly and efficiently as in Starcraft 2.

1. The custom ctrls for build extractor ect don't seem to be reacting logically.
I tried setting up build metal extractor as b+e
advanced metal extractor v+e

I am not sure why but this doesn't seem to work.

2. Zoom in and out/ scrolling control seem to be really clunky and laggy

3. Unit response time is delayed by about 3 seconds. Which really throws off the rythem of a tightly executed build.

4. No fullscreen support.
At the moment the game is damn near unplayable for me because of this. I have tried a hack, but I feel like for an alpha, the UI and unit interface need to be very smooth and natural feeling.

5. I feel like there needs to be a better way for scrolling in a polar fashion, as oppose to the rotate and left and right function. There seems like there could be a smoother way to do this.



The game is hardly playable for me at the moment, and to be honest I am feeling a bit scammed. Please give me some feedback.

Here is Starcraft 2 at alpha. It was hardly put together but the game engine and interface are pretty smooth.


I feel like alpha should be more about gameplay testing and stability testing than not even having full screen support or basic interface functions. Should I consider this a pre-alpha? I cant really play a game all the way through because of issues of the interface, graphics ect.

Uh.. Blizzard has 4500 employees and is worth 15 billion dollars. Uber has 25 employees.
Starcraft II already had gameplay and mechanics from the first game, PA is being built from scratch.

I'm pretty sure you're serious with your posts which I find incredible but I shall forgive you cause Petard is a nice man.

I understand that. However, I just want to know these issues are being worked on. All I have seen in post about units and game mechanics. There has been optimization talk here and there. I just want to be able to play. It is really rough atm though.

You do know what a real alpha is right? If "you just want to play" during Alpha is not that time. Well it can be if you are able to accept everything as is for the time being until it finished.

This is a real alpha and was out as soon you could fight each other.
unlike starcraft where it was just about done and heading in to beta.

Alpha serves to build the base game and get all of the base game mechanics working. Making anything smooth is a polishing thing which is done in mid-late beta. In a real Alpha that is. This happens with every indie game built from scratch, I guess PA has more focus since its coming to be very big and very awesome!

AAA alphas are mostly free or very cheap to bring in new people and hook them for the game while in fact its a late beta, not alpha..

Perhaps my perception of what an "Alpha" is has been distorted by other companies who release an almost finished product for marketing purposes. I am just worried that is all. 2-3 player games become massively bogged down by lag before anyone attacks and with the interface the lag destroys any chance to have a decent game. Maybe I just need to wait. However, I just want to know these are issues that are being acknowledged.

That is exactly the problem. PA's Alpha is nothing like that at all.

Mike

Blizzards so called "alpha" has indeed distorted your idea of what alpha means. How many years had blizzard already put in before they showed that alpha? PA now has roughly one year of development from only a small team.

About 5: I'd recommend to configure Ctrl + F1 to F4 to capture camera positions in the settings, just like SC2 has it. Than use F1 to jump back to your "standard" view whenever you lose track of orientation. It's a pretty helpful imho.